The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-03-30
TIE SIGNAL SERVICE.
A Lively Account ofIts Interior Workings, BY
One who Has Been There.

To THE EDITOR OF THE SUN-Sir: If
the House Committee on Military Affairs wish
to learn the truth about the Signal Service, let
them summon some Of the most intelligent Of
the enlisted men and listen to the story they can
tell, under satisfactory assurances of protection.
he committee will 0ud that many Intelligent
men who were induced to join the service I'M
der false representations have been made TO do
the most degrading labor at Fort Whipple,
where they were first sent, under pretence Of
learning them how to read the barometer for the
benefit Of agriculture aud commerce. Gen.
Myer, alias Old Prob" has lately ordered his
officers to relax somewha In their severity
toward the men at this nondescript mllitery
post, on account Of recent disclosures, but the
place Is bad enough now.
The officer in charge at Fort whipple ia Lieut.
r. P. Straug. lilo Ia assisted by nine commits
stoned officers, costing the Government nearly
5000 per month. The most that these officers
do is to learn to read the barometer and swing
Gags. They are busy only about an hour each
day, the rest Of their time being mainly en-
ployed in loa1ne about the Washington bar
rooms. Lieut.. StranR mas lately had fine house
built for him on the fort reservation, which cost
over $4,000. the same being paid for out OF
funds Appropriated bv Congress for the Weather
Bureau. Strang was building the house all
last summer, quartering his mechanics In
the hospital, wnere they lived well. while
over AT the barracks the "meteorOlO0i al stu
dents" were starving on rotten meDt, bitter
bean coffee. ana chunks of brcnd-a diet the
like Of which old soldiers who have served at
decent military posts say they never saw before
they came To Fort Whppe. Tho poor devils
Kept there have company fund they pay Tor
good food, but what they sit down to ~ such
that any deccntlv brought IN doc on nosing II
would turn away and walk OF with his tall be-
tween his legs Some OF the men would like to
know whether II takes all the COMPANY fund to
pay for tho red hcrfings that the starving fellows
arc once " n while RECALLED with as luxury
There l. a curious contrast to be seen at Fort
Whipple. On the one hand, bi0-s rlaricd. nam
pered army Officers doing nothing, and on the
other. enlisted men. Intelligent and well read.
many OF them starved, abused, and thrown into
the dirty guard house like criminals, upon the
slightest Drovucation. The officers, so soon
they learn To read the baron eter, are sent out
inspecting tours. travelling from Maine 10 Texas,
the various sigma stations, for the purpose Of
seeing whether the sergeants have kept their
barometers clean. The sergeants in charge of
the stations stand IN almost mortal dread OF
these inspecting officers. Thev are obliged to
appear before them In a rag, tag and bobtail uni
form and sometimes. when they have not got
the uniform TO put on, they are punished by be-
ing sent way back TO Fort Whppe, often at an
expense Of 800 or more to the United States.
Vice are enormous. There is not day that
weathSr Bureau men do not arrive or depart
from the national capital. bound sometimes so
far away "a Arizona, because somebody out
there has the rheumatism OF jm-ihms, and the
cost. Congress appropriated S3OO,OOO for this
plaything last year, and there are simple ones
who Imagine thit this Is all that II costs. The
people really pay six times that amount, for the
purpose Of being assisted in guessing whether II
Is going to rain snow TO morrow. Bills dis
guiscd IN all shapes are logged in and paid by
the various authorities.
So far ss | can learn, the people in the country
don't care q great deal about the Signal Service,
whether IL lives or dies but II Gen. Myer IL to
be allowed to continue the concern under the
belief that the management Of the weather can
not safely be left In the hands OF Providence,
that preposterous military post at Fort Whipple
should at all events he abolished. Decent, we'll
reared men are gwen six months In the guard
house there sometimes because they have been
unable to prevent prisoners escape when they
have been on duty. Others get two or three
months for offences that could be in no way
punishable In civil life. They are treated
worse than criminals, when hardly ono OF them
Is not at least the equal Of any OF his superiors
la honesty and morality. They ere Obliged to
sleep on the hard door in winter with only q
blanket out are sunulsed with insufficient food
and hard lnh-r during the day. TOE barracks
ndoa%Tack life are not much better. Men some
times get themselves put In the guard house
purposely, In order to escape for few days the
intolerable life outside the prison. some Of the
nun-commissoned officers at tue fort are igno-
rant men, a. using the privates In almost every
are not much better, except that they get more
ray and can get drunk on better liquor.
w.suruoro~ March % le-a