THE MAKERS OF THE FLAG* 



By Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior 



THIS morning, as I passed into the 

 Land Office, The Flag dropped 

 me a most cordial salutation, and 

 from its rippling folds I heard it say: 

 "Good morning, Mr. Flag Maker." 



"I beg your pardon, Old Glory," I said, 

 "aren't you mistaken? I am not the 

 President of the United States, nor a 

 member of Congress, nor even a general 

 in the army. I am only a government 

 clerk." 



"I greet you again, Mr. Flag Maker," 

 replied the gay voice ; "I know you well. 

 You are the man who worked in the 

 swelter of yesterday straightening out 

 the tangle of that farmer's homestead in 

 Idaho, or perhaps you found the mistake 

 in that Indian contract in Oklahoma, or 

 helped to clear that patent for the hope- 

 ful inventor in New York, or pushed the 

 opening of that new ditch in Colorado, or 

 made that mine in Illinois more safe, or 

 brought relief to the old soldier in Wyo- 

 ming. No matter; whichever one of 

 these beneficent individuals you may hap- 

 pen to be, I give you greeting, Air. Flag 

 Maker." 



I was about to pass on, when The Flag 

 stopped me with these words : 



"Yesterday the President spoke a word 

 that made happier the future of ten mil- 

 lion peons in Mexico ; but that act looms 

 no larger on the flag than the struggle 

 which the boy in Georgia is making to 

 win the Corn Club prize this summer. 



"Yesterday the Congress spoke a word 

 which will open the door of Alaska; but 

 a mother in Michigan worked from sun- 

 rise until far into the night to give her 

 boy an education. She, too, is making 

 the flag. 



"Yesterday we made a new law to pre- 

 vent financial panics, and yesterday, may- 

 be, a school teacher in Ohio taught his 

 first letters to a boy who will one day 

 write a song that will give cheer to the 

 millions of our race. We are all making 

 the flag." 



"But," I said impatiently, "these people 

 were only working!" 



* Delivered on Flag Day, 1914, before the 

 employees of the Department of the Interior, 

 Washington, D. C. 



Then came a great shout from The 

 Flag : 



"The work that we do is the making of 

 the flag. 



"I am not the flag ; not at all. I am but 

 its shadow. 



"I am whatever you make me ; nothing 

 more. 



"I am your belief in yourself, your 

 dream of what a people may become. 



"I live a changing life, a life of moods 

 and passions, of heart-breaks and tired 

 muscles. 



"Sometimes I am strong with pride, 

 when men do an honest work, fitting the 

 rails together truly. 



"Sometimes I droop, for then purpose 

 has gone from me, and cynically I play 

 the coward. 



"Sometimes I am loud, garish, and full 

 of that ego that blasts judgment. 



"But always I am all that you hope to 

 be and have the courage to try for. 



"I am song and fear, struggle and 

 panic, and ennobling hope. 



"I am the day's work of the weakest 

 man and the largest dream of the most 

 daring. 



"I am the Constitution and the courts, 

 statutes and the statute-makers, soldier 

 and dreadnaught, drayman and street 

 sweep, cook, counselor, and clerk. 



"I am the battle of yesterday and the 

 mistake of tomorrow. 



"I am the mystery of the men who do 

 without knowing why. 



"I am the clutch of an idea and the 

 reasoned purpose of resolution. 



"I am no more than what you believe 

 me to be and I am all that you believe I 

 can be. 



"I am what you make me ; nothing 

 more. 



"I swing before your eyes as a bright 

 gleam of color, a symbol of yourself, the 

 pictured suggestion of that big thing 

 which makes this nation. My stars andmy 

 stripes are your dream and your labors. 

 They are bright with cheer, brilliant with 

 courage, firm with faith, because you 

 have made them so out of your hearts ; 

 for you are the makers of the flag, and it 

 is well that you glory in the making." 



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