The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-02-28

From the New York Tribune.
 Every one knows the weather map, and those who depend upon 1t for daily gui- dance in their business would find them selves at a serious loss without it. But how few are aware that this little sheet Is got together and printed in exactly the same way as one of the great dali lies, hundreds of correspondents being required for the gathering of the news that Is crystallized into one page, the items having to be telegraphed in time to enable the printer and sterotyper to 1 have the form ready for press at ex- actly the time necessary to catch the mail train and all the exciting concomi- tants of the work of putting the paper to bed" being present at the final stage. Every morning at 8 o'clock simultaneous observations of the local weather condi- tions are recorded and immediately tele- graphed over their respective circuits, at which time the circuits are kept clear for the Weather Bureau, each office on the circuit reading 1t for Its own map. Each man in the bureau, from the local fore caster down to the printers devil, must be an expert in the code, for the mes sages all come In code form. Here Is sample message:
 Sample Message.
 York Gemsbok Melbourne lmbue Unto Kicking Chignon Chip
 The message Is written on flimsy by the telegraph operator who receives IL Flimsy is the featherweight paper used in newspaper offices for typewriting mani Fol- of goes to the map maker, one to the printer one to the local forecaster. etc, and irn- mediately each man Is busy with his own particular work, for not a moment is to be lost, if the mail train Is to be caught with the papers.
 To one familiar with the code, it is easy to see that the words quoted above mean that In New York the barometer Is 30.44; temperature IS; wind, 5; weather, cloudy; maximum temperature. IS; velocity of wind, six miles an hour; lowest tempera- ture in morning. 10; registered two below yesterday; barometer fell .06 during the last two hours; strata of cumulus clouds moving from southwest, a fine haze in the air.
 With the ''York Gemsbok etc., message before him, the printer is at work cor recting his table for the daily paper, while at his elbow the man who makes the chalk plate from which the stero- type plate is made for the map Is hard at 1t digging little holes in the bed of chalk and tracing lines over 1t to show the temperature all over the country. If the man who makes the chalk plate waited for the map maker to give him a finished map, the little paper would never get to press on time. Each man must keep up with the other, and be only few min utes behind the telegrapher. for the mes sages are coming in from o'clock to 930 and at 10 o'clock the chalk plate and the various tables must be ready for the sterotyper.
 The Critical Hour.
 There is usually time for the map maker to compare his work with the chalk plate, but more frequently the chalk plate maker has to be trusted to do his work correctly, for at il o'clock the hundreds of copies that each weather bureau sends out must be the train. The tension becomes greater as the time approaches for the locking up of the little form The telegraph operator cannot record the messages fast enough to suit him. All hands hurry their work. to be even with each other for the grand finale. The last tick has sounded from the wire, the last line or circle has been made in the chalk plate the final touch given to the typographical matter The form is hasti- ly locked up and rushed to the stero- typer. This individual can manager the work without assistance, for 1t is a tiny form and ladled into the case in which the form Is with ladle little larger than an ordinary tablespoon. In a few minutes the metal is ready for the press The little press on which Uncle Sams little newspaper Is printed is worked by power and not one that is Kicked" but 1t is not of impressive size. The same man who sets the type runs the press When the paper has gone to press he becomes a printer again. Occasionally he does the sterotyping. too. Sometimes it devolves upon the local forecaster himself to do the sterotyping. The paper must be got to press on time.
 Importance of the Map.
 All sorts and conditions of persons would be inconvenienced If the weather map failed to arrive on time. With the in-