Governor Burke's message to the North Dakota Legislature : Wednesday, January 6, 1909

• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: North Dakota State Library
• Subjects: Politics & Government; Battleship; Buff; Yukon; Alaska
• Online Access: http://cdm16921.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16921coll3/id/346

12 GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE. custom. It is a matter of state interest and state pride; but Section 185 of the Constitution prohibits an appropriation for this purpose and the amount 'necessary will have to be raised by popular subscription. STATE FLAG. 'With the invitation to attend the christening of the battleship, North Dakota, was a request to bring along the state flag, and upon inquiry I learned that the great state of North Dakota has no state flag. We have a state seal, a state name, a state flower, but no state flag—no emblem that stands especially for North Dakota. We need one; need it at the Alaska Yukon exhibition; need it when the silver service is presented to the battleship, North Dakota; need it when the National Guard goes to National Encampment; need it floating from our public buildings, side by side with the. stars and stripes, to remind us of our dual government and our obligations to each. I submit the matter to you with suggestions from a friend who has made the subject of flags a study and who writes as lollows: '' There are but two state flags which have a white background, those of Rhode Island and of Massachusetts. In both cases this white flag is- bordered with a golden yellow fringe and further decorated with a golden yellow cord and tassels. .• "Blue is an exceptionally bad background for any design, the outline of the state arms, blending so with the background as to be indistinguishable at a comparatively short distance. '' No state, as far as I know, has as yet adopted or considered the adoption of the Continental buff or of corn color for the flag, as a background for the State shield. As North Dakota is, of course, a great grain state, the adoption of such a color might be held peculiarly appropriate. It has the advantage over the white of being less easily soiled. It