The Leader, enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1915-1921, 1917-04-27
A Grammar School Pupil.

The Savannah Press never assumed |
any task more willing than this. 1t
is good to know that a grammar
school boy is interested in the flag,
because the school boy of today is the /
citizen OF tomorrow, and patriotic |
school lad will make a patriotic man. |
The American flag was designed /
shortly after the conclusion of the
American Revolution
June "A. 1777. the United States
Congress passed resolution declar-
ing that "the flag OF the thirteen
United States be stripes alternate red
and white; that the union be thirteen
stars, white in a blue field, represent
ing the new constellation. In 1874
Congress decreed that after May /,
1875, the flag of the United States
be fifteen stripes, alternate red and
white, and that the union be fifteen
stars, white in blue field This
change was made to mark the admis-
sion OF Vermont and Kentucky into
the Union. The stars and stripes were
then equal and star and stripe were
to be added with the admission OF
each new state II was realized. how
ever that the addition of stripe for
each new state would soon render
the flag too large and resolution
was accordingly passed by Congress
April /, 1918. reducing the number OF
stripes to thirteen-representi the
original Union, and making the stars
twenty in number. 1t was further
enacted that a new star should be
added for each new state admitted
to the Union The flag now contains
forty-eight stars, corresponding to
the forty-eight states.
According to tradition the first flag
known as the Stars and Stripes"
was made by MIS- Betsy Ross, OF
Philadelphia
The blue field in which the stars ap-
pear denotes fidelity, the red courage,
and the white stripes faith and truth.
The first flag was made in Philadel
phiaphia by Mrs. Betsy Ross, who
complied it under the direction of
those who designed it. John Adams
is said to have been the one to sug-
gest the stars and stripes. They were
probably suggested to him by the
coat of arms of Georgia Washington,
The first time the American flag was
displayed at military post was at
Fort Schuyler, near Rome. N. Y, in
August, l777 John Paul Jones and
his Ranger carried the flag first upon
the seas on an armed craft. This was
in June, 1777. 1t was unfurled at the
battle on the banks of the Brandy
wine September /. l777. 1t saw its
first foreign service June %, 1873.
when Captain Rathbone of the Ameri-
can sloop OF war Providence captured
Fort Nassau, New Providence, Ba-
hama Islands.
Great Britain got its first view OF
the flag in 1892 when George III ack-
nowledged the independence of the
United States and the whaling ship
Bedford. first displayed the tri-color
of the new republic in port of Great
Britain on February 3, 1888.
We have written thus at length
about the flag and what it stands for
and how it came into being because
we want to encourage young Ameri--
ca to study the Stars and Stripes and
understand what living under its pro-
tecting folds means to one with red
blood in his veins. The flag has new
err been used as an emblem of oppres-
sion. 1t has extended its sphere of
influence and usefulness to the world
in many ways, but never in spirit of
conquest.
Nor has the american flag ever
been furled in permanent defeat. 1t
is glorious bit of bunting at all
times and we trust rs record in the
future will be as clean and unsullied
as it has been in the past