| Show anew flag Is to float 3 over presidents ship special letter HEN next the pres ident ot the united states stepa aboard a vessel be it steam launch or L mano war pleas ure boat or troop ship there will float from the mist a new flag not all new but so changed that many who have for nearly forty years been familiar with the presidents banner will question the ownership of this fine new one which to day tangs in an office in the navy department not quite finished the design on the flag Is not changed excepting the crest it re ally a crest at all according to heraldry technicalities the sunburst above the eagle s head in the ameri can coat of arms had to have a title and so crest is its signification but the colors are changed and many be aleve much tor the better the pres ident s flag in plain united states la the coat ot the united states on a blue field the seal or coat of arms of the united states was adopted by the continental congress june 20 1782 there was a long discussion over the design and many of the eminent statesmen of the day presented their ideas of what should figure upon the seal finally dr franklin mr john adams and mr thomas jefferson were appointed a committee to pro pare a device tor a great seal tor the united states of america so many designs of merit were sub bitted that the committee authorized Te fferson to combine the various ideas in one design which he tried to do and on august 10 1776 presented this compact seal to the congress congress laid it on the table and it Is there yet may 17 1777 the con reported another design which looked like a cracked chinese plate on one side and the body of the scrub brush on the other this la also on the table where it was placed years ago for three years longer the committee permitted the united states to get along without a seal THE GREAT 1 reverse obverse then a new committee was appointed consisting of henry middleton ellas boudinot and edward rutledge who in april 1782 undertook to provide a design they copied the old ideas and the design submitted by them may 9 1782 lies on the table with the others congress then referred the matter of a seal to its secretary charles thompson who got a mr william barton of philadelphia to help him design a seal its cance was complicated and it followed the others on to the pile of tabled de vices mr barton of philadelphia then pro deuced another design which Is much like the one finally adopted but it escutcheon a glory or breaking did not suit congress middle ton boudinot and rutledge in some way appeared as a committee again june 13 1782 and reported mr bar ton s device with some it was referred to the secretary of the united states and june 28 1782 the secretary ot congress to whom was referred the several reports of committees on the device of a great seal reported the following which was adopted and Is the same to day 3 30 0 e first presidents flag that it was a century and nearly a quarter ago arms Pal eways ot thirteen pieces argent and gules a chief azure the escutcheon on the breast of the american eagle displayed proper holding in his dexter talon an olive branch and in his sinister a bundle of thirteen arrows all proper and in his beak a scroll inscribed with this motto E pluribus unum for the crest over the head of the eagle which appears above the through a cloud proper and eur rounding thirteen stars a constellation argent on an azure field reverse A pyramid unfinished in the zenith an eye in a triangle surrounded with a glory proper over the eye these words anbult comptis on the base of the pyramid the nu merical letters and un berneath der neath the following motto novus ordo Sec lorum the aag of the design adopted by the congress of 1782 ia of the lean and hungry type modeled after strict her addic ideas doubtless but the proud bird of freedom which soars at the main royal to day when the president takes to the katr looks well fed and prosperous while its fierce gray ee and bending beak are nothing like as rapaciously and re depicted as in days of old the president s flag is a century old institution and has practically been in existence ever since there I 1 as been a nation some ten years ago when the late president harrison went up the atlantic coast on the dol phin with the president s flag flying at the main the writers for certain newspapers criticized criticised the carer a century old custom they had never before observed probably be cause day presidents up to liar arieon s time bad gone boating but lit tie yet it had been the custom up to 1865 tw the blue field 0 the flag known att the union jack to be placed on the nain when the president was aboard the ship and all other flags were st uck till the president left the vessel congress has never legislated on the presidents flag it was established arbitrarily by the secretary of the navy and presumably the changes presidents flag with new crest made in the device upon tho always blue field have been made at the sug of the president the president s flag Is used only at sea and the last time it was used was on a recent visit to annapolis |
