Omaha daily bee., 1896-02-20
Is THE CLIMATE CHANGING.
\ Common Notion Rcfutcd by Scicn-
tifc Authorities.

Chicago Tribune.
The idea prevails that the settlement Of
Illinois and neighbcriDg states has caused
marked change in the character of the
seasons The cutting down of forests and
the cultivation of the soil are supposed by
many to be the causes, and some believe
that the introduction of network of rail
road lines and telegraph wires has had s1me-
thing 10 do with it, but both believe the cli-
mate is getting drier and drier with the re-
suit that the water in the rivers and lakes
is lower than ever, while many Of the
smaller lakes are drying up and disappear
ing.
Scientific men have treated the claim as
doubtful, but 1t hardly has been denied au-
thoritatively till now. The director of the
Iowa weather and crop service challenges IT,
and maintains that neither rain nor drouth
is caused by human agencies. but by gigantic
natural forces. To show that the recorded
great variability in climates and crops in the
last half century or 50 does not prove a per-
manent change he gives letter from Hon.
c. w. Irish describing the great drouth Of
the summer Of 1916 in Iowa, which perhaps
was continuation Of the dreuth of 1S45 In
Ohio. and that Of 1874 in New England
Those three drouths appear to have been
quito as severe as the groups of 1898. 1894
and 1895. and they were followed by the low
water mark of 1S47 in Lake Michigan. The
director OF the service further shows that
drouths may be compatible with good crop.
OF grain. IL not of grass, and says that they
alternate with very wet seasons. Henca he
concludes we have no evidence whatever to
favor the theory that civilization has affected
the climate. SO far as clouds and rain
concerned, and holds that eve may still ex-
pect dry and wet seasons in about the aver
age number and average irregularity"
The more widely observations of the
weather are extended the more cumulative
is the proof that when one area has de-
ficiency of moisture others have an excess,
and that the quantity of rain snow is
practically the same one year with another
This Is in harmony with the established
fact that the evap7rative power of the SUMS.
rays is constant, while the capacity of the
atmosphere for holding moisture averages
but about four inches for the whole surface
AS the air never Is completely dry it Is fai;
to assume that the annual deposition never
varies by more than two inches. or less than
per cent Of the total rainfall. This, there
fore, may be taken as the greatest possible
variation for the earth as whole and per
haps the actual variation does not amount to
l per cent. OF course the amount Of evap
grafton at different times Of the year depend
upon the changing meridian altitude Ct the
sun at that place through the annual range
Of seasons and on the temperature and de-
gree of cloudiness. But any particular guam
tity of rain very seldom If ever falls on the
spot from which it has risen in the shape of
vapor. 1t is distributed by air currents that
carry 1t off and drop 1t down in belts the
positions Of which are so provokingly irreg,i-
lar that they hardly can be predicted more
than few hours in advance. The great rain
bearing currents of air shift their positions
in much the same way as does the course OF
the gulf stream, but to a much greater ex-
tent. They still exist, however, and carry
as much rainmaking vapor as before The
question is not If they will part with their
but just when and where it will
fall.