Omaha daily bee., 1917-04-22
OLD GLORY, NESTOR
OF NATIONAL FLAGS
Years of Service and Achieve
ment on Many Lands
and Seas.
WAsHINGToN's DISPLAY

American flags are flying in every
city, town and hamlet in the United
States. The token is spontaneously
flung to the breeze and means that
the loyalty of the nation is back of
the president. A recent law prohibits
the use Of the flag for decorative
purposes and provides that it shall
be displayed only where it can float
freely in the air. While no statute
designates in what position the Amer
lean flag shall float, the custom of the
army is to place the field of stars to
the north or to the east. Thus, if
Washington street in Boston is to be
hung across with flags, the stars
should be placed on the side toward
the harbor. Much enron .ous history
has been written OF the American
flag and it has been one of the tasks
of the United States National Museum
to collect samples of flags from the
earliest days and to display them
where the visitor may learn the story
Of the national emblem.
When the Flag Was Established.
Naturally, there were many forms
of early flags, especially colonial
types used by the individual colonies,
and militia regiments, before the flag
OF the United States was established
by our Continental congress on July
IA, 1777, now celebrated as Flag day,
This act required that the flag of the
United States be of thirteen alternate
red and white stripes and that the
union be thirteen white stars on a
blue field, representing a new constel-
lation, but it did not define how many
points the stars should have, how
they should be arranged, nor make
provision for additional ones. At
the time of the adoption of this reso-
luton, Washington is said to have OBJ
served, 1--WE take the star from heav-
en-, the red from our mother country,
separating it by white stripes. thus
showing that we have separated from
her, and the white stripes shall 60
down to posterity representing lib
erty."
First Flown Over Fort Schuyler.
The first display of the Stars and
Stripes" is believed to have been on
August E, l777, when the new flag
was hoisted over the troops at Fort
Schuyler, Rome, N. Y. John Paul
Jones is said to have been the first
to fly the Stars and Stripes over the
high seas on the Ranger in Novem-
Der, l777. The National Museum has
an early naval twelve-star type flag
said to have been flown by John Paul
Jones during the War of the Revolu-
ton.
1t has been we'll said that our ma
tional emblem stands for American
ideals and ideas-it is not the flag of
family or house, but the flag of
the whole people, 1t is the emblem
of liberty and freedom, being indica-
tive OF individual independence and
yet symbolic of united and closely
bonded people. Far from being mere
ly painted and dyed cloth, it repre-
sents the constitution and govern
ment of l00,000000 free people, it
stands for the people themselves and
records the history of their nation.
Oldest of National Flags.
In the National Museum at Wash
ington, among the many other pa
triotic relics and emblems. are dis
played thirty historic American flags.
On the labels the history of each is
recorded. Some came from the field
of battle, number from famous sea
fights, and others were flown over
garrisons or forts by distinguished
American officers. The series of flags
shows very well the periodic changes
which have taken place in our flag.
From the time of the revolution the
stars and stripes in the flag have
varied. There were thirteen stars dur
ing the revolution, fifteen in the war
of 1872, twenty-nine in the Mexican
war, thirty-three to thirty-fve in the
civil war, forty-hve> in the Spanish
war and there are forty-eight today
The stripes were changed first from
thirteen to fifteen and then back again
to thirteen, 1t may be surprising to