Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-12-17
ONE MORE STAR.
Oklahoma Will Be Represented on E the American Flag in July.

the American Flag in July. Washington. D. C., Dec 17.-On the
 list of next July new star, repre- | senting the state of Oklahoma, will he
 added to the union of the American | flag. Formally and officially. the
 new arrangement of the stars in the
 union will be effective on the Fourth
 of July. All flags in the United States
 service will be changed to coz form to
 the new arrangement. This viii GIL
 tail large expense. but the expense is one ot the incidents to the at;lais-
 sion to the sisterbcod of q new state.
 While the arrangement of the stars
 on the flag is purely administra-
 tive matter. the officials of the war
 and navy departments have conferred
 about it with members of congress and with artists who have taken an
 interest in it. The arrangement in-
 yolved pretty nice question, as it
 had so to be made as to admit of the
 addition of at least two other stars.
 representative of states which. in all
 probability, will be taken into inc
 union at some future time. The de- sire of the officials was to place the
 stars as to afford opportunity for the additional insignia without destroy ing the general effect of the whole.
 When 1t became known that the subject was under consideration, sug- Sestions of all kinds and from every section of the country were made to the officials. Some of them were good and few of them were regard ed as absolutely grotesque. Old people and young submitted their ideas. many coming from school chil- dren who manifested patriotic de- 1 sire to contribute to the beauty of | the national ensign.
 After months of study, it was de- ! cided to adopt what practically was | the simplest from that had been | suggested; and curiously enough. it | was an arrangement that many diff ferent and widely separated people had offered. It follows closely the traditional arrangement of the stars which has obtained for almost d hundred years. Economically, the plan is we'll balanced and symmetrical and it appeals to the observer as natural and beautiful. Across the top of the blue field. extending of the flag. will be a row of eight stars; the second row will be seven in number placed beneath the spaces between those of the top row; the third and fourth rows will be identical with the first and of the same number of stars, eight; the fifth row will consist of seven stars placed exactly below those of the second; and the sixth row will be of stars which follow the lines of the first. third and fourth rows.
 This design has been adopted of- ficially and work will soon begin on the new flags which are to be made to conform to it. Such flags as are now in the service will not be thrown away, but merely will be changed in respect to the arrangement of the stars on the blue field. This will in- volve considerable time, however. as we'll as expense, as the government uses thousands of flags of various sizes and materials, all of which will have to be changed in accordance with the new regulation. Of course, all new flags made from this time forward will conform to the arrange ment of the union which will be ef- Iective on the next anniversary of he nations independence.