EDITORIAL : LABOR DAY 1998; CHEERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE MADE AMERICA STRONG.

LABOR Day is the one national holiday dedicated to the people who really deserve one: working men and women. So enjoy yourself. You've earned your extra day off.

After all, working people are primarily responsible for making the United States the strongest nation on Earth.

American workers lead the world in productivity. They have made the per capita income of Americans the envy of the world.

This isn't to say that life has been uniformly easy for American workers in recent years. It hasn't.

Many Americans have had to endure wage freezes and downsizing in recent years. More and more mothers are working to help families make ends meet.

Then there is the continuing plunge in prices on Wall Street. This is disturbing.

But as we have said before, this setback is no cause for panic. Stock prices always have fluctuated.

The fact of the matter is that the American economy remains fundamentally strong as evidenced by the lowest unemployment rate in a generation. One of the reasons for this is that most Americans understand that we all are in the same boat.

It once was popular in some quarters to demonize Wall Street as the enemy of working people. But few buy into this line anymore - not with millions and millions of working people investing in 401(k) plans and relying upon invested pension funds for a secure retirement.

By the same token, Wall Street knows only too well that a sharp plunge in the purchasing power of working men and women would deal a corresponding blow to the market.

These shared values tend to bring us together. And now that we're together, let's salute the people who are the backbone of America: working men and women.