The daily Alaskan., 1912-06-14
OUR NAvfsS FLAGS
Each Vessel esrrie,i Nearly a Ton
 Of Bunting.
EMBLEMs OF AL NATIONS.
Some of ,he Designs Are Cutie Esrsn. siVs. sna. ss Hule. the snsitsr she Nation the More csssiy It's Banner. Uncle ssn,'s Flag Euhporiefa.

Nation ths More csssly It's Banner.
 Uncle ssr's Flag Eu,poriern.
 pn every vessel of tse Uuited States navy. from the mousrr hattiesblp to
 the tlnlest tug ls slowed away nearly
 a toe or flags. which 70 Co make % 1 the unmlsr each vossfi is required to
 carry for use ou different occnstons Abon, half Of thiS ,sst pile of Rags
 consists of embicme Q toreign nations
 The making nI tbe E equipment for
 the uavy costs tno-p than Sslooo year Earn snlp ca'Ts forty thrce
 foreign flags whirb s.0e thiGceo feet
 wide ty rEraty drc .,'. long
 Asa sHiFs qnnsa af fHgs Is rcnewed
 every ,iirt4 veaes ti f.o sa1H under taking Co Ecpp thas fwnished and to
 this cud tryic Safa 'a'r 21r fae making cstaHiish e1i rHloiHc % fHIl
 time the ycar around G' thc Grnosiya
 navy yard Employed lhrfc are some | hundred skilled ucclicwu.Aen working cutting the diTcrrui to,orcl hurtings 1 Into the required viith hs a1d sewing them toecihcr Making the United
 States Gag Is not ,l &cult job but | the making nf sou,e o' tbc foreign em blems Is quite diTci'ept matter, and | this Is what most of the work at the l Gag establishment consists Of
 Take. fer example. the Gag of san l Salvador lB the backaround there ia
 a belching volcano pouring forth Us ' lnya aud white suoke On the sides
 of the mountain is the green foliage 1 and shruhe-y. while directly in the foreground Is & tranquil sea of sap. [ nhire blue Above the volcano Is n rising sun set in a design of overflow. 1 Ing coruurprias ard h diamond from
 which ibr U.yS are ssinulatiug in ev. cry Gircytiou To he left and right Of the beWhisc mountain are drapcd in
 varied designs banners which bear similarity Co the stilrs and stripes. Around the whole concentration Is a wreath cr cactus branches lovingly
 embracing the vpicailo. while at tbe ] ton the date 0f ihe co5utry's indpEeud ! eace Is iasrr.bcd I'd make a flag of this description cuStS the government l S52.JO. and when one of these B3gS is placed on each Sdip of thc navy every three years ij can be readily seen that | the insignificant little republic Go the south of us iS really costing the t1N payers of The country more than has ever been thOu2b; of
 The Hac of Costa Rica. with It's scen. ic beauty ot mountains and sea. Is an-
 other eXtrHyacant emblem. costing something ESr so 10 complete So H
 seems that the Smalllsr the nation the
 more costly its Gug.
 The largest flag made by the United
 States Is the Ensign No l, which mems
 ures tniTty.slx feet Wug and nineteen
 eost wide Tue cost of this monster is S46 ot ihereaboUts
 The presidents laE. while not the 1 largest by any means. takes longest to
 make. requiring tbc Iaho' ot one per. sou for a month to complete il lt is of simple des -n, btlng a blue he'd
 with the coat of arrhS oi the United l States in jhe center The life sized eagle with oUjStreu'hed wings and
 other eulhlems are all baud cmbTo'd'
 erca and involve the most patient
 work. The embroidery silk used on this flag. which Is fourteen by ten feet costs SD a pound.
 Uncle Sam'S fi4g emporium IS in
 charge Of his Garmaster, whose bust
 ness. among other things. is to test ail
 the bunting bought by the establish.
 ment. one day a sample lot of bunt. ing is soaked and washed In soap and
 fresh water, the next day the same
 process is followed with salt water. t is then exposed to the weather for ten ! days. thirty hours of which time must
 be in the sunlight This Is termed the
 color and fading test. Another test is ! always made for thc tensile strength.
 A strip ot thc warp two inches wide is placed in a machiue and must stand
 pulling strain or sixty-Gve pounds.
 while two inches oi the filling must
 stand a forty five pound strain. An over the Goor of the workshop pre arranged chalk lines and metal
 markers by thc aid 0f which the flags are cut out Large stripes and cer. 1 tain designs can he more conveniently
 stitched this way. The sewing Is done by women on machines run by cleo | tric motors
 Ii is an interesting sight to sec the b;r machine at worg cutting out stars for the United States dags. lt Is the
 only machine of It's kind in thls coun- try. It consists of a plunger btted with steel knives the size of the star
 wanted. and with a single downward
 stroke it lays on table 100 stars
 There are eight different sizes of stars
 used for the different Gags. andN or
 course the machine Is provided with
 the eight different dies for the pur.
 pose. Until recent years these stars
 were cut out by hSiud, which was
 long and tedious task but now day s
 work of the machine will supply stars
 for weeks work ,5n flags. -Harper's Weekly.
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