Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1933-06-07

coat and breeches edged with green. Green was
the color of the early Revolutionary cayalrys
uniform, Marion's riders wearing the Roman
esque helmet Of the French dragons and cuiras-
siers, and q green, skirted tunic with white re-
vers similar to that of the French guides cav
airy. whose uniform the first Napoleon was some
what partial to, wearing IL quite frequently. The
Culpepper Minute Men wore green hunting shirts
and the standard of the Georgia Rangers In the
latter part of the war carried green and white
stripes.
When 1t came to adopting the Stars and
Stripes, however, the color scheme of green was
dropped and various flags of red, white and blue
that had been familiar to American col0nists Tor
more than 100 years exercised the prevailing In
huence in the design for the Stars and Stripes.
The resolution adopting the flag appears In the
Journal of Congress among q whole page OF reso-
lutions presented by the marine committee on
the subject Of the navy. On the same page with
the flag and other marine committee resolutions
is one appointing John Paul Jones to the com
mand of the ship Ranger. Jones was presented
a flag by some women of Philadelphia and soon
afterward he had the Stars and Stripes flying
at sea.
Illustrations of Jones ships and
the description of the new flag when 1t appeared
in Europe, show that the early navy flags were
arranged with the stars In horizontal parallel
rows. Due to their number, the stars were stag
gered, that Is, the stars In one row were placed
opposite the spaces between the stars In the
next, so that they looked like a constellation in
the heavens, as the resolution had described
them. On one ship they were in five rows; on
another, In three.
Ingenuity began to be displayed In the arrange
ment of stars In unofficial flags. In some they
were arranged In q square; in others, In a circle.
Some had them in the shape Of a single star, a
diamond or forming the letters III. s."
At first, the Stars and Stripes were looked
upon merely as a navy flag, but In 1878, under
the third flag law, the present general design of
the flag was established. This held the number
Of stripes to 10 and added a star for each state.
The second flag law, passed by congress in May,
1895, provided Is stripes for 10 states as well as
10 stars; but as the number of states was in
~creasing by 1918, 1t was found necessary to cur
tail the amount of stripes.
Capt. Samuel Chester Reid, of the navy, hero
of a two-day engagement between his small brig
and a British squadron of three large ships, was
called by the congressional committee to design
a flag, and 1t was his idea to hold the number
of red and white stripes to 10 for the original 1a
states and to add a star to the union for each
new state admitted.
On May IS, 1918, the navy commissioners Is
sued an order, placing the stars In accordance
with the navy custom, in parallel horizontal rows
and with the stars on the second and fourth
rows moved TO the right, one half of a stars
space. The order was signed by Commodore Johr
: Rogers, president of the navy commissioners
: Six months later, he issued a change In the ar
; rangement Of the stars, approved by the Presi
! dent. This order required that the stars be ar
] ranged In vertical and horizontal parallel rows.
The act Of 1918 gave the fixed rule Of addinl
a new star on the Fourth of July next succeed
= ing the admission of the state, but made no state
ment as to the exact arrangement OF the starr
: and this has been a matter with which the Nav,
: department has been chiefly concerned.
This Is because the navy flies the Union alon,
9 without the stripes In the bow of ships. TIL,
: navy has attended to details as to proportion,
and design of the flag and still issues to all de
: partments, blueprints Of changes, after approva
by the President. In recent years army and nav,
' have agreed on changes. In 1884, the army pre-
: scribed the Stars and Stripes to replace its gar
> rison flag then In use.
Until 1912 there was some confusion as Il
! the proper distribution Of the 48 stars In tn,
blue field. On October 20, 1912, this matter wa
definitely settled by the executive order of Pres
ident Taft that the stars were to be arranged
/, in six rows of eight each, symbolizing the Al
+. states in the order Of their ratification. (Thu
: If you wish to know which star represents you
. state In the flag, remember what was its mum
: Der In the order of admission TO the Union, thel
begin counting from the upper corner next t
! the staff and the star which comes on the mum
: Der corresponding to the number In the order o
J admission to the Union will be the star Of you
? state.)