The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1895-07-19
FLAG-STAFFS.
An INDUSTRY ABOUT WHICH
LITTLE is KNOWN.
The Woods Used and Their Prepa-
ration Soaked Year In
Waterfall Poles Lean
to the North.


Importance that Worth gown has in
! the eyes of modiste, or a fine per-
feet fitting suit Of clothes presents to
the vision of an artist tailor. Any
way this man can talk as entertain
1ngly abour fagstaffs as Robert Bon
ner can about trotting horses.
-; This man says that you can buy
modest flagstaff, such one as you
would want to put on your residence
to display the stars and stripes on the
Fourth of July, or when your candi-
date wins at election time, for from
$40 to SIS. The big, pretentious poles
though that you see on top of the pub
Tic buildings cost as high as $3.50. It
costs the manufacturer about s. to
make the cheap poles and from $40 to
$40 to turn out the more expensive
ones. This would seem to indicate
that the maker of the poles has an
enormous profit, but these figures on
their face are very deceptive. The
sticks used for fag-pole must be alb
solutely fawless, and Of many hun
,dreds purchased by the manufacturer,
Ehe can only use very small per cent.
j in his business.
The work of putting a flagstaff into
position also devolves on the manufac-
turer, and this is frequently difficult
and dangerous job, particularly when
the pole is heavy one, designed to go
on top of high building.
! Flag-poles are used much more ex-
itensively now than in days gone. It
seems that almost every business man
thinks that he must fly his name on a
strip of bunting from the top of the
building where he carries on his enter
prises. When builder furnishes an
estimate for house now, particularly
if it is to be used for business purposes,
or even if it is private residence
located on corner, he would no more
think of leaving out the flagstaff than
he would of failing to put in the cost
Of the brick to be used in the chimneys.
i Most of the fag-staffs in this city
are made of wood which comes from
Virginia, North Carolina, the northern
part of this State, Nova Scotia and
Norway. For short sticks spruce is
used, but for high poles, of say seventy
five feet in length, white or yellow
pine is preferred. Before the wood is
brought to this city it is allowed to
stay under water for twelve months or
more, and after it has been thoroughly
seasoned in that manner it is sawed
into square pieces, preparatory to re-
.ceiving the finishing touches from the
Hands of the MOLE maker
/. The seasoning which the flagstaff
receives by being soaked in the water
for twelve months is not sufficient to
prevent it from warping and cracking
when exposed to New York's cratic
climate. So when the pole has been
.planed until it is straight, it is ex-
sposed to the sun until it is filed with
long cracks. The smallest of these
cracks are stuffed with putty, and the
larger ones with preparation of oak
UNI, similar to that used in caulking
ships.
In spite of every precaution to pre-
vent them from doing SO wooden flag
poles will warp. This has led to the
use of iron poles in some cases, but
they are generally objected to because
,of their weight. A famous old pole,
which nearly everybody in the city
has seen at one time or another, was
the pole which used to be on top of
the Western Union Building, and on
which the time-bau used to glide up
and down. It was badly warped by
the heat when the building was par
italy destroyed by fire a few years
ago, and was disposed of to a junk
Idealer. The new pole is similar to the
old one.
y Your manufacturer of flag -poles says
that when flagstaff warps it always
Ebends north. 1t is said that stick
will always lean the way it inclined
when tree in the forest, but the fact
THAT all poles lean to the north would
seem to contradict this. One explain
alton of the tendency of the pole to
lean to the north is that the sun first
strikes the pole on the northeast side
when it is wet with the dew. After
all sorts of explanations had been Of
!fered to account for the bending of a
pole to the north people who are not
conversant with the lore of fag-poles
will content themselves with the re-
Election that the wind and the sun
do it.
With proper care fag-pole ought
to last great many years in spite of
the incessant exposure to the ele-
ments. OF course the.best preserva-
tive of wood is paint, and man who
has flagstaff which has cost him q
good sum of money should see that it
is painted at least every twelve months.
'Flag-poles generally rot at the bottom
first, and then have to be taken down
to prevent them from falling of their
own weight. The usual length of: ia
pole on top of high building is from
fifty to seventy-fve feet. 1t is not
difficult to get pole in one piece fifty
feet long, but when a man wants to
adj twenty-five feet to that he has to
do it by means of splicing.
Anything like q complete list Of the
very tall flag poles in New York would
fill q column. Both Madison and
Union Squares have a large collection
of poles. There is a fag-pole ninety
feet high on the landing station at
ELLIS Island. st. Bartholomew
Church, at Fortyfourth street and
Madison avenue, is blessed with some
thing odd in the shape Of pole. It
is an adjustable affair that sticks out
OF tower at an angle OF sorty-fve Dc
grees when in use, bat when MOI needed
it is hauled down by means OF mach
inery and stored inside OF the tower.
There are two fifty feet and one sixty
fcot pole on the Custom House. One
OF these poles has been in use for
twenty-five years, bat does not show
any signs OF decay yet. The Grand
Central Depot is decorated with five
fag poles. On the tallest OF these is
ON 1rnmnnSa rillnl ennla Enrhnns