The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1907-06-06
Weather and Character.
RvTohn i. Cowan,


AO how many men and women has the thought w presented .
" self that crime md climate bear to each other the relation OF
cause M effect? That mans morals are very often a fair In
$3.50 dx of weather conditions? Police records and a little quiet re
kEMNNSlMN trospecHon will prove to any observant and unpreudiced In
RSSGG&J dt1dual that criminal tendencies bear more than a caus1 OF &C
cidental relation o a falling barometer -,
A owpressure area O the weather map ought % be a signal Tor nigh
pressure" activity on the part of the police and detective forces of tn II
fected area. A meteorological storm centre marks the point o greatest crm'
inal activity with almost mathematical precision -,
The path of falling barometer is the path Of falling virtue, traced IN a req
OF minor lapses from the straight and narrow way, only a small ere st lag o.
which rel find their way into the newspapers or receive n airng IN n 20
lice and divorce courts, says John L. CoWan, in an article o. bAoMeefS
Mortality" in the Overland Monthly =,
So delcatay adjusted is the mechanism that preserves our mental pal
ance that a trffing variation in pressure, Or a little excess or ehclency IN me
amount of oxygen, nitrogen, ozone, carbon diox1de or any ohe element or
impIrty in the air that sustMns life may cause ne to behave N a manner
that he would eve dream of under strictly normal conditions. An oxygen
jag is nearly as bad ass ana a hundredfod more common thar a WnsKey jag
Like the Nebular Hypothesis, the theory of Barometrc Morality VIII &C
count for a good many things that have long puzzled bothth me wise and Ie
1t will extricate scientists, philosophers, statesmen, moraists and
cimn0ogists from the maze of many difficulties. ~
It explains why virtue varies directly and vice nVersey With dstance
from the equator. It shows that there is a reason in nature as Vel as IN
man, the phlegmauc Scandinavian, the stable Brton, the analytic col ahu ICne
freeating spaniard W to elemental activities the pecuiarites that they
venerable De Lesseps and a host Of. his ountrymen sulied their fair nam
and regulations in saturnalan revehy and unspeakabe dishonesty In per1er-
Td Panama. The nercurial character of the French makes them respon 10
Cmospne variations Is readily as the ulcKVhVer In ue DWO' anu ne Jana"
builders were, perhaps, as devoid of moral free agency.
In this convenient and comprehensive theory W re find a cogent reason fol
me factth lat W 70 must go to Oto fol our Statesmen to indiana lot our poets
and paywrghts, 20 Kansas Tor or cranks, to Massachusetts for our ph1oso
piers, and to New York and Pennsylvania Tor II political bosses
climate. He fnhaes it with every breath.
1t explains why the DIV pasture and the hay field are the nurseries Of
genius; md the mill, factory and countingroom the cradles O medocriy. 1t
teaches us o expect nothing good or beautiful ITO col einob being in London,
New York Or Chicago.
The jewellers in the worlds great centres of population borrow the great
ages and peoples; but if n wants frsthandx inspiration he must get away
1om the muggy, murky blanket of smoke, SCOT and all uncleanlness that
shore, the oxygen OF the mountains, the honeyladen ar Of the farm O the
plnescented breeze of the forest-New York World. ~--