Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1889-05-17
rus SIGNAL SERVICE.


Rsaso"' s,,,uld lie Non-Miiitary.
The condition of the United States
ln1 sorvice bureau, which prepares
slgp~ aas,her predictions, has long been
the We If anxiety TO those who are
as ouS in the several departments
intere1'r national science system. The
Of 99; Gu, given by the officers of
preoioooo,ryns though of much value,
TINS NC moi appeared, to those entitled TO
have .;a " them, up to the attainable de
erillc,'s perfection. The cost Of the
gree ~ 10 treat. though it is even less
BURIAL he country would be willing to
TIA" t t satisfactory service. The
Eany;,ed States spends probable more
W en'I his work than all the states Of
i n'.a s vet the weather predictions
Euro o On The whole been less success
nav ,hon those in the old world. AL
iul 1, . this bureau has been in opera
w. for nearly twenty years, it has
VII t';,ad 10 develop set Of able meteor
la inr;sts competent TO define the laws Of
vosseather on this continent. and to
lue ance the science of meteorology
aauhhough the bureau has gathered
,rea, body of fact concerning the at
g'eeSnheric conditions of this continent,
i'G has not succeeded in doing any con
y jorahle amount of investigation.
NV however. would have been more
IIanm ,J' if the practical work OF
ppaedic1ions had attained the desired
end ,5,,
na s;rnal service of the United States
army W. The original object of the
sorns as its name indicates, was to
s .erye for the purpose Of communicat
-; ;na information between the several
na 1 of an army on the march or i'll
ppc,ion AS a subordinate part of the
machinery employed during our civil
mar il did admirable service Ii, when
!, ossumed its new duties as meteor
nlooical corps, the officers and men
had been transferred to some one OF
the civilian divisions of the govern
ment work, there can be hardly any
doubt that the corps would now have
the foremost place among the scien
G6c institutions of the country.
The United States is singularly wei
nlaced for the development of mete
geological science, and the people have
measure of intelligence watch wei
fits them for the ready appl~, 'iation Of
such aids to their life as this branch o
learning can afford. Unfortunately
however the corps was retained IL
connection with the army. Noble a
i the system of an efficient militar,
organization, it is thoroughly eyi
when it is applied to work such as in
olirers are called on to do. Evel
where. as in the weather bureau, Gel
tain parts of their acts must be pei
formed with studious regularity, the
can best be done under the condition
of civilian, and not of a militar
corps. The military influence is G
necessity penetrative and dominan'
II men are soldiers at all, they mus
be soldiers through and through, i
order that the system may be reason
bly, perfect.
Under the present system OF the 81!
nal service. the observers are men Ell
listed III the United States army, the
are thereby essentially separated froi
all thecondilions which prevail in II
non-military work of the state. The
first duty is not to prosecute natur
inquiries, but TO obey the command
of their superior officers. The life
an enlisted man in any army is n
such as to be attractive to youths
character and ability, and it is Their
fore not surprising that few men
capacity have sought service as Sc
geants in the weather service. Thu
while Harvard university has Sc
more than Il score of men to the wo
Of the national and state geologic
surveys of this country, none OF
graduates has sought a place in Il
lower ranks of the signal service. q
lege officers have hesitated to advise
man to seek such a position, while
the corps was on a civilian basis the
chances in life would be extremely ;
tractive to young men of ablllt
Therefore it seems that the BEST if Il
the only, thing to do, in order to 81
the desired quality to the signal s.
vice, is to transfer il to some non-ml
tary division of the government VOL
N. s. Shaler in Boston Herald.