The first “Labor Day” was in the Garden of Eden, when God gave Adam and Eve the job of keeping up the place.

In the Middle Ages, trade unions came to the artisans. Very few “laborers” benefited.

The “Industrial Revolution” brought restricted wages and long hours in America. “Sweat shops” sprang up in Northern cities. Children worked for pennies a day.

Along came Samuel Gompers (A.F.L.) and other leaders to try to improve workers’ livelihoods. There were strikes, and — deep down in the ground, under horrible conditions — miners’ deaths, until Joe Lewis created the C.I.O.

Today, with foreign trade we have foreign labor. People areworking at slave-labor wages — one of the reasons jobs are gone and the U.S. is in a recession. Another reason for the recession and job losses is the greed on Wall Street.

Our country has become very divided. We need to put more oars in the water, with clear purposes.

Charlie Rose

Southern Pines