Statement by the President: Labor Day.

SIX YEARS AGO the workers of the United States, and of the world, awoke to a Labor Day in a world at war. The democracies of Western Europe had just accepted the challenge of totalitarianism. We in the United States had two years of grace, but the issue was squarely joined at that hour, as we now know. There was to be no peace until tyranny had been outlawed.

Today we stand on the threshold of a new world. We must do our part in making this world what it should be--a world in which the bigotries of race and class and creed shall not be permitted to warp the souls of men.

We enter upon an era of great problems, but to live is to face problems. Our men and women did not falter in the task of saving freedom. They will not falter now in the task of making freedom secure. And high in the ranks of these men and women, as a grateful world will always remember, are the workers of all free nations who produced the vast equipment with which victory was won.

The tasks ahead are great, and the opportunities are equally great. Your Government is determined to meet those tasks and fulfill those opportunities.

We recognize the importance and dignity of labor, and we recognize the right of every American citizen to a wage which will permit him and his dependents to maintain a decent standard of living.