Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1907-08-10
WORKED BY A HAIR.
A Few Points About Uncls sanar
Great Monopoly.


Great Monopoly.
There Is one line of business which
the trusts have not yet tackled line,
moreover, that men of all political
faiths seem perfectly content In leav-
ing as it Is, a monopoly owned and con-
Quoted by the government Such dis
play of Indifference is no doubt due on
| the one hand to the non-dividend pay
ing nature Of the business, and on the
other hand to the highly efficient way
in which the service of making weather
predictions Is carried on. While this
branch of the government service calls
for a liberal expenditure, with no dt
rect cash returns, the benefit Indirectly
is beyond computation; for that which
serves to enrich the individuals of q
nation also adds 10 the general pros
perity. Regarding the weather bureaus
efficiency Prof. Willis Moore, who Is at
its head, has given out some interest
ing facts.
I'VE are right about SO times out of
every 100," he says. This has been
tho average during the past Ave or ten
years, and believe 1t Is about as well
as we can expect to do with our pres
ent knowledge and machinery. We
hope to learn things yet which will bet
ter our forecasts. The value of our
work Is Increasing yearly. The reports
or the weather bureau are now annu-
ally worth millions to the people of the
United States Indeed they are so val
unble that the various maritime, agri-
cultural and manufacturing interests
Will not permit them to be curtailed
In any way. We have demands for new
stations daily and, as it Is, l cannot
recommend the establishment Of one In
every fifty of the applications l re-
ceive At present the increase In the
bureau Is not more than four per cent
year. We believe that 1t should have
a slow and healthy growth, and 1t 10
upon that basis that we are extending
1t as fast as We can"
Few persons understand the methods
employed by the weather man" In OBJ
tanning the remarkably accurate fore
casts that are daily sent broadcast
throughout the land, and to the aver
age mind pages of written matter
would not make the various processes
employed much palmer. 1t Is marvel
Gus, the extreme delicacy of the instru-
ments that are used Take, for In
HtYnnp tho aItopn q rio raoordora x,,hl,h
are sent mile or so up In the air
inside box kites to chronicle the tenn
perature, humidity and other conditions
Of the atmosphere, as we'll as to write
down the velocity r. of the wind from
time to time. The aluminium box con-
tanning these instruments Is so small
that you could put 1t In your hat; but
Its machinery Is such that 1t keeps @
record Of all these and other things
as long as 1t Is In the air, giving the
different conditions at every altitude.
The instrument in the box which meas
ures the humidity of the air Is worked
by one human hair, and that the fine
silky hair of woman. The hair has
been SO treated that its oily particles
are removed, and 1t records the changes
In moisture by It's expansion and con-
traction.
The thermometer which records the
differences in temperature Is little
metal bow, with a liquid inside, which
also expands and contracts, and all the
instruments Of this kind are such that
they must work In temperatures which
vary from 100 degrees below zero to
100 degrees above 1t. AS the kite goes
up into the air 1t soon reaches the
freezing point and the atmosphere
grows colder and colder as it rises
The Ink must be such that 1t will not
freeze and the oil must work down
to 100 degrees of cold.