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By being prepared, showing that we are at all times ready for war. We shall more certainly preserve peace when it is well understood that we are prepared to defend ourselves.

10. Does medical science contribute to self-preservation?

Civil and governmental agencies combine for the purpose of eradicating dangerous diseases and prolonging human life. With the advancement of medical science hygiene, sanitation, and clinics are among the things that contribute to the preservation of America.

SELF-PRESERVATION QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED IN WRITING BY THE STUDENT

1. Why should military service in time of war be left to the National Government instead of the State or individual?

2. What would happen if any city discharged its police force and left the safety of the city to the honesty and good will of its citizens? 3. Would individual self-preservation be possible if each citizen depended entirely upon his own means for its security?

4. In what way does industrial preparedness assist in our national defense policy?

36. LESSON 12.-The American Flag

(a) Introduction: Significance of elements; Purpose of the flag; Allocation of the stars; Inspiration of the flag; The future of the flag.

(b) Kinds of national flags.

(c) Federal laws: Warning against desecration.

(d) Method of displaying the flag: When flown with other flags; International usage; General uses.

(e) Special uses: Reveille and retreat; Memorial Day; Unveiling statues; Military funerals; Patriotic occasions; Signal of distress.

(f) Disposition of worn-out flags.

(g) Military salute to the flag. (h) National anthem.

(i) National salute.

Introduction.-Gen. George Washington, Robert Morris, and Col. George Ross were appointed as a committee by the Continental Congress to produce a flag for the United States of North America. Their report was approved and the design adopted on the 14th of June, 1777. By resolution Congress decided that the flag of the 13 United States should be 13 stripes, alternate red and white, and that the Union be 13 white stars on a blue field.

Significance of elements.-In describing its design Washington said: "We take the stars from heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing liberty."

The Continental Congress defined the special significance of the chosen colors to be: White, suggesting purity and innocence; red, hardness and valor; blue, vigilance, perseverance, and justice.

The stars of the Union were not merely a collection but a new constellation representing a new ideal in political and governmental affairs. The newly formed States were to develop under the control of laws, not independently nor indifferent to each other-rather a Union, one and inseparable.

Progress of the flag.-After 1812 the flag moved west with the pioneers who explored the vast regions beyond the Alleghenies, the Mississippi Valley, the Rocky Mountains, to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, and the islands of the sea. Representing the United States, the flag flies to-day in Alaska, Hawaii, the Philippines, Cuba, Porto Rico, Guam, Tutuila, Panama, and at the North Pole.

To be born under the American flag is to be the child of a king and to build a home under the Stars and Stripes is to establish a royal house. Alone of all flags it expresses the sovereignty of the people, which endures when all else passes away. Speaking with their voice, it has the sanctity of revelation. He who lives under it and is loyal to it is loyal to truth and justice everywhere. He who lives under it and is disloyal to it is a traitor to the human race everywhere. What could be saved if the flag of the American Nation were to perish?-President Coolidge.

Allocation of the stars.-President William H. Taft on October 25, 1912, by Executive order designated the specific location of the stars and their definite representations. They were to be arranged in six rows of eight stars, each star to symbolize a State in the order of its ratification of the Constitution:

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Inspiration of the flag.-Like the cross, the flag is sacred. It represents the living country and is itself considered a living thing. It flies not only as the symbol of organization and protection, it also calls to duty. To the flag of the United States, and all that it represents, every citizen of America should render respect, reverence, and devotion.

As you feel about your flag, so you feel about your Nation. If, when it passes, you stand in salute, your heart throbbing with love for Old Glory, there is no question concerning your devotion to the country it represents.

If, beholding your flag as it flies in the breeze from flag pole or mast, you throw back your shoulders, with a song upon your lips, you have caught the heart beat of America in the consciousness of her God-given freedom.

If, in the still air, Old Glory droops and you catch the vision of battle fields, silent and sacred, alone with their dead; of humble homes where mothers mourn their absent sons; of the heartaches of millions whose sacrifices have kept our flag waving "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave"; and you respond with a silent prayer that God make you worthy of your citizenship, then there is joy in the hearts of our people and hope for a world oppressed.

If, at the setting of the sun, as the flag is slowly lowered from garrison pole or ship mast, you discern the dignity, majesty, and honor enfolded within the strength of her bars and the glory of her stars, and catch the vision of hope and promise of a new and better day to which you dedicate your all to better citizenship and more faithful service to your fellow man, then, and only then, do you know the spirit of America, the expression of which has filled the world as she works out her destiny among the nations of the earth.

Your flag, my flag, our flag! May we honor her as she honors us! The future of the flag.-This flag for the future is meant to stand for the just use of undisputed national power. No nation is ever going to doubt our power to assert its rights, and we should lay it to heart that no nation shall ever henceforth doubt our purpose to put it to the highest uses to which a great emblem of justice and government can be put.

It is henceforth to stand for self-possession, dignity, for the assertion of the right of one nation to serve the other nations of the world-an emblem that will not condescend to be used for purposes of aggression and self-aggrandizement; that it is too great to be debased by selfishness; that has vindicated its right to be honored by all nations of the world and feared by none who do righteousness.-Woodrow Wilson.

Kinds of national flags.-There are four kinds of national flags: Flags which are flown at military posts or on ships and used for display generally; small flags or ensigns which are used on small

boats; colors which are carried by unmounted regiments, and standards which are carried by mounted regiments, and are, therefore, smaller in size than colors.

For a number of years there has been prescribed in Army Regulations a knotted fringe of yellow silk on the national standards of mounted regiments and on the national colors of unmounted regiments. However, there is no law which either requires or prohibits the placing of a fringe on the flag of the United States. Ancient custom sanctions the use of fringe on the regimental colors and standards, but there seems to be no good reason or precedent for its use on other flags.

Federal laws.-There is no Federal law now in force pertaining to the manner of displaying, hanging, or saluting the United States flag, or prescribing any ceremonies that should be observed in connection therewith.

There are but four Federal laws on the statute books that have any bearing upon this subject:

(1) The act of Congress approved February 20, 1905, providing that a trade-mark can not be registered which consists of or comprises "the flag, coat of arms, or other insignia of the United States, or any simulation thereof."

(2) A joint resolution of Congress approved May 8, 1914, authorizing the display of the flag on Mother's Day.

(3) The act of Congress approved February 8, 1917, providing certain penalties for the desecration, mutilation, or improper use of the flag, within the District of Columbia.

(4) The act of Congress approved May 16, 1918, providing, when the United States is at war, for the dismissal from the service of any employee or official of the United States Government who criticizes in an abusive or violent manner the flag of the United States.

Several States of the Union have enacted laws which have more or less bearing upon the general subject, and it seems probable that many counties and municipalities have also passed ordinances concerning this matter to govern action within their own jurisdiction.

Warning against desecration.-"Any alien enemy tearing down, mutilating, abusing, or desecrating the United States flag in any way will be regarded as a danger to the public peace or safety within the meaning of regulation 12, of the proclamation of the President issued April 6, 1917, and will be subject to summary arrest and punishment."

Method of displaying the flag.-There are certain fundamental rules of heraldry which indicate the proper method of displaying the flag. There are also certain rules of good taste which, if observed, would insure the proper use of the flag:

(1) The union of the flag is the honor point; the right arm is the sword arm and therefore the point of danger and hence the place of honor.

(2) When the national flag is carried, as in a procession, with another flag or flags, the place of the national flag is on the right, i. e., the flag's own right.

(3) When the national flag and another flag are displayed together, as against a wall from crossed staffs, the national flag should be on the right, the flag's own right, i. e., the observer's left, and its staff should be in front of the staff of the other flag.

(4) When a number of flags are grouped and displayed from staffs the national flag should be in the center or at the highest point of the group.

(5) When the national flag is hung either horizontally or vertically against a wall the union should be uppermost and to the flag's own right, i. e., to the observer's left. When displayed from a staff projecting horizontally or at an angle from a window sill or the front of a building, the same rules should be observed.

(6) When the flag is suspended between buildings so as to hang over the middle of the street, a simple rule is to hang the union to the north in an east and west street or to the east in a north and south street.

When flown with other flags.-When flags of States or cities or pennants of societies are flown on the same halyard with the national flag, the national flag must always be at the peak. When flown from adjacent staffs the national flag should be hoisted first. There is a chaplain's flag authorized in Army Regulations, but there is no church pennant prescribed. Neither the chaplain's flag nor any other flag or pennant is authorized to be placed above or to the right of the national flag.

International usage.-This forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of any other nation in time of peace. When the flags of two or more nations are to be displayed they should be flown from separate staffs or from separate halyards, of equal size and on the same level.

General uses.-There is no Federal law governing the subject, but it is suggested

That the national flag, when not flown from a staff be always hung flat, whether indoors or out.

It should not be festooned over doorways or arches nor tied in a bowknot nor fashioned into a rosette.

When used on a rostrum it should be displayed above and behind the speaker's desk. It should never be used to cover the speaker's desk nor to drape over the front of the platform. For this purpose as well as for decoration in general, bunting of the national colors

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