QUOTES
That's
what heroic stories do for us. They show us the way. They remind us of the good
we are capable of.
Our
mission has been the protection of the wage-worker, now; to increase his wages;
to cut hours off the long workday, which was killing him; to improve the safety
and the sanitary conditions of the workshop; to free him from the tyrannies, petty
or otherwise, which served to make his existence a slavery.
What
does labor want? We want more schoolhouses and less jails; more books and less
arsenals; more learning and less vice; more leisure and less greed; more justice
and less revenge; in fact, more of the opportunities to cultivate our better natures.
Show
me the country that has no strikes and I'll show you the country in which there
is no liberty.
You
can't do it unless you organize.
It
is impossible for capitalists and laborers to have common interests.
The
trade union movement represents the organized economic power of the workers...
It is in reality the most potent and the most direct social insurance the workers
can establish.
There
is not a right too long denied to which we do not aspire in order to achieve;
there is not a wrong too long endured that we are not determined to abolish.
Time
is the most valuable thing on earth: time to think, time to act, time to extend
our fraternal relations, time to become better men, time to become better women,
time to become better and more independent citizens.
Today,
as we look back on the history of our nation and take note of how far we have
come as a people, we are reminded that we owe a great debt to those who fought
valiantly for the freedoms that we easily take for granted.
One
fact stands out in bold relief in the history of man's attempts for betterment.
When compulsion is used only resentment is aroused, and the end is not gained.
Only through moral suasion and appeal to men's reason can a movement succeed.
