The sun., 1912-08-04
TRYING TO TAP SKIES.
Rainmakers Use Dynamite and Other
Methods Uaavailingly.

Farmers take jubilant notice--tempo.
rarily. Fans take melancholy warning
also temporarily.
| The rainmaker 10 on the job. Wichita
Falls. Tex. is the latest field Of his
recent activities. and It Is not such a
long trip by rail from the great Southwest
to Manhattan's diamonds. SO. baseball
enthusiastic. beware. At Wichita Fall.
the rainmaker exploded ak thousand
pounds OF dynamite. but Jupiter Pluvius
refused to be Jared and positively de-
clined to spill over. even though that
section OF Texas has been extremely dry
80 far as concerned the soil
There are parts OF our country that
would be insuferably dull but for the
annual temperance Of the rainmaker
The good people of these sections are
generally quite willing to contribute
generously for this wizards offices in a
desperate effort to stave oil seasonal
ennui. Not infrequently the rainmaker
appeaes to make good. but there are other
times when the best he can do Is fruitful
Of failure only.
| When he fails IL is usually because OF
unreasonable demands on the part OF the
people Of the particular thirsty neighbor-
hood and seldom due to want OF judgment
on the side Of the sky doctor. When all
is said apd done the rainmaker is pret'
shrewd individual and when left to his
own devices tries to effect q happy COM
promise between his own spectacular
demonstrations and the probs ble develop
ments of the weather then promising.
Perhaps il we lived in the subarid Sec
tions Of the country or along the fringe OF
sterile plains that need only rain to turn
them into blossoming gardens we could
easily find excuses for offering a welcom-
ing hand to these magicians of the
heavens bald man will try pretty
nearly anything to grow hair OH his
shining pate. Remember the shell game
in devious forms is doing u pretty gooci
business right in our midst to-day. and il
does not take the exalted plane Of rain
making by any manner Of means. although
We get more generally soaked.
! Back In the early '9Os Prof. Mel
bourne. then widely proclaimed as the
famous Australian rainmaker." reached
this country at time when there was a
drought in the Antipodes which persisted
\ uNbDtC DCcI TduItldAiuk CuOttS uuu VIC
liberal contributions from the purses OF
the Australians. The professor began
experimenting in Ohio. Wyoming. Utah
and Kansas. His method consisted in
locking himself in barn. house. freight
car or other room where he made a
fire and burned or evsporated certain
chemicals. whose smoke arose through
the roof out Of some i,npromptu chimney
or stovepipe and dissipated itself in the
thin air.
Occasionally rain did come after one
two or three days of chemical per
formance. but equally often il did no,
come When rain fell after demonstA
.ion. Melbourne claimed that the chemi
Gals exerteda great influence on the atinos
phere and brought about the precipita
ton. The Professor subse auently became
a paying feature at local fairs in the ario
regions. HIS career was both spectacular
and successful. and his worst enemy va.
the Government Weather Bureau.
The citizens Of the drv districts still
looked upon the authort les in Washington
a. the ultimate source of wisdom. and the
Weather Bureau was often import uned
for advice AZ to when he should lie called
to any given town. and whether the in
habitants would he justified in paying
him fee of several hundred dollars. The
weather sharps at the national capita
never encouraged these expenditures.
However. Prof. Melbourne had pretty
easy sailing. Eventually a prominent
railroad. through its enterprising busines,
mana ger. rugged up car for his use ano
l - g.. all nit
on its lines of road to invoke the aid o'
the rain producer. There were numerou,
instances when the oEe erat ions were fol
wed by rain. but many careful observer,
of the daily weather map Of the time de
clared that these rains accorded with thu
general weather conditions then pre-
vailing.
Prof Melbourne was held in higl
esteem by the farmers Of Iowa Kansa.
and Nebraska. and they paid abundant ly
for their admiral ion. The railroad alsc
found the enterprise profitable. The sd
vertised approach Of Prof. Melbourn,
was sufficient warrant for a local holiday
and an irresistible inducement for the out
lying neighbors to flock by rail TO thu
favored point. Many who had or had MOI
seen him asserted that his hair was lon,
and curled sensitively in response tt
atmospheric dampness or that lie hac
some other physical adjunct which gav'
him warning Of oncoming rain.
We must not forget that the professor
was working in the corn belt. Prof
Melbourne g procedure had much to com
mend it over the scheme proposed previ
ously by one Daniel Ruggles Of Fredericks
burg, Va. Lacking the advantage OF ,
title. plain Mr.. Ruggles was obliged Il
make more stir in the world by mean
Of noise. and his patented method con
sisted OF "a balloon carrying torpedoe
and cartridges charged with such ex
plosives as ni.roglycerine, dynamite. gun
cotton. gunpowder or Eliminates. ant
connecting the balloon with an eectrica
apparatus for exploding the cartridges.
Mr.. Ruggles was merely taking sd
vantage of data collected ten years befor,
by q citizen OF Delavsn. Wis. whose ex
haustive research had given birth to
ivolume OF statistics bearing the allurini
little, "War and the Weather" Mr.
Powers. for such was tho gentleman I
name. discovered that rain came soone
or later after most Of the great battles O.
the world. and his project WAS to simulat,
the din of those disastrous conflicts for tn,
purpose OF wringing tears from the eyeI