• Perón, reports the New York Times’ Juan de Onis, is still a “hero” to Argentine labor, and Peronism still a lively force in Argentine politics. Argentines would probably be interested to learn, apropos of that last, that Peronism—as represented by Reutherism— seems to be thriving in the United States as well.
• Though Labor Day ought logically be rebaptized Middle Class Day (it’s the day when everybody from the President of the Union League Club to the janitor goes on the last big loafing binge of the summer), it will probably go right on being called Labor Day. Well, a custom is a custom, and we suppose that Labor Day will still be celebrated as such even after the last factory has been completely automated. Following the precept of Edmund Burke, that old observances are to be hallowed, we would do nothing to change this. Anyway, this year the President made a rather good speech in fulfillment of his traditional obligation. Not only did he say the usual pleasant things about the American worker’s “dignity as a free man working in company with other free men,” but he went on to deliver a pointed moral lecture to the Hoffas in our midst. Unfortunately, he said nothing about the right of an individual to make his living without asking permission of a private organization. Mr. Eisenhower could have used Labor Day to toss a touchdown pass to Senator Knowland on the right- to-work issue. But he remained discreetly silent on the one really crucial matter on Labor Day, 1958.
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