The daily Nome industrial worker., 1917-02-27
FLAG DESIGNATION.

A bill is before Congress which it is said will surely pass dealing with the offense of desecrating the national flag.
 Ii is said that this is directed against certain organizations whlch are said also to be disloyal to the country. If is a queer business suggesting such a thing as flag desecratloh. 10 .our mind there can be no such thihs unless it involves dissertation Of the things for which the flag stands. The real dissertation of the na- i'm and the flag is the desecratlon that comes from failure to i've un to the principles of that Amer icanism embodied in the Declaratloh of Independence and the essence or which is resistance to wrong ana lh- justice wherever met.
 What greater dissertation can the American flag be put to than that it should be waved over acts ot ln- justice: social, legal or industrial injustice we have got to be shown.
 The flag itself is piece Of bunt- ing; lifeless, inanimate and lnsehs- ible. But it was raised to sympollZe liberty and freedom and justice and wban if is waved over conditions inimical to those vitallzlng prlh- ciples the flag is being subjected to q dissertation to which there can be no question.
 And it is singular to say the least that so many of those who evidence snch lofty indignation of what they term dissertation have no concern whatsoever about the real desecra- tion to which we nave referred. To them it is immaterial that wholly base influences are eXerted upon government, that wholly detestable activities are performed in the name of government, that violations of the constitutional rights of free speech, free press and free assembly are denied under the flag of author ity. vet these indeed are very real and lasting and defling desecra- tions
 It is a sinister sign that legisla- tion of this nature should be even suggested. It is significant that to- day the flag of the nation is not to all what it's founders intended Il should be, the emblem of impartia justice and unquestioned liberty It is significant that those who have held office under the flag mus that now in many instances theil conduct has desccrated it and made it the object of that suspicious at titude which declares that patriot ism is the last refuge of the scound rel, should now seek to get specla law to have the flag which they ol their predecessors in different sec tions have by official malfeasanct and nonfeasance disgraced, pro tected from sharing an odium thai they personally have brought about
 The American flag standing fol certain concepts of liberty and free dom and human rights had need oi no such law, but because a number of official scoundrels debased theil positions and debasing their posi- tions debased the flag, they have tt discover some means of protecting the emblems that they have from time to time so infamously abused
 It is not an uncommon sight ol an uncommon condition for thos' who have pressed home upon th' unprivileged classes disgraceful per versions of justice, seeking to Justf fy their acts with patriotic oration and considerable flag waving. Ye in the national life what other de secration of the flag is of momen but this very form and which is re sponsible anywhere for the flag be ing held in dis-esteem by even tn least within the republic.
 Surely it is against such as thes that laws saving the flag from sully ing disgrace should be directed. Tn nation as nation IS wha the people make it, no what the great builders of tn nation designed. The nation live in the present and it is upon thos who represent official authority ,tha the flag which typifies the natiol will be-honored or dishonored. Whe'