Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1886-06-24
THE SIGNAL SERVICE.

From the day of the death OF General
Myers, who originated it, the Signal Ser
vice Corps has been stencil in the pub
lie nostril, and laughing-stock at home
and abroad. During Myers life he kept
the service up to an efficient standard,
and had he lived, he would doubtless
have perfected the system, so that it
would be beneficial to the country at
large, and not as it now is, source OF
profanity and anger to the deluded cti-
zen who governs his work by its unrelia-
BILE predictions. Bad as was the case at
the death OF Myers, it was made imam
ously worse by the appointment OF
the military martinez, Hazen, who
thereby obtained clear field, without
restraint from superior authority, to
put in operation his many cherished
hobbies, and infict on his subordinates
the misery of being in the service, yet
without the appeal for redress OF grew
ances afforded to all members OF the
army. To signalize his advent into the
corps, Hazen detailed Lieutenant Din
woody to enter into correspondence with
the general people and obtain all the old
time saws and sayings on the weather
and publish them in book form, which he
did, but omitted to send them around to
any great extent, so that the wonderful
compilation, costing thousands Of dollars,
is now jealously guarded from public
view in the office ef the bureau ut Wash
ington. A specimen OF the contents OF
the book is the opening couplet:
"When the ASS begins to bray
We shall have rain that day."
From first to last the book is filled with
such stuff, and this was heralded by
I1azen as being top notch in the march
of improvement of the service. Follow
ing up this style Of administering the
affairs OF the department, he very soon
ran foul of Secretary Lincoln, who was
forced to check his overweening vanity,
and still he persisted, until now the Sig
nal Service Corps is chaos, and ripe fol-
abolishment. A joint commission has
been inspecting this happy outfit in CON
junction with other Government service,
and the board says Of them:
The signal service men are soldiers only
! i'll name, and "a mere uniformed police to
watch the weather and watch each other
This is not the only evil of the organization
Frequent complaints have been made by
enlisted men of rude personal insults by
their officers; of undue and illegal and harsh
punishments inflicted contrary to the rules
nd tn1a Of Of fI,a WIGHT
to petition their officers for redress of per
sonal grievances; of refusals to courtmartia
non-c commissioned officers for offenses they
, had committed toward the men: OF insult
ficient supplies of edible food; of tavoritisn
, in the assignment of men to signal stations
and in promotions, and of efforts to induce
, or force the men to make representations t.
Congress favoring the continuance of tn,
/, military features of the signal service, ant
to secure an increase of rank in the otficia
staff of the corps.
This state of affairs is found after 8
. careful examination in detail of every
avenue OF action reached by the bureau
and is reported by men who have M
p, motive for Misrepresentation. The fac
that the bureau fails to fill the needs i
was established for should compass it
, speedy determination, but when it il
considered that its worthless prediction
, cost the Government last year the sum o
, $792 ,593, and the appropriation for 1885,
!, is 1864, ,0S0, and the estimates for 1887 plac,
the figure at 81, 1876, 1888, it seems utter ant
reckless waste of the peoples money Il
continue such abortive work. The weathe
, service OF Great Britain is conducted a
an annual cost of $4s, $50, Russia $3s, 500
and Austria $l4, 900, all three combined
not being equal to the sum squandereC
on Hazen and his pet officers. Here il
: one great leak in the public treasury tina
could and should be stopped at once, anC
the men who now eat the bread Of idle
ness in Washington be made to 60 to tn,
, frontier and use their weather lore in pre-
dieting the downfall OF Geronimo and hi
fellow bucks.