Labor Daze

In honor of the last holiday weekend of the summer, today's Graphical History Tour celebrates Labor Day, 1925.

"His Day" by Ed LeCocq in Des Moines Register, Sept. 7, 1925

The holiday fell on September 7 that year, so most of today's cartoons were published on that date. We start with this cartoon by the young man filling in for Jay Norwood Darling during Ding's illness. Old Man Work here graciously permits Organized Labor to join The Public on their way to some picnic grounds.

"Labor Day" by John T. McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, Sept. 7, 1925

John McCutcheon's Uncle Sam wishes American Labor a sixteen hour day of rest and recreation.

Come those other eight hours, I presume, American Labor was expected to get right back to work.

These first two cartoons do point out that Labor Day was finally a chance for Dad to get out and enjoy some time with his family. Paid vacation was not a thing for most workers a century ago; the "family summer vacation" typically was just for Mom and the kids. Dad stayed behind to keep punching the clock at work every day.

"The Spirit of Confidence" by Dean O'Dell in Dayton Daily News, Sept. 7, 1925

Dean O'Dell's Uncle Sam and American Labor engage in some discreet petting while the heady fumes of prosperity and peace waft from picturesque smokestacks.

"The Giant of Progress" by Tom Foley in Minneapolis Star, Sept. 7, 1925

I'm wondering at what point Tom Foley or his editorial page editor decided that his cartoon needed to be printed as a mirror image of the original drawing. Foley did not customarily sign his cartoons backward; the "LABOR" stone looks to me like something scratched onto the cartoon at the last minute.

"Rare Consistency" by John M. Baer for Labor, ca. Sept. 4, 1925

John Baer has appeared before in these Graphical History Tours in his connection to the Nonpartisan League movement of the 1910's, which had sent him to Congress from North Dakota from 1917 to 1921. After his defeat for reelection in 1920, he literally returned to the drawing board, cartooning for Labor, the newspaper of the National Railroad Union.

In "Rare Consistency" (a title possibly added by the editors of Oklahoma Leader, who routinely pasted text onto the cartoons they printed), Baer highlights the hypocrisy of industrial associations and trusts warning farmers, laborers, and soldiers against collectively organizing. 

"Well, Here's Hoping" by Bill Hanny in Philadelphia Inquirer, Aug. 31, 1925

As Labor Day approached, the threat of a strike by anthracite coal miners loomed. Most homes and businesses were heated by coal in those days, so an interruption of the coal supply in the fall and winter was liable to have serious consequences for much of the country.

"Modest Demands" by O. "Zim" Zimmerman for Daily Worker, Chicago, Sept. 9, 1925

Drawing for the communist Daily Worker, Zimmerman laid out the United Mine Workers' demands: a nationwide contract with higher wages for fewer hours, and unemployment pay to come out of corporate profits. 

"It Does Look Like It" by Winsor McCay for Star Company, ca. Sept. 1, 1925

By Labor Day, negotiations between the UMW, led by John Lewis, and management, headed by operators' scale negotiating committee chair W.W. Inglis, had been dragging on for weeks, with no apparent progress to report.

"Hard Hard-Boiled" by Harry Westerman in Ohio State Journal, ca. Sept. 1, 1925

Harry Westerman's Uncle Sam displays a sterner attitude toward hard coal miners (and their mine operators) than Dean O'Dell's did toward American Labor in general. 

"We're With You" by Bill Sykes in Philadelphia Public Ledger, ca Sep. 5, 1925

Most editorial cartoonists placed blame for the possible strike on both labor and management; I'm sure nearly everybody was aware of what a dirty and dangerous job coal mining was and is. Bill Sykes's cartoon , however, comes as close as any I've seen to blaming the union workers.

It is difficult to read the animals' labels in Sykes's cartoon: the bird is labeled "Waste," and the wolf is labeled "Want."

"The Man Who Used to March on Labor Day" by Daniel Fitzpatrick in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sept. 7, 1925

Returning to the holiday, Daniel Fitzpatrick's Labor Day cartoon raises more questions than it answers. Is the man who used to march on Labor Day driving alone or in a parade? Is he a really big guy, or is he driving the first subcompact vehicle?

"No One Has a Good Word to Say for Work" by Manuel Rosenberg in Cincinnati Post, Sept. 7, 1925

And finally, Manuel Rosenberg leaves us with some deep thoughts about justification through work.

I hope you are able to enjoy an escape from work this weekend, yet, where applicable, still have a good word to say about getting back to the job on Tuesday.