The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-06-14
OUR FLAG.

The history of the flag of a great
country is the history of that country.
Its evolution is the gradual or the
speedy evolution of that country. The
tri-color of France has it's historic
meaning, so has the Union Jack of
Great Britain and her many colonies
and so has the Stars and Stripes of
our own country. This day, the ami
versary of the day when Congress first
adopted the flag which now floats in
every port in the world, and to which
over seventy millions of people look
with pride and veneration, is becoming
one of the national holidays, and will
in time become legal holiday through
out the Union.
The first and only Legislative action
for the establishment of a National
Flag for the sovereign United States
of America, declared independent July
4, 1916 took place on Saturday, June IA,
1777. The American Congress then
Resolved, That the flag of the thir-
teen United States be thirteen stripes
Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue
field, representing a new constellation"
This resolution, however, was not
officially promulgated over the sigma
ture of the Secretary of Congress until
September g. No record of the discus
sions which preceded the adoption of
the Stars and Stripes has come down to
MI.
fully studied by George Henry Pubic,
a naval officer who published a book of
over 500 pages entitled The History
of the American Flag"
There are many theories and legends
connected with the origin of the sym
bols upon our flag" but careful his
torical research proves none of them
as satisfactory. 1t is curious that
though only a hundred and twenty
three years have elapsed since the
adoption of the flag, and that though
there are copies of the newspapers of
the time eXtant and numerous diaries
and memoirs have been preserved,
there should not be a thorough record
of the reasons for the adoption of the
flag, and the sources from which it's
symbolical devices We're drawn. Some
of the theories are ingenious, some of
them pretty. A writer in the New York
Inquirer some years ago beautifully
said every nation has it's symbolic
ensign, some have beasts, some birds,
some fishes, some reptiles on their ban
ners. Our fathers chose the Stars and
Stripes, the red telling of the blood
shed by them for their country, the
blue of the heavens and their protec-
ton, the white of the purity of their
motives. and the stars of the separate
states embodied in one nationality, E
Pluribus Unum.' -
The full significance of our flag is !
perhaps most eloquently and most truly
set forth in the words of an address
made to the Fourteenth Brooklyn in
1861, by Henry Ward Beecher and no |
better quotation can be given as food |
for thought on Flag Day" The words |
ring over the forty years of time as
true and as inspiring as the day on
which they were delivered and must |
touch every American heart whether
it be on the compact mainland in far
Manila, in lonely Guam, or in fruitful |
and fair Hawaii. Listen to the words:
LAS at the early dawn the stars shine
forth even while it grows light, and
then as the sun advances that light
breaks into banks and streaming lines
of color, the glowing red and intense
white striving together and ribbing the
horizon with bars effulgent, so on the
American flag, stars and beams of
many colored light shine out together.
And where this flag comes, and men
behold it, they see in it's sacred en-
blazonry no ramping lions, and no fierce
eagle; no embattled castles, or insignia
of imperial authority; they see the
symbols of light 1t is the banner of
dawn. IT means Liberty; and the
galley slave, the poor oppressed con-
script, the down trodden creature of
foreign despotism, sees in the Ameri- .
can flag that very promise and predic-
ton of God: The people which sat in
saw a great light; and to them
which sat in the region and shadow of !
death light is sprang up.
"In 1777, within few days of one {
year after the 81. '- -==>=.:~h Of indepen- I
1ence the congress of the colonies in l
he confederated states assembled and |
this glorious national flag {