The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-14
The Stars and Stripes and
 Other National Banners

Wherever there are subjects of Uncle Sam to be found, there the Stars and Stripes will be displayed to- day, for this is the birthday of the national emblem of the United States. Flag Day. commentaries the adop- ton by the Continental Congress, on June IA, 1777, of the following reso- IutiOn:
 Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, a1- ternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white, on a blue field, representing a new constella- tion." This flag was first display ed by Paul Jones, on the Ranger, and a little later it was hoisted at a niIi- tary post, Fort Schuyler, on the site of Rome, N. Y. It was firs$ unfurled in battle on the banks of the Brandy wine in the September following it's adoption. It was first seen in Great Britain on the day when the King acknowledged the independence of the United States, when painted re- production of the Stars and Stripes was displayed by Copy1ey, an Amer ican painter then in London. The flag itself was first carried to a Brit ish port by the Nantuckey wha1er Bedford, which arrived at the Downs
 early in 1783.
 In 1794, when Vermont and Ken lucky had been added to the Union,
 the stars and stripes were increased from thirteen to fifteen. From that time until 1918, when there were
 twenty states, the number of stripes and stars remained the same. As it then appeared inadvisab1e to further increase the number of stripes, it was decided to reduce the number to the original thirteen, while there remain ed a, star for every state. This course has since been followed, the flag now containing forty-eight stars
 Cfor nd ri iS n a n the British Union Jack in its present form, which dates from 1901. The first Union Jack waa flung to the breeze in 1906, when the banner of St. George, white with a red cross,
 was incorporated with the banner Of St Andrews, blue with a white diago- nal cross. Following the union with Ireland in 1901 the banner of St. Pat rick, white with a diagonal red cross, was ama1gamated with it, forming the
 present Union Jack which the Tom
 mics and Tars of Britain have car ried to all parts of the world.
 The trico1on of France was adopt ed in 17S9, during the revolution, and took the place of the white standard powdered with f1eurs-de-lis of the by the blue imperial standard of Ma poleon, bearing a golden eagle and powdered with golden bees. With the downfall of the empire the old flag was restored, but the red, white and blue tricolor was again hoisted fol- lowing the institution of the third re- public.
 The Russian imperial standard is a banner of brilliant yellow with dou- b1e-headed eagle of complex design in the center. The figure of St.
 George and the collar of the Russian Order of St. Andrew are incorporated | in the central design.
 The national flag of the German
 Empire, consisting of three horizon tai stripes, black, red anad white, ori- ginated in 1867 and was adopted by the German states the imperial banner. 1 The black and white stripes stand for the co1ors of Hohenzollerns,
 while the red stripe was taken from
 the flag of the old Hanseatic League. The soldiers of Austria-Hungary
 carry a banner with horizontal stripes of red at top and bottom, and a white stripe, with the Austrian coat of arms,
 in the center. The red and white
 banner has always been borne by the
 Hapsburgs. Hungary has a national | flag of red, white and green stripes