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Show THE EAGLE GATE. Salt Lake City, Dec. 20, 1S7S. Editors Herald: The connecting walls of the Eagle gate are gone. That is well. But the eagle and his supporting pillars remain, and the wonder is wherefore. The wonder is well, but the cause of the wonder is not well. I do not mean that the eagle is not well. I do not say that he is or is not well. He may bo a very sick bird, for aught I know. Mast birds would have been very s;ck indeed long before they had J been rigidly perched up there Buch a time aa he has, through summer's heat and winter's cold. If he was as communicative and eipreeaive as a parrot, we might know the condition of his health, whether and when he was sick or well. But, being a taciturn and not a loquacious bird, whether he is sick or whether he is well, he says nothing about it and he makes no sign. But to the question. Why are the eagle and his supporting pillars to be left standing, right in the middle of the way? Only three reasons occur to my mind utility, beauty, and antiquity. anti-quity. The uee of tbe structure is not patent to the ordinary observer, nor have I ever heard anybody charge it with beauty. Most people would say there is neither use nor beauty in it, and I am of that opinion myself. Stayl Am I not a little haaty here? There is one utility connected with that remarkable and ingeniu3 creationit crea-tionit ib useful in wet weather to cause and concentrate a pool of slush and mud, which no pedestrian, even of the hardier sex, can cross without a Bhudder of disgust, and which is provocative occasionally of ejaculations ejacula-tions more emphatic than elegant. If this is conducive to the public weal, so be it, but it fails to commend itself to my mind in that light. For I can not conceive wherein the cultivation of mud puddles and the consequent "cuts words," a3 they are popularly termed, is promotive of the welfare of the public, or on what ground the encouragement en-couragement of that cultivation is desirable. As to the antiqity of the eagle and his cobblestone supports, that is nothing wonderful. They are only about twenty years old, and are commemorative of no extraordinary historic period or event, no brave or gallaut action. Therefore, on the score of antiquity there need be no qualms of conscience connected with their removal. There is no overwhelming desirability, then, in their preservation, on any account. It I there is any ue or beauty or desir . ablenesa in them, further than tbe equivocal utility which I have allowed above, they would be just a3 useful,1 beautiful and desirable at the inter-j section of East Temple and First South fctreets as they are where they they are. The possesion of place and power induces the assumption of a sort of divine right, and the manifestation of a spirit to presume upon the power of prescription and the potency of vested interests is not uncommon. It may be that his eminent aquiline majesty would have resented a sudden and unceremonious removal in roto as a grave and insufferable insult to his imperial lineage, and would have screamed out his defiant protest ogainst the perpetration of any such indignity upon him. If he had bean put brusquely and without ceremony to the test, he might have forgotten hie native dignity aud have conducted himself iu an unbecoming manner, derogatory to the imperial obaracter, and even to the comity of gentlemen. In this view the city authorities nave acted at once with audacity au-dacity and wisdom. With audacity in initiating any attack upon the eagle or his augut belongings, and; with wisdom in attacking and carrying carry-ing his outpoeta first, aad his outposts only, at least for the present. Then, again, viewing the removal as a work of reform or improvement. The able English premier, Gladstone, lost his majority and hia premiership because be pushed internal reform too comprehensively, too thoroughly and too vigorously. He made earnest war on ve3ted interests, and lost tbe day. Iu reforms and improvements it appears to bs best to make baste slowly, for there is an imminent danger in hot ha3le and fierce energy aud uncompromising v;yor in 6uch work, gcod and commendnblc us it is in tbe aUtract, o: iu the complotcly victorious accomplishment. People do not like to be disturbed before they are ready. It may be that our city fathers were fearful of some result of this kind in this Eagle gate business, and therefore thought it would be sifer for them to adopt a very cautious ar.d conservative ccurso, and not to take down the eagle all at one from his oommanding position whicii ho has bo long enjoyed, hut to proceed gradually, elowly ai.d surely, despoiling de-spoiling him by piecemeal, first of some ol hia more remote belongings, belong-ings, a little at a time, beginning with the counccting walls, thcD, alter a while, wheu deemed prudent, perhaps per-haps oue bind pillar, then after a while another hind pillar, and then, if his imperial majeaty was not ready to oapitulate on favorable terms, aud humbly supplicate to be taken down gently and laid aside tenderly, pull down one of the front pillars, and then and lastly the other front pillar, and so dethrone his eminent majesty and lower him into the plebeian and abject mud, or dust, over which he has lorded it so long undisputed, humbling him in such a Blow and sure and gradual and strategic manner that be coul'l not help him-self. him-self. To sum the mat'.er upaobeily, however, how-ever, if there was any absolute utility in the Eagle gate, or if it wn3a monument as handsome as S:r Waltei Scott's at Edinburgh, or Prince Albert's in Hyde park, London, or if it was erected in appreciative oom-melioration oom-melioration of any heroic act or admirable procedure or epochal event, I would Bay let (he venerable vene-rable bird remain, to receive due honor to all future generations. But us it is, I Bhculd like to say, if I could do it without giving any ollenee, down with that ugly bird and its ugly and inconvenient and obstructive supporting sup-porting pillars, and down with all other unnecessary obstructions in public tnoroughlares. Down with them, uuceremoniouyly and fflect-ually, fflect-ually, and the soouer the bet.er. If relic bving Englishmen could con sent to the removal ol me nmionc Temple Bar for the public good, surely change loving American ouuld outerlain ue insuperable objection to "Tfenttre removal of the tagle gate nriyllars, eagle and all. Belore Us fula! deKhment, friend Savage could photograph once rrnre, if thought worth while y it? admire s, if it has any, or by anybH. wbo wished a view of it nH n-nc t "jvat yoirs Qr, if the Blr.icture i cun sidered in any wise saoud, aud muit be preserved, allow me to that the peak of Ensign peak v be a very appropriate location tu which it might ho removed ami where it m:ght te rci". reeled, not at the pub-( pub-( -"ppn-ii', but at tue expense ol us arjL-ut admirer-. They ci.uld regard rtaaaeortof Mecca, if they choia, audniakoa loving pilgritnago to H w henever they ielt disputed. |
