HARVARD COPYRIGHT BY THE WASHINGTON PRESS OF JUDD & DETWEILER, INC. 1917 THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON 14 December, 1917 My dear Mr. Grosvenor: The Flag Number of the National Geographic Magazine is indeed most interesting and most valuable. I sincerely congratulate you on the thoroughness and intelligence with which the work has been done. It constitutes a very valuable document indeed. Cordially and sincerely yours, Wooden Wilson Mr. Gilbert H. Grosvenor, Director, National Geographic Society. THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY. WASHINGTON. December 3, 1917 My dear Mr. Grosvenor: I wish to congratulate and thank you for the magnificent Flag Number of the National Geographic Magazine. It had for me a personal as well as a national interest, because during the weeks that Lieutenant Commander Byron McCandless was busy in the preparation of the articles and the flags which adorn the magazine I caught something of the spirit of enthusiasm and patriotism which marked the delightful labor which he brought to the study and preparation of what is truly an historic number. To have given to the people a beautiful Flag Number at any time would have been in keeping with the educational service which the National Geographic Magazine has long rendered to the American public. To have given this service at this time, when the Flag means more to us than ever before in our history, and when millions of young men are responding cheerfully to its call because of the principles it symbolizes, your Flag Number may be truly said to be a contribution to the victory which will be won under the inspiration of the ideals which the Flag embodies. Mr. Gilbert H. Grosvenor, Editor, Sincerely yours, Jean David THE SECRETARY OF WAR. WASHINGTON. December 12, 1917 My dear Mr. Grosvenor: I am very glad to have the second copy of the Flag Issue of the National Geographic Magazine which you were good enough to send me, the first having already reached me at my home, and I wish to thank you on behalf of my associates in the War department for the Society's generous offer to present a special edition of 5000 copies of the magazine for the use of the men in the Army. This issue is not only of general interest, as all the issues of the magazine are, but of permanent value for reference, and of particular usefulness to the men in the military service of the United States at this time. With best wishes and renewed thanks, I am THE NATIONAL F THE FLAG LAGS symbolize the noble aspirations and glorious achievements of the human race; they epitomize the romance of history; they incarnate the chivalry of the ages. Their origin is divinity itself; for when, at the beginning of recorded time, Jehovah made a covenant with man, promising that never again would He send the waters to cover the face of the earth and destroy all flesh, He unfurled the first flag-the multihued banner of the rainbow-which He set in the clouds as a symbol of security and an assurance to all future generations of His watchful care. And since that day man has, in his finite way, employed his earthly banners as emblems of faith, of hope, and of high resolve. Around the bits of varicolored bunting which the people of each land nominate as a national flag, there cluster thoughts of loyalty, of patriotism, and of personal sacrifice which have enabled the world to move forward, from the days when each individual struggled for himself alone, like other wild animals of plain and mountain side, until, through community of interests and unity of effort, mankind has been enabled to rear the splendid structure of twentieth century civilization. When the savage began to emerge from his isolation and took the first steps toward becoming a social creature, profiting by association and coöperation with fellow human beings, one of his first needs was a sign or a symbol whereby he A could distinguish during primitive battles, between creatures of his own tribe or family and those of enemy tribes. peculiar type of club, a splotch of colored clay on the body of the warrior, and later some rude device on his clumsy shield served for a time the purpose of insignia. Eventually these bits of wood, bodily ornamentation, and shield signs were replaced by the skins of animals attached to poles so that they might be held high in the air and recognized at a distance. From such crude beginnings it is easy to trace the evolution of the flags of civilized man. Today, while it is true that we are thinking of the flags of our own and of other nations in relation to sanguinary strife, these emblems of armies and navies have a deep and noble significance far removed from their use in leading men to battle. In reality flags are the bulwarks of idealism. AN INSPIRATION TO PERSONAL SACRIFICE The flag epitomizes for an army the high principles for which it strives in battle. Were it not for the ideals which it keeps ever before the soldier he would be bestialized by slaughter. It keeps men's motives lofty even in mortal combat, making them forgetful of personal gain and of personal revenge, but eager for personal sacrifice in the cause of the country they serve. With full realization of what the stories of the flags of the world mean, each to its own people, and with the belief that Americans will be inspired by under NOTE: The pages of the Flag Book are numbered as they appeared in the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE (No. 4, Vol. 32). |