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Show I Labor Day jj ! ; TT IS DOUBTFUL if the little group 1 -'of men wbo proposed a parade by ; ; ! the Knights of Labor in New York in ! I I the fall of 1882 had the least idea of ! ! how the idea and the movement would ! ! ; spread. ! . ; ' Here, forty-two years later, we have ; ! Labor day a legal holiday in all the ! I states excepting, possibly, three of the ! I ; western states always the first Mon- j ; day in September. In Europe there is ; j 1 ' a similar holiday observed on the first ' of May. There, in 1890, May day be- ! ! gan to be observed as Labor day with ! J 1 a demonstration toward the eight-hour 1 j J day. There as here, parades and ad- j dresses featuring prominent minds in ! the labor world mark the day. And ! ! ! ; labor, and everybody else almost, for ! ; 1 that matter, takes a real day off. j 1 ; I The Knights of Labor in 1882, and j i again in 1 884, held a parade in New ! ; !; York. Then they passed resolutions !; that all parades of the kind were to j! be held on the same day, the first ;l ! Monday in September. Workers began I ! I agitation for making the day a legal ! , holiday. Colorado was the firBt to ac- J; quiesce. The other states followed i ; ! rapidly. ( j ! |