Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-18

can get out to sea, where they will have
room in which to maneuver and weather
the eng gale; uors. .,,n. .n.t can bannen 70
people on shore is to be caught away
from shelter when the typhoon comes.
You have no idea OF what deiuge OF
rain it brings and Of the fury OF
typhoon wind Once in the Philippines
the rainfall during two successive days
was SO tremendous that it equaled the
total rainfall in the United States for a
year When i first told this to Ameri-
cans they wouldn't believe me. but |
showed them the figures. and they had
to change their minds about t.
You ought to see Manila when ty-
phoon is due. The entire city grows
nervous and worried Last May, for in
stance. when / put up the first warning
signals. / received no less than 165 tele-
phone calls within a few hours, also about
$50 kilograms. Those at the other end
OF the wires were either giving informa-
ton from outlying weather stations or
else asking me for information as to the
whereabouts Of the typhoon and the hour
at which it might be expected to break
over the city. Not only did I and my
assistants have to answer all the re-
quests for information, but we had to get
out dozens of cipher messages to other
points, and all within just few hours.
And the work keeps UP all the time
On an average, there are twenty-one
typhOons year in the Philippines. OF
in any one locality; there are that many
in the entire archipelago
when people get their warning they
proceed to make everything fast in their
houses to pile the furniture where it will
be least likely to get wet. and II the
typhoon really looks serious they them
selves crawl into cellars or caves and
wait until it has blown over"
i
~, pf nr hi
Father Algue, like most earnest work
ers, had his troubles. One thing that
you might suppose. would gall him is
that there has been considerable pirating
of his inventions by INSCRIPTIONS persons
Many barocyclonometers have been man
ufactured and sold without cent Of
their selling price getting into the in
ventor's pocket.
treatises on typhoon fighting was trans
lated into German and circulated extern
sively in Europe. yet his name did not
appear on the cover. Instead. readers
la,tor was the author of the book But
as Father Algue cheerfully remarked the
other day, he is not looking for money.
What could 1 do with IT." he said.
I'm a priest. Riches are of no use
to me. Provided 1 can work for the pub
lie good I'm satisfied"
And he shrugged his shoulders and
started talking typhoon again.
Another time. soon after the Americans
had taken charge in the Philippines, some
rivals Of Father Algue started a. cam
patgn against him from Hongkong and
secured his suspension head of the
weather bureau. But ii was soon noticed
that the lack of warnings from Manila
when typhoons were on the warpath was
playing havoc with life on sea and shore,
so formal request was made to the
United States government for the priests
reinstatement.
And reinstated he was, with all
his post. daily adding to his laurels
by unremitting good work and ingen-
ious inventions. Besides the barocy-
clonometer he has invented several
other instruments. among them a re-
necting nephoscope for observing the
movements OF clouds and rejecting
zenith telescope for recording latitude.
This is not his first visit to the
United States. He lived in Washing-
ton from 1891 To 1899 AS assistant at
the observatory of Georgetown Uni
versity. Later. with Father Faura, his
former chief at the Manila weather
bureau. he came TO this country as a
special delegate from the Spanish gov
eminent 10 tho Chicago worlds fair,
and in 1904 no was in charge of the
Philippine exhibition at the St Louis
exposition.
All this the priest tells with jerky
gestures in English that Is fluent
enough. but envoloped in genuine
Spanish accent. for. though he Is . lin