Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1908 — The Presidential Salute. [ARTICLE]

The Presidential Salute.

The American presidential salute Is twenty one guns, as is the English royal salute; but the reason why just twenty one guns are fired is obscure. Antiquarians have put forth different theories as to this. One states that seven was the original salute; but that in England this was given three times, once for Scotland, once for Ireland, and once for England. Some declare that the American salut« is twenty one guns because the sum of the numbers 1,7, 7, 6 (tba year of the Declaration of Independence) is twenty one.