New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-05-04
ured by selfrecording instruments which are grad
uated to -hundrcdth OF inch.

The weather bureau costs about si,50o,oo0 year
Over against this may be set the facts that sim
gle cold warning saved So 100000 worth
of property. that a food warning saved $4,000
eco worth of property and many lives in the Mis-
sissippi Valley, that storm warnings displayed one
day detained in port vessels with their car
goes valued at S300O,0O0 which otherwise would
have had to reckon with one OF the most terrific
hurricanes ever known on the Atlantic
The daily service of weather predictions was be-
gun in the United States in 1870 by the Signal
Corps of the army. and at first was designed to
aid the navigators OF the Great Lakes and the At
lantic Coast. Its scope and purpose were grad
ualIy enlarged, and in 1891 1t became branch of
the Department OF Agriculture under the name
Of the weather bureau, Under the army regime
the heads of the service were Generals Myer' Drum
Hazen and Greedy. and under the Department OF
Agriculture Professors Harrington and Moore. Pro
fessor Moore. the present chief. has been conduct
ing the affairs of the bureau since July 1885 The
work Of the service has grown constantly. and In
the last few years. thanks to rural free delivery
and the telephone. It has increased its scope to
wonderful degree. Each day tho observations
taken tho day before added TO the stock OF
knowledge OF the experts. and with each day the
errors arising from inadequate knowledge are
fewer. The service Is becoming more and more
efficient. end. while It will be perfect and
infalble. it is destined to have great share In
the continued prosperity OF the country.
To the United States belongs much OF the credit
for the development of the science of meteorology
Benjamin Franklin by means OF his own observa-
tons and his private correspondence found that
storms moved northeastward from Philadelphia
toward New England. Thomas Jefferson. at Month
cello. and James Madison. at Williamsburg in Viz
GINA took q series OF simultaneous observations
in the years 1J72777. and certain conclusions were
drawn from them. so that the belief took shape
that storms had a certain progressive movement
and whirlng motion at the centre the founda-
ton of the science IL Is known to-day. About
the same time two French scientists proposed TO
establish stations large territory and to take
observations 10 discover the rules of the storm
kings court.
But 1t was The invention OF tho telegraph that
made the plans practicable. Professor Joseph
Henry of the Smithsonian Institution, who had
aided in the perfection OF the telegraph, began to
draw weather maps. and as early 1885 he dis
played them each day at the institution in Wash
ington. The Civil War interrupted the work in
America In 1868 France began the publication OF
q daily weather map which has been kept up
since Seven years thereafter the United States
began 10 issue It's daily map Now the American
meteoroiosists rank az the head among the scen-
fists OF the world. What difference there IS he
tween those days when science kept 70 herself
proud aristocrat. and these days when she calls
up two million farmers over the telephone to help
them with their work.
FREDERIC J. HASKIN