Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1908-08-01
Suggestions Offered
hole sale
For Change In Flag

eIul OrueTS CdllluS tut tue uuOptlOu
i of the new flag. The order of Sec
rotary Metcalf, which embodies the
official description of the new flag,
was as follows: "To comply with
the provisions of Section 1892 of the
Revised Statutes of the United
States, the union of the national en-
sign and the union Jack used by the
naval service shall, on and after
July 4, 1908, contain i6 stars, ar
ranged. in six rows-the first, third,
fourth, and sixth rows to have eight
stars each, and the second and fifth
rows to have seven stars each"
| No sooner had the newspapers
made mention of the fact that the
Government experts were wrestling
with the problem of the rearrange-
mont of the flag than voluntary sug-
gestlons began to pour into Washing
ton from all parts of the country.
The men and women who had ideas
as to how the flag should be arranged
sent their suggestions through vari-
Gus channels. Dozens of such COM
munications came to the War and
Navy Departments direct, others
were sent to Senators and Represen-
tatives In Congress and number
were transmitted to the White
| House. One man, resident of
Bloomville, o., took the trouble to
so to Washington and personally laid
before President Roosevelt n geomet-
rical design in which the as stars
were made to form big star with
five points.
A Massachusetts, man wanted to
have the stars arranged in the order
of the admission of the States to the
Union, and one designer proposed
that the stars be arranged to con-
form to the radatins spolies of u
wheel. Considering the fact that the
Government had offered no prize for
"A design-had not even invited suS-
gestions--the widespread interest
was remarkable, and one enthusiast
went to the expense of having spc-
cially prepared small book on the
led leather cover of which he had
impressed in gold an arrangement of
the stars placed in accordance with
his ideas. The leaves of the little
volume were given over to written
leXplanation of the advantages of the
plan.
However, the officials had passed
upon and approved the design sub
mitted by MIR. Wrenn ere this ava
lanche of flag correspondence descen-
ded upon the Government offices. AS
was perhaps to be expedited, quite
a number of persons living in widely
separated sections of the country ul-
timately submitted plans almost
Identical with the one first presented
by Mr.. Wrenn. One man, former
sailmaker in the United States Navy,
now residing in Maine, got his sug-
gestion In only few days after the
acceptance of the design originated
in the Department and this Maine
man sent with his communication an
American flag with the stars arrang-
ed in the new form. This little piece
OF bunting is now preserved in the
archives of the Navy Department as
the first flag of the new type.
AS was perhaps to be expected,
many suggestions for the new flag
came from the State of Oklahoma.
The American flag was adopted in
the summer Of 1877 as the result Of
the work of n committee of which
and came as the successor of varied
ana promiscuous lot of flags which
had been in use during the earlier
days of the War for Independence.
Before Betsy Ross made the first ma
tional emblem In accordance with the
plan followed to this day more than
so flags had been conceived, used,
and discarded. So long as the coun-
try was composed of the 10 original
States there were 10 stripes and 10
stars arranged in a circle. However,
after Vermont became State. in
1891, and Kentucky entered the fam
lily, in 1892, 1t was deemed advisable
to place the stars in the form of a
constellation.
In 1912 Congress appointed a
committee to decide on permanent
design for the flag. Several stripes
had meanwhile been added to the
original 13, but 1t was foreseen that
this could not be continued II many
more States were to be admitted with
out danger OF making the flag mar
tistic or unwieldy, and so the Con-
gresslonal committee discarded all
l the stripes over and above the origi-
D nal number of IS. which 1t was do
: creed should be permanent, with the
) stars in the form of n square. so that
q new ones could be added convenient
ly upon the admission of new States
4 This plan was formally adopted by
Congress in 1918 and has ever since
been rigidly adhered to. This will
explain to many persons who sent to
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