The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-10-19
WEATHER BUREAU 5 WORK
Held to Be Worth $SO,OOO,OOO
a Year to the Nation.
EXTENT OF ITS WARNINGS
Measures Needed to Increase Their
Accuracy-Usefulnc of the Data
Collected in Carrying Out Irriga-
cation Enterprises-Nast Sums
Expended by the Government.

GNptuucu ny tue NONtFnIntHt.
In each State and Territory there
are now anywhere from so to $50
sets of standard thermometers and
rain cages that are read daily by
cooperating observers who serve
without compensation. All of the
daily records of each State are sent
to central Office of the bureau,
where the reports are compiled,
printed and distributed. Each
State center exchanges reports with
all the other centers, says the New
York Sun.
1t is probable that no other part Of
the work of the United States Gov
ernment has done more to aid in the
development of the extensive arid
and sub-arid regions than this
growth and extension of the climatic
logical service of the Weather Bu-
reau. The value of these data Is
now being brought prominently into
view by the vast irrigation schemes
which are being undertaken and
which would be seriously handicap
ped without such knowledge as is
afforded by these readings. The rec
ords at the different States. espe-
cially those in the West, are being
drawn upon to the fullest extent. al
though in many of the mountainous
regions the data are still incom-
plete.
Another important innovation re-
Gently introduced is the measuring
in the mountain regions of the West
of the amount of snow that falls ear
ly enough in the winter to become
solidified and remains until spring,
when 1t melts, and thus supplies the
water for irrigation purposes. 1t
has been found that a pretty fair es-
innate can be made of the amount of
reserve water that can be relied
upon for periods of drought by
knowing the quantity of snow that
has fallen in the early winter
months.
The many ways in which the Gov
ernment meteorological service en-
ters into the great economics of such
a thrifty agricultural, manufacture
ing and commercial people as the
Americans are remarkable. No other
government devotes so much money
to the study of the weather; none Is
so successful in applying meteorolog-
ical knowledge to its industries.
The discipline and perfection of
this service is better comprehended
when one realizes that within two
hours from the time that 200 sepa-
rate scientific observers, scattered
over an area that measures 1000
miles in almost any direction, have
read their instruments, the data
have been collected from at least 100
of the principal cities of the United
States, committed to printed charts
and tables and placed before all of
the great commercial, marine and
other associations that have learned
to base their operations Of the day
largely on the weather report, and
100000 maps, bulletins, forecast
cards or telephone messages contain
ing the forecasts are distributed
in the next hour or two in various
parts of the country.
This may seem impossible, but it
is a fact, and is accomplished only
by eliminating from the Weather
Bureau all politics or favoritism
and placing each observer and Off
cial under rigid, as well as fair, dis
cipline. The Weather Bureau is not
a place for sinecures or for the hous
ing of favorites of Senators or Rep
resentatives.
This organization is largely the
life work of the present chief, who
spent nineteen years in working
through it's various grades before
reaching the chiefship. When asked
what he thought of the prospects of
further Improvement in the accuracy
of tke bureaus forecasts and warn
ings. he said that while the Weather
Service, through it's cold wave, food
and marine warnings and its clima-
tological and crop reports, doubtless
contributed to the value of Ameri-
can industries to the extent of at
least $50, 100000 annually, and pos
sibly several times that amount,
there was still an element of error
in the forecasts that could not be
overcome with our present knowl-
edge of the pure science.
He believes that, as Congress feels
itself fully justified in appropriating
nearly $1,500,000 annually for the
application of our present knowl-
edge of meteorological science, 1t
will be wise economy to make one Of
the 200 stations an institution for
pure research, where the more re-
cent discoveries of the physicist, the
chemist and the astronomer can be
studied, with the most improved ap-
paratus, by scientists of the highest
order, in their relation to the various
intricate problems of the air.