The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-06-25


being cashiercd, might have put rcsou-
ton through that convention which would
have set Gen. MYER to measuring and pub
fishing the atmospheric wave Of cholera
iniantum rolling and breaking against baby
life in America, and searching for and warn
ing the country against hostile currents Of
toothache, rheumatism, andwhoopng cough,
and sounding the breadth and depth OF the
atmospheric gulf stream of disease which
touches the republic with typhus. epizooty,
dphthcra, measles, itch rinderpest mumps
and an excessive necessity to blow the nose
Taxpayers, you narrowly escaped the cost
and rdicule of the expansion OF the Chief
Signal Officer into the Medical Prognosti-
cator-Gcncral of the United States OF
America.
But Gen. MYER will indemnify himself for
this loss of opportunity He has a scheme
In his head that beats the hypothetical one
OF the ex-Surgcon-Gcncral. Long time has
he had n suspicion that the hateful inilu-
cnces which do so frequently bring Old
Probabilities to falschood and reproach.
come from the northeast and from point in
the main channel OF commerce between Eu-
rope and America about 800 miles from
Sandyllook. At that point he means to dis
cover and thwart the base designs of his
meteorological foes. This Is his plan. He
will have six great ships constructed by the
Navy Department. immense floating houses.
He will anchor these at distances from each
other OF $50 miles, just as the lightship IL
anchored at the entrance OF New York har-
Dor He will have Geographic communlca-
tiun between these ships and the Atlantic
telegraph cable. He will have these ships
harbors of refuge for vessels in distress.
and lile-savng stations for wrecked
crews. With this net OF six ships
and telegraph cables he will catch
every northcastcrly wind. every low barom-
etr every storm sncaking or careering to
our northern coast, and expose each and all
to himself at his desk in his military do
mlnion at Fort whipple. This Is august
But within the scheme il hidden grandeur.
behind which the protector yet bushes with
the heat Of modest conception. Each OF his
six anchored ships Is to develop and multi
ply in time into sixty. disposed in streets and
squares. In cfIcctthcre will be six little cities
anchored in the Atlantic ocean. Each will
have theatre an opera house, n signal sta
tion. public library, a dali newspaper. ply
sicians lbut no lawyers, churches. markets.
shops, artisans. Each will be governed bv
military law. In this government will
bc realized the finest purpose Of the Chief
Signal Officer in this superb project
More than that, his mid-marine cities will
bc sure refugees against hay fever; more
than that, they will be santaria for the
salt-needing population of the prairies
and the interior; more than that, they
Will he summer and winter pleas
ure resorts for the blaSe and queer
Of the whole world; they will prove
blessed reservoirs 10 gather preserve. and
nurture the supcrnumerary. the useless,
and the dead-bcat Of the United States
army. These will be drawn from the
regiments Of the line by detail as they are
now drawn away from the rough frontier
and the dangerous Indians into the Signal
Scrvicel, togovern these cities. There will
he one hundred and fifty officers in each
city, doing something or nothing. Any way,
they will do quite as much n they now do in
the Signal Service in Washington and Fort
Whipple. The main thing will be to save
them TO the military order, and not part
them from the paymaster, nor put them 10
the cruel Inconvenience OF earning their
own living. This is what NlYFR princi-
pally fcllcitatcs himself on in this wondrous
scheme; and in moments OF secure social
intercourse he Is wont slylv to ask IL HAN
COCK. with all his gunpowdcr and his old
laundering fighting down in Virginia. could
do a. much. Candidly, We do not think he
could. No one but MYER is up TO it.
Backing of, and taking u long compre-
hcnsivc look at this scheme. we pronounce
1t sublime. Nay, who shall deny that this
ain-prognosticating General, miltarily
doubtful as he is. and questioned by sol
dcrs Of real gunpowder, has got his
grip on the nilntel MYER will have those
ships. He will have those mid-Atlantic
cities. And the Taxpayers OF the republic
will pay for them. We say this on the au-
thority of MYERS unbrokcn success In
handling Congresses to build up his Signal
Service and create for himself military
in which he does just what he
pleases and Is responsible TO nobody Yes
Gen. MYER will not only measure daily all
the ozone in the United States for the idle
of ompirics and charlatans but
he will surely found, build, and govern those
mid-occan cities Of elecmosynary and other
refuge, unless the taxpayers elect different
Congresses from that which has just dis
obeyed the peoples order TO reduce the
army to ten thousand meh