The Washington herald., 1913-11-09
Rates, Representative Pre-
diets, Would Come Down
and Service Would Be I'm
proved Under Proposed
Law.
ny JAMES b. MORROW.

ope OF ar BurrOuuoinB tuc non'N, Soa.'
Etantly pulled downward by gravity, Is
one of natures mighty and puzzlins
workshops.
In It are fabricated cyclones and hur.
ricanes and storms of rain, snow, and
hail. There the thunder is made 70 roll
and the lightning TO glow. The sun
paints pictures on clouds piled mountains
high and, II rain drops are falling.
throws a bow across the sky.
For ages the atmosphere and Its
secrets filed mankind with awe. That
is hardly SO any more The mechanics
of the atmosphere are now understood
and storms can be foretold and warnings
OF their approach telegraphed to points
along the paths they probably will take.
Millions Of persons east Of the Al
leghany Mountains, or millions west OF
the Mississippi River may read In theii
newspapers some morning near at hand
a forecast of the days weather in these
words Unsettled; probably showers anc
. falling temperature; tomorrow fair"
There will be eighty-five chances In 8
hundred that the prediction Is right.
Such is the measure of mans present
knowledge of the unseen matters that
are going on over his head. Telling what
the weather will be is an art. A fore
caster is more than a meteorologtst.
He must know the laws OF the atmos.
phere, the temperature and so on, but
he must also be enabled to sense" a
storm when none is in sight. This he
can do because of experience. learning
and a distinct talent for the work
Sends Kite. Four Miles High.
Charles Frederick Marvin, the new
master of the weather, is one of the
most accomplished meteorologists in
the world. He Is a great physicist and
a famous inventor of instruments for
measuring wind velocities and air pres
sure. rainfall, snowfall, sunshine, and
evaporation.
Likewise he has improved kites and
can send them four miles above the
earth equipped with apparatus of his
own creation and thus bring out OF the
atmosphere In its highest attitudes in
formation Of the greatest scientific
value. President Wilson made him Chief
of the Weather Bureau because he is
believed to be the most capable meteoro-
logist in the United States. He was
hidden away in a laboratory for many
years but his achievements were known
to scientists and they recommended his
appointment to the President
A young surgeon on the plains of the
Southwest worked out the first sys-
tematized signalling system employed in
this country by military men. He was
Albert ]. Myer. afterwards celebrated
as an officer during the civil war and
still later known everywhere as 'Old
Probabilities because he made fore
casts for the national government OF
the weather.
Undoubtedly he had seen Indians COM
municating with one another by means
of signals The Romans and Greeks gave
commands and spread information dur
ing their battles by the use of torches.
So the Indians in their wars with white
men practiced a method of communion
ton long known to civilized and uncivi-
liZed peoples.
While he was studying art in Paris,
though he was then an eminent por-
trait painter, Samuel F. B. Morse told
James Fenimore Cooper, the story writer,
that he thought electric sparks could
transmit messages for short distances.
While on shipboard. in 1882, returning to
New York from Europe, he said: IF
electricity will go ten miles without
stopping, / can make it go around the
globe" Before the ship had reached
America he had devised the Morse code,
or the dot-and-dash alphabet for the ex-
periments he purposed to undertake
when he reached home.
Learned to Signal from Indians.
Twenty-Five years after, Surg. Myer-
on duty in Texas and New Mexico, where
Indians were fighting to retain their lands
and hunting grounds-originated his sys-
TEN of signals. He used the Morse code
and with flags, torches and sounds, was
enabled TO send messages for long
reaches. On a clear day messages re-
fiected from mirrors can be seen for
sixty miles.
At the outbreak of the war between
the North and South, Mai. Myer was
attached to the Army of the Potomac
His plan of signalling was adopted by
the Federal generals in all their CAM
paigns and battles. One of Sherman's
messages wigwagged to Gen. John NJ
Corse, was poetized and became a popu-
lar song. More than a million ratIons of
bread and other stores were in ware
houses at the village of Allatoona, in
Georgia. \ colonel and $50 men were on
guard.
Sherman, on Kenesaw Mountain, at 81
o'clock in the morning, followed the
smoke of a burning railroad and knew
that the Confederates were on their way
to attack Allatoona. He ordered Corse,
signalling the message with a flag, to
hurry TO the relief Of the small force OF
Federals.
By and by. through an opening in the
trees the signal man at Allatoona, eigh-
teen miles away, sent Sherman these let
ters in the Morse code: C '.R, . IS,
''E, II, 4, hp WHICH, Dell6
translated, meant "Corse is here" The
Confederates were repulsed and then
Corse wigwagged TO Sherman, saying: Il
am short a cheek-bone and an ear, but
am able to whip all hell yet"
Soldiers belonging to the signal serv-
ice endured many hardships and faced
many dangers. They ascended mountains
and climbed trees in the hazardous work
of locating the enemy. Necessarily they
Travelled in small parties and were often
far in advance of their own lines In
hattie. they watched the effects of ar
tiIiery fire; in retreat, they remained at
the rear to ascertain the movements Of
the enemy.
Day and Night Weather Warnings.
At the close of the war, Col Myer was
made chief signal officer Of the army. |
Congress in 1870 authorized the taking of
meteoroIogicaI observations at military
stations SO that the approach of storms |
might become known ON the Atlantic and |
Pacific Coasts and in the region of the |
Great Lakes. The first simultaneous OBJ |
servations were made at twenty-four |
military stations on the morning Of No. |
vember ], 1870
The weather then was a military mat |
ter and the observers were soldiers Gen. |
Myer, for he soon attained that rank. |
established cautionary day and night |
signals that captains of ocean and lake |
vessels might know before leaving port |
whether they were to encounter storms !
of wind or rain. He also sent out re-
ports giving the depth Of water in large /
navigable rivers and special reports for ]