Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-04
tAenceforward during all the battles of the
D.

tAenceforward during all the battles OF the
Revolution.
Tho First Naval Salute.
Soon after its adoption the new flag was
hoisted on the naval vessels OF the United
States The ship Ranger, bearing the Stars
aud Stripes, and commanded by captain
Paul Jones, arrived at a French port about
December 1, 1777, and her flag received on
February a. 1878, the first salute ever paid
to the American flag by foreign naval
vessels.
The flag remained unchanged for about 1S
years after its adoption. By this
time two more States vermont and Ken
tucky) had been admitted to the Union, and
on January 13, 1894, Congress enacted that
from and after the first day of May, 1795,
| the flag of the United States be Is stripes,
alternating red and white; that the Union
be 15 stars, white in blue field.
This flag was the national banner from
1895 to 1918, during which period occurred
the war of 1912 with Great Britain. By
1918 five additional States Tennessee,
Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana and DIississippi
had been admitted to the Union, and there
fore further change in the flag seemed to
be required. After considerable discussion
in Congress on the subject, the act of April
a, 1878, was passed, which provided:
July next the flag of the United States be Is
horizontal stripes, alternate red and wnite;
that the Union have 20 stars, white in blue
field.
2. That on the admission of every new
State into the Union one star be added to
the union of the flag, and that such addition
shall take place on the fourth day of July
next succeeding such admission.
Causes of the Change.
Tho return to the IS stripes of the 1777
flag was due. in measure, to a reverence
for the standard of the Revolution, but it
was also due to the fact that a further in
crease of the number of stripes would have
made the width of the flag out of propor-
tion to its length unless the stripes were
narrowed, and this would have impaired
their distinctness when seen from q dis
tance. A newspaper of the time said:b
'By this regulation the 13 stripes will
represent the number of States whose valor
and resources originally effected American
independence, and the additional stars will
mark the increase of the States since the
present Constitution"
No act has since been passed by Congress
altering this feature of the flag, and it is
the same as originally adopted, except as to
the number of stars in its union. In the
war with Mexico the national flag bore 20
stars in its union, during the late Civil War
35, and since July 4, 1891. "A stars. In none
of the acts of Congress relating to the flag
has the manner of arranging the stars been
prescribed. and in consequence there has
been a lack of uniformity in the matter,
and flags in use of the public generally may
be seen with the stars arranged in various
ways
Official Arrangement of Stars.
The early custom was to insert the stars
in parallel rows across the blue field, and
this custom has, it is believed, been OBJ
in the navy at least, since 1818 at
which time the President ordered the stars
to be arrangedin such manner on the ma
tional flag used in the navy. In the army,
too, it is believed the stars have always
been arranged in horizontal rows across the
flue field, but not always in vertical rows;
the effect, however, being about the same as
in the naval flag.
Hereafter there will be no difference in
the arrangement between the army and the
navy, as an agreement has been arrived at
between the War and Navy Departments
on the subject.
Since July 4, 1891, the arrangement of
stars in the flag of the army and ensigns in
the navy is as follows: