The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1905-02-28
WHOSE FAULT is IT?

IL Is with It&fec VI uANiuciNS' uSS
ally an unknown characteristic OF a
modern journal. that occasion demands
the calling down" OF the weather
bureau. About the only redeeming
feature of this adjunct Of the national
government is the number Of sine
cures 1t provides for indignant poll
ticians afflicted with itch bacillus. II
is possible that owing to superaound-
ance of egotism, an impression prevails
in the weather bureau that its prog
nostications are correct. but the COM
mon herd Of humanity who has been
afflicted with erroneous reports as TO
weather conditions, has formed a
unanimous opinion that the weather
bureau has been misnamed and that
II is a misnomer, or department OF
prevarication.
An illustration of the total unreli-
ability Of the weather bureau. whose
office is In some dome in Portland. as
near heaven as the man behind the
gun will ever get, Is in the telegraph
ed report to the Astorlan Saturday
night. At s:4s the following dispatch
was received:
Western oregon and Washington
Sunady. increasing cloudiness, follow
ed by occasional rains and cooler"
Sunday was one Of the most pleasant
days of the year. Not cloud was In
the sky, the sun shone brightly every
hour of the day, and the evening was
beautiful. Not a drop OF rain, but a
perfect summer day. Among the 5000
subscribers OF the Astorian who read
the weather report the editor was ae-
cused of wilful prevarication, some
things that he has never been guilty
of. The fault was with the political
attaches of the weather service of
Portland. The Astorian simply pub
lished what was sent. There is a sort
of distant rumbling in our think tank,
that the man who makes the weather
in Portland must have procured a
cheap brand of hop, or the booze foun-
dry is too close to the weather bureau
to be productive of reliable results.
What the weather bureau knows about
the weather is commensurate to what
hog knows about theology only the
hog has the best of the game. Such
reports as are usually sent out are
misleading and conflicting. They are
misleading and prevent large num-
Der of people from making arrange
ments for a Sunday outing. They
are conflicting for the reason that the
reports and the weather are directly
opposite and don't dovetail worth a
cent.
1t doesn't make much difference to
the Astorian what kind Of weather Is
predicted, but it does to its subscribe
ers. In a circular letter issued by
the United States postoffice depart
ment, newspapers were denied admis-
sion OF the mails that publish guess
ing contests The weather reports
are more in the nature Of guessing
contest, with the exception Of prizes
for the successful guesser are elimi-
mated. Just what effect 1t will have
upon the newspapers that publish the
weather bureau guessing contests can
not be stated until an opinion is re-
ceived from the attorney general OF
the United States.
The weather bureau must, however
be given credit for one thing. II
guessed the weather right one day last
week, and one day In the fore part
of January and 1t always has another
guess coming, because II 1t should ever
stop guessing, the salary would stoI
and a probability Of this school oi
prevarication and bad weather be
abolished. This brief dissertation or
the United States weather bureau is
simply published to inform Astoriar
subscribers that while the report ap-
pears every morning, the management
will not be responsible for the ac-
curacy of any of the predictions emf
mating from the oregon branch Of the
government weather bureau, even Il
it is under a republican administra-
tion.