The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-05-08
DISGRACED FLAG OF OUR NATION
Father O'Toolc Speaks on the Recent
Pulling Down of the Nations EN-
blem by Industrial Workers
All Respect Due Our Flag.

mon on sunday Father John OIOOle,
of st. Johns r. G. church spoke on
the recent mass meeting of the In
dustrial Workers of the World, held
in Union Square, New York, where
the flag of the nation was pulled
down and trampled in the dust in
the presence of thousands of people.
The subject of his sermon was
Thou art the glory of Jerusalem;
Thou art the joy of Israel; Thou art
the honor of our people. Book of
Judah.
In part we take the following ex-
tracts from the sermon:
These words can be fittingly ap
piled to Mary, Mother of God, whom
we are honoring this month, for May
is the month of Mary. We honor
Mary because she is the mother of
God. God could not, with all his
omnipotenCe, create a purer, holier
person than Mary. God himself
honored Mary. Why should we not
honor her? The Blessed Virgin
Mary is justly called the chosen
daughter of the heavenly Father, the
true mother of the Divine Son, and
the Emaculate Spouse of the Holy
Ghost.
Some people who do not correctly
understand our religion, call us
idolators. An idolator. the diction
airy tells US, is one who gives divine
honor to images or statues. We do
not give divine honor to statues.
When we adorn the statue of the
Blessed Virgin Mary or when We
pray before that statue, we only
honor her, whom the statue repre-
sents. We ask Mary to pray for
us and to intercede for us with her
Divine Son. We offer sacrifices to
God alone. When one looks at Mary's
statue one is more forcibly reminded
of her, whom the statue represents.
When one admires a great bronZed
statue of a soldier erected in a park
one is forcibly reminded of the
soldier, whom the statue represents.
If one stood looking admiringly at
that soldiers statue or if one adorn
it with wreaths of flowers we could
not be called idolators, but only
honoring the soldiers, who are rep
resented by that statue. We all ad-
mire the soldiers who fought, bled
! and died for the proudest flag that
ever waived over land or sea. The
! flag represents the nation, republi-
can form of government, "a govern
ment of the people, by the people and
for the people,"
we Catholics both admire the
soldier, and love the flag of our ma
ton, and now as ever we should
be ready and willing to protect that
| flag and to prevent desecrating hands
| from stretching out and dragging it
I into the dust.
We regret very much that some
American citizens on the first day OF
| May in Union Square, New York city,
permitted the desecrating hands Of
! the Industrial Workers of the
! World to pull down the flag and
trample upon it in the presence of
/ thousands, who were there attending
! the mass meeting of Socialists, as
sembled there.
We admire the patriotic citizens
! of San Diego, California, who pro-
! tected a flag on the fourth of last
| April and forced one hundred Indus
trial Workers of the World, all OF
whom admitted they were anar-
chists, to kneel on the ground and
kiss the folds OF an American flag,
in the early dawn of that day near
San Onfre, a small settlement, a short
distance this side of the Orange
county line. The ceremony, which
was most unwillingly performed,
was witnessed by forty-five deputy
constables and large body of armed
citizens of San Diego. The men,
who were forced to show respect to
the National emblem, composed a
party that left Santa Ana on freight
train the night before and whose
coming was waited by the deputies
and armed citizens, who had gone
out in automobiles to meet them
and drive them back. The Indus
trial Workers were stopped at San
Onfre and detained there until
they had finished the flag kissing
then they were divided into squads
of five and placed in compand of a
detail of deputies. The march tC
the county line was started and the
procession moved to the tune of the
Star Spangled Banner" in which
they were compelled at least tC
make a show of joining. At the
Orange county line the men were
given a parting caution to keep out
of Orange county They gladly
set out towards the north on the
railroad tracks All honor and glory
TO the patriotic citizens of SaT
Diego, who forced those undesirable
citizens TO respect the flag that rep
resents our nation.
The press of the country that fur
/. nished us with this San Diego Incl
p dent informs us of a remarkable in
, cident at the encampment of tht
18th regiment at Mt. Gretna in 1900
We read then that a civilian refused
to salute the flag as he was passing
A sentinel called his attention to it
, The newspaper account further says
! The civilian haughtily asked the sen
) tinel, Must | salute that flag?" Tn
sentinel replied, "Yes, if you want t.
, pass here"
, Where is the Colonel?" indig
nantly asked the civilian.
At this point Colonel Watres, o
Scranton came upon the scene AM
told him if he wished to pass tina
! way he was Obliged to salute tn
! flag, but if he refused he could wall
! out of camp another way by whicI
he would not be forced to pass b
this flag.
8 The civilian turned steDped owe