The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-07-05
HONOLULU HAD PATRIOTIC
CELEBRATION Of FOURTH
Continued from Page one.l

D Kings Colors, or Union Jack, repre-
: scented the sovereignty of England anC
the field of stripes, alternate red anC
white, represented the thirteen colonies
This British Jack, distinctive as being
the first Colonial national flag, was
hoisted for the first time over the camp
J at Cambridge, Mass, on Jan. End, 1776
and was discarded when independence
was determined on.
At the beginning of the revolution
no particular flag was adopted by the
Americans. Various designs designated
their different troops and still another
flag was used by their navy.
/ The first national flag after the De-
claration of Independence had field of
red and white stripes and a blue square,
crossed with red and white. In this
flag, by the addition of the azure hue,
we note the completion of the colors
destined to remain.
| In the year of 1777, congressional
committee accompanied by Gen. Wash
ington. called upon Mrs. John Ross of
Philadelphia and engaged her to make
a model flag from rough drawing,
| which General Washington modified in
pencil by substituting five pointed
instead of the six pointed star shown
in the original draft. For many years
after, Betsy Ross, as she was familiar
ly called, continued to make the Amer
lean Ensign and today her quaint, two
storied house on 239 Arch street, Phila-
delphia, is open to all who wish to visit
the birthplace of the American Flag.
For Congress, on the 14th of June, 1777
"a date now recognized as Flag Day
adopted this basis of the existing ma
tional flag. 1t consisted of thirteen
stripes, seven red and six white, and
thirteen stars arranged in a circle on
skyblue field. In number both stars
and stripes were emblematic of the thir-
teen independent states of the Union.
The stars are supposed to have been
suggested by the Chief of the Wash
ington arms as still shown on the monu-
ments at Brighton in Northampton,
shire, England. This new constellation
was destined to be ever looked up to
with the same faith that we give to the
starry sentinels of night. Like stars
of heaven, our flag stars have never
failed u.s. In both we read courage,
equality to all, purity, unity and perpe.
tuity. Just as the world has ever well
coined the stars of night, so has it well
coined the flag which "has never been
trailed in the dust by foreign or domes-
tie~foe. Wherever it has hoated to the
breeze, in every sea and upon every
land, it has been welcomed by all peo>
pie of all nations as the inspiration to
humanity, to society, to the attainment
of equal rights Surely it must have
encouraged the early soldiers of Amer
lea, as they followed their banner, to
know that the ancestors of Washington
also had triumphantly borne starry en-.
signs across many battlefield in the
far off days of chivalry.
The American flag was first raised
over Fort Stanwix--now the city of
Rome, N. Y.-on Aug. End, 1777. The
following month it was introduced on
the battlefield of the Brandywine. Capt.
Paul Jones was there to display it on
as he sailed on the Schuylkill,
after which it was hoisted on all Amer
lean warships. Capt. Jones was also
the first to carry the flag across the
ocean and to foreign country, when,
late in the year 1873, his ship, The
Ranger, arrived at France. Soon after
the Ranger s arrival, other foreign war
ships cast anchor at the same French
port, consequently saluting America s
flag and recognizing America as Sis !
ter nation for the first time.
Ten years later, the flag was carried
around the world by the ship Columbia,
which spent three years in circling the
globe /
When the second war against Eng
land was fought, two more states had
been added to the Union and, in con-
sequence, two more stars and two more
stripes to the flag. During this war
Francis Scott Key wrote our national
air entitled, ''The Star Spangled Ban
ner,' describing the scenes which he
had actually seen. This vivid descrip-
ion proves the great influence of the
lag on the battlefield and tells us how
America s sons have willingly risked
Ill else in order to keep afioat the Star
Spangled Banner. Everywhere, to an
American ear this air exhorts the best
emotion that is in neutrality-suspicious. !
SIN! What true citizen of America
would not add his life to the long list
If braves who willingly sacrificed a
,art of life's ''little while' in order
hat their country might live forever
Fhis song also recalls the fact that the
lag is the only monument of many gal
losed over by blue seas-sleeping in
Unknown graves.
As more states claimed admittance /:
o the Union, the flag was in danger
# becoming out of proportion should |
he plan of extra stripes be continued.
'hus, Congress appointed a COMMITTEES
o revise the flag suitably. Captain S.
\. Reid of the U. S. Navy was mem
er of this committee and to him is
ue the credit of the legislative act in
Iarch, 1918, causing the restoration of =,
he thirteen original stripes in honor {
f the thirteen colonies who established {
and Freedom. y star was
o represent each state on the field of ]
Iue. and one to be added for each new /
tate on the 4th of July following its
Omission. This act took effect on July I
tn, 1918. Thus the anniversary of the ]
igning of the Declaration of Independ /;
nee is also the anniversary of the es-
ablished flag of our country.
The first flag of this design was made ]
n New York City by the wife of Capt, {
,eid. assisted by several Young ladies,