STAR-SPANGLED BANNER.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1402, 11 September 1923, Page 3

STAR-SPANGLED BANNER.

XOT "NATIONAL" AIR. On ihe recent occasion of America Flag Day anil with the approach of the Fourth of .Inly. some public writers attempted to revive interest in the subject of Francis Scott Key's ballad, "The Star Spangled Banner." and mistakenly referred to it. as our "national air." Augusta E. Stetson writes in the Xew York American. Before voicing I heir sentiments in regard to the poem written by Key, they should have ascertained the fact that Congress has repeatedly refused to adopt this bombastic song as our national anthem, despite the persistent efforts of th.ose who desire to foster enmity between Great. Britain and America, and who are aware that Key's venomous hymn, which is permeated with poisonous hatred, "bombs bursting in the air," and the horrors of carnage, is useful for their fell purpose. What could move those who defend Key's anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner," to give expression to sentiments, at whose fulfilment true Americans must revolt? What mental influence has effected this result? The mental animus which gave birth to this ballad, through Francis Scott Key, and which is struggling to sustain it, is entirely foreign to America and must return to its native soil.