Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-04


anniversary Of each star rep
resentative Of another State added to
the Union. For it was on this day,
in accordance with the provisions
made by Congress. that a new star
was added TO the field of blue when.
ever another State was admitted to
the Union.
1t was the Navy that first estab-
lished a uniform flag, having 1t some
years before single flag was adopted
for the Army. or. as a matter of fact.
for the United States as whole, and
during the Revolutionary period and
subsequently there were many differ
ent designs for the national colors.
1t was not until 1884 that the Army
prescribed the Stars and Stripes be
used to replace the garrison flag then
in use. The flag that inspired the
writing Of The Star Spangled Ban
ner" by FrancN Scott Key was a flag
Of Is stars and Is stripes.
The flag is the result Of evolution,
and the stripe idea did not come from
the English. mother country, but rath-
err from the Dutch. from which also
came the word stripe" and other
related words. such as flag" Fly"
staff" and bunting
Stripes has been made the subject
of an exhaustive study by Comdr. w.
r. Furlong, L. S. Navy. 81 student of
flag history and the Navy Depart
ment's representative on the Nation
al Flag Conference Of 1924. which
drafted the rules OF flag etiquette.
The result has been the perfection Of
an exhibit of 10 flags which have
been reproduced in their original
sizes and colors and have been placed
on display for the first time as d part
Of the Navy Departments exhibit at
the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial.
The first Of the series is the flag
flown by the expedition which re-
suited in the discovery Of the North
American continent. This discovery
flag is the simple but beautiful ban
ner of ST. Georges Cross, the ancient
flag of England, q red cross on a
white field. Under this flag the North
American continent was discovered in
1897 by the Italian navigator, Giovan-
nj Cabote John Cabot. exploring for
the King Of England. BY sailing
along the coast for 1000 miles. he
laid the foundation for England's
claims in North America. The same
flag was later carried by Capt. John
Smiths ships to the settlement at
Jamestown, Va, in 1907, and was
carried in the Mayfower to the Plym-
outh. Mass. settlement in 1920.
THE second flag is that from which
l. is derived some of the nomen-
clature Of the present flag of the
United States. 1t Is the Kings col
ors or the Union Jack. This flag was
designed in 1906 to symbolic the
union of England and Scotland on the
accession Of King James to the throne
of the United Kingdom in 1903. This
union was shown by placing the
ancient red English Cross of st.
George over the white diagonal Scotch
Cross Of st. Andrew ON a blue field.
There are records Of the use of this
flag on the forts Of the United States
in 1879 and 1896. 1t was required in
all the British dominions by act of
Parliament in 1907.
Three early flags which had an in
fluence on the design of the Stars and
Stripes were the striped flags of the
Dutch Republic. In our English
speaking America of today It is very
, often forgotten that for half a century
before the English began colonizine
the Middle Atlantic States the Dutch
settled and governed New Neither
lanQS. his lnCluQeu the DulCH SET
Elements in New York, New Jersey
Pennsylvania and Delaware. These
settlements were made under the
Dutch flags. The Dutch flags shown
as influencing the American flag in
the formation of the stripes are the
Dutch West India Co.'S three-striped
| flag Of orange, white and blue; the
| United States of Netherlands flag
doubled, with six stripes Of red. white
and blue, and the Rotterdam flag OF
green and white stripes.
While the English were settling in
Virginia and New England under the
Cross Of St. George and later under
the Union Jack, the Dutch West India
Co. was pouring Dutch, German and
French Walloon settlers into the Mid
die Atlantic States. Many of the set
tiers brought over to the Dutch set
Elements of New Netherlands had first
lived for a number of years in the
Netherlands of Europe. Political and
religious persecution had forced them
from the Rhine Valley, from the north
of France, and, in the case of the
Pilgrims, from England.
The stripes of the early Dutch flags
were red and white. They were seven
in number. representing the seven
Dutch states that were declared indie
pendent in 1881, federa-ed into one