Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-11-08

to some wireless telegraph station tha:
will transmit them to Washington, say!
a special dispatch to the New York
World
AS a corollary weather reports Issued
Mt least daily would be furnished to
every ship having wireless telegraph
equipment Then the dangers of nayi
cation would be greatly lessened, for If
a navigator can have twenty-four
hours warming Of storm that is NOV
ing In his direction he can take meas
ures to sail out of the probable track
of the disturbance or If that Is imprac
ticable take steps to have his ship in
such a state Of preparation that the
danger of wreck is reduced to mini
mum.
BY the use of wireless telegraphy,
says Chief Moore, it will be possible to
discover where storms originate If that
pont Of origin is within the regions in
which ships sail in numbers great
enough to afford opportunities for re-
ports. On land and sea there are in
struments which measure within few
feet of break in an electric current.
1t will be possible to figure almost as
closely with respect to destructive
storms.
The American weather service gave
warnings of the approach of the. recent
southern hurricane In time for all ships
along the coast above the southern end
of Florida to get into shelter. The fact
that the storm continued eastward
after passing through the straits of
Florida instead Of curving northward
and come boiling up the coast does not
detract from the value of the warning
The storm simply failed to go where 1t
would have caused the greatest de
struction had there been no warning.
If the wireless telegraph service had
been in existence all the shipping in
the lane leading from Europe to the
West Indies would have been warned
of it's approach, together with an &C
curate statement Of the direction 1T had
when 1t departed from the ken of the
observers on land Nayigators in that
lane, knowing that the storm would
not strike anything to again change its
course. would have been justified in
believing that it was coming straight
for them long before their barometers
began showing them the existence Of q
somewhere near them.
There is good foundation upon
which to rear the proposed superstruc-
ture. Great Britain, France, Germany
and Spain, In Europe, and Japan. III
the orient, maintain weather services
patterned after ours, the pioneer liz
that line Of research, with which all
exchange of news is maintained. The
daily weather maps Of those countrief
are sent to the United States govern
ment, and all the storms reported to
them are carefully recorded by the
forces employed by the United States
government
The other day In the bureau of ocean
photographer was trans
ferring the lines made by the japanese
photographers to blank map Of his
own. The japanese record will be of
use in the future to show what was
happening in the eastern seas on a
given day, and comparison Of such
maps will enable forecasters to obtain
d good idea of what will happen else
where.
An international agreement either In
the form OF treaty or mere agree
ment between the heads of the various
services will be needed to make the
service of value. 1t will be
necessary to have it understood what
part of the seas each nation will under
take to cover with its own reporters
of phenomena, else there would be end
less confusion.
One great obstacle now to such
system is the fight among the invent
ors Of the various systems Of wireless
telegraph instruments. They will not
state Of affairs will not exist month
after any one Of the strong govern
ments decides that there must be an
between the rival systems.
such as is made by the railroads Of the
United States This government can
forbid the transmission Of messages for
any system that refuses to exchange
with another just as easily as it can
forbid the transportation from one
state to another Of meat that has not
been inspected by the federal govern
ment The national government has no
right to force it's inspection upon citi-
zens Of any state, but it's right to for
bid or to regulate interstate commerce
is unquestioned. The rival wireless
systems could be t@eated in that way.
The installation of such service
would be comparatively simple because
nearly every branch of the government
service is now equipped with wireless
apparatus. When the nations decide
upon what conditions the wireless COM
panies may transmit their messages
into and across their territories the
problem Of collecting data for an ocean
weather service will be reduced to the
very simple one of organization.