Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1915-06-12
HANG OUT THE FLAG
MONDAY IS FLAG DAY
June the 18th the United States
Flag Has Its l3Sth Birthday.
ANNIVERSARY OF OLD GLORY.
All D. A. R. Members and Citizens
Are Urged to Display the Stars
and STRIPES.

Monday. June "a is "Flay Day. -
II is the 1SSth anniversary Of the Stars
and Stripes. and a day all patriotic
citizens should do hnoor to the flag by
displaying it from some conspicuous
position st Office or residence, store or
business houses, banks and State and
Federal buildings.
A request is made by the Regent of
the Peggy Stewart Tea Party Chapter,
Daughters Of American Revolution that
all Daughters display the flag at their
respective homes on Monday, Flag
Day.
No flag is more honorable and more
TO be honored than "Old Glory" and
certainly none is more beautiful. Let
every citizen show his patriotism by
hanging out the flag on Monday, Flag
Day.
The American flag is a growth
rather than q creation. Its history
can be traced back to the 18th century,
or nearly coo years prior to the first
=" Flag Day" June ii, l777.
After tracing the evolution of the
flag down to the time of the original
colonies it is as follows:
At the outbreak Of the Revelation the
American colonies had no flag common
to all Of them. In many cases the
merchant marines flag of England was
used with the pine tree substituted for
the Union Jack. Massachusetts adopt
ed the green pine tree 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 white or yellow field. This flag
had been used by South Carolina as
early as 1854. Benjamin Franklin de-
Tended the rattlesnake device on the
ground that the rattlesnake is found
only in America and that serpent en-
blems were considered by ancients to
be emblems of wisdom.
In September, 1875, there was dis
played in the South what is by many
believed TO be the first distinctively
American flag. 1t was blue with a
white crescent, and matched the
dress Of the troops, who wore caps
inscribed Liberty or Death.
The colonists desired TO ADOPT a
common flag but they had not yet de-
clared independence and we're not at
first seeking independence.
As the colonists gradually became
converted to the idea that indepen-
dence from the mother country was
necessary, they began to modify the
flag, first by leaving off the Union
Jack and using only the 13 horizontal
stripes. The modified flags were not
always red and white, but regularly
consisted of combinations Of two col
ors selected from red, white, blue and
yellow. The final modification was
the replacement Of the Union Jack by
the white stars on blue field.
The stars are the only distinctive
feature of the American flag. The
official adoption of our first flag was
in l777. The l3 stars were arranged
in circle to symbolic the perpetuity
Of the union Of the States. Vermont
wa. admitted to the Union in 1871. and
Kentucky in 1872. It was felt that
these two new States ought TO be rec
ognized on the flag, 50 in 1884 Con
gress passed an act making the Is
/ stars and 10 stripes.
'This remained the flag of the
United States throughout the War OF
1912, until there were 20 States in
the Union. In 1916, an effort was
again made to modify the flag 80 that
all the new States would be represent.
ed on it. To be continually adding
stripes would make the flag very awk.
ward in shape and appearance. so after
arguing the matter for two years
Congress decided to retrun to the orig
inal l3 stripes and one star for eacl
State. Congress has never determined
the arrangement Of the stars nor the
shape and proportions Of the flag, anC
there has been great variation. spec
tally in the stars. There are still man.
who believe that the symbolic scircuIa
grouping of stars should be restored.