Arizona republican., 1905-03-18
PHOENIX, ARIz., MARCH IS, 1903
The Return of the Flags.

newspaper in the United states mas
 objected to the action of congress in
 directing the return of the union and
 confederate battlehags which since the
 close of the civil war have remained in the custody of the war department. A radical change of public opinion on this subject has taken place within the last twenty years.
 The unanimous vote of both houses of congress for this restoration, and the general complacency of the country at large. appear remarkable to the newspapers that remember the tempest of criticism that assailed President Cleveland in 1887, and turned him from his purpose. when he authorized Adju- tant General Drum to do the same thing. General Fairchild. commander of the G. A R. at that time. called loudly for palsy of the brain that con- ceived the order. for the tongue that dictated it. and for the hand that wrote it; Major Harper of Pennsylvania call ed the order the grossest insult that could possibly be given to the union soldiers;" and the governors of Iowa, Nebraska and Ohio sent strong tele- grams of protest to the president. Governor Foraker of Ohio (nOw member of the senate which passed the resolution unanimously. said at that time that he opposed the return of the confederate standards. mot that I have any affection for the dirty rags, If son. and are wanted for no other pur- pose than public parade and to fire the southern heart with pride for a lost cause that ought never to be recalled except with shame, because the crime of the age.' ''Foral1er still lives.' ob- serves the Baltimore Journal, and the fact that he has changed greatly in heart was proven not long ago by the fact that he introduced the bill pro viding that the government mark the graves of confederate soldiers buried in the north"
 By this resolution 'the last public act has been taken to efface the scars left by the dreadful warfare, and traly . dOxology of thanks and rejoicing is in order" says the New Orleans Plea yune; and the New Orleans Times Democrat observes:
 "When We reflect what an outburst of opposition the proposal to do what has just been done caused during Mir. Cleveland's administration we begin to realize the immensity of the change that has come over popular sentiment in only a few years. Then sectional hostility was an open, undisguised fact. and the north was hardly in the mood for magnanimity. But now how differ eht everything is! The unthinkable of thirty years ago the improbable of less than two decades since. has be- come the actual of today. The sec lions once divided by bitter memories have again been welded by sentiment, as well as the fierce heat of war, into a single whole. And the men on either side who have contributed to this great contamination, Grady. Lamar, McKin- ley. and others. have done for their country what is above all price or praise"
 The Atlanta Constitution rejoices in the following editorial over the aboli- ton of sectionalism:
 "There are now no sections in the old rancorous sense. The south has bcen back in the house of its fathers in letter and spirit for so long a term that. save in hallowed memory. it has almost forgotten it was ever elsewhere. ! As always with quarrels between l brethren. the aftermath has brought an | even closer understanding and a more | cordial relationship than that which 1 preceded the arbitrament of arms. The interests of Georgia and New York. of | Texas and California have become | those Of a common country. The perils | of another war mutually shared, and ! the noble words and deeds of the rank | and file on either side. have narrowed l the ancient chasm until it is hardly | perceptible-
 Wide tolerance and the best spirit ! on either side call compellingIy for the complete obIiteration of anything say bring. even remotely, of bitterness or recrimination. The essence Of this feeling is demonstrated in the recent statement of John Sharp Williams and others. that the south could afford to ignore even the petty practices of a Miles. when it came to a question of liberality at the present time.
 "So with the return to Dixie of the tattered banners of a hundred bloody battles, let us place them in the ar chives of our sta:e capitois and forget,