The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-06-14
DAY
OBSERVED
IN FARGO
Some Star Spangled Banners
Floating Today
Interesting Story Of the Ameri-
can Flag
June IA Observed Over NatiSn
as Flag Day
Today is Flag day.

Today is Flag day.
June Ia is the day when the
American flag was brought into ex-
the entire nation, in honor Of the
flag.
Chatter and traffic in narrow Chest
nut street made no impression on
the peri -wigged and spangle-vested
legislators in the lace bedecked satin
small cloths and silken stockings as
they earnestly enacted laws which
were to guide the destiny Of nation,
whose ultimate proportions they did
not dream,
From a massive mahogany chair,
high UP behind marble bench, sat a
man whose stately bearing, dignified
and immobiIe countenance and name
were to be indelibly implanted on the
minds of the generations who succeed
ed him and on those who later came
to the county Of which he was the
first president. George Washington,
gentleman, of Mt. Vernon, Va. looked
passiveIy down from the speakers
chair upon that little group of agitat-
ed faces and calmly controlled the
body of representatives who. In their
anxiety and zeal to express the senti-
ment Of down trodden people, were
all clamoring for attention at once.
Below and directly in front Of the
man who was destined to yanquish
the oppressors at yorktown, sat
Charles Thomson. gentleman and au-
thor, of Lower Marion, Pa, partly hid
den behind huge ink wells and piles
of manuscript which, In his bumped
over position, he had written with his
long quill pens, recording the pro-
ceedings Of the sessions. These two.
president and secretary Of the Con-
~, hn lfVtLa al
closely during the formation of the
young republic which was to grow
from pigmy to a giant among the
nations.
And when musket and sabre were
laid aside and the conqueror had re-
tired TO the solitude and the quiet
OF the Potomac, 1t was the retired sec
retary, still prominent in the affairs
OF state who rode post-haste over the
mountains in his coach and four to
Mount Vernon to notify Washington
of his election to the presidency and
to convey him back to Manhattan is
land to receive his oath Of Office.
Flag Of the Free.
A salute or guns was fired, hailing
the first chief magistrate, as his boat
departed from the New Jersey shore
to cross the Hudson to the nations
first capital. and aloft f1oated ban
ner which he, with Thomson, had
helped to design.
1t was a silken flag of red and white
stripes and in the upper left-hand cor
ner field of blue upon which, in cir
cular arrangement, were thirteen stars
of white
Arriving at Courtlandt street, the
banner was lifted and carried into the
little town, past old Trinity church and
down into the narrow. almost alley
NH. he
hero of Valley Forge was to deliver
his inaugural address. AS he mounted
the steps of the United States treas
l1ry, those stars and stripes were flung
high above him.
Flags were not new then, nor new
on this continent. For the cross OF
st. James, with its British lion, the
tri- color Of LaBelle France the gaudy
Spanish red and yellow, suggestive of
troubadours and prima donnas, the
Dutch haM-moon and the Swedish en-
blem were all accustomed sights, and
for the most part hated.
But the flag Washington had de-
siened and recommended TO the Con-
tinental congress was a product OF the
western hemisphere. 1t savored OF
nothing in the old world. There were
no "reminiscences OF the fatherland.
tt was the phoenix, risen from the
fall and decay of colonial and provin-
cial governments. and ii meant the
abolition of foreign sovereignty, the
elimination of caste. the equality OF
suffrage of the dominant race, free
dom OF thought and speech, the rise
OF a courageous and liberty Lowing
school OF statesmen previously un-
known to the world and an oppor-
tunity for the unsuccessful of the con-
gested fields of European industry.
That little nag, with its thirteen
stars carried q message OF fortune ans
fame. a new lease Of life, liberty and
fraternity. across the seas TO all the
classes Of civilization, and, like mag
net drew with unparalleled rapidity
the countless souls who had set out
to begin life anew In the world.
Debate Over Design.
Much DEBATE was neard within the
narrow confines Of that legislative
chamber, whose windows looked out
on Chestnut street over the sort OF
emblem the new republic was TO have.
Committees met, disagreed, dissolved,
were reappointed and met again, time
after time, before any definite design
could be determined on.
At length Washington, for whom
the inexperienced congressman enter
tanned only the profoundest respect
was asked to submit a design which
| in his judgment. would be appropriate
as enblenatic OF a democracy such
as he had assisted In creating. And
when he had finished and called into
consultation the members OF the house
| Of representatives, all were so pleased
with his efforts that 1t was accepted.
His flag was much the same as the
one commonly used during the infancy
Of the republic, with the exception ot
| the design Of the stars. The stars
on Washington's flag were six-point-
ed. and this was adopted. just how
| many OF those flags were made is an
undisputeG point, but Ii Is certain the
number was decidedly limited.
Betty Ross ldea.
A seamstress living In Philadelphia
whose NAME WAS Mrs. Betty Ross, Waf
EonltinIed 90 Page Slx.