The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1909-03-19

also have a long list of arguments
for reopening the case. Efforts will
be made to have President Taft re-
consider the order of his predeces-
sor in moving the office from Mitch
ell to Gregory.
The Storm of March Fourth.
1t is not usual to answer critic
| isms of the forecasts of the weather
bureau, but the hundreds of press
clippings that have been received
since March 4th containing adverse
criticisms of the bureau seem to
call for this statemene from me.
Forecasts of the weather bureau
are before the public every day in
the year. In the past about one pre-
diction out of each ten failed to be
verified, and it may be expected that
| the same ratio of failure will be
maintained until meteorology can
! be made, what it is not now, an ex-
| act science.
In the case of the storm that Wis
tied Washington on the 4th of March
last, the fact is that the disturbance
began here on the morning Of the
Sd, and was accurately forecast the
day before. The bureau anticipated
that the storm center would pass
over the Middle Atlantic states dur
ing the night of the Sd, and that
northwest winds and falling temper
ature would leave clear day for
the 4th. The center past precisely
as forecast, the wind shifting and
the temperature fell, but instead of
the northwest wind clearing the sky
as it does in nearly all cases, preci-
pitation in the form of snow oc-
Cured and continued to for twelve
hours after the storm center had
past eastward. No forecaster could
forsee this. We're we to forecast
fall of snow following the passage
of storm centers that move from
the northwest, we would have hun
dreds of failures charged against
us, instead of an occasional one, for
it is rare that snow falls in the Mid
die Atlantic states except with the
approach of storm from the south
west, which causes northeast winds,
and it is extremely rare that any
storm in this region that begins with
rain ends with snow Of any cor
siderable amount On the contrary,
many storms that begin as snow end
as rain. .
The forecast in question was made
by one of the most experienced fore
casters of the bureau and was con-
versant with the conditions, and the
same forecast would be made today
if similar conditions existed.
The forecasters of the U. s.
weather bureau are the equals, II
not the superiors, of any others dn
the world, and their predictions of
frosts, cold waves, floods, and ma
rine storms, although subject to err
ror in the proportion Of about one
to ten, are of such value to the in
dustries of the nation that If one OF
the newspapers that now 80 freely
casts for the District Of Columbia
have fallen on inauguration day tc
omit from it's pages the daily pre-.
dictions of the weather its readers
would compel it to restore them
and if the department or congress
were to close a station of the blu.
reau in any part of the United States
the property interests would de-
mand it's restoration. This would
not be the case if the hysterica
abuse that is now being INDUCED II
was justified.
! Willis L. Moore,
Chief U. S. Weather Bureau
Washington, D. c., March 10, 1909
, Supreme Judges to be Appointed.
Pierre, S. D., March 17.-Gover
nor Vessey will within a few day.
make appointment of the two ad
ditional supreme judges provided
for under the law passed by the leg
islature. The next term of cour
assemblies in April and there will b
five judges on the bench at tha
time instead of three. There is nj
authoritative announcement as t.
who the new judges will be, but thu
opinion prevails that Judge E. G
Smith, of Yankton, will be named
from the First district and Judge
Mccoy, of Aberdeen, from the Fifth
ed-Trustworthy man OF
/ woman in each county to advertise
: receive orders and manage business
: for New York Mail Order house. SIS
weekly; position permanent. no in.
vestment required. Previous exper.
fence not essential to engaging. Spare
time valuable. Enclose self address:
ed envelope for full particulars. Ad.
dress Clark & Co., Wholesale Dept.
103 Park Ave, New York.
Premium Paper with The Union.
The price Of The Union is $3.50
per year, and when paid In advance
will entitle the subscriber to his
choice Of the Weekly Interocean,
the st. Paul Dispatch, or the Kan
sas City Star. Send In your names
or call at the Office and take adj
vantage of this excellent offer.
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