Maggie's Farm

Grover Cleveland reluctantly supported the concept of a Labor Day during his re-election campaign. He lost anyway. It was meant to be a day off from work for union organizers to organize.

I guess now it means the official end of summer, time to get engaged with work again, and hot dogs and watermelon. To me, it means two things: our peak tomato season, and time to start pulling out the hunting gear. I suppose it also means the official start date of the national campaign, but I am already bored with that.

Brief history of the holiday here. (If your eyes are failing, that's Teddy Roosevelt somewhere in the photo.)

We did a piece last year about the skilled trades.

Done with Mirrors has some thoughts about America's love-hate relationship with work.

And one more: Americans are the most productive workers in the world. Blue Crab. It's called the Protestant Work Ethic.