Usenet Newsgroups Attention Conservatives: Today, America Honors Organized Labor, So Put Down the BBQ and Get Your bum to Work From: connectutoos@verizon.net (F.H.) I wonder how much of the Faux News/Becktard crowd, who supposedly love our history, actually know why they get the day off today. Labor Day, an annual celebration of workers and their achievements, originated during one of American labor history's most dismal chapters. In the late 1800s, at the height of the Industrial Revolution in the United States, the average American worked 12-hour days and seven-day weeks in order to eke out a basic living. Despite restrictions in some states, children as young as 5 or 6 toiled in mills, factories and mines across the country, earning a fraction of their adult counterparts' wages. People of all ages, particularly the very poor and recent immigrants, often faced extremely unsafe working conditions, with insufficient access to fresh air, sanitary facilities and breaks. Still...., why all the fuss? I'm quite certain the free market would've worked all that out...., eventually. Things you should know about labor day: Subject