Labor Day 2014, graphic by the U.S. Department of Labor

“The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress.”

—Martin Luther King, Jr., in his speech to the state convention of the Illinois AFL-CIO, Oct. 7, 1965

Or, if you prefer:

“Labor was the first price, the original purchase—money that was paid for all things. It was not by gold or by silver, but by labor, that all wealth of the world was originally purchased.”

—Adam Smith

Happy Labor Day.