--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Lane, Franklin K. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 18 number: 9 published: 1915-07 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Franklin K. Lane, "The American Flag," *Improvement Era* 18, no. 9 (July 1915): 759–760.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1809unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1809unse start_page: 759 end_page: 760 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1915-07) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1809unse publication_year: 1915 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1915, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The American Flag The American Flag BY FRANKLIN K. LANE, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR [A year ago. Franklin K. Lane, of California, Secretary of the Interior in President Woodrow Wilson's cabinet, called the employees ci his department together in Washington, and delivered the following short address to them. It breathes the true American spirit, and solves the question, "What lies at the root of our country's greatness?" The little classic was printed in the Record as an extension of the remarks of Hon. Frank Buchanan, of Illinois, in the House of Representatives, Tuesday, June 16, 1914. As a Fourth of July oration, in our opinion, it measures up to the best ever delivered. Editors.] "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, 'you are mistaken. I am not the President of the United States, nor the Vice President, 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 home- stead in Idaho.' " 'No, I am not ;' I was forced to confess. " 'Well, perhaps you are the one who discovered the mistake in that Indian contract in Oklahoma.' " 'No, wrong again ;' I said. " 'Well, you helped to clear that patent for the hopeful in- ventor 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, feeling that I was being mocked, when the flag stopped me with these words " 'You know, the world knows, that yesterday the President spoke a word that made happier the future of 10,000,000 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. Yesterday we made a new law to prevent finan- cial panics ; yesterday, no doubt, a school teacher in Ohio taught his first letters to a boy who will 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.' "Then came a great shout about the flag. ' 'Let me tell you who I am. The work that we do is the making of the real 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 be- come. I live a changing life. A life of moods and passions, of heartbreaks 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 statute makers, soldier and dreadnaught, drayman and street sweep, cook, coun- selor, 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, noth- ing 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 and my stripes are your dreams 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:.'