Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1902-07-03

the flag was not officially PROMULGATED
by the secretary of congress untn
Sept. 8, 1777, it seems Wen anthem
ticated that the stars and stripes were
carried at the battle of the Brandy
wine Sept. II, 1877 and thence
forward during all the battles of tho
war. Soon after its 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 a
French port about Dec Is, 1877, and
her flag received, Feb. IA, 1918. the
hrst salute ever paid to the American
lag by foreign naval vessels.
The flag of the United States re-
NAMED unchanged for about eighteen
years after its adoption. By this
time two more states vermont and
Kentucky had been admitted into
the union, and Jan. 10, 1894, congress
enacted:
That from and after the list dav
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 ad-
NIT inf
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, wulte in
blue field
"2. 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, 1918.
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 a further increase in the
the width of the flag out of proportion
to its length, unless the stripes wesc
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 IN
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 in
its union In the war with Mexico,
the national flag bore Twenty-Five
stars in it's union; during the ate
civil war thirty-five, and since July
A. 1891, forty-four stars.
In none of the acts of congress
relating to the flag has the manner
of arranging the stars been prescrib-
ed, andi n consequence there has oeen
IF ,tf,if nv In 10
and flags-in use of the public in gen
eral may be seen with stars arrangeI
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
navy, 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, it 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 rs
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 o,
Italy, which was established in 1S+S;
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 ot
South American states, which nave IN
enral been modelled from our own.
w. T. H.
~ y -
FIREWORks FOR THE FOURTH.