[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 24, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E267-E268]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                KATE MULLAY--350 EIGHTH STREET, TROY, NY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. MICHAEL R. McNULTY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 24, 1999

  Mr. McNULTY. Mr. Speaker, John F. Kennedy once said: ``A nation 
reveals itself not only by the men it produces, but by the men it 
honors, the men it remembers.''
  Today I honor the life and work of a great woman.
  Down the hall, in the Rotunda of this magnificent building--an 
incredible tribute to democracy--there is a statue of three great 
women, all American pioneers. Most historians

[[Page E268]]

will agree that Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucretia 
Mott--because of their lifelong struggle for equality--deserve that 
place of honor, in our Rotunda, with the statues of George Washington, 
Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; where 
John Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln and the Unknown Soldiers were laid in 
State.
  I urge my colleagues, and all my fellow Americans, to help me honor 
another pioneering woman who lived at the same time as these three 
women suffragists.
  Mr. Speaker, this woman also was a leader in the struggle for 
equality. She was an Irish immigrant who toiled as a laundress for the 
collar and cuff industry in the late 19th century.
  Mr. Speaker, this woman was 19 years old when she formed the first 
female labor union in the country, the Collar Laundry Union and 
successfully led a strike of over 200 laundresses. As a result, the 
union won wage increases of 25%.
  Mr. Speaker, this woman helped organize workers around the country 
and helped unions outside of the laundry industry. She became the first 
female ever appointed to a national labor office when she was appointed 
Assistant Secretary of the then-National Labor Union.
  Mr. Speaker, this woman's name was Kate Mullany and she lived in 
Troy, New York.
  Kate Mullany's home, located at 350 Eighth Street in Troy, is the 
last surviving structure associated with her life and work.
  While her years of work and efforts on behalf of American workers 
might merit her inclusion in the Rotunda of this Capitol, the least we 
should do is preserve her house and use it as an educational tool to 
tell the story of her life and the development of the American labor 
movement--which has strong roots in the Capital Region of New York 
State.
  That is why I have introduced H.R. 641, the ``Kate Mullany National 
Historic Site Act'', which would make the house a unit of the National 
Park Service.
  Last year, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt designated the 
Mullany House as a National Historic Landmark and First Lady Hillary 
Rodham Clinton included the house as a stop on her ``Save America's 
Treasures'' tour. I appreciate their involvement and their support.
  Mr. Speaker, for too long, important stories and legacies left by 
people who were the fabric of American life--those who worked for a 
living--have been overlooked. America was built on the backs of 
laborers and they deserve recognition.
  The National Labor Theme Study Act, which I wrote, the Congress 
passed, and the President signed in 1991, sought to correct this wrong 
and has identified the Kate Mullany House as a prominent site worth 
preserving to tell the story of American laborers and the American 
labor movement.
  I ask that my colleagues in the House support H.R. 641. This is 
important legislation which would properly honor and remember Kate 
Mullany's work and pay tribute to the significant contributions made by 
her and her fellow laborers to the history of this great nation.
  Mr. Speaker, we are all active participants in telling the history of 
America. The responsibility of telling the stories of heroes like Kate 
Mullany is on our shoulders.

                          ____________________