The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??, 1898-07-23


Hawaiian republic faii to tell OF me
interesting story connected with the
adoption Of the nag Of that country.
The incident bears not little romAnee
and shows In q way the ingenuity OF the
natives. The adoption Of the emblem
dates back about twenty-five years.
when the country was stfll . monarchy
and King Kamehameha II. was on the
throne. The country was continually
visited by the warships Of the dinerent
nations Of the world and the ruler OF
the Hawaiians had q difncult time to
keep his little land from being seized
by some foreign power.
The story IL handed down to pos
terity. The exact date Of the occur
renee Is not known, though It was In
the year 1878. The king Of the key to
the Pacific" awoke one morning to ma
q French warship anchored safely In
the harbor Of Honolulu He became
alarmed at the prospect Of q conquest,
and sent at once for his prime minis
ter. He was advised by him to run up
q asg, and show the visitors that the
country belonged to someone, and not
q mo mans land" to be piIlaged at VIII
BY the first foreigners who came along.
The king, needing the advice, cast
about for q piece Of bunting to repre-
sent his nation, and fell upon an old
British nag. This he had run up to the
top of his highest hagpole. The bunt-
ing had hardly time to unfurl itself to
the breeze when one Of the chief adj
visers to the king came running to him
and told him that he would have to
take the flag down, as the first thing be
knew II he did not an English man-of-
war that was expected at the island.
would arrive, and, the commander End.
ing his nations colors flying over Hon
olulu, would take possession in the
name Of the queen. This frightened
Kamehameha, and he started another
hunt for nag. This time the searchers
unearthed an American emblem TAX
ing the two flags, the ruler had them
made into one. The jack in the corner
Of the English emblem was left, while
the stripes OF the American flag were
added to 1t. Thus the Hawaiian nag at
first had thirteen stripes and jack,
the same as the English The king.
when he had disposed Of his French
visitors, had time to think over the
matter It was decided that II would be
better to have only eight stripes, repre-
senting the eight islands OF the nation
The extra pieces were cut on. leaving
the eight stripes. with white one on
the top. The jack still carries the St
George cross, the St Andrews cross,
and the St. Patriek's cross, the same
as the English. Soon after the adop-
ton Of this flag the whites. who had
begun to settle ON the island. came
more and more into power each year
until, as a result, the monarchy was
finally overthrow and the republic
placed on a firm basis. with white men
at the head Of the government. The
natives, who are superstisious, believe
the change In power from, the copper
colored people to the whites is directly
due to the fact that the white stripe Is
directly over the red IN the nag. They
say that had the red been first the
whites would never have gained foot
hold on the island sufficient to warrant
their taking the reins Of the govern
ment in their hands. As q result OF
this superstition the legislature of Ha-
wall scarcely ever meets but what some
new bill to change the position Of the
stripes on the nag Is brought up. The
visest Of the men among the natives
are kept constantly At work on the
drawing mp Of such measures, and their
members in the congress are ever busy
trying to put the bills through. The
belief Is that as soon as the order Of
the stripes ID changed. the red having
the preference. the eopper-colored ma
tives win again ascend to power and
have full SWAY In the government