Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-13
WORLDWIDE INTEREST
Birthday of Old Glory
BY FREDERIC }. HAsklN


in cost, and whenever the white ele-
plant Of Siam is made Uncle Sam must
hand over $aS, while Mexico's serpent
eagle design calls for $3.50. The very
largest United States flag, thirty-six by
nineteen feet, costs the government
only $40.
official and semi-official, no census
could ever be taken. Every embassy.
legation and consulate abroad has its
quota, every customs house, postoffice
and mint, every administration build
ing that In any way touches the nation
or commonwealth has its symbol OF
liberty. or the more than half a mill
lion public schools of the United States
the majority fly flags In token of the
spirit of patriotism which they foster,
Other educational institutions, eompa-
MES of state militia, patriotic organiza-
tions, business houses, clubs, private
residences, sea going vessels of every
character, all displaying nags. BRING
the total number In daily use far into
the hundreds of thousands. Big facto-
ries turn out countless numbers every
day. During campaign years the out
put Is greatest in private factories, Tor
every speakers stand, every train bear
ing political delegates. every hotel
housing political bodies must burst out
III ~ Uitt8d VI iSdTWhitS"ehht-pAAN Re~s@e
otism when occasion demands.
Because of the wide use of the flag
for advertising purposes during the
past fifteen years a movement has been
undertaken by the American Flag assoc
citation, the Sons OF the American Rev
olution, the Daughters of the American
Revolution and the trades unions to Sc
cure national and state legislation for
the protection of the flag against such
degrading uses. While legislation has
not yet been secured, public sentiment
has been awakened and the flag Is re-
ceiying more reverence:
The first time the stripes design was
publicly recognized as the American
flag was when 1t was flown from Pros
pect hill, Somerville, Mass, early in
january, 1776. Though a New York
regiment had borne ten-stripe flag, a
design borrowed from the British East
India company. Its use I'D only been
local. The Prospect hi4 flag was the
one selected by the oor.mittee that con-
gress had sent over rom Philadelphia
to Cambridge to CO, ifer with Washing
ton as to the adoption of some national
emblem. Thirteery stripes were choset,
| to represent tie thirteen colonies,
adopted some sa out of compliment to
Washington's coat of arms. These
stripes were m ide of the same width to
express the EQUAL Importance of the
| colonies and were sewed together TO
express. their unity of purpose. White
was chosen to represent the idea OF Just
and reasonable demands that might be
secured by peaceable means. Red was
chosen to represent the force ana de-
termination that must be used, II neces-
sary, to secure Justice.
| This first flag bore the British union.
the famous design that concentrated
| the union of the crosses OF st. George
of England and st. Andrew of Scotland
under James |, giving the flag it's name
| of Union Jack. Later stars, emblem-
attic of the permanence of liberty. were
| used, set in a circle to represent the
endlessness OF the colonies federation.
Some authorities claim that the stars.
too. came from Washingtop's coat OF
arms, on which are displayed three
"mullets" or rowels.
| The men who carved the nation from
the chaos Of political strife did not
forsee the possibilities of forty-six
commonwealths when they designed the
flag. All the empire their minds conln
then compass was hedged about by the
territory of other nations. SO when
new states began to appear Washing
ton ordered that new stripe and
new star be added for each newcomer.
BY 1918, when territorial expansion was
proceeding on a stupendous scale, u
WAS seen tudL LIS ildS was dhtNh W -
come an unlovely, cumbersome AFFAIR,
for 1t then had twenty stars and TWEEN
| ty stripes, so law was enacted that
gave us the flag of today-thirteen
stripes for the original colonies, ana
stars arranged in parallel lines on the
union, one for each state as 1t was adj
mitted, The war department deter
mines the order in which the stars are
to be placed, and the revised flag comes
| into official use the Fourth of July fol-
lowing the admission OF the state bring
ing the star.
In the national museum at Washing
ton the government preserves some MS
torical flags. Among thee are the one
carried by John Paul Jones' Bonhomme
Richard. the one of the Atlantic Tele-
graph company that fioated first from
the Niagara and then the Great East
ern when the Atlantic cable was laid:
the one made from the FIRST silk raised
and manufactured in the United States;
the one carried by the Red Cross soci-
ety's American ambulance in the siege
of Paris; the garrison flag of Fort
| Moultrie: the far Of the Kearsarge;
the first Union flag that floated over
Richmond in the Civil War, and, most
| important of all. the flag which hung
| over Fort McHenry at Baltimore in
September, 1914, inspiring the nations
hymn, 1.-THE Star-Spangled Banner
| Copyright 1908. by Frederic J. Haskin.'
Tomorrow-The First Republican Conven-
| ton.