Wichita eagle., 1888-01-12
SOME FOREIGN FLAGS.
WHY THEY FLY so OFTEN OVER
NEW YORK HOTELS.
The Man In Charge of the Bunting Tells
Some Interesting Facts About It-F1ags
Floated in Honor OF Distinguished
Visitors.

The flag of Siam has been flying over the
/ Fifth Avenue hotel for week past. and the
strange standard has attracted the attention
Of thousands of passersby. The body Of the
! flag is blood red with white elephant in the
! center. 1t was raised in honor Of his royal
/ bighness. Prince Devanwongse.
/ Asked where he obtained tue dag. one
of the proprietors called up Mr. Albert Love-
/ joy. the head porter of the hotel. "Mr. Lovejoy
! has charge of the flags and can give you all the
/ information you want OH the subject" Mr..
/ Lovejoy came up to the desk in response to
| the summons
YES" lie said, when the flag was men,
| toned. Yes, we are flying the flag of Siam
! today i'll honor of his royal highnesS, and q
strange flag it is | doubt if it has ever
! floated over any building in the United States
/ before, except Siamese consular buildings.
( AT any rate it is very seldom seen here. We
secured this one for the occasion from the
Siamese consul general. 1t mas always been
our custom to raise the national flag of a
country when distinguished people tberefrom
stop under our roof
"What flags have we fioated under such
circumstances! Well, so many can hardly
.
the English flag when the Prince Of Wales
was here OH his famous visit In 1860. Ne
had flag made to order fer that occasion,
and afterward raised the same dag when the
Duke of Edinburgh WAS guest at the hotel
We have always keEt al English flag on
hand since Then we raised the Brazilian flag
when Dom Pedro stopped here. He is perhaps.
the only reigning monarch, except kalasaua,
who ever travelled in this country. AT differ
ent times during the last twenty eight wears
we have raised the dragon of China, the tri
color OF France, the German, Spanish, Co
rean and japanese flags. and now the white
elephant of Siam These have been raised at
different times when embassies from these
countries have come to make us visit
AS OCCASION REQUIRES.
ado we keep these different flags on hand'
Hardly. Wed find it pretty expensive to
keep all the flags we might he called upon TO
use from time to time, and if we undertook
TO do so we'd have to own every national f'ag
under the sun, for we never know who NAV
he coming next. We can generally secure
the particular flag we need for all occasion
from some of the flag makers, who have
them on hand, or else from the people them
selves. who very likely have one or more
with them, OF, as did in this case, borrow
1t from the consul OF government whose
representative we wish to do special honor 70 ="
Glow about tho American flag; do you fy
that very often!"
well. ct every chance We can get we have
the stars and stripes flying. We have ore
very large American flag, 22x32 feet, which
we only put up in quiet and pleasant
weather. If we should put it ND in storm 1t
would tear things all 10 pieces. We are 80
careful of this flag that We make il last four
or FIVE years Then we have smaller Ar1eri-
can fags which we use on ordinary occa-
sions and in Indictment weather"
Nv hat Americans do you ly TIE flag for
when they come 20 the house,
Always for a president of the United
States, or a governor Of New Yorh, but not
babitually for any other person Senators,
generals. or other distinguished men when
thew come here on some state occasion. or IN
q public capacity, have the flag raised N
their honor, b,v not when they come as pri-
va:e citizens only.
-Wha, presidents have stopped at the
house,
II can remember that Lincoln. Grant,
HAYES. Garfield. Arthur and Cleveland have
al Ssorped here Over each Of these presI-
dents W. have sep: the oia flag hying. and
LEI ne tell yo1. the stars and stripes is tie
pre,ties. bunting that ever Heated over this
or any other hotel New York Commercial
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