"Section II. _And be it further enacted_, That on the admission of every new state into the union, one star be added to the union of the flag; and that such addition shall take effect on the fourth of July next succeeding such admission. _Approved_, April 4, 1818."
No changes (other than the addition of new stars) have been made in the national flag since 1818. The stars have been added, one by one, until in 1898 there are forty-five in all. Every state has its star; each of the original thirteen states has its stripe.
So long as the United States exists the flag will remain in its present form, except that new stars will be displayed as the new states come in. It will forever exhibit the origin of the nation from the thirteen colonies, and its growth into a Union of sovereign states.
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 hopeful 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 Wyoming. No matter; whichever one of these beneficent individuals you may happen to be, I give you greeting, Mr. 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 million 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 sunrise until far into the night, to give her boy an education. She, too, is making the flag.