The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-12-08
. A TALK WITH GEN. GREEDY.
The Awful Silence of the Arctic
Region.


From the Atlanta (GG1 Constitution.
Gen. A. w. Greedy was the most notable
figure in the forestry congress. His tall
form would attract attention anywhere,
and his fine head and features, black hair
aud heavy black sidewhiskers, brushed
apart and surmounted by an enormous but
graceful black mustache, make him an unu-
suallv handsome man.
With the exception of a rheumatic ten
dency which he never knew before, Gen.
Greedy has come out of his terrible arctic
experience sound and well, though he says
all SIX survivors of his party feel the effects
of the exposure.
"One thing that impressed me,n said he,
was the silence. In the arctic reg ons the
lower forms of animal life do not exist. In
this climate, on the most quiet evenings,
you can hear an indistinct hum of insect
life, but in the arctic regions, with the ex-
ception of the action of the tides upon the
Ice and the occasional cracking of the ice
by contraction in extreme cold, there is no
sound
The arctic night, Of course. is hard to
bear For four months and half you do
not see the sun. Men lose their color and
lose appetite, and unless a man has unusual
strength of character the effect upon the
system is pretty bad. You can imagine
how it is to be shut up in a room for TWEEN
ty-one hours out of twenty four.
The average temperature there was
about s. below zero, aud in summer it
ranged up to about 40' above; but that was
unusually warm. The best temperature
for travelling is little below zero. The ex-
treme cold did not hurt our lungs; we did
not have colds. Our diet was about the
same as here. 1t was my idea. and it was
born out by my dietary, that man should
eat there what he had found best for him in
any other part of the world. The diet is
somewhat varied, of course. You find
that man can eat more butter, fats and
sugar there than he can here. The fruit
juices are also very beneficial. We had
condensed milk in large quantities. We
took lime juice regularly and found it very
palatable mixed with sugar
The aurora was not so frequent there as
1T was farther south, but it was very beau
tlful. i made some me geological discov-
cries which think will be valuable. They
are embodied in the second volume of my
report which embodies all of my scientific
observations. For the convenience of the
public | embodied all matters of general in
terest in the first volume.n
You had to have man shotm
Yes, that matter is treated fully in my
report, and The matter has been approved.
1t was simply a question whether the eleven
men then living should have some chance
OF surviving, or one man who was stronger
than the rest should have a reasonable
certainty Of escaping and the Others should
have none. 1t was simply a question of
self-preservation, and it became my painful
duty as commander in-chief of the expedi-
ton to is ue the order and have it executed.
"Mr. Lincoln, who was not on good
terms with my chief, was not at fret dis
posed to back me up, but when he had read
my report, with my dia y and the diaries
of the men, and saw that my statements
were borne out by Henry's diary, he
changed his mi d. "
Have there been any new features or
improvements introduced in the signal
service since you have been in charge"
my position as the head of a great
establishment precludes much intellectual
work. l have $50 clerks and 200 men alto
gether under my.supervision at Washing
ton, 800 men In different parts of the
country, 2 600 miles of military telegraph
lines and ! 900 miles of civil and other tele-
graph lines to keep up. Thel | have the
storms and floods to look after. There is
100000 paid out in year, and every
dollar, except some of the most necessary
items, is paid out on orders with my sigma
ure."
do you think there is much outcome in
the signal service!"
Eyes, if congress will appropriate the
money to reorga iZe the service. The in
competent officers ought to be turned out,
but under the law | have no power to do
that. 1t is very hard to get appropriation
bills passed, and have been trying TO get
appropriations through riders on other bills.
[ have done something in that way"
"Was there not something abnormal in
the recent storm on the Atlantic coastH'
Eyes, that was very Abnormal in some
respects. 1t was a West India hurricane
and came up from Bermuda. The worst of
it never touched the coast. The barometer
at one point was nearly half an inch below
the normal, and at Bermuda it was three
quarters of an inch below"
IF the United States had control of
Cuba, would not that be a help to your
serviceN
Eyes, that would be help. We did have
stations there, but somebody discovered that
it was not legal to spend money that way.
If we had stations there, and could know
when ID storm passed, we could calculate
with REASONABLE certainty where it would
strike. We could come within 100 miles of
it. 1t would require an observer there a
few months in the year, and W uld not cost
a great deal. Gen. Wheeler of Alabama is
very much interested in the matter, and has
been to see me about il several times. The
chambers of &C mmerce Of New Orleans and
Mobile are very anxious for til"
''Do you exchange weather reports with
other countriesF'
Eyes, we have been making charts, and
tracing storms across the Atlantic for
twelve years. We get reports from almost
every civilized country"