I'VE BEEN WORKING LIKE A DOG! by Blog Dog Dan

As you know, I am a working dog and have been "doggedly" repairing my computer, camera, and phone that stopped working all about the same time! I guess I have been using them a lot....Since I've been working so hard, I think I'll take the rest of the day off and enjoy Labor Day, or UnLabor Day! For many adults and children, Labor Day represents the end of the summer and back to school. It used to be considered the last day of the year that it was fashionable to wear white. In U.S. sports, it marks the beginning of NFL and college football seasons.

Labor Day is observed the first Monday in September and pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of the American worker. It's kind of ironic that the first Labor Day holiday was actually on a Tuesday! In the 1800s, during the Industrial Revolution, the average American worked 12-hour days and 7-day weeks, often under unsafe and unhealthy working conditions. In the late 18th century, as manufacturing jobs replaced agricultural jobs, labor unions became the voice of the American worker.

In 1880, George M. Pullman designed and developed the town of Pullman, Illinois, from 4,000 acres of open prairie and marsh land, with the help of architect Solon Beman.  When Beman asked Pullman if the town could be named after him, Pullman responded, "Sure, we'll take the first half of my name, and the second half of yours." (Both names ended in "man" - pretty sneaky, huh?) Four years later, over 1,000 homes and public buildings were completed. George Pullman owned the banks, the stores, and the housing, so everyone in town worked for George Pullman!

This worked out well until the economic Panic of 1893, which caused hundreds of workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company to either be laid off or suffer pay cuts, but their living expenses were still the same. On May 11, 1894, 3,000 workers at the Pullman Company went on strike to protest the 16-hour days, low wages, and the firing of union reps. On June 26, the American Railway Union called for a boycott of all Pullman railway cars, shutting down much of the nation's transportation system with undeliverable goods, including the U.S. mail. I guess it was marked "UNDELIVERABLE"! At its peak, 250,000 workers in 27 states were involved in the strike. 

To break the strike, President Grover Cleveland sent 12,000 U.S. Army troops and U.S. Marshals to Chicago, resulting in a wave of riots. On August 3, the strike was over and all of the workers for the Pullman Company signed an agreement to never unionize again (called a "yellow-dog contract"). Six days after the strike ended, a bill was passed through Congress stating that the first Monday in September of each year would be a legal holiday holiday in the District of Columbia and all the U.S. territories.

Industry cannot flourish if labor languishes. - Calvin Coolidge

Labor disgraces no man; unfortunately, you occasionally find men to disgrace labor. - Ulysses S. Grant

  
Stephen Grover Cleveland was our 22nd and 24th President of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms (1885–1889 and 1893–1897). A few months into his second term, the Panic of 1893 produced a severe national depression that Cleveland was unable to reverse. This was caused by railroad overbuilding and shaky railroad financing which set off a series of bank failures, along with people panicking and withdrawing their money from banks and the run on gold supply.

Until the Great Depression, the Panic of '93 was considered the worst depression the United States had ever experienced. When the decline of the gold reserves stored in the U.S. Treasury fell to a dangerously low level, President Cleveland was forced to borrow $65 million in gold from Wall-Street banker JP Morgan in order to support the gold standard.

Okay, since that was a little "depressing" and we don't want to "labor" on the past, we'll talk about another Grover that we all know and love!  That's right - Grover from Sesame Street. Grover is lovable, cute, and furry and almost never uses contractions when singing or speaking (he would never use the words "don't" and "we'll"). Grover's skits usually involve him in a variety of customer service jobs, with his first skit being a waiter at Charlie's Restaurant and Mr. Johnson as his customer. He also performs skits wearing a cap and gown trying to give lessons for simple, everyday things. Grover would often greet Kermit the Frog by running up to him and yelling, "Hey, froggy babeee!" and then giving him a hard slap on the back, which knocked him over. 

Grover also had a semi-secret superhero identity as the well-meaning but inept SuperGrover. The announcer introduced each episode with the lines: "Presenting the further adventures of everybody's favorite hero. A man who is faster than lightning, stronger than steel, smarter than a speeding bullet. It's.. SUPERGROVER!" SuperGrover would then burst through a paper wall bearing his crest, trying to move his helmet up off his eyes, and adds, "And I am cute, too!"

I think I've labored enough on my first day back on the job!  Let's watch an episode of Charlie's Restaurant.

Because we work so well together, you can click on the link below to hear A Little Bit of Life by Craig Morgan with The Fox and the Hound Gang: http://youtu.be/UWUmmO7TtFg

NOW GO READ A BOOK AND DON'T WORK SO HARD TODAY !