The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1914-06-17
THE A AND STRIPES

vVe UoS NV -
The annual observance of June IA
as Flag Day" recalls the fact that,
at the outbreak of the Revolution the
American colonies had no flag com
mon to all of them. In many cases
the merchant marine flag of England
was used with the pine tree substi.
tuted for the Union Jack. Massa-
chusetts adopted the green pine three
on a white field with the motto: "An
Appeal to Heaven" Some of the
southern states had the rattlesnake
flag with the motto Don't Tread on
Me" on a white or yellow field. This
flag had been used by South Carolina
as early as 1864. Benjamin Franklin
defended the rattlesnake device on
the ground that the rattlesnake is
found only in America and that ser
pent emblems were considered by an.
clients to be symbols Of wisdom.
In September, 1775. there was dis
played in the south what is by many
believed to be the first distinctly
American flag. 1t was blue with a
white crescent, and matched the dress
of the troops, who wore caps inscrib-
ed Liberty OF Death"
The colonists desired to adopt a
common flag; but they had not yet
declared independence and were not
at first seeking independence. They
took the British flag as they knew it,
and made a new colonial flag by di.
viding the red field with white stripes
into thirteen alternate red and white
stripes. This is known as the Cam.
bridge flag, because it was first un.
furled over Washington's headquar-
tiers at Cambridge, Mass, on January
/. 1915. 1t complied with the law of
1907 by having the Union Jack on it;
it also represented the thirteen col
onies by the thirteen stripes.
AS the colonists gradually became
converted to the idea that independ-
ence from the mother country was
necessary, they begun to modify the
flag. first by leaving off the Union
Jack and using only the thirteen hor-
izontal stripes. The modified flags
were not always red and white, but
regularly consisted of combinations of
two colors selected from red, white,
blue and yellow. The final mOdifica-
ton was the replacement of the I'm
ion Jack by the white stars on a blue
field.
I The stars are the only distinctive
feature of the American flag. The
charming story which credits Betsy
Ross with making the first flag Of
stars and stripes is still accepted by
historians. When Washington sug-
gested the six-pointed star, she dem
onstrated the ease with which a five
pointed star could be made by folding
a piece of paper and producing n
with a single clip of the scissors.
Some writer's are of the opinion that
both stars and stripes in the flag were
derived from the coat of arms of the
Washington family, but the theory is
not generally held.
The official. adoption of our first
flag was in 1777. On June IA of that
year the Continental congress passed
an act providing that 1.-THE flag of the
thirteen United States by thirteen
stripes, alternate red and white; that
the union by thirteen stars, white on
a blue field, representing a new con-
stellation." The thirteen stars were
arranged in a circle to symbolic the
perpetuity of the union of the states.
Vermont was admitted to the I'm
ion in 1891 and Kentucky in 1892. 1t
wa felt tina these two new states
ought to be recognized on the flag
SO in 1894 congress passed an act
making the flag fifteen stars and ff-
teen stripes.
This remained the flag of the United
States throughout the War of 1912,
until there were 20 states in the I'm.
ion. In 1916, an effort was again made
to modify the flag so that all the new
states would be represented on it..
To be continually adding stripes
would make the flag very awkward
in shape and appearance. so after ar
guing the matter for two years, con-
gress decided to return to the orig
inal 13 stripes and one star for each
state. Congress has never determin-
ed the arrangement of the stars nor
the shape and proportions of the flag,
and there has been great variation,
especially in the grouping of the
stars. There are still many who be-
lieve that the symbolic circular group
ing of stars should be restored.
WoMAN's TRIBUTE TO MAN