Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1911-11-16
TWO new STARS
FOR The FLAG
Rearranging the Field Is i.oi
an Easy Task.
HOW THIS IS ACCOMPLISHED.

Army and Navy Officials Decide Upon
the Dcsign-New Stars Cut Out bv
Means of Die-Women Sew Them
On.
NOW that it seems certain that two
new states will be added to the Union
by March 4, New Mexico and Arizono
being slated for promotion from terri
tories, the flag factories run by the
government are in for some busy
times. III Will be necessary first for
the departments at Washington to de,
eide on how the new stars Shall no
placed on the flag The field of the
flag Is becoming crowded with stars,
ana 1t is no easy matter to rearranre
them so that the section reserved for
consultations may not be inartisticnlly
jumbed
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 a 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
hags are usually fixed up by the sail
ors themselves, the sailors being lust
rs handy with the needle and the sew
ing machine as the women, and as
they have a 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 rearrangement of the field of stars
The addition of one star to the flag
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
Il matter of adding that extra star, and
this is Il 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 il 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 Il 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 column
left blank. The odd star is crowded
in with the others. and this has to be
done so that the line of stars that has
one star more than the others shows
this fact with as little prominence as
compIish this. filling in the stars ar
tistcally when there is an odd star on
the field. requires accurate measure
ments. 1t also requires Il 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 arSenas 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 padded
base that holds the cloth taut. Then
they carefully rip out the stitches
until the star is removed. This work
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
Il die. y man with a mallet does moth
ing else all day but smash out stars
from the material used. At each blow
of the malet Il dozen stars are clean
cut from the cloth and afc ready for
the sewing brigade. The Stars go To
the sewing machine women. " no 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 ,he placing of the stars in the
right position At long table stands
the man who is perhaps the most I'm
portant part of the flag changing ma
chinery. for upon him depends the
accurate placing of the stars.
With his design before him this
man takes the flag upon which the
stars are to be placed and measures
the distance to the fraction of IN