Evening star., 1938-10-16
CHOICE OF DISTRICT
FLAG REVIEWED
washington Shield Basis OF
; Emb|em-May Fly First
) Time October 23.'

A wish that civic groups Of Wash
,ington could have played more def
mite part in the selection of the Off
,cial flag for the District of Columbia.
adopted yesterday, was voiced last
might by Commissioner Melvin c.
;Hazen, but he insisted "the die is
cast" and the emblem created.
I The flag is a simplification of some
.of the elements to be found in the
shield portion of the coat of arms of
the antecedents of George Washington.
, 1t consists Of field of white, with
three large red stars, arranged in the
upper portion, with two broad red
stripes in the lower part.
!, It's adoption was ordered by the Dis
.trict Flag Commission, created by an
.act of the past Congress. after final
meeting yesterday between representa-
.tives of the agency with members OF
the Fine Arts Commission
. The flag may be unfurled for the
first time at public occasion october
i23 at the Inter- American Horse Show,
at Meadowbrook Farm, in Montgomery
County. just off the East-West high
way. That date will be District Day"
at the horse show, Commissioner
,Hazen recalled, and he announced he
would see to it that the flag was on
public display then. if not sooner.
!. Replies to Petitioners.
;, Aside from being chairman OF the
District Flag Commission. Mr.. Hazen
is one of the sponsors of the Inter-
American Horse Show
Numerous civic groups recently
petitioned Commissioner Hazen to per-
NIT their members to pass on selection
of the emblem before the commission
acted In response, Mr.. Hazen stated
last night:
Members of the Flag Commission
invited any one interested to submit
a design. We considered at least
SO different suggestions. Every one
that was submitted was studied by
the commission and by members OF
the Fine Arts Commission. How we
ever could expect to get unanimous
decision by different groups, I don't
know. 1t seems that most every one
interested had his own idea.
The responsibility for selecting the
flag design was placed by Congress on
the members of the special commission,
which has been studying the question
for nearly four months.
II believe We have flag of which
every one can be proud 1t is simple
in design, proper according to heraldic
traditions and it pays homage to the
First President, the man who selected
the site for the National Capital and
planned its development"
Members of the Flag Commission,
in addition to Commissioner Hazen,
were Secretary of War Woodring and
Secretary of Navy Swanson. At the
final meeting yesterday, Secretary
Woodring was represented by Capt.
A. D. Hopping of the quartermaster
section of the War Department and
A. E. Du Bois, who is in charge of
the heraldic section of the department.
Secretary Swanson was represented by
1t. J. w. Murphy, jr., of Naval Com
munications.
Commissioner Hazen was given
credit for having brought to attention
the basic elements of the simplifled
Washington shield, used as the basis
for the flag, but it was explained that
a number of designers of the proposed
emblem had suggested similar plans
during the past IA years of active
consideration of the idea of an official
District flag Details of the final de-
sign were credited generally to Mr..
Du BoiS
The chairman of the Flag Commits
sion drew upon his experience in for
mer years as District Surveyor to find
the central thought for the flag He
recalled that copies of old maps of
the original plans for the District
had borne shield bearing three stars
and two broad red strips.
Search of files in the surveyors
Office brought these to light. They
were found on map by Ellicott,
which was engraved first in 1892 by
Thackara e. Valance in Philadelphia.
The original is believed to be in the
archives of either the Library of Con-
gress or. of the War Department..
The Washington coat of arms was
conferred upon Laurence Washington
Of Sulgrace, in the county of North
ampton, and his descendants by Cook
ClarenceuX, king of arms, in 1892,
according to research made for the
Flag Commission.
Omits Washington's Motto.
This basic confirmation of the coat
Of arms, according to Mr.. Du Bois,
does not include the motto used by
Gen. Washington, "Exitus Acta Pro-
bat," quotation from Ovid, which
has been translated to mean Actions
are tested by their issues" However,
he added, existing records indicate
that this motto was used by Wash
ington in his seal and bookmark
1t was noted that Gen. Wash
ington had substituted in the Wash
ington family coat of arms an open
book bearing the words Rights Of
Man" for the family crest, featuring
raven and ducal coronet.
Therefore, officials said, the three
stars appearing in the District en-
blem have no reference to the fact
there are three District Commissioners,
but to a portion of the design of the
Washington family shield, minus any
insignia dealing in olden days with
the royalty.
In his outline of the question to the
Flag Commission, Mr.. Du Bois stated:
"The direct association of George
Washington with the establishment of