The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1914-12-17
SECRETARY LANES
FLAG DAY ADDRESS
lFrom the Literary Digestl

VI AoAH hHt LlhNAot9 DibSn1
The versatility of the man thought
likely by some observers TO be Presi-
dent Wilson'S choice for the first va
csncy on the supreme court bench was
recently shown in sphere outside of
jurisprudence. Secretary Franklin X.
Lane made a speech on Flag Day that
leads the New York Evening Post to
observe that ''it is not often that the
hard working head of department
and department prominently devoted
TO economic missionaries a venture so
original and 50 successful in the domain
Of oratOry" In two successive weeks
recently the supreme court has rem
dered four decisions defining and clari-
flying the relations between interstate
railroads and the Interstate Commerce
Commission and the rights of the Com
mission in naming rates. In all four of
these cases, says the Evening Post,
"the decisions of the Interstate Com
merce Commission, written by Frank
lin X. Lane, now secretary of the in
terror, when he was member OF the
Interstate Commerce Commission, have
been fully sustained and affirmed, and
virtually on the same grounds taken by
Mr.. Lane in writing the decisions of
the Interstate Commerce Commission.
The Flag Day speech was addressed to
no higher tribunal than the clerks Uf
his department. And the same paper
observes that il contains mo bathos
and no cant" Moreover, incredible
as it may seem, the very word service
is not to be found in it, from end to
end. This is the speech in full
"1his morning, as passed into the
most cordial salutation, and from its
ripping folds | heard it say: Good
morning, MIR. FIag-maker.
beg your pardon, Old Glory, |
said, you are mistaken. | am not the
president of the United States, nor the
vice president, nor member of con-
gress, nor even a general in the army.
am only government clerk.
i greet you again, MIR, Flag-m max.
er. replied the gay voice. L know
you well. You are the man who worked
in the swelter of yesterday straighten-
ing out the tangle of that farmers
homestead in Idaho,
No, | am not, | was forced to
confess.
Well, perhaps you are the one who
discovered the mistake in that Indian
contract in Oklahoma
No, wrong again, | said.
Well. you helped to clear that
patent for the hopeful inventor in New
York, or pushed the opening of that
new ditch in Colorado, or made that
mine in Illinois more safe, or brought
relief to the old soldier in Wyoming.
No matter, whichever one of these
beneficent individuals you may happen
to be, ! give you greeting. Mr.. Flag
maker.
IL was about to pass on, feeling that
] was being Knocked, when the flag
stopped me with these words:
" You know. the world knows, that
yesterday the president spoke word
that made happier the future of ten
million poems in Mexico, but that act
looms no larger on the flag than the
struggle which the boy in Georgia is
making to win the corn club prize this
summer, Yesterday the congress spoke
a word which will open the door of
Alaska, but mother in Michigan
worked from sunrise until far into the
night to give her boy an education
She. too, is making the flag. Yesterday
We made new law to prevent financial
panics; yesterday, no doubt, school
teacher in Ohio taught his first letters
to boy who will write a song that will
give cheer to the millions to our race.
We are all making the flag.
But, | said, impatiently. those
people who were only working.
Then came great shout from the
flag
- ct me tell you who am. The
work that we do is the making of the
real flag. | am not the flag, not at all.
! am but its shadow | am whatever
you make me, nothing more. ] am your
belief in yourself, our dream of what a
people may become. | live a changing
life, life of moods and passions, of
heartbreaks and tired muscles. Some
times | am strong with pride, when
men do all honest work, fitting the rails
together truly. Sometimes droop, for
then purpose has gone from me, and
cynically | play the coward. Some
times | am loud, garish, and full Of
that ego that blasts judgment, But
aways | am all that you hope to be and
have the courage to try for. am song
and fear. struggle and panic. and en-
nobling hope. am the days work of
the weakest man and the largest dream
of the most daring. | am the constitu.
tion and the courts, statutes and stat
ute-makers, soldier and dreadnought,
drayman and street sweep, cook, coun-
selor and clerk. | am the battle of
yesterday and the mistake of tomor-
row. am the mystery of the men who
do without knowing why. | am the
clutch of an idea and the seasoned pur-
pose of resolution. am no more than
what you believe me to be, and am all
that you believe can be. am what
you make me, nothing more. swing
before your eyes as a bright CLEAN of
color. a symbol of yourself, the pic.
tured suggestion Of that big thing
which makes this nation. My stars and
my stripes are your dreams and your
labors. They are bright with cheer,
brilliant with courage, firm with faith,
because you have made them so out of