Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 189, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 August 1915 — Cannonading Does Not Cause the Heavy Rains. [ARTICLE]

Cannonading Does Not Cause the Heavy Rains.

Last year during the drouth some expressed the opinion that the condition was due to the cannonading in the European war, which caused the rain clouds to gather there. This year a reverse condition exists and some are claiming that the excess of rain is caused by the European artillery. Some one wrote to the weather bureau at Indianapolis to get an opinion and asked was: “What about the theory that the constant and heavy explosions in Europe, where, the war is raging, has something to do with causing the very rainy weather in this country?” “Nothing whatever,” was the answer. “That theory has never been ac-. cepted by scientists. If it were true, the result would be the same through* out the world, but in Australia they are having a drougnt. In some parts of the United States corn is suffering from the lack of rain. ■“The theory that war causes rain to fall has come down to us from the ancients. It was Pliny or Plutarch who wrote about rain following big battles, and that was long before explosives were used in warfare. Of course, the theory then was that the rain was sent by the gods to wash from the earth the blood that had been shed in battle.”