Editor's note: To commemorate the 150th year of continuous publication, The Deseret News is reprinting some of the letters to the editor published through the years.
The people of Salt Lake who were in Liberty Park on July 25 should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves; especially those who stood by and let the destruction go on of those beautiful floats which were left on display.
People don't deserve to have a parade. They don't stop to realize all the time, effort and money that goes into the building of those floats. If they did, they wouldn't climb all over them and allow the beautiful trimmings to be torn off by thoughtless children and then stand by and even let one be set on fire.
It is a fine thing when, in order to keep anything in one piece, practically an armed guard has to be posted. To think that people just don't care about the heartbreak the builders of those floats suffered to see their hours of work destroyed in a few moments.
Properly dismantled, those costly trimmings can be salvaged to be used over again for many things. The parade committee should never again ask that floats be left on public display. We will never leave another one of ours. The public doesn't deserve it.
Lucille Vernon
Aug. 4, 1960