Flag Raising Ceremony at factory turned into town wide event

RALLY ROUND THE

FLAG AT THE BIG

LIMA CONCERN

Fifteen Hundred Patriotic

Persons Cheer Old Glory.

GIFT OF INSULATOR MEN

Officers and Employees of Company

Unite with Great Throng of

Vil­lagers and Visitors in Doing

Honor to the National Emblem

Lima, May 20. — The flag raising at the Lima plant of the Locke Insulator Manufacturing Company Saturday afternoon, which had been originally planned by the employees as a simple ceremony, developed into an occasion of the deepest patriotic interest. Merchants of Lima closed their stores. farmers of the vicinity stopped work, and, with students and faculty of Genesee Wesleyan Seminary and a large delegation from Victor, swelled the attendance to more than 1,500 persons.

Exercises of the afternoon were inaug­urated with a parade of the local insula­tor employees, who, with small flags in their hats, marched four abreast through East Main street from the plant to the village Four Corners. The patriotic workmen were led by the Honeoye Falls Military Band, others in line being the local Civil war veterans in automobiles, and, in the rear, contingents of children from St. Rose Parochial School and Lima Public School. The latter were ac­companied by their teachers and all car­ried American flags. Leading the school­ children was Ingraham Humphrey, a youth of 14 years, who bore aloft on a staff a largo flag made by his mother, Mrs. Lewis Humphrey.

Greet Victor Visitors.

At the Four Corners greetings were ex­tended to the delegation from Victor, who arrived in over sixty automobiles. The whole company countermarched to the insulator works, near the east en­trance to which had been erected the speakers' stand, gaily decorated with bunting and flags. Occupying the stand were Morton H. Anderson, of Rochester, president, and J. W. Cleveland, of Pittsford, secretary and treasurer of the Locke company; Lima village trustees, George J. Ray, Edward P. Horan. W. F. Harvey and J. W. Ryan, the latter also being superintendent of the Lima plant; Rev. Earl D. Shepard, D. D., president of Genesee Wesleyan Seminary; George T. Dibble, chairman of the local Y. M. C. A. war work; J. B. McSweeney, office manager of the Lima plant, and the speakers of the occasion.

After a selection by the band and prayer by Dr. Shepard, Mr. McSweeney presented the beautiful American flag purchased by the Lima plant employees, to President Anderson, of the insulator company, who accepted the gift on be­half of the company, with a very fitting speech of appreciation.

Boy Raises Flag

The flag was at once raised upon the sixty-five-foot steel flagpole, the gift of the insulator proprietors. Edward Ryan, 13-year-old son of Superintendent Ryan, had the honor of first hauling Old Glory to the summit of the pole, being assisted by R. N. Butler and C. E. Emens, in­sulator foremen. The shouts of the crowd were deafening as the Stars and Stripes flung to the breeze.

Following the singing of "The Battle Cry of Freedom" by the Festival Male Quartette of Rochester, led by C. D. Vickers, brief remarks were made by Village Trustee Harvey, who acted as chairman of the day. Mr. Harvey paid tribute to the plant's superintendent, James W. Ryan and prophesied a closer co-operation between village and plant. Rev. Charles F. Creighton. D. D. of the Lima M. E. Church, was the first speak­er. He eulogized the flag and gave notice to Germany that the United States was too big a country to have a famine." On this occasion capital and labor were unit­ed for the promotion of patriotism.

Dr. Creighton was followed by Rev. W. H. Smith, of the Honeoye Falls M. E. Church, who is a naturalized English­man, and forcibly expressed his love for America. Mr. Smith exhibited a flag made by the great-granddaughter of Betsy Ross.

Recalls Historic Rally.

"America, Here's My Boy." by the quartette, and James M. Heath, of Honeoye Falls, recalled that fifty-six years ago this spring a great mass meeting was held in the Lima Methodist Church, at which time many enlisted to fight for the same Stars and Stripes. He hoped that many present-day Lima youths would volunter [sic] volunteer for service, regardless of the provisions of the conscription act. Mr. Heath spoke with great fervor and was loudly applauded.

Mr. Dibble, who has just graduated from the Agricultural College at Cornell, and is working as a farm volunteer in Lima, presented tht [sic] the cause of the Y. M. C. A. army work. With the singing of "America" by the crowd and the giving of three hearty cheers for the flag and the insulator force, the exercises ended.