The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-11-22
Modern Rairlnlakers

Are we on the point of discovering the gentle art of making rain when the spirit moves and a drouth drives us to it? It has not been so many years since the "rainmak- ers' were considered a fine joke. But so many things have happened since then that it is not altogether safe to poke fun at those scientific persons who say they have found out how to make the clouds weep at the will of mere man.
 At Boiling Field, near Washington, army aviators, in conjunction with scientists who have been conducting experiments in dispel- ing fog, have about concluded that the sue cessful rainmaker is in sight. And it will be rare boon to those sections, semi-arid in character which at times suffer so from lack of rain.
 Started as a war measure, in which at- tempts were made to dissipate fog, the ex- periments have been altogether successful. Army airplanes equipped with a device patented by Dr. l.. Francis Warren of liar yard University have been detailed especially to carry on the experiments.
 I'm describing this work, Doctor Warren says it is a mere continuation of experiments carried on during the last three years. "We fill the sand tanks on the planes with l2O mesh silica sand which is charged positively and negatively. When a cloud is found to have a positive charge, we scatter negative charged particles at the extreme top; when the cloud is found negatively charged we re- verse the process. We found frlghttpny heavy thunderstorm with almost continuous lightning. We attacked corner of this rag ing storm with small quantity of positively
 charged sand-less than 10 ,pounds-and coincident with it's application there was no more nightning and no more thunder. There followed a slow, gentle rain of about four hours duration. No claim, of course, IS made that the rain was caused by us, because it would have rained anyhow, but the rain would have been attended by constant thunder and lightning and sudden bursts of downpour so familiar to us. The test was intended to prove the opinion of Mir. Edison that we should be able to upset the electric charge of a tornado or cyclone. This we did"
 And so it is that we are one scientific and serious step nearer the day when rain will have been mastered by man. The rain god has laughed at us for n long time and fur nished us quite bit of fun, which we have poked at the rainmakers. But according to these scientists commercial ralnmaklng now lies in the grasp of man and he can employ to this end one of natures cheapest com modities, common garden silica, at cost o1 about S3 a ton, which outside of equipment and operating the planes, will be the only cost of producing rain when needed.
 It should be borne in mind that in sec tion which has a mean annual rainfall of, say 40 inches, considerably over one-third of the rainfall is due to local showers. In deal ing with rainfall wise-acres seem to have lost sight of this fact. It is from that one third the best results should be obtained, ac- cording to Doctor Warren. To cause rainfall in the dry and semi-dry sections on the principles now employed is altogether feasible, provided, of course, there are rain clouds pres ent, local or otherwise, and that the air be- tween the earth and the clouds is saturated to a degree beyond the point of evaporation.
 With the development, scientifically, of rainmaking by shooting electrically charged sand into clouds, we will have made wonder full progress in controlling the moisture pre- cipitated upon the earth, essential to the pro- ducton of crops for the use of man.
 Now that rainmaking has ceased to be joke and is removed by the experiments so far conducted from the realm of fun and fancy, we may we'll expect soon to attain knowledge which will enable us to order rain from the rainmakers as we would order steak from the butcher and another element will have been conquered which will mean much to man through his ability to rise superior to the whims of the elements. And it's cost will be a mere trifle compared with the costs of great irrigation projects, while in results it will be close to kin to them.- Houston Chronicle.