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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (June 13, 1915)
3 THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN. PORTLAND. JTJNE 13, 1913. D? irre irr? if 3 J Pf SI BT WILLIAM P. KENNEDY. YOUR Uncle Samuel la mighty par ticular about the sturdiness of texture, fastness of. color, relia bility of workmanship and general wearing qualities of his flags. "When he hoists his "colors" ho wants to be sure that they will stand out right smart to "the breeze, Jauntily and sau cily, as though there was real life and substance and enduring quality in -them. He wants his glorious "Red, "White and Blue" to proclaim their great meaning of color undlmmed, un laded by the elements the white of pure and noble purpose, the red of dar ing and patriotic consecration and the blue of loyalty as enduring as the heavens. And with this In view he makes an nual contracts for the thousands of . WHY JUJfR 14 IS FLAG DAY. Flag day was originated In 1889 by Professor George Bolch, of New Tork, who Introduced Into his free kindergarten the practice- of holding special exercise on this day in celebration of the adoption of the f laf by ' Con gress, June 14, 1777. The flag that was adopted on that day, which was the first American flag, had been made at the suggestion of George Washington by Mrs. Elizabeth Ross (Betsy Griscom) at No. 239 Arch" street, Philadelphia. The celebration of Flag day soon became popular and was before long a part of the pro gramme of many patriotic so cieties. For many years it has been universally observed by the public schools of this country. flgrl that ftnat Hotlv r. u a avaf.. 17aB,al building throughout all the United States and that flutter proudly over every government-owned vessel that sails, the rivers, lakes' and seas that comprise three-fourths of the world's surface. The specifications in those an nual contracts are very rigid. For the current year the flags are. being man ufactured by William H. Horstmann, of Philadelphia, and Arthur Copeland, of Washington. During the last year more than 3000 flags have been bought by the Government, at an average price of about $3.20, making a total expen diture of something like $10,000. While the Government buys flags In all sizes from 20 by 38 to 1.31 by 2.49. the size most in use is that with the 6.14 hoist. There were 1327 of these bought last year, and it is estimated that more thn 1500 are being purchased this year. There were but 60 of the Union Jack of the same size purchased last year. It should be explained here that these figures refer only to the United Statea flags. In addition to these the Government buys many other kinds of flags under the same contract such as the flags of the various secreta ries and commissions, the international code flags, coast survey, signalling, revenue cutter, quarantine, storm warnftig flags, etc. Of the man-of-war ensigns of various nations, which are of standard size, 7V4 by 12 feet, which are displayed by United States ships when entering a foreign port and In extending proper International courtesies, there were but 10 sets purchased last year. The largest American flags used by the Government are those with the 20 foot hoist, and but four of these were bought last year. There is a Union Jack of the same proportions and the garrison flag, 20 by 38 feet. The smallest United States flag bought "by the Government is 1.39 boUt with a 2.49 fly. These, with a Union Jack of 'the same size, are Used on boat tenders and other simi lar small crafU- Some idea of the numbers of other the: flag ix time; of war. ' The flag of the United States , In the days of the Revolution bad 13 stars. " During the War of 1812 it had ' 15 stars. In the Mexican War. 29 stars gleamed in its blue field. In the Civil War there were 35 stars. The , Spanish-American War saw 45 stars shining gloriously and victoriously. In these days of the greatest war in history our National flag bears 48 stars', proclaiming a union of so many states. flags bought by the Government can be gained from the following figures-: Revenue cutter ensigns, 150; rev enue cutter pennants, 50; Weather Bureau flags, 311; quarantine flags, 50. The proportions of the Government flags are all regulated from the hoist, or depth from top to bottom. These proportions, as prepared by the Navy Department and established by Ex ecutive order two years ago, are that the fly, or length of the flag, shall bs 1.9 of the hoist. The hoist, or width, of the union, the blue back ground for the stars, shall be 7-13 of the hols 'of the entire flag. The fly, or length, of the union shall be .76 of the hoist and the width of each-stripe in the flag shall be-1-13 of the hoist. .As stated in' the introductory par agraph. Uncle Sain Is very exacting about the quality ot- weave, coloring and workmanship on the flags. To be more specific, he requires that the bunting fabric shall be entirely ' of wool of the best quality, of all colors required la the international code and f 'ft in foreign flags, well woven and fin- ished and made in the best workman- like manner. The yarns are to be well and evenly spun; the count of fill- lngr and warp must contain not less than 36 threads to the inch, the warp to be two-ply atfd the filling one- ply yarns, properly twisted. The ten- sile strength is given vigorous test and must show warp 33 pounds and filling 23 pounds In pieces one inch wide. The cotton cloth, dark blue and turkey red, must show fast colors, to weigh three and one-half ounces to the square yard, to have a tensile streigth in the warp of 44 and in the filling 32 pounds, have 82 threads to the inch pounds and to in the warp and 72 in the filling. The canvas for the bands must te of American cotton, woven in a work manlike manner, entirely free from sizing, to weigh not less than seven and one-half ounces -or more than eight ounces a lineal yard 29 Inches wide. The tensile strength in test pieces one inch wide, of the warp is to be 105 pounds and of the filling 93.2 pounds. It is to contain not less than 88 single-ply threads to the warp end 23 two-ply threads to the filling. And in the instructions for making, as well ae in specifications for ma terial, the Government is very particu lar. The bands of flags larger than five feet hoist must be of standard canvas, four inches wide, doubled to the flag, making it two inches wide when finished, and to have run through their length a rope of nine-thread mantla with a one and one-half-inch eye at each end, properly spliced and secured to the ends of the band by waxed cotton twine doubled. The band is to be finished with three rows of stitching. . f The bunting at the hoist of the flag must be turned in one inch' in two thicknesses and . secured between the folds of the band by two rows of stitch ing. The union and stripes are to be joined with triple-stitched seams three quarters inch wide. The end of the flag Is to be turned in two thick nesses, three-quarters inch wide, with three rows of stitching. The upper and lower sides of the revenue ensign and pennant, and other flags of all sizes whose stripes are vertical or where a raw edge Is left, are turned In two thicknesses one-half inch wide, and finished with three nf .tifhirxr . Flags of all sizes must have at each .. bunting the width of the stripe in vhe nag. . International code flags must have In place of the eyes galvanized iron snap hoorfs spliced to- the ends of the roping. Flags of five feet hoist and smaller must have bands of standard canvas two inches wide when finished and to be lined with a. etout piece of jute webbing one and one-half inches wide, with three rows of stitching, the ends of the bands to be furnished with rpecsSyT same as the large flags, as detailed above. The eeams In the flags larger than 4- ' (3- ? I " i five feet hoist must be not less than pne-fourth inch wide and in smaller flags hot less than three-sixteenths jncn w,de. In joining the etrlpes tho selvages are sewed together and the raw edges are sewed together and finished with double scams. There mult be at iea8t twelve stitches to the lncn Th6 canvas bands are to b BeWed ten stltchea to the Inch with No- 20 sea ialand cotton thread. The bunting is to be sewed twelve stitches to the inch with No. 50, six-cord, un- bleached sewing cotton. The white stars are to be sewed with No. 50 thread. All ot this sewing must bo done In lockstitch. In sewing on stars on the smaller flags and sewing on emblems the zig-zag stitch is allowed. The National tlag.must have 13 hori zontal stripes of equal breadth, alter-- AGE OF AMERICAN FLAG, Whether we date from the first common flag of the 13 orig inal colonies, first unfurled over Washington's headquarters at - Cambridge, Mass., January 2, 1776, or the Stars and Stripes adopted by an act of Congress June 4, 1777, the flag of the United States can justly claim to be the oldest among the en signs of the nations of the world. It antedates England's royal standard, established in 1801; the -flag of Spain, adopted in 1785; the French tricolor, de creed In 1794; the existing flag of Portugal, selected In 1830; the fv flag of the Empire of Germany, which represents the 'sovereignty of 14 distinct flags and states, established in 1870; the Italian tricolor, dating from 1848; the Swedish-Norwegian ensign, the recent flags of the old empires of China and Japan and the colors of all South American states, which have been modified gen erally from our "Star Spangled Banner." nately red and white, beginning with the r&a- In the upper quarter, next to tno hoist, is the union, composed of 43 stars, equal to the number of states in the Union, on a blue field extending as far down as the lower edet of tha fourth r strlP fr th P- A special Nationai flag, known as a DO" the union of which consists or 13 white stars on a blue field. Is made In all sizes of less than five feet hoist. The National pennant has the union composed of 13 white stars in a horl- zontal line on a blue field one-fourth the length of the pennant, the remaln- ing three-fourth of the length being made up of a red and white stripe ot equal breadth at any part of the taper. -Ith the uppermost. The revenue ensign has 16 perpen- dicular stripes of equal width, alter- nate red and white, beginning: with the THE BIRTH OF THE, FLAG 1X71 1795 s- i .-, t-i- w? v ."'T-iwj THE- FLAG OT TO-TJAT red. In the upper quarter, next to the head, is tho union, composed of the arms of the United States in dark blue on a' white field, eight-sixteenths the entire length of the flag and extending down the hoist half way. The depth or hoist of this flag is ten-sixteenths of Its length. In the escutcheon on the breast of the eagle are 13 perpendicu- lar stripes of white and red, beginning with the white. , The revenue cutter ensign is the same in design as the revenue ensign, with the addition of the distinctive em. blem of the service, in blue and white, which is placed on a line with the lower edge of the union, and over the center of the seventh vertical stripe from the mast of the flag, the em,bl4m to cover a horizontal space of three stripes. The stripes In the shield In the union are seven white and six red, and in the emblem of the service seven blue and six white. The emblem of the service is stamped in fast colors on standard cotton cloth and sewed on the flag. The revenue pennant has the union W composed of horizontal line on 13 blue' stars in a horizontal line on a white field, one- fourth the length of the pennant. The remainn three-fourths consists of 16 " " JL,t Z'ZW, alternate red and white, beginning:- with the red, and a tailpiece of red. about one-fifth the entire length of the pennant, ending in a fork shape. The flag of the Secretary of the Treasury, which department has charge of the purchase of all the flags, con sists of the seal of th Trennurv T. partraent. on crossed anchors of white drew bv 13 whit tr n . hT- neld The star pennant triangular in shape. The length of the fly from the center of the hoist to the pennant end is 14 feet, the hoist five feet. It con- 4 --feJ 7i ?' ... . . -"v. COPYRIGHT BY THE tains three perpendicular stripes. The stripe next to the hoist Is blue, four feet in width, with a white star 21 inches In diameter in the center. The middle stripe is white, four feet in width. The end. stripe Is red, six feet in width. The Coast and Geodetic Survey pen- nant has a union or 13 red equilateral triangles, base down, on a white field, Submarine Danger Is Lessened I T WILXj make submarines valueless against battleships in warfare, and will render still greater service in time of peace by insuring ships against collisions at sea, either with one an other or with icebergs. That is the claim put forward for an Invention known as the Feesenden electric oscil lator, which takes Its name from Pro fessor R. A. Fessenden, whose idea, after various severe tests, is being adopted by European powers. Briefly, the Fessenden oscillator is a and could actually direct their move submarine sounding apparatus, fixed to ments against enemies' vessels, vessels that send and receive signals Already several American battleships through water, not through the air. These signals travel more swiftly than they would through the air, since sound moves through the water at a rate of 4400 feet per second, while through the air It moves at the rate of only 1100 feet a second. For some time past submarine bells have been used with excellent results on lightships and buoys, and to some extent on moving vessels, their warn- ings being transmitted for miles thrpugh the water, and it was while trying to extend the usefulness of these submarine bells that Professor Fes- senden evolved his present electric oscillator and solved the problem of protecting vessels from collision at sea. , His system of submarine signaling is WORLD'S LARGEST FLAG, The largest flag in the world is 70 feet long and 36 feet eight inches wide. It hangs in the court in the center of the Post office -Department building, in Washington, where it has a very appropriate setting on account of the relatively . proportioned height of the building. It is prettily framed against the gran ite gray masonry. The flag was paid for by popu lar subscriptions from employes in the building, and, besides be ing a daily patriotic inspiration to the hundreds who work in the Postoffice Building, where it can be seen from the various floors that surround the courtyard, balcony-like, . it is one of the sights for visitors, and the hun dreds of tourists who see it daily are amazed at its gigantic pro portions. . - Each star in this flag is more than a foot in diameter. It re quired 400 yards of bunting. 5- 1 7 i KKAPt CO. INC. - one-fourth- the length of the pennant, the remaining three-fourth being blue. The Fish Commission flag consists of a white fish on a red diamond, cen trally placed on a blue field. The emblem of the United States Public Health Service in blue on a yel low ground Is required in the quaran tine flags. The emblem stands In the center of the flag at an angle of 45 degrees. really a kind of water wireless. A ves sel fitted with a couple of these oscil lators, r ears, is able to hear for a distance of several miles any disturb ing influence in the water. Further more, by means of these instruments it is able to send messages through the water itself,, just as messages by wire less are dispatched and received. That is to say, a battleship equipped with such Instruments could talk to Its own submarines miles away and submerged. have been fitted with these oscillators, and the tests to which they have been subjected have proved that they are in every way to be relied upon. The oscll- lator makes It possible for a ship's officer to hear the propeller movements of an enemy's-submarine. These pro- peller sounds can be distinguished at a distance of two miles, while with a sound-amplifying device the distance may be extended to five miles or more, Had the Titanic been fitted with such an apparatus as the Fessenden oscil- lator it might have received a definite signal of the presence of an Iceberg, for the mechanism of the apparatus, waste is a matter of indifference to which is placed in the hol-d of the ship us? Consider the fact that we have one oscillator on each side is so millions of homes in which little child delicate that it is possible to detect an rem are growing up, unfed, improperly Iceberg within a radius of a couple of clad, to become, a prey to disease and miles. often, consequently, to vice and crime. There is no doubt, according to naval Consider the fact that there is scarce experts, that the Fessenden oscillator y a great work of public utility in will revolutionize naval strategy, for the whole country that Is not handi it is obvious that a battleship which capped or thwarted for want of funds, can control the movements of sub- And yet we permit two billions and a merged submarines has an enormous half of economic resources to run to advantage over the ships of the enemy, waste, even congratulating ourselves A single cruiser, accompanied by half on the fact that we have them to draw a dozen deadly craft steaming far be- upon in case of war. low the surface and able to maneuver i at the dictation of the mother ship, which can see what is going on, mighfc easily wipe out a. whole squadron ot dreadnoughts unprotected against this new danger. London Tid Bits. Little Known of Russia. "It is remarkable how little Amer icans know about Russia," observed D. L. Hough, an American who has spent the last four years In that coun try. "It is the least visited of the European countries, although the num- ber of tourists hag been considerably increasing in' recent years. In - fact. more than 200 self-called 'refugees' as- sembled in the first .days of the war in Petrograd in order to be near and secure tbe protection of the embassy, "Russia lacks a great middle class, such as Is the strength of all civilized countries, but Its upper class is per haps better instructed, and in its social relations and in its customs is quite as exquisite, if not more so, than that of any other country; its court is the most stately in the world. "The great lower class might be com pared to what the English call the masses. It is more rugged, healthier and far less vicious than that of any other country. In the larger cities a healthy middle class Is fast develop ing. "The lack of education among tho masses may be in part responsible for the scarcity of material out of which skilled labor may be trained. In these, daya of automatic machinery, this is less of an obstacle in the development of manufactures, while for all physical labor of the common type the Russian is equal to and perhaps better than men of any other race. "There Is little produced in Russia that this country needs, but there is much produced in America that Russia needs. We want to sell to Russia, and success in trading with the Russians will depend upon whether our manu facturers put on the counters of Rus sia the things that the Russians want. It was in accommodating Itself to its customers' ways of doing business, as well as to its customers' wants, that Germany was conquering tho world commercially. If we are to make any Impression on Russian commerce, we must accommodate ourselves to the Russians' way of doing business." Washington (D. C.) Post. Searching of Pockets. What a strange, dubious, lost sen sation pervades one's system as ha fumbles through his pockets, one afte another, and then over again in fruit less search of some misplaced object! It is a sensation that happily Is con fined to the sex masculine with itss multiplicity of pockets. Woman, who can have but one pocket and that only findabla by herself is immune from this harrowing search. A great number of feeble jokes have been man ufactured in the less lucid moments ot professional humorists about incursions) made upon our pockets by our wives. But thesei ncursions are made when we are not In our clothes. It must be different when one is in tHem and tha search is made, not by a loving and de voted wife, but by an unsympathetio policeman. The other day the writer saw such a search, such an official search, in broad daylight, on the sidewalk on the east side of Illinois street a few steps south of Washington street. There were but two characters in the drama, the police man and the searched one, a colored youth about 20 years old. The young man of color, limp as a long feather bolster, stood with arms curved like' parentheses, himself be tween, meek and silent as the search went on. From one pocket after an other various objects were withdrawn by the exploring official fingers. Here was a necktie with a brass ring from which in all its glory glowed a glass ruby. From another pocket came al most a handful of nickels, among which nestled two dice. "Craps?" said the po liecman. "Nope," was the answer, "been workin" in a shine parlor." "How long have you been here?" "'Bout five days." "Where did you come from?" Memphis." "I've seen you around here much longer than that.1 No answer from the subject. The policeman ex plored another pocket. There was a bit of pasteboard between his thumb and forefinger. He smiled a hard, grim smile. He had evidently struck pay dirt- "Ah," he said, "thi3 is a pawn ticket. How did you come by it? Where did you get it?" No answer. "Well. I don't think I'll leave you out in the open any longer. Come along" and he put the nippers on him Indianapolis News. Peace on a War Basis. , New Republic Two billions and a half represent our . reserve economic forpes, unutilized, wasting year by year. If we were at war we should find a way to put a great part of these resources to use. Why can we not find a way of doing this in time of peace? Are we so well supplied with all the necessities and comforts of life that this colossal Where Great Armaments Fall. World's Work. The present war proves that great armaments are likely to beget enemies even faster than they develop strength. This is what has happened to Germany. No people could be better organized for war. Germany had the greatest army in the world. It was bigger than the French army, more powerful than the Russian army, superior to any other army. The rulers of Germany knew this and they seemed to believe also that their rights were as wide as their army was efficient. When France real- ized it, it began reorganizing Its army, When England realized it, it prepared its fleet to meet the situation. Nothing that Germany could do could enable her to keep her forces or those of Austria and Turkey increasing as fast as the combined forces of her neighbors.
