The Washington herald., 1907-03-04
HOLD MOORE RIGHT
Congressional Com mittee
COmmendS Experiments.
AUTHORIZE WEATHER STATION
Bill of 1902 AppFopriates Money for
Bureau Buildings, but Does Not
Specify where They Shall BE
PIaced-The Majority Report Finds
Prof. Moore Justified in His Work.

mittee on Expenditures in the Agricul-
tural Department was made public yes
terday. 1t is signed by Representatives
Charles r. Davis. Of Minnesota, Edmund
w. Samuel. OF Pennsylvania Henry d.
Flood, Of Virginia; Ezekiel S Gambler, jr.,
Of Mississippi and Robert c. Davey of
Louisiana. The chairman Of the commit
tee. Charles +. Littlefeld, OF Maine, signs
the minority report, alone.
The majority report declares that the
expenditures for the much discussed
Mount Weather experiment station were
fully authorized by Congress. and the
Chief Of the Weather Bureau consulted
with and was authorized by the Score
tary of Agriculture to DO the work he
has done at Mount Weather since 1902.
Ii is shown that the appropriation act
under which Mount Weather was begun
was contained in the Dill that became
operative July ], 1902, and which reads
as follows:
For the nurchsse q sites and the erection Of not
les than sx buildrg1 for use as Weather Bureau
olscn1tcris. and fer an necessary labor materials
and cxleuses, plans and specifications 20 Pc pre-
pared and approved by the Secretary q Agriculture,
and work done under the supervision Of the Chief
u tho Weather BHrlau including the purchase Of
Instruments furniture supplies, fasstaHs, and storm
warning signal t0wcIs TO properly equip these sJ2
tiers. nfty thousand dollars.
The first purchase OF ground was made
tn September, 1862, and a contract was let
for an ordinary weather station. The
appropriation bill authorized six such
-.
officially mentioned in the bill. but neither
were any Of the other places mentioned,
rs it was, evidently, says the report. the
intent Of Congress 70 leave this entirely
TO The discretion OF the officer having
control of the appropriation.
No Limit on Buildings.
The report SAYS that under the appro-
priation act 1t does not appear TO the
committee that the Secretary OF Agricul-
ture was limited 20 the construction of
but one building OBJ d given Weather
Bureau site" Il goes on 20 show THAI
the amount used % construct the first
building az Mount Weather was not d.
verted from some other appropriation that
was by law specifically made T. erect "A
building a some other place. There never
was specific appropriation for a build
ing at Yellowstone Park and. therefore.
the money could not nave been diverted
from Yellowstone Park u Mount Weather.
The majority report goes on 10 show
that ia the spring of 1865 at "a time when
0ut little work had been done M Mount
Weather. the chief Of the Weather Blu
re4u formulated in his mind the idea OF
charging that station into a research in
stituton He talked the matter over
with the Secretary of Agriculture. and
they decided TO lay the plan before the
Committee on agriculture This was
done as is shown by the annual report
dated August IS. 1853. and In "a letter
written December IS 1862 the whole
scheme was outlined and laid before the
chairman Of the Appropriations Commit
tee OF The House and before each MEM
her of the committee.
Matter Fully Discussed.
That no discussion of Mount Weather
is found in the published hearings dur
ing the winter Of 1888 is due to the fac,
that Mount Weather did not come before
the committee until many other topics
had been discussed. and then it came
before the subcommittee and not the full
committee. Representative Burles0n a
member Of the committee remembers
that Prof. Moore discussed the matter
with the committee. and in this report
the majority members say that 1T is ar
parent that if Mount Weather was being
created il must be created from the fund
for the erection of buildings. We are of
the opinion that as each successive re-
port OF the chief OF the Weather Bureau
10 the Secretary Of Agriculture described
what was being done Ut Mount Weather.
and what was proposed for the following
year. the failure of Congress TO make any
change IN the law under which they
were working gave them every reason to
feel that they We're working with the full
knowledge and consent OF Congress, and
that their authority was ample"
The members who make this report de-
clare that the accounts were passed by
the Treasury Department and that one OF
the Treasury officials has testified that in
his Judgment the expenditures were legal
Is made: that the Secretary of Agricul-
turc exercised his functions as Congress
had delegated them 10 him; that he
authorized the chief of the Weather
Bureau each year TO create here and
there additional observation stations. al
though there is not a word in the bin
that authorizes him specifically 10 create
any one of these new stations
Concluding, the report says: Neither
the Secretary Of Agriculture nor the
chief Of the Weather Bureau can fairly
be criticised for exercising q function that
is vested in them by Congress-" They
commend as wise economy the devO-
ton Of a reasonable amount of money TO
the carrying on of experimentation at
one OF the many stations of the Weather
Bureau. and says. We find no evidence
Of extravaganza or misapplicatiOn Of
funds In the creation Of the institution az
Mount Weather. which we believe TO have
been worthily conceived and the plans
so far to have been efficiently executed"