Evening star., 1902-01-07
Weather Bureau Experiments Sue
cessfally With Wireless Telegraphy.
GOVERNMENTAL CONTROL PROPOSED
Only Way to Prevent Conflict
Between Competing Systems.
REPORT BY CHIEF MOORE

| him by Prof. Willis l.. Moore, chief of the
| weather bureau. The recommendations con-
| tanned in this report have been previously
| published, but the body Of the statement,
| on which those recommendations are based,
| was not given out. The document has q
| particular interest this year because of the
| full discussion given to wireless biography,
ocean forecasts and the theoretic destruc-
| tion of hailstorms with cannon.
| For many reasons the bureau mas guard
| ed its experiments in ''etheric space teleg-
raphy' with the utmost care, and no eXpo-
stion of the system originated by its OIL
Gals has ever been made public. Mr..
Moore now sees fit to indicate the general
character of his system, however, and
makes several observations on the general
subject of wireless telegraphy which must
excite much discussion among scientists.
Substantial Improvements have been
made during the past year in the weather
bureau system of wireless telegraphy," he
says. THE line of research has been d'vid-
ed into three classes: First, the perfection
of a more powerful transmitter, IN which
the energy of radiation shall be greatly in
creased; second, the deViSing of more del
tcate receiver one that would De positive
instead Of depending upon an imperfect and
variable contact, as do ali systems now in
use; and, third, the perfection of a system
OF select1ve telegraphy whereby messages
can be differentiated and only the receiver
that it desires shall receive the message
Shall become responsive to the waves OF
ether.
The Problems of Wireless TeIeEraphy.
''The first of these problems may be said
to have been successfully solved, and q
transmitter devised capable of radiating all
the energy generated; the second is be
lieved to be nearing successful solution;
the third is thought to be well demon
81 cd b,,+ bos f,,Il,
tested in practice.
While there is much experimental work
yet to be done before our system or any
system of which | have any knowledge is
reliable for interShip communication. or
before any two systems can work within
the same field without rendering each other
useless, such progress has been made by
the government eEperimenterS that, with
no interference by private systems, sta
tions can be successfully operated over at
least $50 miles of coast line, and they are
now in operation on the North Carolina
and Virginia coasts, and soon will be IN
stituted between the Farafione Islands and
the mainland and Tatoosh Island and the
mainland on the Pacific coast.
Shall the Government Take Control.
IF a system of selective telegraphy cam
not be perfected SO that one system does
not interfere with and render useless an
| other, and thereby prevent all use to COM
merce of recent discoveries in wireless
telegraphy, it may become necessary, on
account of the value of these discoveries
to our marine interests, for the govern
ment to take exclusive control of all sys-
TENS of etheric space telegraphy and to
establish stations along our extensive coast
lines at such distances and in such rela-
tion, the one to the other, that they shall
not interfere. Even then there will oc-
casionally be difficulty in communicating
with the mainland whenever two ships
In close proximity are attempting to trans
| NIT or receive messages at the same time"
Important extensions of the service are
indicated as follows
AN important extension Of the fore
cast work of the bureau was made during
the year. BY an arrangement with the sec
| retary of the meteorological office at Lon
| don, England, the transmission by cable
| from London to Washington of meteorol6gi-
! cal reports from certain points in the Brit
| ish Isles and on the continent of Europe,
| and from Ponta Delgada, Azores, was be-
| gun December IS, 1900. These reports,
| with observations from Nassau, Bermuda
and Turks Island have been regularly pub
| lished on the daily weather maps issued at
| Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New
| York and Boston, together with forecasts
| of the force and direction of the wind and
| the state of the weather for the first three
| days out Of steamers bound east from
| American ports.
The Atlantic forecasts. which are BASED
| on the American. Atlantic and European
! telegraphic reports, were begun January T.
| part of the regular general night fore
! casts issued at Washington. In numoer
| of Instances, when storms Of marked
| strength were passing eastward off the
| American coast, forecasts were issued Of
| the character Of the weather which would
! probably be experienced by steamers leav-
| ing European ports westward bound. and
| by an arrangement with Iloyds of London
| these advices have been cabled to Endland
I'm addition to the daily forecasts of
wind and weather and special storm warn
! ings, predictions of fog were issued when
conditions favorable for fog development
! had been indicated in the steamer tracks
| west of the f1ftieth meridian. Reports from
! transatlantic steamships show that these
| forecasts and special warnings have Deen
| we'll verified.
! I'm November, 1900 arrangements we're
| made with Portugal to receive reports from
the meteorological observatory at Horta. in
| the Azores. Observations are now regular
| ly received by cable from that place, and
| they are of much value in the work of
forecast1ng the movement of storms on the
Atlantic ocean,.
| An Army of Observers.
Few persons appreciate the extensive
operations of the weather bureau That
| the bureau is an important governmental
| Industry Is indicated by the following out
| line:
| THE state central offices are under the
| systematic direction Of the central office at
! Washington. The central Office at WASH
ington is equipped with photographers,
printers, pressmen, photographers and elab-
crate addressing and mailing appliances for
| the printing and mailing of large quantities
OF national weekly, monthly, quarterly or
! annual reports and bulletins. The tele-
| graph circuits of the weather bureau are
| ingeniously devised for the rapid collection
twice daily, of meteorological reports; they
| are also used to collect the weekly national
| crop bulletin
The bureau, has 315 paid temperature
| and rainfall reporters, who are now daily
| telegraphng their data from the growing
fields to certain cotton, corn and wheat
centers. 1t has 2o0 storm warning display
| men distributed among the ports along the
Atlantic, gulf and Pacific coasts and in the
lake region. 1t has an observer serving
each morning on the floor of each important
board of trade commercial association, or
cetton or maritime exchange in the coun-
| try, who displays weather and crop in
formation. and each day charts the weather
| reports on a large map. It has 1000 vol
untary observers = nearly one for each
| county in the United States-equipped with
standard thermometers, instrument shelters
| and rain gauges. who have for years intelli-
gently served the government by talx.ne
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