Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 July 1891 — NEW WEATHER. [ARTICLE]

NEW WEATHER.

A Change in the Bureau Makee Us Hopeful Win the Change te the Agricultural Do partinent Make It a Band Affair. Mark W. Harrington, editor of ths American Meteorological Journal, and a professor at Ann Arbor, Mich., has been appointed Chief of the Weather Bureau.. Acting Secretary Grant*Tuesday signed an order discharging the 162 employes of the Signal Service now engaged In the Weather Bureai> The list is headed by Professor Abbe and ends with the first class sergeants. Under the law the Secretary of Agriculture is bound to give preference to these men in making appointments of the force of the new Weather Bureau and with the exception of a few men who elected to remain in what wil) hereafter be the purely military branch of the Signal Service, all of the employes who were engaged In the Weather Bureau are likely to be reappointed. The Secretary was asked for a statement of his views and intentions regarding the future conduct of the Weather Bureau. He said that he could see a great many ways in which meteorological science could be made helpful in co-opera-tion with many of the present divisions of the department, and he believed that in course of time his expectation can be fully realized. In the meantime he proposes to perfect, as much as possible, the prompt dissemination of the weather forecasts throughout the agricultural districts. The meteorological service of the United States Government must go far beyond the mere forecasting of the weather, and ba so extended as to include a thoroughly sys- • tematic Investigation into the climatic conditions of the various sections of the country, in order that a full knowledge of them and of their effects upon plant growth should be available for the farmers. Professor Harrington, who was made chief, has for the last twelve years been professor of astronomy in the University of Michigan, and is about forty-three years of age. He is regarded as an accomplished student of meteorology and climatic problems. Prof. Harrington’s appointment received many strong indorsements, including a majority of the highest scientific authority in the country, the Senators from his own State and many other prominent gentlemen. Lieutenant Finley remains for the present at his post In California. The enlisted force of the signal corps, together with the civilian employes heretofore in the signal corps, electing to remain with the weather Bureau, will by this order, with the exception of those whose appointments expire by limitation, be transferred to the Weather Bureau of the Department of Agriculture.