Today, the Star Spangled Banner Commemorative Silver Dollar Coin remembers 100 years ago when tensions were high and the country was on the brink of war.
From the Spokane Daily Chronicle of February 10, 1917, an editorial encourages everyone to fly the flag:
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Hang out the Stars and Stripes; Every Building a Color Bearer
Hang out the flag.
Where patriotism dwells, there let the colors be seen. Where liberty is loved, where hearts know but one allegiance, where justice for humanity’s sake is a living principle, there let the stars and stripes flutter.
It is no time to keep the nation’s emblem hidden away. And the whole burden of hoisting it must not be left on the janitors of public buildings, schoolhouses and banks. Homes, business houses, factories, churches, the corner drug store or grocery — these are needed as color bearers.
It is time for fraternal orders to dust the wall bunting by letting it flutter on the outside of their halls. The courthouse and city hall should be banner bearers during every daylight hour. The German-American organization may well take this opportunity to float the stars and stripes above their building.
The United States is passing through a time when citizens must be developed into patriots. Loyalty must find expression. The flabby muscles of patriotism must be put in use and hardened. Class distinctions must be leveled away in preparation for the test — the republic’s days of trial.
Let the flag give the awakening signal. It is the great national leveler. Before it all are equal. Let it rise far above the wall of class and tell again of the universal duty of manhood and womanhood. Let the old colors recall America from the worship of wealth, ease and comfort and help to band a loyal people together for the testing time.
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Less than two months after this editorial, the country joined its allies in World War I.
The Star Spangled Banner Commemorative Silver Dollar Coin shows with a poster from 1917 encouraging Americans to wake up to support their country.
