Alaska sentinel., 1907-08-29
WORKED BY A HAIR.
A Few Points About Uncle sam's
 Great Monopoly.

| Ureat honopoiy.
 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 leay- ing as It Is, monopoly owned and con ducted by the government. Such dis play of indifference Is no doubt due on the one hand to the non-diyidend 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 al rect cash returns, the benefit Indirectly Is beyond computation; for that which serves to enrich the individuals of a nation also adds to the general pros pcrity. 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 SS times out of every 100." be says. This has been tho average during the past five or ten years, and l believe It 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 of the weather bureau are now annu- ally worth millions to the people of the l Tinted Stot TnInaI vo |. uable 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, cannot recommend the establishment of one In every fifty of the applications I re- ceive. At present the increase in the bureau is not more than four per cent year. We believe that It should have | slow and healthy growth, and It Is upon that basis that we are extending 1t as fast as We can"
 Few persons understand the methods employed by the weather man" In ob- ta!ning the remarkably accurate fore l NeG lo lhoI uAO SSul UtOddCdbl throughout the land, and to the aver age mind pages of written matter would not make the various processes employed much palmer. It Is marvel ous, the extreme delicacy of the instru- ments that are used. Take, for in- stance, the automatic recorders, which are sent a mile or so up in the air Inside box kites to chronicle the tenn perature, humidity and other conditions of the atmosphere, as well as to write down the velocity of the wind from time to time. The aluminium box con- taining these instruments Is so small that you could put 1t in your hat; but It's machinery Is such that It keeps a record of all these and other things as long as 1t Is in the air, giving the different conditions at every altitude. Tho instrument in the box which meas urss 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 la moisture by Its expansion and con- traction.
 The thermometer which records the differences in temperature Is a little metal bow, with 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 10G 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 1t rises The ink must be such that 1t will not freeze and the oil must work down to 100 degrees of cold.