, 1891-09-05
now THEY LOOK AT 1T

Melbourne's moisture manifestations
Below we quote from the Salt Lake
Herald. We regret exceedingly that
through any fault of ours a wrong impress
sion should have gone forth concerning
the physical attributes of Mr.. Melbourne.
In publishing his %pisture We distinctly as
serted that it had been tikcn from an old
photograph and in plain terms barred
the a%ffluent top-knot as being no longer
Que of his personal peculiarilcs We can
assure all of our contemporaries that they
will be impressed not only by the geuteel
appearance of the rainmaker, but BY his
pleasant manners and evident intellectual
capacity. Barring this one reference
which we nave stated Is due entirely to
misapprehension-we take pleasure in
quoting the Herald editorial. which it
presents under the heading of The
Cheyenne Showers"
Prof. Melbourne at Cheyenne slid
there would be rain, and there was rain.
He puzzled the signal service meteoroln
Qi't, and he astonishcd ;he unscIen tihc
skepti-s. Whether magician. seer or
prophet, he amazed the multitude, and
''how ever did he do it?' is the wonder
ing question of the hour
The CHEYENNE LEADER OF Tuesday
presents a picture of the cloud wizard.
aud he looks for all the world like a man
who, dressed in s~panRles and Tight, eats
live Goals and then draws a bushel basket
full of ribbons out of his mouth. The
professor arrived at the Wyoming capital
- Clu - - H. va... usN
four ordinary grip sacks, cOoped himself
up in the lott OF a barn, situated on a lit
tie plateau overlooking the town. A
dormer window projects from the roof Of
the barn, and tins was covered with a
shawl. All night and all day Sunday,
Sunday night and Monday the storm
king stayed in the stable. emerging only
for his hasty meals. but no sound nc light
came therefrom during the whole
time, whilst the weather outside was de-
lightfullv balmy, and only a few fleecy
clouds lecked the sky. Monday evening
he ventured the observation that il would
rain next day. And sure enough, at a
quarter to 3 o'clock Tuesday, there was
a rainfall of a tenth OF an inch, followed
three-quarters of an hour later by a
driving shower lasting thirty minutes.
Nothing had been seen to issue from the
window IN the barn, which probably cor
responded with Mr.. Boutwell's hole in
the sky" and the whole business, in re-
porter's vernacular, seemed shrouded in
mystery"
This thing of producing rain in an arid
region at will is apparently no contrary to
natural laws a. to he at once startling and
important. Ii is idle, in view of so many
successful experiments. to pooh-pooh the
subject as ridiculous, and the least that
one can no is to hold the mind unpreiu-
diced add susceptible to evidence.
There Is a much more mercenarv, not
to say selfish cast to the Salt Lake TriJ-
me's editorial. Its Article is headed.
Come This Way" which pretty clearly
demonstrates its spirit. 1t is evidently
anxious to number Col. Melbourne among
its attractions in the Mormon capital. In
stead of entering heartily into the general
JOY over the RESULT of the rainmaker's
efforts and giving Salt Lakes only eastern
rival credit for being the adopted home of
the storm king, it puts forth all of Its
Establishments to scducc him away from
US. This is pitiful but we feel assured
that Col. Melbourne cannot be weaned
away from the scene of his first really
great triumphs, although he may be
tempted to visit briefly the ungodly pre-
Gin, Is of Salt Lake. The Tribune says:
We need Mr.. Melbourne this way; Just
now one Of his showers would be most
acc piable. The weather il outrageous
for his season OF the year. 1t is time it
cool. d down. The arid bel: desires to
adopt Mr.. Melbourne Tor its own The
man who out OF a clear sky, can, by
iDcautation, call up a half iuch OF rain at
will. ia the chap that has been needed
here for a lJng lime. There is a great
deil Of desert land IN Utah that needs but
a little moisture to make II bloom as the
rose Mr. Melbourne can charge n fair
ro"alty for supplying that land with water;
it will increase the yI.Id of the cereals
an | the vegetables in this country I'M
mcuscly; it will increase the population
iu nensely; it is the one thing needed
more than any other to make the fields
greet between the Sierras and the
Rockies. Heretofore We have looked
upJn it as a joke, as a sort
Of dismal fake on the part of the
most improbable crank IN the world; but
but If he can make It rain at will in n
town where the people are as much on
n1sad to the use of water as they are 10
cheyenne, we weaken. and we want the
ge1ileman this way. If he can place his
patcrt on Utah ami work ont the details.
he will increase the taxable property OF
this territory quite one-halt We want
hi,a even If he charges a royalty on his
sh,wers; he is a famine breaker. he is a
dust di>perser, he is a dIsease-germ ex-
terminater, he Is a daisy, and We need
him very much indeed. If he can fix
thi gs so a man can turn on a shower a.
he turns on an electric light, he is a gen,
tleman who should not hide his light
under such a bushel as Cheyenne Is He
ouxht to come where people would know,
through his work. that one more oil
natures mighty secrets had been solved;
that, alter all, when the world was made
it was intended that thers should be
water enough for the land; that the good
soil OF this basin was intended for %cultiva,
ton when the right time should come
that, after all, the plan originally was
that all natures secrets should be giver
up to the children of men, until at las
the earth should become a fitting habita
ton for a g%lorified race, and that tn,
gloriied race should be here.
The spirit of the Denver Sun is muci
more kindly and much less grasping
which indicates that even Denver may &C
c~asionally forego its claims on the uni
verse. But the editor Of the Sun is stll
in a negative frame of mind. He doe
net yet actually belieTe, although he i