Several years ago, the country music group Alabama scored a hitwith the song “40 Hour Week,” which recognized a variety of peoplewho strive to work hard and to produce fruits of labor that are”worth more than their pay.”

It is the working spirit praised in the song that we willcelebrate Monday on Labor Day.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, there remains somedoubt over who proposed the idea of a holiday for workers.

However, the first Labor Day was celebrated Tuesday, Sept. 5,1882, in New York and the holiday was established in 1884 as thefirst Monday in September. In 1894, Congress passed a resolutionmaking Labor Day a legal holiday.

Throughout U.S. history, the dedication and determination of theworking man has been the backbone of this country’s economicsuccess. Today, that spirit extends beyond the 40-hour week and the”factories and the fields” to science labs, office complexes andmany other places of work.

For everyone who works to provide for their families – and indoing so helps to make this country great – we, too, as the songsays, “want to thank you for your time.”

Have a happy and safe Labor Day.