The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-11-21
IMPROVEMENTS
BY GOVERNMENT
Local Weather Bureau Under
going a Renovation
TO ADVANCE THE SERVICE
New instruments VIII Prob
ably be Put in.
TO ADVANCE THE SERVICE

The United States weather department:
station in this city is undergoing some
needed renovation and the rooms occu-
pied so Iong by Uncle Samuel in tbs
sedgwick block are beginning TO look like
they were fit TO be occupied By him who
licked England twice Mexico once
Algeria once, spain once and a rebenious
portion Of himself once.
During the well earned furlough of DR..
Fred L. Johnson, George Titus Todd,
observer OF the Dodge City station, is in
charge and IS giving direction TO the i'm
provemeuts in a way that proves him
TO be a very fine artist as well as a
deputy weather profit Of great repute IN
the short grass" country.
The weather bureau is becoming an in
stitution" in this city; the people are
taking an interest in it and when country
customers come TO town the wholesale
men take them up there. as they bring
them TO see the printing equipment of the
Eagle, and other things OF interest which
cannot be seen every day.
There Is some hopes that when the
Improvement of the local weather
bureau is completed, it viii be Of stin
greater interest. The people out here are
generally Americans-sturdy Americans
at that-and they take d pride in every
thing that represents their government.
In fact, they get their ideas of the gov
eminent largely from what they see Of its
departments and Of its service in the in
terest Of the people. AND so It is when
they go TO see a weather station they es-
innate the value Of its service by its APP
pearance As they see the delicate ano-
meters, meteorographs and such things,
and understand their functions from
suthorative explanations. they imemdl-
ately discard their old aImanacs when
they so home and watch for what the
weather bureau says. There is now and
always has been an unaccountable pre-
JUDGE against scientific truth. 1t Is prob
able that not more than one-tenth OF the
people Of the Cniteed States believe the
Weather Bureau can forecast storms
with any degree of accuracy. They go
on believing IN such signs as aching rheu-
matism. There is need Tor surrounding
the service with impressive equipment
as there is need in the presentation of
religious truth for robes and ceremonies
to make an impression on mems minds
Anything that advances the cause of
truth is legitimate.
A fine weather Office always makes a
convert TO the scientific fact that the
Weather Bureau can forecast storms and
LEGAL scientific enthusIasIs-of which
its public library-are in high feather
over the probability that the local
weather Office VIII be equipped impress
sively.
Hereafter the weather ONCE" viii con-
sist OF three rooms-one a work room
one an instrument room and one a store
room 1t is hoped that the new Triple
Self-Register VIII be installed as one of
the instruments, and many local patrons
OF the service are urging Professor Todd
to ask the department for one. This in
strument is a revelation. It measures the
velocity Of the wind. records the direc-
lions, measures precipitation and records
the appearance and duration of sunshine
every minute of the day by a complex
system of clockwork. electrical wires
and thermometric tubes that are in
1allible in their operation and results. It
so acts that fifty years hence If man
desires TO know whether the sun was
shining in Wichita at tnirty-seven min
utes past O'Clock p. m. on November
q 1902, he can ascertain il. It not only
makes for truth in meteorological condi-
tons, but it makes for truth in juris-
prudence; for the weather service of the
United States is becoming a potent factor
IN the determination of truth I'm the
courts Of the land, both in criminal and
civil eases.
How can this record De so accurately
kept"
In this way. It IS q simple fact that
alcohol expands and contracts under heat
and cold. Alcohol is confined in a tiny
tube To this tube is attached a pen
point charged with ink II the alcohol
expands this pen records II on a roll Of
paper according TO the degree Of expan-
sion and if it contracts. the pen moves
in another direction. according TO the de-
sree OF contraction. or in other words.
according 20 the degree of cold. The pen
moves over a ruled plane representing
periods OF minutes rive minutes. hours
and days and thus tells what the temper
sture was at any minute The force that
moves the pen is much more accurate
than that which guides the average hu-
man hand-it Is une-riug.
Sunshine and rain ana the velocity and
direction OF the wind are measured and
determined by equally simple and equally
accurate principles Of mechanics. The
cups that turn before the wind or the