Arizona republican., 1917-07-29
THE FLAG Dy Dr.. Frank Crane

| When you see the Stars and Stripes | displayed, son, stand up and take off your hat
 Somebody may titter It is In our
 English blood to deride all expression
 of noble sentiment. You may blas-
 pheme in the street and staggei
 drunken in public places. and the by
 islanders will not pay much attention
 to you, but if you should get down on
 your knees in the street and pray to
 Almighty God, or if you should stand bareheaded while a company of old soldiers march by with their flag to the breeze, some people will think you
 are showing off.
 But don't you mind! When Old Il Glory comes along, salute, and let
 them think what they please! When
 you hear the band play The Star
 Spangled Banner, while you are in a
 restaurant or hotel dining room, get
 up, even if you rise alone; stand there,
 and don't be ashamed of it. either.
 For of all the signs and symbols since the world began there is never
 another so full of meaning as the flag
 of this country.
 That piece of red. white and blue bunting means five thousand years of struggle upward. It is the full blown
 flower of ages of fighting for liberty
 It is the century plant of human hope in bloom.
 It means the answered prayer of generations of slaves, of the helots of
 Greece, of the human chattels of
 Rome, of the vassals of feudalism, of the serfs of Russia of the blacks of America, of all who. whipped and
 cursed. have crawled from the cradle
 to the grave through all time. | Xonr ct dc C., an equal opportunity to all the sons of men. Of course, we haven't arrived yet at the goal; there are many in- justices yet among us. many sense less and cruel customs of the pasl still clinging to us, but the only hope Of fighting the wrongs of men lies in the feeling produced in our bosoms by the sight of that flag. It stands for no race It is not like
 an Austrian, Turkish or German flag It stands for men, of any blood who will come and live with us under its protection. It is the only banner that means mankind
 It stands for a great nation or
 earth free from the curse and burder of militarism and devoted to the arts l of peace.
 It means the richest, happiest | youngest people on the globe Ii Other flags mean a glorious past this flag glorious future. It Is moi | so much the flag of our fathers as il is the flag of our children. and of al children's children yet unborn. It is the flag of tomorrow. It is the sigma | of the Good Time Coming" It is no the flag of your king, it is the flag l of yourself and of all your neighbors l lf It has power concealed in it. fol 1, v,I z1x from its flutterings. That power ant l influence mean that in due time, slow | lv and by force of law yet surely a:
 the footsteps of God the last ancien
 fraud shall be smitten, the last un
 earned privilege removed, the last ir | regularity set right, the last man shal have place to work and livint Il wage. the last woman shall have al | her rights of eprson and of citizen
 ship, and, the last and least of chil Il dren shall be sheltered and traine, | and equipped by the sovereing state Il and so have their right to live HI Don't be ashamed when your throa chokes and the tears come, as you SC III it flying from the mast of ship il HI the Bay of Gibraltar or the port O III Singapore. You will never have HI worthier emotion.
 III That flag is the cream of all reli l gions, the concentrated essence of tn III best impulses of the human race reverence it as you would reverenc | the signature of the Deity. III By hundreds and by thousands, tn H wretched victims of old world cast l are streaming westward, seeking her the thing that flag stands for-op III pOrtunity.
 III It stands for the quick against th ,1 dead. the youth of the world again. / it's senility.
 That Patton appreciates varior