Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1918-08-21
Old Glory
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By ELLIS PARKER BUTLER
OF The TIgiL0ntes

at the top of the mast l tackled on q
flag" to futter in the breeze that
blows continuously here on Long Is-
land. The flag" like the sail, is q
piece of old canvas. 1t flaps in the
breeze like any flag, but it does not
mean thing! I can look out of my
window and see that flag" fluttering
and not feel the slightest emotion of
any sort. I made it. 1 know it is
nothing but piece Of old canvas,
ripped from large piece and nailed
there.
Some day-but God forfend any
such day-that flag" might have a
meaning for me. I might look out of
my window and see it futtering there
and know that my boy would never
again look up at it in his play and
the sight of the poor rag might fill my
heart with agony. If any neighbor
then came into my yard and laid rough
hands on that flag and tore it down
and trampled on it I think I would
kill him. The poor rag would be sa-
cred because Of the memories that
chung to it.
It is because it means so much, Is
the symbol of so much, that our ma
TONS flag is so sacred that the man
who defiles it deserves to be shot
down In the act.
A flag is symbol, a sign, as the
cross is a symbol and as the triangle
Is symbol. The mere silk or bunt-
ing of the flag are nothing. A burial
squad tramps through the woods bear
ing the body Of a dead comrade, and
digs his grave and covers him over in
his last bed. On the ground lie two
bits of wood. They are nothing but
bits of. wood, to be burned, or to be
left to decay. The dead mans COM
rades pick them up and bind one
across the other and plant the cross
thus made at the head Of the grave.
Now the bits of wood have become a
sacred sign and whoever destroys that
cross, or defiles it, or throws it'down
is indeed a dog. The bunting and the
silk of our flag are nothing; not I'M
Stripes of our flag and thrown to the
breeze as the symbol of loyalty and
patriotism do they demand our rever-
ence.
Why We Honor the Flag.
We honor the flag because of what
it stands for. Those who dishOnOr
our flag dishonor all it stands for. In
days like these, when our nation is at
war, there might be placed under the
dome of the capitol at Washington
great book Of thousand pages. On
the first page might be inscribed the
Americans Greed. proclaiming be-
lief in national honor, national Justice
and national honesty and belief in a
free government for this free Ameri-
can people. To Washington then
might be called all the people Of the
nation, to sign, one after another,
their names In the great book so that
all America and all the world might
know how each man and woman and
child stood, until all our millions were
enrolled. There is no need Of this.
The Americans Greed is written in
the Stars and Stripes Of our flag. Our
flag stands for all that could be writ
ten in the great book at Washington.
It stands for honor, justice, national
honesty and a free government, and
when the time Of stress comes, as at
present, the flag is at hand, ready to
be raised in twenty million homes, q
proclamation of loyalty as valid as a
|. signed and sealed book. Our flag is
not gaily cOlOred decoration to
brighten our towns and villages; it is
creed-an II believe"-to tell our
neighbors, our nation, and the whole
world how we stand.
It is remarkable to what an extent
flags, even the simplest, tell the ma
tional stories. I CHANGED upon the flag
of the little grand duchy of Luxem-
burg a few days ago for the first time.
I had long been familiar with the
Luxembourg coat-of-arms, which is a
standing lion on barred shield, sur
mounted by the ducal coronet, and I
had imagined the flag of Luxembourg
would be something like that. 1t is
three straight bars, or stripes, Of red,
white and blue. These are the cOlors
of France, but they are arranged on
the flag Of Luxembourg as are the red,
white and black Of Germany, and not
perpendicularly as in the French flag.
The flag tells it's own story. The peo-
pie Of Luxembourg speak German ;
their sympathies are entirely French.
In something of the same way the
flag of Great Britain tells it's story,
with the st. Georges cross of Eng
land, st. Andrews cross of Scotland
and st. Patrick's cross of Ireland COM
bined. The true story Of Prussianism
and It's brutal aggressiOns is told by
the German flags. The German en-
pire, so much boosted, is shown by
its flag to be but footstool on which
the king Of Prussia wipes his feet, for
in its center is the black eagle of
Prussia, crowned, and the black cross
! Of Prussia is smeared all over it. The
German emperor is Prussia and moth
Ing but Prussia-a military autocracy
holding Bavaria, Wurttemburg, Sax
ony and all the other states in pawn,
just as the king-kaiser would like to
hold New York, California and all of
America. and as he now holds help
less Luxembourg and brave Belgium.
The black in all the German flags fs
the black of Prussia. and black is the
color that was chosen by the piratea
and cutthroats.
Every one knows the story of our
own flag, with the thirteen stripes that
signify the thirteen original states