Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1902-06-30

! the flag was not officially promulgatea
| by the secretary of congress untlA
Sept 8, 1777, it seems Wen anthem
! ticated that the stars and stripes were
carried at the battle Of the Brandy
wine Sept II, 1777 and thence
forward during all the battles of tho
war Soon after it's adoption the new
flag was hoisted on the naval vessels
of the United States.
The ship Ranger, bearing the stars
and stripes, and commanded by
| Captain Paul Jones, arrived at
French port about Dec. Is, 1777, and
her flag received, Feb. IA, ITO, the
first salute ever paid to the American
| flag by foreign naval vessels.
The flag of the United States re-
NAMED unchanged for about eighteen
years after it's adoption. By this
time two more states vermont and
Kentucky had been admitted into
the union, and Jan. Is, 1894, congress
enacted:
THAT from and after the LIST day
o. May, 1895, the flag of the United
States be fifteen stripes, alternate red
and white; that the union be fifteen
stars in white on a blue field"
This flag was the national banner
from 1895 to 1918, during which
period occurred the war with Great
Britain. BY 1918 five additional
states Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana,
Indiana and Mississippi had been adj
i.
a further change in the flag seemed
required.
After considerable discussion in
congress on the subject the act Of
/ April 4, 1918, was passed, which pro-
! vided:
81. That from and after the fourth
day of July next, the flag of the
United States be thirteen horizon al
stripes, alternate red and white; that
the union have twenty stars, White Ill
"a blue field.
60 That ON the admission of every
new state into the union, one star be
added to the union of the flag, and
that such addition shall take effect on
the fourth day of July next succeed
ing such admission
The first state to add a star Of the
| constellation of the new flag was
Illinois admitted December 1878
The return to the thirteen stripes
of the 1777 flag was due to a measure
| to "a reverence for the standard OF
the revolution; but it was also uue to
! the fact that further increase in the
! IF
to it's length, unless the stripes wee
removed, and this would have in.
paired the distinctness when seen
! from a distance.
A newspaper of the time said: by
! this regulation the thirteen stripes
| will represent the number of states
whose valor and resources originally
| effected American independence, and
the additional stars will mark the III
crease of the states since the present
constitution"
| No act has been passed by congress
/ altering this feature of the flag, ana
! it is the same as originally adopted
except as to the number OF stars III
| it's union In the war with Mexico,
the national flag bore twenty-nine
stars in it's union; during the late
civil war thirty-fve, and since July
4, 1891, forty-four stars.
In none of the acts of congress
relating to the flag has the manner
of arranging the stars been prescrib-
led, andi n consequence there has bee.s
a lack of uniformity in the matter,
and fags-in use of the public in gen
eral may be seen with stars arranged.
| in various ways.
| The early custom was to arrange
| the stars in parallel rows across the
blue field, and this custom, it is
believed, has been observed in the
lnavy, at least since 1918, at which
time the president orderd the stars to
| be arranged in such manner on the
national flag used IN the navy.
In the army, too, lit is believed, the
stars have always been arranged in
horizontal rows across the blue field,
but not always in vertical rows, the
/ effect however, being about the same
as in the naval flag. Hereafter there
| will be no difference in the arrange
ment of the stars between the army
and navy, as an agreement has been
arrived at between the war and navy
! departments on the subject.
| The stars and stripes emblem IS
older than the flag of Great Britain,
which was established in 1901; than
| the French tri-color, which was de-
creed in 1894 than the flag of the
| German empire which dates from
1870; that the flag Of Spain, which
was decreed in 1885; than the flag Oh
Italy, which was established in 1913;
than that of Sweden and Norway
which was decreed in 1917; than the
flag of Portugal, which was adopted in
1915; than the recent flags of the en-
pires of China and Japan, or those OF
South American states, which have IN
enral been modelled from our own.
w. T. H.
~ y ~