The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1911-10-10
TWO new STARS
FOR The FLAG
Rearranglng the Field Is Not
an Easy Task.
HOW THIS IS ACCOMPLISHED.

Army and Navy Officials Decide Upon
the Design-New Stars Cut Out by
Means of a Die-Women Sew Thorn
On.
Now that it seems certain that two
new states will be added to the Union
| by March 4, New Mexico and Arizona
being slated for promotion from terri
tories, the flag factories run by the
| government are In for some busy
| times. 1t will be necessary first for
the departments at Washington to de-
eide on how the new stars shall be
placed on the flag The field of the
flag is becoming crowded with stars,
and it Is no easy matter to rearrange
| them so that the section reserved for
consultations may not be inartistically
| jumbled.
! The duty devolves upon officials Of
the army and navy departments, who
must meet and decide how the new
stars representing the two new states
are to be placed on the field Of the flag.
Then the work Of rearranging the field
on all the flags owned by Uncle Sam
will be begun, and gigantic task it
will be-
Women Make Flags.
The army flags are all remade at the
various government depots, the work
being given to women who are widows
of army men or the daughters Of vet
Grams with some claim on the govern
ment for employment The naval
flags are usually fixed up by the sail
Ors themselves, the sailors being just
as handy with the needle and the sew
ing machine as the women, and as
they have great deal of leisure time
the sailors manage to do their own
official needlework. when the flags are
called in for the addition of stars and
the Encouragement of the field of stars
sometimes proves an easy task. The
amount of work involved depends
upon the position of the stars already
on the flag. If there is room at the
bottom of the last row Of stars for the
addition of another then it Is merely
a matter of adding that extra star. and
this is comparatively easy job. But
| the field of stars seldom lends itself In
that kind manner to the work of add
ing additional stars. The symmetrical
arrangement Of the stars is matter
! Of the utmost Importance, and this re-
| quires much thought and skill on the
part of the officials to whom Is intrust-
ed the work of designing field with
the extra stars added.
Work of Rearranging.
| When the design has been decided
upon the work of rearranging the stars
| Is begun. If there is an odd star in
| the number on the field that star is
not placed at the top of the column"
so to speak. and the rest of the colu m
left blank. The odd star Is crowt d
in with the others, and this has to be
l
one star more than the others shows
this fact with as little prominence as
possible 1t will be seen that to &C.
complish this, filling In the stars ar
tistically when there Is an odd star on
the field, requires accurate measure
ments. 1t also requires a great deal
Of work, for not only must the new
star be added. but all the old stars
must be ripped off and sewed on again
in the new places allotted to them on
the field Of the flag.
Cut Off Stars.
| The first duty, therefore, when the
design Of the new flag has been sent
out of the arsenals Is to rip off the
stars that have to be placed in differ
ent positions. This work is done by
rows of women. who are armed with
sharp pointed knives. They place
the star to be removed on a padded
base that holds the cloth taut Then
they carefully rip out the stitches
until the star Is removed. This work
goes on for weeks and sometimes for
months. for all the flags in the country
must be rearranged. AS the stars are
ripped off they are dropped in baskets
and not used again. new stars being
sewed on to replace the discarded ones.
The new stars are cut by means of
die. A man with mallet does moth
ing else all day but smash out stars
from the material used. At each blow
of the mallet a dozen stars are clean
cut from the cloth and are ready for
the sewing brigade. The stars go to
the sewing machine women, who stitch
them in place as rapidly as the ma
chimes can be made to move.
Measures Distance.
Prior to this. however. the most
painstaking precaution has been taken
to insure the placing Of the stars In the
right position. AT long table stands
the man who is perhaps the most i'm
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