Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-07-06
INSULTING THE NATION.

cans; neither to Catholics nor to Pro-
testants, but to Americans as Ameri-
cans. It is to Americans what Christmas
is to Christians. What, then, was
the surprise of people of all persuasions,
both political and religious, to see
on the morning of the Fourth
the national flag at half mast on many
prominent. buildings, including two public
buildings, the County Court House and
the City Hail. All were surprised and
all were seeking to know the cause, but
it took some time to find it out. Many
supposed that General Grant was dead,
and this was offered in extenuation of an
apparent outrage. People were very
slow to come to realization
of the fact that the flag had
been placed at half mast to insult the
Nation. 1t has been said that the flag
was insulted. The truth is that the ma
tional flag was used to insult the Nation.
So far as that end was concerned it has
been most successfully accomplished.
The same importance would not have at
tached to the event because the flag had
been placed at half mast on the build
ings belonging to the Mormon church,
but to see them so on the only public
buildings in the city made it of import
ance.
City Marshal Phillips states that he so
hoisted the flag because Of mere whim.
It seems very peculiar whim for pub
lie officer to take when the whole Nation
is enjoying peace and prosperity and
there has occurred nothing to disturb
that peace and prosperity, and the
Nation was not mourning the death of
any benefactor or public man. Was it the
Marshals whim to desecrate a national
holiday to please his ecclesiastical lords
and masters? Mayor Sharp says he
knew nothing about the matter, and that
the Marshal acted on his own RESPONSE
bility. 1t is very strange that the Mayor
of the ecity should not know whether the
flag was going TO be hoisted on such a
day as the Fourth or not. Respect for
custom at least would suggest to
most mayors that it was a very
proper thing to do to hoist the flag
on the Fourth Of July if on no other day
in the year, and to see that it was hoisted
to the top of the staff and that it stayed
there, too. 1t is possible that Marshal
Phillips was well aware that while Mayor
Sharp might not be cognizant of his ac-
ton, and might even disapprove of it,
there stood between him and Mayor
Sharp the power that placed Mayor Sharp
where he is, the power of the Mormon
church, and that obedience to its dictates
was the surest and only way OF retaining
his official position.
Marshal Phillips says it was whim
that caused him to place the flag at hall
mast at the City Hall, and when United
States Marshal Ireland with some others
called upon him and asked him to raise
the flag, he told Marshal Ireland that he
would act Immediately, and either hoist
the flag to the top of the staff or take il
down. With this assurance Marshal Ire
land left the City Hall and was going
down the street when he was overtaken
by City Marshal Phillips, who told him he
would have to consult with Mayor Sharp
before he could take any action concern
ing the raising or lowering of the flag,
Is this action also to be attributed to a
whim? The question very pertinently
suggests itself whether the mandates ot
the Mormon church are usually the
whims of city officials? Marshal Phillips
as Chief of Police should be removed
from all offices that he holds under the
City Council, and when the people elect
another Marshal they should throw him
out and leave him to his whims.
At the County Court House the FLAG
was put at half mast by Deputy
Sheriff Alex. Burt, but so far,
we believe, he has not called any
whims to his aid. Nevertheless it is the
duty of Sheriff Groesbeck to revoke his
commission as a Deputy Sheriff in the
interest of law and loyalty. 1t is to the
credit of the Sheriff that he acted
promptly and without consulting" in
raising the flag. There was some APP
parent delay on his part, but he had been
- Go,,o,o1 AaaH
and assigned that as a reason why the
flag was at half mast on the County
Court House. Soon after he went to the
telegraph Office and found there had
been no such telegram received, and
went TO the County Court House as
fast as his horse could take him and
hauled the flag to the top of the staff.
This action of Sheriff Groesbeck's g seems
to have highly incensed County Collector
of Taxes, N, v. Jones. He said that he
should not have done it, and that it
should not have been done at the City
Hall and at the Coop. Mr.. Jones made
public the key to the whole combination
when he said to a reporter of the
Tribune:
81 went around early this morning and
suggested that the flags be hoisted at half
mast. A few of us had been talking the
matter over, and came to the conclusion
that, inasmuch as the civil and religious
rights of majority of the people of this
Territory had been trampled on; that laws
which we held to be unconstitutional were
90, at,fnroa1 end that naOnla were
denied the right to a fair jury trial, that it
would be proper for US TO show our dis
pleasure in that manner. There was no
general understanding that know of, and
il was not pre-arranged action except with
myself and a few Others"
Is there a man in the community who
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