The rustler. (Cerrillos, N.M.) 1891-1???, 1891-10-23

An outn.s e ne HistsrT e ne. sir-@i
I; h almost exactly twenty-five year,
since The work Of observing. reporting.
and predicting changes IN the we.thsr
was hnt undertaken b The Unitsd
States government The hut order
Cor anything Of the kind vas issued By
the secretary Of war In 1919. shortly
after the close Of the civil war. Al the
start the signal eorp~ - IL wAs called
consisted merely Of = body Of oeiceu
and soldiers from the regular army.
detailed for this particular work Their
only important stations were along the
great lakes but In = short time the
weather bureau developed far beyond
the designs Of those who originally
planned H. From \ simple tclegraphio
report Of weather conditions NJ a few
military posts. = great system Of Offices
and observers grew up. whose Published
bulletins were issued daily In every
department Of the country's industry.
The farmers consulted the weather
prophecies 20 learn whether Il was safe
10 begin on a given day 10 harvest their
grain or cut down their hay. Captains
of coast steamers planned their course
according to the Signal Service predic-
lions Of storm or fair weather. Even
the everyday business man got into
the habit Of CHANGING at the weather
forecast In his morning newspaper be-
fore deciding whether TO take his UNI
brella 10 business with him or not
Scientists used the statistics Of the
weather bureau as a basis for their own
studies Of the world We live In.
IL would be interesting TO notice into
how many Of the affairs OF life the
weather reports and forecasts enter.
To illustrate by but a single example:
II a heavy storm is raging In Texas tbs
cotton crop may be injured. aud the
price Of cotton at the New York Ex-
change will advance. in anticipation of
the injury. But the making of forecasts
Is work requiring intelligence and sci
entiic knowledge, and IL was soon dis
covered that simple army training could
NV thHlNN ~ AAN1AAH hNfatA AoN AlAn
work A curious compromise was made.
The officers at the signal stations were
very generally chosen from private
life; but when they began their work
they were enlisted in the army. with
an army officers regular rank and pay.
The assistants, too, were formally ad-
mitted 10 the army service.
This combination of regular army
officers doing civilians work. and
:ivilians bearing military titles, ham
pered for many years the bureaus
work. Finally people made up their
minds that the whole plan of an army
weather bureau was absurd. In its
second session of 1890, after n discussion
which developed no actual difference
OF opinion, congress passed a law pro.
viding for the transfer Of the weather
bureau from the war department 10 tho
agricultural department. The chief
signal officer of the army was still 10 re-
main in charge Of ''all military signal
duties" but these were far less impor-
an than the duties of the modern
weather bureau, and the law itself
stated that the duties of the officer and
his corps shall be confined to strictly
military matters" Meantime n new
chief for the weather bureau was 10 be
appointed, and the necessary employees,
after being honorably discharged from
the army, were to be re-employed under
the agricultural department. at the
same salary. The law was signed by
the president October /. 1890, aud went
into effect on the LIST of July, 1891. II
is believed by careful observers that it,
effect will be excellent
Hereafter, 1t will be more easily pos
sible to engage the services OF iirst-class
scientists in the work of the bureau,
and to conduct its work without being
hampered by the rules of a department
whose principles and organization are
on u totally different basis. In fact,
there is reason TO look for great i'm.
~provements, ever in the weather proph.
cies.-Youth's Companion.