The record-union., 1891-12-18
MIR. KERKAM IS SET RIGHT.

MIR. KERKAM IS SET RIGHT.
A day or two ago the RECORD UNION
entered its protest against notes of a
weather report for California that ap-
peared in the San Francisco ECeni,1g Post
of that city, and Were credited to Mr.
Kerkam, Chief of Division of the Weather
Bureau.
The objections taken to the statements
which were in quotation and purported
to be the exact words of the bureau Off
Ger, were that the average Eastern reader
accepts such statements as applying to
California generally, at least to the CEN
trail and northern sections, and thus is led
by an apparently official statement to be-
lieve that on a certain date snow lay from
three to four feet deep here, that our peo-
pie went about their business on snow
shoes, and that the region is one of arctic
rigor. This, because the purported con-
versation with the Chief of Division did
not state that the points where the snow
was from three to four feet in depth, are
the loftier attitudes of the Sierra Mount
aims, and in regions so sparsely settled
that few besides station men dwell there
One such publication as that to which
we referred does California infinite
harm, and offsets much that California
agencies Of the most legitimate order may
do to induce desirable immigration We
took occasion, therefore, to sharply criti-
else Mr.. Kerkam, and to suggest that
men should be placed in charge of the
weather service who are familiar with the
topography of the State. The following
note from the official explains the mat
ter, sets him right, and puts the onus of
false reporting upon the shoulders where
it belongs:
WEATHER BUREAU.
SAN FRANCISCO, December 16, 1881.
EDS; RECORD MON; Refegring TO your
editorial, Injurious Weather Reports in
your issue of yesterday, permit me 10 state
that the utterances are those Of a local news
paper reporter who accredited them to me-
The figures in the case We're given to the re-
porter, but the remarks regarding the inhabi-
tants, snowshoes, etc. are his.
i nnNarlaDly QeDne the mountain regions
where snow is anticipated, or where low tenn
peratures occur, and am as conservative and
plain IN my remarks as possible-clinging to
facts only.
1t is hoped that you viii kindly correct
your editorial regarding the matter so as to
place me Alright before your readers. Very re-
spectfully, X. Il. kERKAM,
Chief of Division.
The blame for the misleading report is
therefore put upon stupid and unpardona-
BILE reportorial blundering. Even had
Mr.. ,Kerkam been so asinine as to have
said what it was stated he did to the Post
reporter, that journal, whose interests are
certainly identical with the truth con-
corning the State, would be unpardon-
able for publishing what it ought to have
known would convey false impression
in distant parts of the country. For il
cannot be assumed that the great mass OF
the people of the East know that Cisco,
Emigrant Gap, Blue Canyon and like
lofty stations are in high attitudes.
If this was single instance of reporto-
rial blundering on the part of the San
Francisco press that is injurious to the
State. and to the interior especially, we
should pass it by unnoticed. But the
truth is that the metropolitan Journals
are frequently guilty of like blunder-
ing offenses. AT times, to Judge by men
ton of the interior, we are led to con-
clude that men are employed upon the
papers of that city who are more familiar
with the topography and geography OF
foreign lands than of the State where they
earn their salt. In this case it will be
perfectly safe to wager that the Posts ar
ticle will be found floating through the
Eastern press all winter, and that it viii
grow as it is repeated until we shall fino
it published widely that California in the
present month was frozen up and visited
by storms leaving three and four fee
snow deposits. That was precisely wha
happened two or three years ago, wher
another San Francisco paper made al
equally stupid similar blunder to tha
which Mr.. Kerkam disclaims.