Los Angeles herald., 1909-07-04

stripes OF red giving tOfth ueuance 10
cruelty and opposition.
On the 14th day of June, 1777, it was
resolved by congress that the flag of
the thirteen United States be thirteen
stripes, alternate red and white and
the union be thirteen white stars in the
blue field" This resolution was made
public September 3, 1777, and the flag
that was first made and used in pur-
suance of 1t was that which led the
Americans to victory at Saratoga.
Here the thirteen stars were arranged
in a circle, as we sometimes see them
now, in order better to express the
union of the states.
In 1874 there having been two more
new states added to the union, it was
voted that alternate stripes, as well as
the circling stars, be fifteen in num-
Der, and the flag, as thus altered and
enlarged, was the one which was borne
through all the contests of the war in
1872 But it was thought that the flag
would at length become too large if
new stripe should be added with every
freshly admitted state. 1t was there
fore enacted in 1878 that a permanent
return should be made to the original
number of thirteen stripes. and the
number of stars should henceforth cor
respond to the growing number OF
states.
Thus the flag would symbolic the
union asit might be at any given pc
riod of its history, and also as it was
at the very hour of it's birth. 1t was
at the same time suggested that these
stars, instead of being arranged in u
circle, should be formed into a single
star-a suggestion which we occasion
ally see adopted. In fine, no particu-
lar order seems now to be observed
with respect to the arrangement of the
fDI ic oh hn
whole number be there upon that
azure field-the blue to be emblemat-
ical of perseverance, vigilance and jus
tice, the star to signify the glory of
the state it may represent and the
whole to be eloquent forever of a
union that must be zone and insep-
arabic"
What precious associations cluster
around our flag! Not alone have our
fathers set-up this banner in the name
of God over the we'll won battlefields
of the revolution and over the cities
and towns which they rescued from
their descendants have carried it, and
raised it in conquest or protection
Through what clouds of dust and
smoke has it passed-what storms of
shot and shell-what scenes of fire and
blood Not only at Saratoga, at Mon
mouth and at Yorktown, but at Lundy'S
Lane and New Orleans, at Buena Vista
and Chapultepec. 1t is the same glori-
GUS old flag which, inscribed with the
dying words of Lawrence, Don't give
up the ship" was hoisted on Lake Erie
by Commodore Perry just on the eve of
his great naval victory-the same old
flag which our great chieftain bore in
triumph to the proud city of the Aztecs
and planted upon the heights of her
national palace. Brave hands raised
it above the eternal regions of ice in the
flan
SUBMITS of the lofty mountains of the
distant west.
Where has it not gone, the pride of
it's friends and the terror of foes! What
countries and what seas has it not
visited? Where has not the American
citizen been able to stand beneath its
guardian folds and defy the world?
With what joy and exultation seamen
and tourists have gazed upon it's stars
and stripes, read in it the history of
their nations glory, received from it
the full sense of security, and drawn
from it the inspirations of patriotism!
By it, how many have sworn fealty to
their country!
What bursts of magnificent eloquence
it has called forth from Webster and
Everett! What lyric strains of poetry
from Drake and Holmesl How many
heroes it's folds have covered in death!
How many have lived for it, and how
many have died for it! How many,
living and dying. have said, in their
enthusiastic devotion to its honor, like
that young wounded sufferer in the
streets of Baltimore, "Oh, the flag?
the Stars and Stripes!" and wherever
that flag has gone it has been the
herald of a better day-it has been the
pledge of freedom, of justice, of order,
of civilization and of Christianity.
Tyrants only have hated it. and the
enemies of mankind alone have
trampled it to earth. All who sigh for
the triumph of truth and righteousness
love and salute it.-San Francisco Call.