The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-04-13
The signal Service Must be Reformed.

The predictions Of the Signal Service are
not perfect But unquestionably they have
been valuable In warning US OF coming
storms on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and
OIL the lakes; in forctelling the rise and fall
OF the navigable rivers ia the Mississippi
and Missouri valleys; in predicting falls Of
temperature that interrupt or close the nav
SgatiOn OF canals and in forecasting for
farmers, travellers. and the people general
ly heat or cold. rain or sunshine, cloudy
weather or bright, and the course and force
Of winds. The predictions have often been
erroneous In respect TO time and conditions.
But they have 50 generally been approx
imately right, and so frequently exact, that
the nation has accepted them as valuable,
and adopted the signal service system into
che mechanism of ito social and civil life.
The people certainly desire TO have a
weather Indicator, and are willing to pay
Tor II. But they are not willing that its cost
shall be fanciful and excessive, nor that IL
shall be made the cover for schemes and
uses foreign to its design and violative Of
declared public policy. In both these re-
epcct- the administration 81 the Signal SER
vice has been ob-tinately wrong. without
shadow Of authority Of law, 1t was fast
encd upon the War Department and made a
part Of the army. Congress never created
Il and has not to this day legalized it. All
OF its cost is graduated 10 the high scale Of
military expenditure. 1t has steaithily taken
the form and proportions Of a separate mill
tary department. 1t has high-priccd sol
dlers enlisted not to fight, but to observe the
weather; it has nu-kct drill, parades, a
band Of music, quarterma -ters, cOmmssa-
Iics, storckecpers, "A hospital, Schools OIL
GERS quarters, a printing Office, elegant
grounds, a large library, majors, captains
md licutenants detailed from various regi-
mcnts ana it has "A bureau in the War Office.
A hin was managed through one House Of
Congress at the last session authorizing the
president To appoint from civil life, or to de-
tail from the army, to assist the Chief Sig
nal Officer. two majors, six officers with the
rank and pay of captains mounted, six with
thu pay of first lieutenants mounted. and
Elk with the pay Of second leutenants
mounted, and fixing the enlisted force OF the
Signal Service AT ljo Scrgeants, 80 corporals,
and 800 priyates. This bill, or a worse one,
Will surely be pressed on the next Congress.
Every itcm Of cost in the Signal Service
that is militaryis pure waste; and the waste
T. sure to grow; for the system, being mill
tary, Is in its nature encroaching and cX-
banding. Its chief does not spend his own
money, nor the money Of stockholders TO
whom he is responsible, and who can vote
him out Of office. He spends the public mon
ey, and there never was an official who would
not spend all Of the peoples money he ould
get his hands on. This Signal Service ayow-
edly aims at the occupation Of the entire
territory Of the United States, and meteor
illogical ailiiation with all the world. 1t is
going 20 take the climate of the whole globe
into its hands and find out the changes Of
winds, OF heat and cold, and the coming and
going of storms, and rain or snow all around
the sphere and publish and interchange this
knowledge with learned societies, scientific
associations and Governments, in all civil
lied countries; and soldiers are TO do this
work 1t Is TO be the business OF a portion
of the army Only temporarily will tele-
graph operators, who never carried a mus
ket, gather and transmit the meteorological
facts to common centre. They do the work
now perfectly, and civilians who were never
at West Point nor enlisted into the ranks,
make the actual predictions of the weather
"a published. There is no reason outside OF
human vanity and love Of power for having
The signal Service work done by soldiers,
aud turning the War Department into a
gatherer and dissemination OF news OF the
weather. The Western Union Telegraph
Company can perfectly perform the service,
and at quarter of its present cost.
But the most serious wrong which the
Chief Signal Officer Is obstinatey commit
ING Is the establishment Of Government
tcl'sraphy' in the face Of repeated votes of
congress that the United States shall not
ciHuaiK III THIS business. Last year and the
year before we gave To- the public evidence,
taken IRON the Ssnal Service reports, that