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THE OMAHA SUNDAY UEE: APRTL 5. 1008.
Adding of Oklahoma's Star Inaugurates Busy Season for Flag Makers
KW TORK. April . Th nary
Nl blggeat nag making establish
I merit ooeupla a Ions, wide loft
I In fha tmNii . - i .
building In th Brooklyn navy
yard, quit out ot sight and ao-
in the carnal Waltc. Bare torn fifty
skilled need I oirwa ana a number of
men ar employed.
It la partloalarlytxHrpteea at present
In addition to the roottn work of turning
nut the regulation outfit of flag for the
battleship and other war vessel tt In now
engaged In tha taak of providing art of
the national erurtgn for ua after July 4
wnen uajanoma will be admitted
ja stare or tha union. That event makes It
necessary to add another atar to tha Amer
ican flag, the forty-sixth.
The flag maker have Just passed through
an extra busy ee&son. Then they were en
gaged in completing the supplies ot foreign
flaga which the batrle fleet will need in Its
voyage around the world. Thla was a
good deal of a job. because aome of the
. foreign flags are fantastic In their design
and require a good deal of time to mak.
These flags are needed for saluting on en
tering harbors of other nations and for
similar purposes.
I
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Vo supply naval vessels with their full
stock of foreign flags and the various sig
nal and saluting flags It Is necessary tr
run the flag-making plant at nearly full
blast all the year around. On entering the
flclai requirements while In foreign port.
The foreign complement contains forty
three flags, each twenty-five feet lonj
and thirteen feet wide. Certain of these
contain animal shapes, curious designs and
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spacious lort on sees rows of bright bunt- marine landscapes. They are, therefore,
Ing heaped up waiting to be out, while lines difficult to make and require a long time
of electrically driven sawing maohlnes, with to finish.
women operators, are reeling off and put- The flag manufacturing establishment
ting the finishing touches to American and Is under the supervision of Thomas Maloy.
foreign ensigns of many different hue and officially termed master flagmaker, and
The plan of a flag U first
marked on the floor by nr!ans
of chalk lines and metal mark
ers. From measurements taken
from this plan the bunting Is
cut off In the proper lengths.
The pieces are also assembled
on the floor and the first sew
ing is aiso d0,,e here.
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jr'svs room (Trr r-trz: r) r-cr.a
orTHE. CQ5T1 TZlC.IM rz.t
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a snp ocrrrrrrdTt tsArrLESHri- jucif4ytrSHm- Costs 2, sro o
to 200 different ensigns, all of which ar flag every three years, though some flags
work." The flag Is made In two sts. Patently sewed on by hand. wear out In less time.
ten feet by fourteen feet and thrse A separate corps of hand embroiderers Tha bureau of equipment cas Just de
feet by flvj feet. The embrofdery silk do nothing but this kind of work, and It 1Kna om twenty-five new alana! flags
....a on this and other deslans coat which hav been added to the naval cod of
occupies one wumtin B I Aieru aays lu cuiu-
S9 a pound.
pedal The foreign flags are the most showy
plete the Salvador design. The cost of
signals.
One of the most Important change of
and difficult to make. This Is notably true making the Costa Rica flag Is $46, that of im ta tne addition of Oklahoma's star.
A I'm A fata Tpaatn0 tVia rwf rr m
Dally this section of the floor Is covered operates the machine.
patterns. Mlsa M. A. Woods. Quartermaster flaar- .. u'nereni nags while the Some eight different sises of tar are of the flars of the Ceritral and South Amer- Salvador, 152.60, the latter being the most making the fcrty-sixth to be placed on th
....... ..- men Hiiu woiYien rurrora ... a ... I. rri ... . . ... - -
a gooa iaea or th number of flag that maker. Beside critically Inspecting the , , , , . " " uea, each having a special cutting aie.
he women "1,11 by Tw0 m"n " th r" tho hedJn! being those of Salvador and Costa Rica.
J f.iiu . um w uuuru iu)t'CB .m iiiiinuu
must be carried by a single ship can be finished output these officials also test
gathered from a large pile, shoulder high all the bunting. 1
and fifteen feet long, Just finished for the This come front Lowell, Mass, In lota of
big battleship Newl Hampshire, which ha several thousand yards. One day a specl-
Just been ordered in commission. About men lot Is soaked and washed In soap and
one-half of the lot Is composed of the for- water. The next day tha same process is
oign nags, encased In bags. Tha name of followed with salt water. It I then ex-
small electric motor.
flag. Afterward tha heading Is stamped
lean republics, two of the most tedious expensive foreign emblems made. Tha flag national flag. Instead Of tha present ar-
of Slam, containing the big white elephant, rangement In which the six rows alternate
The former ha for a centerpiece a land- cost 38. with eight and aeven star the new United
, VI i a t- Tt "( Showing a volcano In eruption and Another record breaker In point of trouble State flag will have tha star arranged In
or th ensign ana aaie or 8un et , a deB,Kn of draped ban- to make Is the dragon flag In China. The th' manner: Top row, eight tar; second
nsr. cactus branches,, cornucopias, etc., dragon Is the prominent feature of the Chi- row, seven; third row, eight rourtn row,
Some of the women excel In sewing on wlh the name
the stars, others are skilled In finishing contract.
rave been maPrv"' ."""L 'ITJ? 2 .J?" tha ground of a rayed diamond, with the ese standard, and Its fantastic scaled body. -.cht; fifth row. en; sixth row. Ight.
, 0 su .a vai.UJDlluiCIIfc lcat C7B CIIBlf U JIUi A, W iltlll s auip art'm
tha country I tenclled on the bottom of posed to the weather for ten day! during lle pay run9 from W-a to W Jy. . by 19 feet wide, and costs $40 to turn out
each bag. Th remainder. Including tha thirty hours it must be In the bright sun. The thousands of white star used on the Th I'rertaetrt'a flag require the longest
flags for ordinary use. signal set. th In- Thi Is the color and fading test. "flags are cut out by machines eaneclallv t,m 01 to make- It takes on woman
ternatlonal code, etc., are not wrapped up, The last test is for tensile strength. For devised for this purpose and oberated hv a, whole month to finish It.
data of the Independence of the nation in- with claws and open mouth, Is worked out One expert needlewoman 1 selected for
scribed at tha top. on a yellow ground in blue, green and placing and basting on tha star; then they
Costa Rica has two ships in full sail' on white. Over 200 separate pieces form the are finally tltched by the machine -opera-
each aide of a dividing chain of mountains frotesque rigure. wnicn is xen xeei long. lors.
000 flags were turned out in the
which required some 160,000 yard
ground with the coat rising from the sea. with the morning sun From twelve to fourteen day are taken to over 10
d States In the cen- Just appearing In the back grouad. The "nl-h the flag, which costs $51.75. The last year,
out are tied In round bundles and lettered, this test a strip two Inches wide of the eloctrlcity. Only a few years ago the stars il epnslsts of a blue
This Due cost XX 500 and contains KO dlf- wrn U ninn-rf In th- kukKIii. ami ...... .... v.. i . , . nr th- TTnit-A
ferent flags, tha regulation number for withstand a pulling strain of 66 pounds, fitted with ateel knives of the shape and ter. The Ufa alse eagle, with long, out- whole Is surrounded with draped flags cheapest foreign flag made is tha Moorish, of bunting In their manufacture. while the
battleships to carry for saluting, for slg- while two Inches of the flllln au-t-in . at- nf th. . . . .,.. . . ...th .n -th .mhi.m. ar. alt with staffs, surmounted soeara. battleaxes. which costs $21. needlewomen netted over $16,000 for their
,w,u lo meel ceremonial ana or- to pound strain. single down stroke from fifty to one hun- hand embroidered and Involve much patient swords, trumpet, etc. There are from iw
Each ship I entitled to a new supply of skill and labor.
About the Baganda Who Raise Their Clothes in Their Own Gardens
(Copyright, 190$, by Frank O. Carpenter.)
AMPALA. Uganda. (Special Cor-
TfJT I respondence of The Uee.)
Jf I Away off here in the heart of
me nam continent, witnin a
few hundred miles of tha head
waters of tha Kongo, and right
at th source of the Nile, I a nation of
eml-clvllised African who ar clad all
In bark. I hav Just left the Kavlrondo. on
the other side of Victoria Nyansa. They
go stark-naked, and are not ashamed.
These people are fully clad, and they con
sider all exposure of the person Indecent.
A married woman who would go about
wearing only th girdle of beads and the
short fiber tall which constitutes full dress
about Port Florence would be arrested In
Kampala, and the Uganda man who would
trut around with only a little apron ot
klu tied to hi waist at the back, would
be drummed out of the country.
The Baganda. a tbeaa people ar called,
are a nation of prudes. This Is so espe
cially far as the men are concerned.
Everyone of them, when not working. Is
clothed in long flowing garments from his
head to hi feel; and In tha time of the
last king the man who ahowed a bit of bare
leg In his majesty's presence was instantly
punished. I have told you how the old
blind musician of the present king lost his
'ayes by allowing a princess to see him In
swimming. This was at the command of
eld King Mutesa, and that notwithstand
ing he kept a large corps 'of nude girt
about hi palace to act as his valets. Now
adays tha Uganda women are almost as
much clad as the men, and It la only when
out working In the field that they may
occasionally be seen bare to the waist
? NatieVitliiavk.
There are about l.Oflo.ulO negroes In
Georgia, and that I Just th number of
these seml-clvillsed Baganda. If you could
collect aU our Oeorgla colored population
together and dress them In bark, having
an occasional one clad In sheets of white
cotton, you would have something like the
riMlon her at tha source of th Nile. The
people ar Bantu negroes. They are. If
anything, better looking than our colored
people, and are far more Intelligent than
the negroes about the Gulf ot Guinea; from
where the greater portion of our slaves
came. Their bark clothing Is made In tha
shape of great sheet of th slaa of a bed
quilt, and It la wrapped about the body,
extending in tho case of tha men from the
neck to th feet, and with the women from
under tho arm well down to th ankle.
Tho Baganda man begins dressing by
winding a strip of . bark cloth about his
hips and passing It between his legs and
fastening It at th waist After this he
put on hi large sheet, which he fastens
around hi shoulder and often tie In at
th wlst It U only when at hard labor
that any other part of his body la bare.
When working hi lower leg often show.
n women to not seem, to regard tha
s..pour of their person above th waist
as t"-t-rriti although thsjr ar usually clad
from tha armpits to ankles. I am told that
many of them take off their clothes when
dining Inside th house, in (order to keep
from soiling the. The women I see are on
tha whole pretty well clad.
Adam a4 Eve la tJajmndaw
Wheu Adam and Eve had their little
trouble over the apple, and from It, as an
eyeopener, clad themselves In fig leaves,
they set an example for theae people of
Uganda. The Baganda, however, use the
bark of tha fig tree and not the leaf. This
bark clothing is all made ot th inside
skin of a specie of fig tree which they
grow In their garden. I have Just re
turned from a long trip through the coun
try and have had an opportunity to see
how th bark la gsown and how it 1 pro
pared tor clothing.
The ordinary Uganda family live In n
thatched hut surrounded by banana plan
tations, and these clothing trees sre pianttd
in among the bananas. They are to be
seen everywhere along the roads They
grow to a height of from twenty to tlilrly
feet and their branches begin at about
eight or ten feet from the ground. The
bark is cut in such a way that it comes
off In sheets. If it Is properly stripped
from the tree another coat will grow, so
that the same tree will produce a new crop
of cloth every year. In cutting th bark
great care Is taken to leave a thin film on
the trunk and as soon as the outer bark
Is removed the trunk Is wrapped In green
banana leave and theae are tied tightly
about It with banaaa fiber. I saw th
native doing such work In many of th
gardens on my way across Uganda.
The bark cornea oft tn strips from six
to ten feet long and aa wide as the cir
cumference of tha tree. These strips are
soaked for a tjme In water, until they be
come damp and soft. They are then spread
out on skin mats and hammered with
nialleta. This makes tham thinner and
broader. They are also pulled and
stretched until they finally become much
lika pieces of cloth irom half a yard to
a yard wide and of tha ength of the cut
ting. The bark is composed of many fibers,
which cross each other thla way and that.
Just like weaving, and when It Is dried
M seems like a great sheet of woven fiber.
It can now be sewn together Into th
blanket used a clothing and it can be
painted and decorated In patterns. 1 hav
bought a number Of sheet of this stuff.
They are of a reddish browa color, of the
same hue as cinnamon or tan bark. They t
feel Just Ilka woven cloth and look aa
though they might have been felted or
passed through a loom. The stuff Is some
what thicker than cotton aheeting, but It
la aa firm and almost as smooth.
I understand some of thla bark cloth ha
been sent to America and Europe and that
It 1 used, in Germany for making ladies'
shopping bar and card case, aa well a
capa. hat and book cover. I was told In
Entebbeby an explorer there that he had
application for a large amount of It from
certain American weaving mill, which
wished to experiment la making velvet of
It The cloth can be trimmed like silk,
mi-si in or velvet. It can be dyed any color
and It could be made waterproof. When It
I blocked to any form it hold It shape;
and, when cemented together Into two
thicknesses, laid crosswise. It ' Is very
strong. It might be used aa a matting and
would be decorative as a wail paper. As
It Is, there Is practically no market for It
other than that ot the natlvea
No Pins or Battons.
I wish I could show you suais of these
I'ganda girls, dressed in their terra cotta
sheets, as I see them around me. The bark
cloth Is wrapped tightly about their bodies,
leaving their plump arms and shoulders
bare. It 1 often tied In at the waist with
a bark cloth sash and Is gathered up at
the front so that a great fold hang over
and falls half-way to the knees. It gives
forth a swlshy rustle aa the women move,
and I am told that they, delight in tills
noise aa our girls delight In the swish of
their silk petticoat. In such costumes the
bust Is entirely covered, and the only weak
point about the dress seem to be that It
ha no pin or button and that there ar
not even shoestrings over th arm to bold
th dress up. Tha mere knot at tha front
am by no mean safe, and I am In con
stant fear that the tie will slip and th
bark cloth drop to th ground. Th longer
I stay, however, th lass this fear holda.
The dresses seam to be aa tlgh a though
glued, and that even on th girl who work
on the road chopping out tha weed with
their little hoe and bending half double
aa they do so. I hav seen women so
working with little black babies on their
backs, held In by the bark cloth.
Malt of Clothes for Foar Cemte.
Speaking of the dress of the Baganda, I
have said they are all fully clad. This Is
o of both men and women and ot even
mall boy. Tha only exception ar girls,
up to tha age of 6 and 9 year. They go
absolutely naked, save that each has a
ring of woven fiber or of twisted banana
stems as big around as my thumb. This
they wear about tha waist During our
trip yesterday my son Jack met a girl so
clad and bargained 1 with her for her out
fit The little one sold her ' whole suit of
clothe for 4 cent, stepping out of her
waist ring and standing there naked while
he handed It to him and took the money.
A moment later she scampered off Into a
banana patch and made a new ring of
banana fibers to take It place. I am told
that th little one consider themselves un
dressed when they hav not thla ring
about their waist; and that If they have
left It off they will run for It and put It on
before they come to meet strangers.
This little girl had her head shaved close
to the skin. This Is so with both women
and men among th Baganda. ' Hearty,
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every one has a scalp like polished ebony,
although a few allow tha hair to grow.
The Baganda do not wear Jewelry and the
women do not pierce their ears nor dis
figure themselves with scars and various
other mutilations, as Is common among
most African tribes. Those who wear hair
do not load it with grease, and, as a rule,
th people are noted for their cleanliness
and fondness for bathing.
, Since the country has been opened to
Europeans many of the richer natives have
begun to wear cotton, and, strange to say,
they prefer American goods to any other.
These goods here go by the name of Ameri
can!. This means cotton sheeting, and that
made In the usual length for one dress.
Both men and women wear such sheets,
so that any large crowd forma a mixture
of whites and tans. The whites are the
Ameriran cottons and the tans ' are- the
bark clot lis.
How the Baganda Look.
These natlvea of Uganda are fine look
ing. They are shorter than the average
Caucasian, the men being not more than
five feet four or five Inches tall, and the
women still less. Both sexes are well
formed. Every one holds his head up
and throws back hie shoulders, and all
are broad-breasted and deep-chested. This
may come from the hilly nature of the
country and the fact that the people do
much walking up and down hill.
The younger women have beautiful
necks and arms and very lull breasts.
Many of them are liKe ebony statues,
and almost every girl has a form which
would be coveted by any American belle.
Their eroctness of figure comes largely
from the habit of carrying things on
their heads. This Is done by both men
and women. During my trip across the
country I pas.ted hundreds carrying
loads in that way. Men went along on
the trot with fi. ewood. bunches of
bananas and bul-s of hides balanced on
cushions of leaves on their crowns. I
' saw women carrying gourds of water
1 upon their heads, so carefully poised that
the water did not spill, although (lie
gourds were untouched by the liund. Now
and then we paused a girl going along
with a glass bottle balanced on her pate,
and at one place I saw a gang of por
'. ters carrying elephant's tusks In that way.
way.
SNAPSHOT OF A SHORN HEAD
UGANDA HOB IN HER HAND.
MAIDEN WITH A STBARK CLOTH TRFJT5 WRAPPED IN ORE EN BANANA
LEAVE TO INDUCE A NEW GROWTH KJV BARIC
Aeros I'gssda la a Jlarlklaha.
But let me tell you about a Jinrikisha
ride which I took from Entebbe to Kam
pala, the native capital of Cgtinds. En
tebbe la aituated on Victoria Nyansa, lis
miles across thj lake from Port Klonncc,
aid Kampala Is about twenty-tics miles
away back in the I. ills. The rud betweu.i
tin two places lian hecu laid out and im
proved by the British and it Is now una
oi the fine drives of the world. The road
way is about thirty feet wide It Is as hard
' as stone and aa smooth a x floor. Tlu
grass and weed ar kept out ot it and
there ar ditches at th vide, with cul
vert her and there to carry off th
water. The streams ar crossed by bridges
and tha whol twenty-five mile I as good
as the beach drive along Rock creek Jn j
Washington or any of tha roads at Cen
tral park. Indeed, the only native high
ways that will compare with it are those
of Java, the labor upon which 1 don In
much the ejaraa way.
Land of Good High way.
Uganda la a land of good road. This
country Is about aa big aa Kansas and it
ha thousand of mile of natlv roads,
each ten feet or more In width. ' This Is
different from the other countries of
Africa. ,
The most of the native territories are ac
cessible only by footpaths, which wind In
and out about the trees and around tha
tone and logs, permitting passengers to
travel only single file and on foot This Is
so In the most of German East Africa, In
British East Africa and In the Congo val
ley. It was over such roads that Stanley
went, and Livingstone and the other great
African explorera made their way through
such paths.
These roadways are one of the greatest
signs of Uganda's civilisation. They go
up hill and down vale, crossing the stream
and swamp on bridges and causeways.
Since the British took possession of the
country they have Improved theae native
roads. They are building others and one
can now go In a Jinriklsha, pulled by na
tives, from here to Lake Albert, a distance
of about SCO miles. 1 understand that there
ia even a road to Gondokora, which lies
In the Sudan on the other side of Uganda.
That place Is the terminus ot steam navi
gation on the Nile, ao that I could go by
Jinriklsha from here to that point and
thence by steamboat and rail to the Med
iterranean. Where Wousea Work the Road.
AU the roads of this country are kept
UP by -the natlvea under the direction of
their chiefs, although back of the chief
are t'.e British officials,' who work through
them.- Every person in the country, male
and female, I subject to on month' work
during the year as a road tax. We think
It a heavy burden If we have to pay for
one day's work on the roads, but here
every one Is supposed to work a whole
mcnth. Each chief Is responsible fur the
roads of his territory; and lie calls upon
every householder for the requisite smount
of labor. The householder a a ruli sees
that the most of th work Is done by the
women. This I found to be the rase all
the wsy from Entebbe to Kampala. Every
where there were girls d nvn oh lliolr knees
pulling out weeds, or bonding over and
smoothing the roadbel with Bi.ort-hsndled
native hoes. I.i t i:e or t,i p'u r& ir,c:i wer
at work, but as n rule t ie rou:-;i lat-..r wa
done by buic-shouldered, bare-armed and
bare-footed lemaloa clad la bark cloth
ing Now and then I stopped on th way
to watch them, and once look a anap lio(
of a shaven headed maiden with 'a native
boa la her band.
i'KANK O. CUUOTTOT3IS
