Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-05-20
PROGRESS UNDER OUR FLAG.
Our Foreign Wars and the Resources Be-
hind Them.

fourth Important foreign war in which
the United States has been engaged. IN
addition there have been three other Tor
eign contests. one with France during |
The Adams administration, and two with |
the Bar0ary states the first when jeff
erSon was President and the second I'M |
der Madison.
In all these conflicts. extending in the
aggregate over q period OF nearly thlf-
teen years the national emblem came our
crowned with victory. Both on land and
on sea il has flown triumphant since tina
June day, in 1777. on which Mrs. Ross OF
Philadelphia showed George washington, |
who had taken her the design for the
flag agreed on by Congress. how TO emp
ont a iive-pointed star with one clip of
her patriotic scissors. The stars on the
coinage are all six-pointed. the British |
style in stars. and tradition says WASH |
ngton drew them for Mrs. Ross but she
stuck 10 the liVe-pointed Gallo star an /
in that form they have ever since re /
NAMED
The resolution of the continental con-
gress creating the lag read;
THAT the flag of the thirteen United
States shall be thirteen stripes. alternate
red and white. that the union be thlr-
teen stars. white, in blue field, repre-
senting a new constellation.
When Kentucky ana Vermont We're ad-
mitted as states in 1871 two new stars
were added, and in 1875 the stripes were
increased to fifteen. Ry 1918. when the
number of states hal run up to twenty
the inartistc effect of adding 10 the
number OF stripes was perceived, ana
Congress enacted that the flag for the
future should be thirteen stripes with
star for each state.
Before the adoption of the stars ana
stripes. however. Americans Fought I'M
der many different tlags. at Lexington
the farmers had neither flag nor uniform.
but at Bunker Hill several enSiSnS inade
their appearance. They were OF o!ifcrcnt
patterns. One Of them was entirely blue
bearing the motto: Come II You Dare.
Another was blue with a white canton
quartercd by red 81. Georges cross anl
Il pine tree in the inner corner At the
/ top. When Washington was beSleGlnS
the British forces at Boston. MS locating
| batteries flew a white banner bearing a
/ green pine tree ana the words lhe NJ
! peal To Heaven. \ famous nag al la"
was the blue ensign OF South Carolina.
/ with white crescent i'll the upper cor
ner. Sometimes 1t bore the word Lib
| erty' in white letters.
! While the basic principles OF nationhood
which the flag represented 10 years age
! independence, liberty. ana uapn-and
/ those which II typll"S today are ldcHl-
cal, the material resources essential T.
| the maintenance ana preservation OF
/ them have become so colossal thii lneY
are the marvel OF the World II W3s Mf.
! Gladstone who said: Ine united states
! have a national base for me greatest con-
! tinuous empire ever established hy man.
ana he added me dI5tinctj"n hetW'e4
4 continuous empire and one severed and
! IEat "eoniinuo1lS empire Is lodiiy a
! reality. When Washington led the con
tinentsuS the treasury was often without
means to buy the poor food that led
them. The slenl Ter pay of men and Off
GERS was far in arrears. Desperate eNpe-
dients We're required 10 maintain tht
puolc credit. Our diplomatic repteStH-
tItiVos We're suppliants for advances OF
honey wherever there was the faintest
| hope of obtaning it, They Were peu-
toners for clothes and arms and ammu-
ntion for almost everything required
by an army III the field.
At the outbreak Of the Revolutionary
war the population of the colonies was
about 2,000.C0o whites and 100000 negroes.
Agriculture and commerce We're the two
/ leading industries. Third IN imp3r lance
were the fisheries. Despite the harsh re-
strictions imposed on all the articles OF
export and the absolute prohibition OF
manufactures. the colonists were doing
fairly well. Allowed fair play. they
would have become The most prosperous.
as they We're undoubtedly al the time the
most virtuous people in the world. In
All the colonies there were only SIX cities
having a population Of over 5000. Pauper-
ism as it is understood today. was UNI
known; 50 also was vice.
During the war upward of sixty mpor
tant battles and engagements were
fought. The number of soldiers and sail
ors employed by Great Britain was about
13J GOO To them the coionists opposed
100 III regulars ana $1,000 volunteers and
bers of $4,000 men. According to other
returns. however. the number of the
. Revolutionary forces was much larger.
The cost Of the war to the cO.onics was
over $13J,e'J g01.
/. When the war Of 1872 began there were
only fifteen stars in The flag. although the
Union comprised eighteen states. The
number of stripes was fifteen. The Dlin-
, cjplcS for which tine flag then stood were
tersey embodied in the five words Free
Trade and Sailors Rights" which meant
I the surrender ~ Great Britain of her
, assumed power on the ocean and the
| Abandonment Of doctrines on the cues
! tons of allegiance and citizenship to
which she resolutely adhered. in the
3. thirty-siX years after the declaration Of
2 independence the country had grown
. enormously. The national debt had been
= reduced to $450100o0 The population
{ was over 5000 600. In material wealth the
u increase had SURPASSED all expect9tinnS
I But stiH the nation was only in its in
fancy. 1t was the era II the stage coach;
a the first locomotive had not Yet been
G ma lie by Stephenson in England. Agri-
i: culture and navigation were the Two
~.