The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-08-13

color. They had ro cut up linen shirts
TOR rla white stripes. and to patch TO-
while e. blue field sauIat cloak. captured
from 4. British officer. served Tor the can
Ton. a" .r-.> nrst important battle was
that ID. f.Ealt-t VINE. where - SlIiyieL d
.r-Hr- .- flt-pEHr army dc Saratoga
-..r.F-.# Thousand Ha.- We can efror.I
70 Fe.a u the curious fact that ~ was the
last American city 10 greet the stars ana
Stripes more taan SIX years after It's
adoption as our national banner. ki1s
George "oloIS dominated the metropolis
from q few days after the disastrous bat
Tie of Long Island til the cid ot the war
ON thu gaE agreed upon for the rvacua-
Il- American troops reached the Battery
at o'clock in the afternoon. ruey rOuur
d British flag hoisJed there upon TAN
pole. with the halyards cut away. The
departing garrison. the last of whom had
just embarked, evidently wished 10 see
their cOlOrs flying as long - ,ney We're
in sight of land: but a young American
soldier. Van ArSdale by name. climbed
the pole tore down the offending ensign
and set the Stars and Stripes aloft. in
fun view Of the retTeatiug squadron.
It is recorded, however, that the flag
had been flown in New York earlier in
the day At sunrise local boarding
house keeper, whose name history does
not seem to have preserved, ran up the
Stars and Stripes over his residence. HIS
daring action was reported TO Cunning
ham. the British provost marshal. who
ordered the rebel ensign down. as the
garrison claimed military possession up
TO the hOur OF noon. The order being dis
regarded, Cunningham came in person to
haul down the flag. Before he could
touch il the mistress of the house rallied
TO its defense with a brOOmStiCk, which
she welded with sucn VigOr and success
that the provost marshal retreated in
powder in his wig.
May 1, 1925. brought the first change IN
the Stars and Stripes. Vermont and
Kentucky had been admitted TO State
hood, and Congress decreed that the has
should thereafter contain fifteen stars ana
fifteen stripes. 1t soon became evident
that the continual addition of new States
would destroy the symmetry OF the nag,
and it Captain :. +. Reid. of the
famous privateer General Armstrong, who
suggested 10 Congress the plan upon
which the flag is built today. April Il,
1918, saw the restoration in perDeLuitV or
the thirteen stripes. and provision made
for the addition Of a new star on every
Fourth of July succeeding the admission
of state to the Union. Captain Reds
wife made the first flag with the OrIginaf
number of stripes, and with twenty stars,
arranged in the form of one great star.
old Glory is among the Oldest OF
flags, although we are one of the young
est of nations. The present flag OF Spain
was adopted in 1873; the tricOlOr of France
in 1874. the Union Jack of Great Britain,
Of Italy, in lS4N, and of the German En-
pire, in 1871. 1t is claimed for the Stars
and StrIpes-and no flag except the
French or the British can possibly dis
pute the claim-that it has been in more
battles. and has waved over. more We
tories on land and sea than any banner
in the world, and there is not a Euro
pean standard for which 50 many men
have fought and died. Something Ike
( q million lives have been laid down. that
/ the Stars and Stripes might continue to
wave over the land of the free.
Until two years ago all the American
/ flags used in the army and navy of the
/ United States were manufactured at the
! Brooklyn navy yard, but they are now
! also made at Mare Island, San Francisco.
! At these government factories the work
! has been reduced to an exact science.
/ The bunting is carefully weighed, the
! cOIOrS tested with chemicals. the stars
/ a hair, and every stitch counted with
| minute eXactness. The floor of the meas
/ uring room is a geOmeJrfcal problem
! which might puzzle professor of math-
/ polished brass, hard wood. and arith-
/ metic. The hoist of the standard flag
must, to the fraction Of a millimeter be
/ precisely ten-nineteenths of the length.
| Before the beginning of the present war
| with Spain. fourteen women were kept
/ busy stitching flags; now there are forty
| four, and it is curious to see them work
! ing as diligently upon the flags of Spain
! as upon the Stars and Stripes. Every
| United States ship carries a fun compile
ment Of flags of all nations, and of signal
/ flags, and all these are made by our own
| government. Just now Spanish flags are
! in especial demand; our ships are ever
! searching the high seas for Them
There is a new design in which the
| flag workers have made a special display
/ of their SkilI-the Presidents flag. 1t has
never yet appeared upon a battlefield, MOI
| hOated above man-of-War, but the da;
may come when an American chief mag
! iStrate making the grand tour of Oul
! territory, may take it with him to CuDa
to Porto Rico, or to the Philippines.