The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-09
Also it is continually receiving Rld send
ing messages from and 20 national banks.
ON PROPS ConF

a
ing messages from and 20 national banks.
oru rRor's Co6r.
The weather burcau Of the department
of agriculture employs cipher code not
for secrecy but for the sake Of economy.
The predictions are made up each dav
from dispatches sent to Washington from
l5O signal stations all over the country.
The words composing these messages are
so formed that every letterin them meane
something. AS fast as the kilograms ar
rive they are translated by an expert
into ordinary English. He reads them
aloud in Il sinEsong tone while four
skilled men at desks close by jot down
the information they convey upon as
many outline maps of the United States
On each map the $50 signal stations are
indicated by 100 small circles, in each of
which the report relating TO that locality
is penClled with symbols aud figures
These maps when finished preSenta com
plete picture of the meteorological cOndi-
tiOns all over the union. Upon their
showing the representations are based
The postoftice department, if Mr. Wanna
makers pet scheme were carried out,
would have control of all the telegraphs,
which would thus become a government
institution, like the mails. The postmaster
general is empowered by statute to fix an
nually therate allowed to telegraph com
panies for carrying Uncle Sans dis
patches The companies are supposed to
agree to this arrangement in cOnsidera-
ton of certain benefits obtained, such as
right of way, timber for poles, and land
for station sites. Wanamaker cut down
the government rate to 10 Cents for ten
| words, with quarter of a cent for every
additional word. These terms the West
ern Union refused 10 accept, urging that
II should not be required to do business at
| loss Such price, it contended, was
less than cost, especially in view of the
fact that government kilograms must
take precedence of all Others The dis
pute has continued since 1899 while
ago the company decided to take the al
lowance made, receipting under pro-
test" At present its case is before the
court of claims.
For the purpose of predicting storms
at sea the photographic Office of the navy
| receives weather reports from stations all
along the West India islands East of
| these isles the great cyclones breed.
| There exists an incubating region of hur-
ricanes from which those dreaded revolv-
| ing storms sweep up the Atlantic coast,
| following the course of the Gulf stream
| They mould like the little whirlwinds of
dust in the street, which travel along as
| they gyrate. Instead of picking up dust
and rubbish they pick up rain and clouds.
AS they go northward they broaden out,
| having commonly diameter of 400 or 500
miles by the time they reach the tracks
of the transatlantic steamships Far out
in the midst of the ocean Bermuda stands
like a sentinel. Since it has been con
nected with the mainland by cable from
| Halifax the weather reports sent thence
| have given most valuable help Gin the
| representations of cyclones.
| TO DFTrRAITNyF 7 oNcrTrrDE
One use which the photographic Office
makes of the telegraph is to determine
| longitudes. Such reckOnings can only be
| made by knowing the exact time The
| situation of Hawaii in the Pacific ocean is
| not established precisely, because the
| computations have depended upon chro-
nometers, which are liable to error.
| When Honolulu is connected with San
| Francisco by cable it will be possible to
! fix the Sandwich islands just where they
| ought to be on the maps. The United
| States coast and geodetic survey also en-
ploys wires for finding the longitude of
| points. The naval observatory here is
| commonly utilized to reckon from The
| origin of the word Longitude" by the
way, is rather odd. The ancients, sup.
posing that the world was fiat, conceived
| 1t to be much broader east and west than
| from north to south. Accordingly, they
| spoke of measurements from east to west
as covering distances in longitude-or the
| long way. p-...
Although the permanent telegraph of
| fee was first established at the white
house before Grant left it, the executive
mansion had previously been connected
| from time to time with the telegraph sys-
| TEN of the country by wires pnt in for
special purposes. This was done in the
earliest instance three days after Fort
| Sumter was fired upon, when an instru-
ment was attached to a window ledge in
the east wing of the building. Over this
wire President Lincoln got his freshest
news of the stirring events of the war.