Evening Star Newspaper, November 15, 1890, Page 11

THE EVENING WEATHER FORECASTS. Some of the Work of the United States Signal Service. THE MEN MOST SKILLED. —o—— ‘These Who Have Served the Longest and Have Been Most Successful in Their Predictions—Care Required in Makiny {alculations. ae FEATHER has come to be asort of in- dispensable factor in the buman exist- ‘once, and there is present with us al- ways the serious problem of how to accept it and make the most use of it. Goo weather has its evident value, but so, to a less striking degree, has bad weather. In the first place, all sorts of weather form one of the most convenient forms of conversation, and here it is a positive boon to mankind, or rather that half of monkind that is engaged in talking to the other half. Conversation would be a desolate and burning waste were it not for the forethought of a good Providence that pro- vided some sort of universal topic on which all tongaes could wag without knowing the least abont it. But that is only one boon conferred by the elements, There are others and just as striking. It seems that as the world grows in age and knowledge there isan ever increasing demand for information about things which have not yet come to pass. There isa surprising demre on the part of the public to peep into the inner temple of the future and see there what is about to happen, not being satistied with what is hap- pening to happen at the present time. As a result fortune tellers and sootbsayers, prophets and astrologers, makers of horoscopes and other interesting personages have been driving @ profitable business ever since work was first started on this planet. They have simply taken advantage of whatis known in politi economy —which, it might be said, has less to do with things political than a person not initi- ated into its mysteries would at first suppose — in political economy,then, as a “demand.” The creation of a supply was an easy matter, for such is the nature of human ingenuity that if there is the least provocation for the produe- tion of anything it is sure to come forth and flourish. Hence prediction was born, as 2 cold- blooded business, without any sentiment about it, THE WEATHER PROPHETS. But weather has another errand in the unt- verse, amore personal one, affecting a com- paratively few people. but each one in himself such a part or parcel of the business of sooth- saying that were weather abolished tomorrow by law he would find himself with balf of his occupation gone. These men are the weather prophets, who labor daily in order that this de- tend for futuritive knowledge on the part of an insatiable public may be partially complied with. But they are but the exponents of « tendency that has always existed in the minds of mankind, a tendency that has crystallized itself into records in the form of quaint say- ings and distiches that bear some clever allusion to the weather probabilities of the next few hours. Farmers and sailors are the prin- cipal contributors to this form of litera- ture and the “weather forecasts” that are thus made standard guides to public health, “Open and shet, sign o' wet!” There is one born of the potato patch and the corn field, Here is one that smacks of the salt, salt se “A red sky at night is the sailors’ delight: red sky in the morning is the sailors’ warning. Dew drops on cobwebs are taken as efficient barometric signals of rain. A hog running about with a straw in its mouth means the same thing. Miniature whiriwinas in the road foretell storms. Cup- shaped leaves presage moisture. ‘The hang- Ing of the moon so that the inner side of the crescent is at an angle with the horizon isasure sign that there will be a precipitation, while a moon turned the other way will be followed by adrought. These and thousands of other homely ways of foretelling the weather have existed from time immemorial and will prob- ably continue to exist throughout all sorts of civilizations. WHERE SCIENCE COMES IX. But there is such a thing as sclence in look- ing forward to see what is coming in the way of elemental conditions, a science so well de- fined and yet so difficult to master that it has been made the object of life-long study on the part of some of the wisest men this coun- try has ever produced. It needs certain char- acteristics in a man's composition in order that he may become proficient in the business of weather prediction. The ideal prophet bas no nerves, but astroug memory, plenty of confi- dence in his own ability and yet no reckless- ness. A weil-balanced amount of speculation is also needed, and above ail, experience. There are many men who have become mere clear- jay prophets and yet nothing more, because the to venture opinions, to take with perhaps less scientific technical knowledge, are more successful in their work because they comprehend that there must be an element of chance in it all and re- sort at the proper time to a judicious amount of shrewd guessing. Experience proves the mainstay of them all, however, and without it a weather prophet is a farce. Rules are worthless to che man who has not spent days and nights in an effort to keep track of half a dozen storms at once, to foresee the weather for hundreds of thousands of xquare miles at a glance, who has not had to face the music of errors that are sure to occur, and who has not worked earnestly to supply out of the things that are happening every day all around him the facts and guides that all the rules and text books ever written cannot furnish. A man 10 has had three months of actual experience ® prognosticator of what 1s to be expected is worth ten who have spent balf their lives in the mere study of what ought to happen if everything went off according to program, which it never does, THE AMERICAN SIGNAL SERVICE, The American sigual service has had charge of the weather predictions for nearly two decades, and now that it has been able to build up the science until it is no longer an experi- ment this important branch of work is to be taken from under the military wing of the erument—from un- the command of Gen. Greely—and given to that department that St has to do wgth crops and i scmsand farmers, This ange is to take place on the Ist of next July, «ud thenceforth the weather and the army will be entirely separate, SRNL 4 Se 7 Just at present there is vx, S=Z/ ia session a board of a army officers enzaged in OBEELY the arduous task of de- ; which of the olicers on duty with the r bureau ay now constituted are most rving of promotion under a new law which uwed during the recent session of Con- ant the imtroduction which Tur Stax is t to give of the weather prophets to thus be peculiarly appropriate, are five officers who are now engaged » work of forecasting the weather, this aut the force that is usually kept on Five men are needed because it is the work nineh upon th five ta Rvoat, 4 straia do the duties imposed cause gives to each an equal amount of work in the | sacre, rage | An officer not on predictions duty is | had been alt end. if any, to be seen and the amount of rainfall, By means of a cipher these facts are communicated to Washington at once, half a dozen words indicating the exact state of things, The te’ thus received are transiated and sent at once to the forecast offi- cial, who notes them down ona number of small maps of the United States printed on thin paper. giving merely the outlines of the states with the rivers and mountains, all over with smail circles an ation <= = tions. One map hol ie minimum temper! tures, another the current, one the barometric readings, and so on, until each map is a com- plete history of what is taking place in # cer- tain line all over the land. Thus, on rain- fall map it can be seen at a giance just where it is raining, and how much, so that there is little difficulty in reading the present state of affairs, When all are in the officer begins his work of forecasting, which he does in Itimps, as large as he can make them, sometimes including half 8 dozen states at once in a single sentence. ONE GREAT DIFFICULTY. Herein comes the great difficulty under which the service has always labored. The haste with which these forecests have to be made in order to make them of any value to the country necessarily involves a certain per- centage of error that might otherwise be elim- inated, while it is a rule to make the area cov- ered by a single forecast as large as possible. Unfortunately the average human being has a bad habit of regarding himself as being the center of the universe, whereby he invariably thinks that all weather predictions are totally wrong if they shonid happen to fail in the sort of weather let down immediately upon him, ‘Thus if the service says rain for New York and it does not rain in one city allof the inhab- itants of that city unite in condemning the service, whereas it might be raining all over the rest of the state. The forecasts made for the country are sent out over the telegraph wires to the 150 sta- tions, showing just what is expected of the weather all over. Here in Washington a beautiful map is also issued, being first traced on tissue paper from the official's map, upon which he jots down his final conclusions, and then transferred to « lithographic stone by & skilled body of workmen. Each map costs up- ward of a cent, a limited edition being issued for the use of this city, a few in Baltimore and some in the immediate outlying towns, This happens twice a day, and the poor, re- viled forecast official gets all of the brunt of the popular disfavor whenever he happens to make a slip on a certain point. A strict record is kept of what he predicts and what follows, and at the end of his month an average of cor- rectness is made up and becomes a part of the records of the office. The correction or tally- ing is done by means of the observations that are sent in after the forecast is made, A care- ¥ prepared system of marks has been de- impossible for one man to continue on | more than s month at a time, so | vised so that each success or failure gets its proper reward or punishment. CAPT. H. H. C. DUNWOODY. Now, to get down to the men who do this work it is safe to say that the list should begin with the man who has been longest at it, who has achieved the most VE success and who has ff made for himself an al- most national reputa- tion as a careful, skillful and valuable weather prophet, having earned > the statement from the XS present chief signal of- SSS flicer that in his opinion She is the best fore- ‘cast official in the coun- try, if not in the world. This man's Capt. H. H.C. Du woody, fourtn artil- lery, detailed for duty J z AP” with the signal corps. “7 “aio” He ise man with S every appearance of carr. DUSWoODY. subdued nerve, a silent manner that speaks of watchfulness and calc lation, a clear, incisive style of talking that but the index of an equivalent manner of thought, who never forgets anything and who hits the nail on the head, whenever he is talk- ing weather, more times than any other man in the servi Capt. Dunwoody was appointed a cadet at West Point from lows in 1862. He graduated in 1866 and was appointed as second lieutenant in the fourth artillery. He served with his regiment at Fort Delaware, Fort Wash- ington, Fort McHenry, Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley; was detailed on signal duty in 1871; served at Fort Myer in the early part of 1872, and after completing the regular course of in- action in military signaling was detailed for duty in the signal office in Washington and directed to prepare himself for work in the forecast division. His first official forecasts were made in August, 1873, and he has con- tinued as one of the regular forecast officials since that date. He has always been an earnest worker in tho service and many of the innovations and methods that are now a part of the system have been his ideas. His main work, outside of the actual weather forecasts, has been in the organ- ization of state weather bureaus, which now do almost as much good in the prediction of the weather as the main service, giving the latter the most valuable of information and co- operating so as to produce very beneficial re- sal This has been almost entirely the work of Capt. Dunwoody, who holds in his posses- sion valuable collection of letters from all sources telling of the esteem with which ho is held by the citizens of the states where his ad- vice has been followed. Another portion of hi time has been given to the edition of the weekiy crop bulletin, « sheet that gives a large amount of valuable information to both farmers and buyers of agricultural products. Capt. Dunwoody is easily the veteran forecaster and has annually been the recipient of high official compliments in reports from the various chief signal officers, CAPT. JAMES ALLEN. As to the rest of the prophets there is no dis- tinction to make, merely because they are all uniformly clever in their handling of the very slippery facts that con- stitute the elements of their intormation. Of the army officers the next highest in rank, considered from a mili- ry standpoint, is Capt. James Allen of the third cavalry. He isa younger — man than Capt. Dun- 7 woody, but his briefer service a8 a proguosti- 7 cator has been filled 7 with @ gratifying num- ber of successes. He was appointed to the academy from Indiana in 1863 and graduated in 1872. He served in 'T. ALLEN. Wyoming from 1872 to 1875 and saw some se- vere service there, The following year he spent at Fort Myer, Va, as astudent of mat- ters connected with the signal service and the next two vears he was inspector in the service, His next duty was as officer in charge of the United States military telegraph lines in New Mexivo from 1878 to 1880 and the following four years he was on duty in the ottice of the chief signal officer. Then his regiment needed his services for a couple of years, and he served in the Indian territory and Texas in 1885-87. In 1887-89 he was on duty at the Military Academy, and last year he returned to his old post 1 the office of the chief signal officer, and is now one of the regular forecast officials of the service. LIEUT, RICHARD £. THOMPSON, Lieut. Richard E. Thompson, —th infantry, is one of those officers of the army whom ad- verse fate has put into a regiment where pro- x, Motion 18 slow, conse- quently he is now acay tain for almost twenty- three years, Most of his army life has been spent jin the west on Indian <~campaigns and he, if “any ot the workers on jolate plains of ion west of the Mississippi, deserves re- ward. Fifteen years ago he Was engaged in a sur- vey of the Yellowstone Park and was one of the first white men who ever went through the the trip in 1875. . LIkUT. THOMPSON. thinking machinery. So itis that the | Yellowstone river, making © what 18 usually called “turn and turu| He was in the Custer campaign, being o each working for a month and then | member of the party reinforcing the fated ving way to another in a regular routine that | band vf fighters the day after the mas- only the remains of those who ve but a few hours before. In weually engaged in various matters requiring | 1550 he was ordered to the scene of the Mesa &ttention, the solution of problems relating to | Massacre in Colorado and served meteorology, the preparation of papers on | Indians were quieted. He was topics of scientific interest, the conduct of affairs of the signal service not directly con~ nected with the weather bureau, for there are other things, OBSERVATIONS MADE TWICE 4 DAY, ‘Twice a day the weather is observed all over ere until the with the hunting Ee of the French delegation and alsoa m rof the party headed by President rth Ia 1885, when matters at Fort Myer reached a crisis, and there was trouble with the students, he was brought to Washington to command the post temporarily, it being the bead a man the country simultaneously, so that this office | military discipline. When the ‘post was broken can keep watch of the entire system of storm up he was movement by means of the thousands of | !ven charge of the military affairs, at the samo from corner to corner. and the same time twelve hours later servers at the huudred and fifty oad note seven things by means of delicate instru- ments and their own senses, These are the tent) ture, maximum sod minimum. as on the carreas ‘emperature at the time of servation, the barometer, the force and tion of the wind, the character of the -d to duty with the service and studying met . Two he rp meg phey qualify as « forecast since then he &@ recog- ey papers on the sub; for October. He is a native of Mis- souri and ase private in the signal corps at the instance of ==Gen. Myer in Novem- Me belog’ atsigned to 99% is juts SE the odie of the chief, r@ year of clerical work he was poe Cerone practical and theoretical studies, His early work in the line of prophecy was creditably per- LIEUT. GLASsFoRD, formed, buthe had him- self relieved from the work and assigned to Fort Myer in order that he ht perfect him- self in the more military du of the service. ‘This was in 1877, and in November of the same year he was, upon examination, promoted to be a sergeant, and was assigned to take charge of the station at New Haven. While there he made use of the course of lectures at Yale Univer- sity, and pursued the study of law. His com- mission as second lieutenant in the signal corps came in November, 1879, after another exam- ination, and for a year he studied at Fort Myer, being relieved to make inspection of stations on the lakes and in the west. This duty was followed by an order to take charge of the or lines in New Mexico and in 1881 he served as chief signal officer on the staff of the commanding general of the department of the Missouri. In 1883 he came again to Washington and for two years perférmed the duty of forecasts official. being sent west to take charge of the branch office at San Francisco in December, 1885, During his tour on the coast he produced several important papers, which published in the scientific journals of jifornia, notably one on the ‘Weather ‘Types of the Pacific Coast.” At the close of 1886 he was sent to the charge of the telegraph lines in Arizona and there made some valuable studies in eigen en work. Last year he re- turned again to this city and has since been here talking weather. He is rapidly becoming one of the most accurate observers of the ele- ments in the service. PROF. HENRY HAZEN, And last comes Prof. Henry Hazen, who is wrestling with the weather problem this month. His work has shown an earnestness character- of tho true scien- and his contribu- ions to the service and through it to the public have been most vaiu- able. He was always interested in meteorol- ogy, watching the dew drops on cobwebs as a > boy. At Dartmouth 7/7 College, where he was’ educated,he made some 7 studies in the science, but his first practicai in. Yestigations were made ten> under Prof. Loomis at a ed PROF. HAZEN, Yale. He was appoii ® computer in the signal service in 1831, “ecom- ing a junior professor four years ago and an assistant professor a year and a half ago. Since October, 1887, he has been a forecaster, averaging about three monthsina year. In the meantime he pursued a line of valuable study upon various topics. Last summer ho spent six weeks on Mount Washington, making special observations to determine whether facts noted at such an_ elevation could be used for making forecasts for the surface. The result of his research was somewhat negative, although it developed a remarkable cloud formation. Last winter he lived for three months Min- nesota amid the low temperatures, in order to determine the humidity of the atmosphere un- der such conditions. The lowest point attained was thirty-six below zero, and there was a record of thirty below on four con- secutive days. He began writing in 1831, before coming to Washington, and his ‘publications now amount to ‘about 650 printed pages. Among his papers are the following: ction of Barometric Read- ings to Sea Level ‘hermometer Exposure;” “Temperature at the “Equinoctial Storms; “Planetary Predictions;” “Sun Spots; “Thi Influence of the Moon on the latest work is a book on “The Tornado. THE LOCAL WEATHER PLANT. , Perched up on top of the building on the battlement roof isa series of whirling cups and vanes and # large box that looks like a hen coop. This plant gives the facts for the local weather. Here are ob- served the seven ele- ments that are needed for the bird's-eye view = that is taken twice a day SSX oof the climatic condi- ~ tions, and on the ac- curacy of the readings made in this loft de- pends much the happi- © ness of Washington. ‘The observer here is a 7~ veteran in the serv- ice, a quiet man, who, it is said,can read a MB. 8 W. BEALL, thermometer a mile off, and whose errors are so few that they are used to mark the eras of the history of the service. He is named 8. W. Beall, and he is a native of Maryland, He has been ia the signal service since 1871, when he enlisted, this being the sec- ond year of itsorganization. He first served in Florida, then opened a station at Salt Lake City in 1874, and afterward was the observer at San Francisco, Albany, Oswego, Mt. Washington and Atianta, In 1886 he was brought here. A year ago he anda number of other enlisted men were placed on the civil service rolls of the War Department. ~ ee How Notable Careers Have Been Shaped. To the Editor of the EVENING STAR: There was chapter of accidents in your val- uable and newsy paper a few numbers ago that was interesting. My observations in a long life have been that there are few men that bave made their mark in the world that it has not been by apparent accident that turned them into the channel of usefulness, Thos. H. Benton was driven from Tennessee by Gen. Jackson and went to Henry Clay's, whose wife was arelative, Clay loaned him $1,000 and gave him letters to Lucas Malauphy, John Scott and other of Clay's friends in St. Louis, and they at once took Benton up and elected him United States Senator on the admission of the state into the Union, Benton afterward killed Lucas in a duel and did not pay Clay the $1,000 until after he made the bitter speech against Clay in the Senate, charging him with corruption in the election of Adams as Presi- dent in 1828. Judge Samuel F, Miller had as much reputa- tion asa doctor in the mountain district of Kentucky in 1848 as he had in the United States as the great judicial judge at his death, He was always anti-slavery, but in the election for delegates to the constitutional convention in 1848 there was but a single emancipation candidate elected and he was 9 convert from Miller's couuty. Old Dr. Bob Breckenridge, the most popular man outside of Henry Clay in the state, was beaten in his home county. This re- sult not only defeated all hope of the success of emancipation, but it marked the friends for —— politically and socially. Miller had in the meantime studied law to avoid the drudgery of his extensive mountain practice, and after this election he determined to change his residence and m an extended tour of ; but ho found slavery there as rampant as in Kentucky and went back to St Louis discouraged, determined to re- turn to his old home red with freight for Keokuk, Iowa, and saw a rush of people going on the packet, He had no recollection of ever hearing of the place, but he went on the boat to make in- — about the town, and found that $6 and ree days would take him there and back, and he went and found Lewis R, Reeves, an able lawyer, who offered Miller a partnership as lawyer and in a land speculation. Miller was pleased with the town and accepted the offer of Reeves, and he at once went to the front of an able bar and his appointment as United States Supreme Court judge followed and the United States has had the benefit of his great legal mind, Hawxixs Tarror. ee Pavement Wanted for Virginia Avenue. To the Editor of Tux Evexrxe Stan: Is Virginia avenue to be left in its present condition by the Commissioners, and if 60, is their reason for leaving it so the same as thoir predecessors aro credited with having enter- tained, that is, ‘that so long as the Baltimore and Potomac Company had its tracks Property avenue is not injured by the occu; a by the ore and Potomeo trecks, ill the Commissioners give V; avenue & pavement of some ie oscomncenns the travel thereon and relieve the inhabitants from the dust and mud which we now have to con- tend with? TAXPAYER, ‘The most celebrated doctors * as well as Written for Tur Evexteo Stan, A MAN AS HOUSEKEEPER, His Opinion of Himself and the Opin- ions of Others of Him. HIS ANOMALOUS POSITION UNDER HIS OWN ROOP— WHAT 6OME MEN ARE GOOD FOR—THE CASE OF JOHN GRUMLIE—MEDDLING WITH THE sER- VANTS—THE NEWLY MARRIED COUPLE. AN’S position ina family, while anom- slous from one point of view and appar- ently paradoxical from another, is nevertheless one of considerable im- Portance—unless he himself ordains it shall be otherwise—and asa factor of success is, as a rule, indispensable. If good for nothing else, as many are, he is serviceable in a prohibitory sense against the invasion of tramps or for- agers with burglarious intent pretty much as a stuffed scarecrow lends deception to the vision of predatory birds with weaknesses for barn yards and chicken roosts. It is as the man of the house, head of the family indoors, that his position is anomalous. He is, or rather, is al- lowed by the shrewd partner of his fortunes, his feelings and his fame to suppose he is, the source from which all power and authority emanate, while it is almost certainly the case that he holds the mastership of domain simply on sufferance—that he is wheedled without his knowing or suspecting it into having done ex- actly what somebody else other than himself conceived and wanted done, HOW MEN TALK OF HOUSEKEEPING, To hear most men talk of housekeeping and domestic affairs one would imagine they knew it all and that it is mere child's play instead of one of the great arts of life. Now, the perfect housekeeper—never of the masculine gender —has a state to govern—her laws are born of just necessities as momentous to her work as those of political economy to government and a6 essential to success, She is in fact a queen in her domain and ber authority should extend to the uttermost parts thereof. If she is merely secretary of state, prime minister to her hus- band, who can know but little of the exigencies of household affairs and merely guesses at the superficial methods by which he conducts them, there can be no housekeeping at all worthy the name; it is merely getting along, and that's all. ‘Those men who feel called upon to assume tho duties belonging to their wives—including the management of servants—generally succeed in making a pretty mess of it, and getting their home matters into entanglements they are totally unable to extricate themselves from and then blame it all on the women folk. It is a curious fact that such men are almost invari- ably small in stature with thin piping voice, fierce in countenance and cyclonic in the ex- hibition of authority. A DIFFERENCE WITHOUT A DISTINCTION. This class of athletic patresfamilia are but of a kind with others who underestimate the yol- ume of a housekeeper’s work and overestimate their own understanding of the principles in- volved. They generally think it very strange that little as there is to be done there should be such a fuss about doing it; that if they had it to do it would all be done up brown by noon every day—and all that sort of thing. They are counterparts of John Grumlie, he of whom we read in an old Scotch ballad: “John Gramiie swore by the light o' the moon, And the green leaves on the t ‘That he could do more work in a day, Than his wife could do in three.” So Mrs, Grumlie, as the ballad goes, caught the bull by the horns, so to speak,and exchanged places one day with ‘cannie John, leaving him while she went to the field with the plow to dress the children in all their geur, to “reel the tweel” she had spun the day before, to turn the malt lest the beer should spoil and to watch the hens for fear they should lay away, These four simple things, as it was he,were ail she would ask. Well, he did dress the children, and it isnot hard to guess how they looked when he got through with them, but he forgot the malt and the beer was lost, which grieved his innermost soul. He endeavored to sing aloud merrily as he reeled the tweel, but never once thought of the hens until bis wife came in at nightfall, and whata sorry pickle Mr. John found himself in. No wonder that in afever of vexation and repentance he wanted to resign his house wifery, but the sharp old lady pretended to be satisfied with and willing to stick to her bargain, Of course she felt like thamping him over the head, but she didn’t;she let him off with just enough grace to keep his spirit of self-ad n barely above the freezing point. There are agreut lot of John Grumlies in the world now who might have followed to good effect the counsel of the wise old man who advised his son: “When thou art courting, my lad, keep thine eyes wide open, when thou art married keep them half shut.” MEDDLING WITH THE SERVANTS. The meddlesome man about the household— especially with the hired help—is not so scarce as to be a curiosity, but, on the contrary, isa very numerous individual. When any ill-feel- ing happens to exist between mistress and maid he is just the fellow to sit by and quietly enjoy a state of affairs he claims would not have been possible under his personal admin- istration, though there has possibly never been an instance when the man of the house has had the control of hired women where they either have not been complete masters of the situation or rebelled openly against his direc- tions, How could 1t be different? What does a man, who is supposed to have an out-door vo- cation to follow and absorb his time, know of the thousand and one small, but, at the same time, important household duties that must be looked after. No more than a housekeeper is expected to be conversant with the way i which lawyer tries his case or a physiciai roscribes for his patient, The worst of all rawbacks to housekeeping is the man who is continually finding fault with the servants and endeavoring to force the execution of his ideas upon the better judgment of his wife or the housekeeper. There is probably only one time of his existence when A MAN HAS PRECEDENCE AS A HOUSEKEEPER, and that is when the housekeeping of a newly married couple is in a chrysalis state and has not sufficiently advanced to wear away the novelty of the thing. While this novelty lasts the recently made benedict is the center around which all things revolve. His com- forts, his likes, his preference in eating, his ideas about the servants and every whimsical notion are consulted until he isina fair way to be spoiled—and perhaps that lies at the bot- tom of much of the trouble with him in after life. The length of time all this laste, how- ever, varies, but it may safely be predicted that those are exceptional housebolds in which there is not after awhile a dimunition of his ardor and a final rearrangement of household duties and a general relegation of their man- agement to her to whom it rightfully belongs, ——>___ The Triumph of Right. From Life, WHERE THE JUSTICES SIT. A General Shuffling of Places Since Justice Miller Died. HOW THE MEMBERS OF THE SUPREME COURT GO UP TO THE HEAD—THE WORK DONE BY JUS- ‘TICES—EXPERIENCES OF LAWYERS WHO APPEAR BEFORE THE COURT—SENIORITY OF SERVICE. GENERAL trading around of seats has taken place on the Supreme bench. Mr. Justice Field, who used to sit on the left of the chief justice, now site on his right, and Mr. Justice Bradley, who ‘used to sit on the right one removed from the chief justice, now sits next to him on the left, where Justice Field formerly sat, Mr. Justice Harlan has moved over from left to right and site in the seat vacated by Justjce Bradley. Mr. Justice Gray has passed over from right to left, taking Justice Harlan’s former seat. Mr. Justice Blatchford has taken the seat on the right vacated by Justice Gray. Mr. Justico Lamar has gone back from right to left to Sseat one nearer the chief justice than he formerly occupied and Mr. Justice Brewer, the latest appointee, has removed from his seat on the extreme left to the seat on the extreme right vacated by Justice Lamar. The seat on the extreme left is where Mr. Harrison's new appointee will sit, whoever he may be. MOVING ALONG. This general shuffle occurs whenever one of the senior justices dies. Mr. Justice Miller was the highest in seniority and his death so shuffled up the court that for aday or two they hardly knew where to find themselves, The question of priority of service enters into the placmg of the dignified justices on the bench and a glance at the bench when the court isin session will indicate at once which of them has had the longest service. The place of highest honor is directly on the right of the chief justice. The second place is on his left and the third again on his right, one removed, and so on back and forth from side to side. By sk of tontine system the junior justice gradually works his way to the place of highest honor. ‘The value of amember of the Supreme bench is pretty clearly, though, of course not quite, represented by his seat on the bench, that is, by his length of service. SOMETHING TO LEARN. Mr. Harrison may appoint the ablest lawyer he can find not now on the Supreme bench to succeed Justice Miller, yet he can deserve no higher rank at the start than is represented by the seat on the extreme left. No man has ever yet Zone on the Supremo bench that he did not find himself deficient in information important tothe position, There is an immense amount of knowledge ona great many subjects, all of which are not to be found discussed in la books, which @ supreme justice must pos- sess, and from the ume he takes his place upon the bench until death claims hia he must delve night and day into his cases and study as diligently as the collegiate preparing for examination. His life is one long strain of toil and study, From time to time there comes to the attention of the supreme justices something relating to every branch of human endeavor. The rights of every man which he guards most carefully are those relating to the business or ocenpa- tion by which he earns his living. Disputes upon these rights lead to law suits and out of them grow the Supreme Court cases, and n considering them the justices must learn something of the trade or profession of the mechanical or the scientific point volved. GAINING OCCULT KNOWLEDGE. Justice Lamar said after making a very caro- ful study of a patent cate the other day that he had learned something ho never knew an; thing about before; he had learned all about the gussets and seams and bands of a corset, He had learned all about tho different stitches used, and of the number of steels and where they should go to support the female form. He had to almost learn the corset trade in order to deliver a proper opinion in the case, and he found it quite interest- ing.’ Thus the justices have to acquire all sorts of mechanical and scientific knowl- edge in order to understand all the cases that come before them. There are great land lawyers, great railroad lawyers, lawyers who make a specialty of patents and some who know all about marine law, but the justice of the Supreme Court must be all these and more; his powers must be universal, he must deal with allthe branches of the law and with the laws of all the states. The Supreme Court does not divide its labors, one taking patent cases, one railroad cases, &c., but though one justice is named by the chief justice to write out an opinion on a case, the vase itself must be oroughly studied by every momber of the court. IN THE CONSULTING ROOM. ‘They consider the case together, after having studied it carefully each by himself, and they all discuss it and all vote upon it, Each jus- tice has to make an exhaustive study of every case that comes up. They retire to the con- sulting room for the discussion of cases. This room is in the basement of the Capitol and no one is permitted in it and no record is ever kept of what is ever said there. Even tho clerk of the court is not permitted to be present during a discussion. a division of opinion on an important case it may well be imagined there is a powerful discussion conducted in that room. There have in the past been many very long and very earnest discussions there, a contention between the most powerful and brightest legal minds of the period, con- ducted in the secrecy of a vaulted chamber, with nogalleries to appland,no populace tc tempt them to deception or demagogism, and no re- cord kept of what was said. Why, it would be @ liberal education in the law hear one of these. Every man has a critical audience; none would dare attempt to discuss a case he hadnot mastered. ‘This consulting room is the dissecting chamber where the anatomy of every case is studied, stripped of all the outer ornament, and the bone and sinew cut down to, TEE LAWYERS. Practice before the Supreme Court is not easy forthe average lawyer. It takes great skill and judgment to make a success of it. The eloquent advocate and pleader fails to make an impression; the very careful lawyer who labors to accumulate precedents finds that his labor is lost. ‘This court is notto be caught by an elegant delivery and an eloquent fiow of words, All that takes up time and tires them. Ail the precedents that can be cited is but an old story to them. It is a waste of time anda trial to their patience for them to listen to citations, The man who makes a success be- fore the Supreme Court is he who thoroughly knows his own case and can indicate clearly the point upon which it turns, If the facts are well stated and the point upon which it hinges made clear the court can find the law and precedents. ‘The skilled practitioner really appears before the Supreme Court not so much to argue his case as to assure himself that the court sees all the points and to answer any questions concerning the case they may Ppropound to him. The lawyer who goes before the court with @ prepared speech makes a grave mistake, and is apt to repent it before he is through, The only sort of preparation that is valuable is that which gives the lawyer a full mastery of the details of his case, that he may be able to answer questions, Many a man with a speech committed to memory has had his case pulled down about his ears. The skilled jawyer is he who confines himself to telling the court what they do not already know. EX-PRESIDENTS BEFORE THE COURT. Very few men come before the court without some feeling of trepidation, Even ex-Presi- dent Cleveland, who placed the chief justice where he is, showed his anxiety by not trust- ing to his always ready wit and comprehen- sion, but preparing his argument and reading it from manuscript. Had the argument been less able, bad it not anticipated the questions the court would ask, it would have received but small attention, being read. John Quincy Adams, the only other ex-President who ever appeared with a caso in the Supreme Court, made a sort of stump speech of his argument and it was not printed in 5 . judicial ex- tment to recent reser and =e shown took his seat, When Sent Spee eee interest cases shows s ot devices which is Sometimes when there is | ties on patent and marine law on the Supreme bench are Bradicy and Blatchford. The chief justice, who makes the assignment of cases, beside his display of legal ability, devel- oped great executive skill, which is of vaine in ——— tho prompt disposal of business before court, Ae RE ASE" «Se iG WITHOUT A DIPLOMA Hydropathic Cure for a Bad Case of the Jim-Jam Jag in Chicago. From the Chicago Mail. “The funny things that happen im a Turkish bath room would fill a big book if « fellow kept track of them.” An attendant in one of the basement palaces of Chicago, where the pleasing sensations of rubbings and douches may be enjoyed for the customary price, was the author of the remark. While he manipuiated a towel of prodigious Proportions and ot up a glorious glow he con- tinued: “Some peculiar people come in here once in awhile. Prominent business men who have taken a little too much wine with their lunch, or have overstepped the limit fixed by their usually temperate habits in order to show a friend the city. often wind up in the bath house to get bleached ont before going home. “One of that class stumbled in the other morning. He happens to be a single man, He don’t often drink too much, He is the part owner of a big iron foundry. He was on the committee that received the iron and steel men, and, happening to be assigned to several British gentlemen who can drink a case of ale and top it off with a quart or two of port with- out showing it more than by a little coloring of the face. he got very hilarious, This started him, and when he showed up in the bath room he had what is known asa ‘jim-jam jag.” He was @ pretty sick man. His stomach had goue back on him and he was verging on that state where he saw things. It happened that besides the iron man our only other customer at that Lour—2 o'clock in the morning—was an attor- ney who is the partner of acriminal lawyer whom everybody in Chicago knows, He is a jolly good fellow is this lawyer, a man of con- siderable nerve and fond of a joke. It wasn't very long before the iron man was feeling 80 badly and was viewing so many strange crea- tures that he wanted a doctor, He said be must have a physician at once. “We didn’t think his case was so bad as that, and we didn’t think we ought to send several blocks for # doctor ,and rout him out of bed. ‘The boys told the clerk to call M—, the law- yer, who was in an adjoining room. told the circumstances and that thi chance for a little fun. He entere: spirit of it, dressed, went out the back way and reappeared with his hat and overcout on and in the company of ndant, The iron wan Was suffering as aman suffers on bis first trip across the ocean. The lawyer felt his pulse, Jooked at his tongue and then directed him to i You are in a very bad way,’ he said, Your heart is beating at the rate of 500 a minute.’ The victim grew pale with fright. He was sober enough to understand what was said and to dread consequences. Then the ‘doctor’ seriously said that the only way to stop the unnatural beating of his patient's heart was to dash a bucket of cold water over his back squarely between the shoulder blades, “At this the iron founder kicked. He made & poor success of it, however, M—— looked at him gravely and said: ‘If you prefer to die, sir, you can do so. ‘That ismy prescription, and it is the only one thatcan save you. You are suffering from lexiturgis with a complication of mem- braneous deletriciatica,’ This settled the hap- less victim, He agreed to the remedy, and a tub of the coldest water was brought and doused over him. We were astounded at the effect. The victim shivered for five minutes, but after he was rnbbed down and dried off and dressed he turned to M—-and asked, ‘How much do 1 owe you?’ with as composed an air as he could ever have used in his business. M—was nearly paralyzed for an iustant. ‘Ten dollars,’ he finally managed to gasp. ‘The iron merchant inquired, ‘Isn't that a fittte steep?” but M—— had regained his nerve. ‘Not for calling me out of a comfortable bed at 2 o'clock in the morning,’ he said) The money was handed over without another word, and the pa- tient pulled his high silk hat down on his head, took his silver-headed cane and walked as straightasa string up the steps and out of the door, Tho best partof that bit of fun was M—'s astonishment. He sent one of the boys around to the Palmer for two bottles of wine and we drank and enjoyed it. The iron man has been in since and he is not on to the facta. He has met M—— on the street several times and always addresses him pleasantly as ‘doc- tor.’” PRACTIC! —————+o+-_____ STRONG MEN THEN AND NOW. John L, Sullivan Would Make Short Work of the Boxer of Old Greece. From the Lmdon Globe, The prize fighter of our epoch would make short work of the ear-crushing boxer of old Greece, whose method of procedure was not to strike out from the shoulder, but to swing down his heavily weighted fist like a hammer and whose deadliest attack consisted in stand- ing on tip-toe and pounding the top of his ad- versary’s head. It has been claimed, and with much show of reason, that the records of our heroes of the cinder path would have aston- | ished the best runners at the Olympian or Pythian festivals. And, similarly, it is prob- able that the professional strong men of re- cent sensations have been at least the equals of those who were the delight and astonish- ment of the ancients, Milo of Crotona, the celebrated wrestler, was, of course, the strong man par excellence of the classical era, One of the deeds attrib- uted to him is notable enough. Pansanias tells us that he “would bind his forehead with a cord, after the fashion of a fillet or a crown, compress his lips, hold his breath, and so fill the veins of his head with blood as to burst the cord by the strength of his veins.” ‘The physi- ological explanation of “how it was done” does hot appear very satisfactory, and it is, per- haps, not uncharitable to suppose that this articular story is fictitious or an exaggeration. Bur for the rest of Milo’s muscular exploits parallels could readily be found in modern, or comparatively modern, times. Thus the slay- ing of an ox at a ny e blow has been by no mean an uncommon feat. M. Gregoire, who at a very advanced age,startled the good =e of Hereford some tweuty years ago by bis dis- plays, and who was said to be so strong that he was afraid to nurse his own baby, frequentiy erformed it, and there is at — living in ondon at least one man who has done the same. Aguinst Milo’s tricks with the trees, which he is described as tearing up by the roots—the size and growth of the said trees being, by the way, nowhere recorded—we may set the achievement of Topham, the strong man of Islington, who pulled against a horse, with his feet resting against a low wall; or, better still, that of William Jay, the English Samson, a Kentish man born in the latter part of the seventeenth century, who testrained a strong horse, plunging forwara under the influence of the whip, without availing himself of any sup- port whatever: or again, that of the acrobat some years ago at Berlin, who, hanging head downward from a trapeze, slowly drew up from the stage a horse and its rider and as slowly let them down again. Nor was Milo, walking through the Stadium with a four-year-old heifer on shoulder, a more remarkable sight than that offered in Hungary by the Paspischilli brothers, who are described as having sup ‘8 sort of wooden bridge while a cart filled with stones and drawn by two horses was driven over it, or than that of the experiments in bearing heavy weights which have been presented to music hall audi- ences in contemporary London. How He Knew It. From the New York Tribune, “Perhaps,” said a business man, “there are @ good many of us who believe that all the world bas absolute confidence in our honesty. But there are so many schemes creditors have for keeping an eye on debtors that the honest men are watched as care fully as the dishonest ones. When I went to Europe last summer I owed my tailor two or three hundred doliars, I suppose. ‘ ~When I returned I went around to him to order my fall clothes, 11 Gaeat Coxstoxurst Suz. $90,000 WORTH OF FINE CUSTOM - MADE CLOTEING On consigument from ® larre manufacturer whe i Overstocked and in need of ready cash. Sale to begin SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, AT SAM. Prices to be one-half of actual wholesale cost, ‘85 styles Men’s Suits, 5; actual value #11. 60 styles Men's Suits, @8, including Cheviots, Casal meres and Worsteds ; worth 616. £10 will buy choice of 70 styles Men's Suite, Cork screws, Cheviota and Fancy Worsteds; actual value ex2. Elegant Dress Suite, cutaway or Prince Albert, @15; actual value @32. 600 Men's Overcosts (Beavers and Kereseys), 65; actual vaiue $11. 400 Dress Overcoats (all weights), @8; actual value a6. 650 Ovorcoats (all shades), $11; actual value $26. Elegant Fur Beavers, Kerseya, Montagnace, Elysian, &c., @15; custom tailors chance $40. Every garment Guaranteed as represented (or money refunded) by the KEW YORK CLOTHING HOUSE, S11 7TH ST. XW. 017-32 CONSIGNMENT 84LE I Ax Dura: Exactly. We know you are DYING to find outhow we do it,but you haven't the moral coursge, the manli- ness to come forward and put the question squarely to tous. To make it short, sharp and decisive permit us to say that THE COMMERCIAL GRAVE DIGGER'S Occupation ts gone and he is ashamed of ever baving beld #0 grave @ position. DYING! Of course you are; death is sure to follow, ‘nd in order not to be accessory before the fact we will teli you pisinly and pointedly HOW WE DO IT. FIKS1LY—Our expenses are note thousand dollars a day. SECONDLY—We are not “HIGH FLYERS" THIRDLY—We are not greedy; don't want shun- dred per cent profit. FOURTHLY—We «ive our personal attention to every detail of our business, FIFTHLY—We do s strictly cash business, guarantee OUF prices and do Dot allow any article to be misrepre- sented, and LASTLY—We sell our goods at exactly TEN PER CENT ABOVE THE ACTUAL COST OF MANUFACTURE. ‘That's how we do it, and therefore it is that wecan Afford to sell Men's Suits, worth Seven Dollars anda Half, at 84.90. Men's Suits, worth Ten Dollars, at $6.75. Men's Suits, worth Ten Dollars and Seventy-five Cents, at 87.50. Men's Suits, worth Eleven Dollars and Seventy-five Cents, at 88.75, Men's Suits, worth Fifteen Dollars, at @10.75. ets Overcoats, worth Twelve Dollars ands Half, at €n.25. Men's All-wool Melton Overcoats, worth Twelve Dollars aud Seventy-five Cents, at 8.75. Men's Biue and Black Beaver Overcoata, worth Fif- teen Dollars, at $9.75. Men's Diagonal Overcoats, worth Eighteen Dollars and Seventy-five Cents, at $12.25. Men's All-wool Pantaloons, worth Four Dollare, at 78. Children's Cape Overeoate at $2, Children’s Suits at $1.96, Boys’ Short Pante at 50c. Boys’ Long Pants at $1.50. Aud so on throughout our entire stock aresesn evi- Gences of our care and watchf. The jong and short of it is we protect THE PEOPLE end they in turn patronize us, VICTOR E ADLEB'S ‘Ten Per Cent Clothing House, ‘Hats, Caps and Gentlemen's Furnishing Goods, ‘927 and 929 7th st, u.w., cor. Massachusetts ave, STRICTLY ONE PRICK Open Ssturday until 11 p.m, Orex Au Nicer. For the accommodation of our coptomars ang the Public we will, keep our store open, curnt in charee zB. WILLIAMS & CO., DRUGGISTE, UNDER MASONIC TEMPLE, ‘Cor, Oth and F streets n.w. PKESCKIPTIONS. Our prescriptions have reduced ia. portion to other We. use only the purest Ufuge and chemicals from the aost relistle mae turera, We cheerfilly iDVitggs careful inspection of this departinent by Allcock's Porous Plaster .-...::1 Germav Porous Plasters, 1c; 3 for. Ayer's Sareaparilla.., rs Cherry Pec yer's Hair Vigor. Vathartic Pills. iniported, small nize, larwe mize. y Kum, vine, Bovinine, Bul Lassies a 43 Jamu, Cap Williams'Kheumatic Plasters.... Cuticura Soap. toe J Pistite titer tied e ee hum x fies, Nos } to Haueun's Gorn Salve Bes 3 for Iron Bitters. ver bottle. Susuyresesseurscemecy