Golden Age, December 30, 1925
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Contents of the Golden Age
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Labor anb Economics
Pohifs in the Coal Controversy
What Machinery Has Done on the Farm .......... 267
Valuable Work of the Bureau of Standards
. Social ato Ebsoatiokab
Personal Exp^ibnceb nr an Earthquake ...... . . . .
Penhsbubg-'s Knight of the .Twentieth CENTny . . . - . ■ .
Gist oar ths Worm's'News . ........ , . .
Finance—CoMJjrr.es—’teANsyowAnox
Where Uncle Sam Flourishes
Florida Rush Continues ........
The Phosphate Beds of Morocco .............. £11
Diamond Mines in the Congo .....
Political—Domestic and Forkmin
Georgia Moves Away from Freedom
King Business Still on the Decline...... .
France’s Beign of Blood in Syria ....
SCIENCE AND INVENTION
Methmoicqt and Weathek Rb^istoi ...
Cyclones and Tornadoes . . . . . .... « w, » . . » . . 198
, Equinoxes and Solstices
Eclipses and Oppositions . . . . 189
The Wonders of the Moon ............... 3.99
Signs of a Sevbr® Wkrtkr ....... b ........ . 202
Millennial Cmmatb May Cur.e S'imnOT.T
Unbest in Natote ...................
Edison Company Watch-es rre Wb.wwii ... . . . . . . . 205
Moas About Susas
Bemgion and Philosofht
How Billy Sunday Rates Himself
Demons Baffle Scientists.............. . . 209
Good Sowikbs of Jesus Christ . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . 212
The Christian Soldier in Battle ........ ..... 21<3 Why the Christian is Keenly Interested r- .........
tbsj Return ou the Jews to Pat.k»t:'c .
Otomes in “The Harp of Gob" ..............
Published every other Wednesday at IS Coneord Street, Brooklyn, N. Y., tJ. 8. by . WOODWORTH, HUDGIN'GS & MARTIN
fjepssrtner's mid PrepWetore Address: IS Oosiesrd Street, Brooklyn, X. F„ U. S. A. CLAXTON 3. WOODWORTH . . . Editor ROBERT J. MARTIN . BuHnass'Mansser WM. F. HVDGING8 . . S^e’y and Treaa.
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Volume VII Brooklyn, N.Y., Wednesday, December 39,1525 ' Number IM;-
Meteorology and Weather Forecasting By c. e. stewart
TyETEOROIUGY is the science of the phe-1VX nomena of the atmosphere, especially those that relate to weather and climate; it has to do with the character of the weather and of atmospheric changes everywhere. It is an international science, as weather conditions of phenomenal character may start almost anywhere and go in any direction, though there are localities where they are more common, the more common being near the Himalaya mountains; and the usual direction of storms is from west to east, though hurricanes out of the West Indies often travel northward. Meteorology may also be said to be the science of observing, registering and classifying' various and varying climatic and atmospheric phenomena in connection with the planets of our solar system.
There are three methods of studying the phenomena of weather: (1) The short-range forecasting as done by the Weather Bureau; (2) the local readings of thermometer, hygrometer and barometer for immediate and close-range forecasting; and (3) the long-range, which takes into consideration the positions, conjunctions and oppositions of practically every member of our solar system. The last of these is the one which shall have our special attention in this article.
In sending out the generalities of weather conditions each day, the United States Weather Bureau bases its conclusions on reports from 240 stations in the United States and Canada, 22 in Europe, 36 in the West Indies and Central America, 17 in Mexico, 12 in the Pacific and Far East countries, and 9 in Alaska. Many of these reports come by radio and cable. The heralding of weather conditions has been and is a very important business of the government, especially for the farmer and stock raiser and shippers by land and sea.
Since the advent of the radio the reports are more accurate, in that sudden storm conditions are immediately dispatched. Radios on ships
arc often utilized to inform other ships and the Weather Bureau of raging cyclones and hurricanes, giving direction of the movement, the velocity and intensity, thus saving the lives of many people and minimizing the property loss.
It is difficult for the Weather Bureau, or for anybody, to make forecasts for a particular locality, for storm conditions and air pressures prevail in more or less extended areas. But ©ver and anon the Weather Bureau finds that their calculations have gone amiss, that the elements are behaving after a fashion unprecedented, and the cause is not apparent. A surface condition is not always an indication of what prevails in the upper strata of atmosphere. That there are capers cut by the climate conditions, one of the directors of Meteorological service showed when he summed up the weather and earthquake conditions for the years 19221924. This report reads about as follows;
The year 1923 was abnormal for quakes, several sever* ones occurring in Japan and under the Pacific ocean. The number of quakes recorded here in 1923 was 233, the maximum being reached in February and July with 28, followed by 36 in September, and 22 in August. In 1924 the number recorded here was 217, the severity being less than in 1923. The abnormal meteorological conditions for these three years were: In 1922 the Arctic ocean was freed of ica to a record extent. Prolonged severe storms on the Atlantic during the winter of 1923-23. During 1923-24 there were severe floods in Europe, record snowfalls in Argentine and New Zealand, severe drouths in California; and beginning in December 1924 record cold waves crossed Siberia, extending to Alaska and reaching southward to the southern states and to the Atlantic seaboard.
Based upon the abnormal atmospheric pressure in January, 1925, one of the coldest years on record was predicted; and we did have a cold, late spring with frosts which necessitated the replanting of gardens and fields.
The system which we are about to examine 135
shows Wat these are not wholly abnormal conditions but the things to be expected, because of the peculiar planetary positions in the whirling, shifting combinations of conjunctions and oppositions of the various planets. When over 90% of the earthquakes predicted actually take place within the quake periods specified, there is something in evidence besides guessing. This system is what we might call the Hicks System, which was brought to a high plane of accuracy by the late Rev. Irl R. Hicks, having its beginning over forty years ago.
If our solar system were composed of but two bodies, the sun and the earth, there would be nothing to disturb the peaceful climatic conditions prevaiMag over the whole planet, except that our atmosphere would be disturbed during sunspot periods. The seasons would come and go, blending quietly into each other at the equinoxes and solstices. But there are seven ether planetary bodies in our solar system besides our own hmar satellite which, with their eVerehanging movements, make up hundreds of combinations which must be reckoned -with, the greatest of which is our relatively near neighbor the moon.
There seem to be sun-spot cycles of inferior and superior influence, the former coming in 11.11 year cycles, and the latter in 55.6 year cycles. Tile next major sun-spot period is due in the winter of 1926-27. The power of the sun is incredible; it cannot be measured. Besides the light, heat and power which it gives off, harnessed and unharnessed, it has an estimated drawing power of sea water said to be at least one hundred and thirty quadrillion (130,000,000,000,900,000) tens each year.
The Gulf Stream is a miracle. It has been called an ocean river. It has more power than all other of the physical forces of the earth combined. It rises in the tepid waters of the Gulf of Mexico, flows into the Atlantic ocean, thence northward and loses itself in the Arctic ocean.
It is estimated that in one hour’s time the enormous sum of 90,000,090,000 tons of water pass a given point. If this single hour’s flow of water were evaporated the remaining salts would require many times more than all the ships in the world to carry them. As far north as 81 degrees, 29 minutes, soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters (nearly two miles) has shown the Gulf Stream still to be very warm. It is a great factor in the general warming up ©f the climatic conditions of earth. It and the Japan Stream play their parts in the amelioration of earth’s atmosphere. Both of these have been shifted by recent earthquakes, and no one knows the course each will take when affected by the next earthquake.
General Characteristics af Weather
fpXACTNESS in weather forecasting is an.
impossibility; but the forecasts of the Hicks System may be used, intensified or modified by local conditions, such as geographical position, proximity to lakes, rivers, mountain ranges, etc.; for all ef these enter into the proposition, and with familiarity with these, associated things one need not be far wrong in weather anticipations, especially if consideration is given to thermometer, hygrometer and barometer.
The storm periods of the Hicks System are coincident with the Vulcan periods, called regular and reactionary, modified or intensified by the position and relation which the other members of the solar system bear to it. The time when the storms of a period will strike any given locality depends upon where one is, as to east, west, or central parts of the country. Storms have a tendency to move across the- United States from west to east. When the moon is in north declination, i. e., north of the equator, the storms normally travel from southwest to northeast; and when the moon is south of the equator the storms will usually come out of the northwest and travel southeast. When the storm is cyclonic the wind direction will depend on the position of the cyclone. Cyclones cover large areas, move from west to east, the wind traveling east on the south rim, north on the east rim, west on the north rim, and south on the west rim, with, possibly a large eddy in the center.
All general storm areas in the United States form somewhere in the extreme west, southwest or northwest. At the approach of a storm period, Vulcan period, while high barometer and general anti-storm conditions may still exist over much of the country eastward, somewhere in the west the temperature will rise, the barometer will begin to fall, the wind currents -will shift to points that presage change and storm, cloudiness ensues and storm areas of rain or snow take up their march across the country eastward. As these storm conditions advance, anti-
Dbcbmbsb SO, 1925 storm conditions break down in front of them, and rise up behind them, giving us storms at the center of from two to five days’ duration.
Many of us have noticed that we may have a severe rain, say for instance at 3 o’clock on a certain day, and that then for three or four days the rain will recur a little milder and a little later each day until clear weather returns. This is caused by a perfectly plain planetary condition, the position that the earth bears to the inferior planets, Venus and Mercury. Not always when a storm area passes a given point will rain or snow fall to earth, but the storm will be indicated as passing overhead by the wind, temperature and barometer.
Before a storm period the normal condition is fair and warmer; the storm will pass, then comes clear and cooler weather. All these phases are realized in the west, early in the storm periods; a day or so later in central; and later still in eastern sections. This accounts for the different kinds of weather which will prevail over the country during a storm period. The average rate of speed of storm areas is about 600 miles a day, being of greater velocity in the colder months. The periodic swing of storm periods shows us when to look for fair days, which of necessity must predominate.
The tropics act as earth’s great ventilator which keeps the cool air rushing in from the poles, and the ozone-laden air from the continual electrical discharges is carried high up; as it cools it gradually spreads towards the poles and slowly descends and begins to travel back equatorward, being drawn by the centrifugal force of the earth’s rotation. Thus the process known as trade-winds goes on and on.
In the oceans there should be but few cold surface currents, and these only in shallow or partially land-locked places. Cold water is heavier than warm; and under normal conditions a cold stream of water flowing into a warmer one will go to the bottom and flow underneath, while a warm stream flowing into a colder body will keep to the surface. A normal circulation would evidently be one in which there is a steady flowing of the waters of the equatorial zones towards the poles, with a corresponding underneath flow of the cold waters of the polar regions towards the equator.
The movements of air and water currents help us to appreciate the glory and power and wisdom of God in His kindness thus manifested
m
towards the children of men. God made the earth to be inhabited; the physical facts show this besides the revelation of His plan as recorded in the Bible,
The National Weather Book, in its chapter on ffThe Solar System”, after showing that at times the solar system is pulled as much as 3,000,000 miles from its normal path by the planets grouping on one side of the sun, says in the closing paragraph:
That any properly informed, unbiased persons should doubt or deny that all meteorological phenomena are the direct products of astronomical conditions and changes, is a position that would be hard to explain or defend. Even those who make no claim to an astronomical education understand that all the changing seasons—■ summer, winter, spring and fall—with all the storms and weather peculiar to each season, grow out of the movements of the earth around the sun.
The causes for the varied movements of the planets are perpetual and according to fixed laws, shifting backward and forward from one part of the year to another, carrying their perturbing influence with them. Hence the same season does not bring the same storms and weather every year. Neither does any given cause carry with it summer weather into winter, nor winter weather into summer; but each in its own way intensifies seasonable weather.
The ecliptic is the apparent yearly path of the sun around the heavens, as it looks to us; but the ecliptic is in reality the path of the earth around the sun. The moon, by reason of its rotation around the earth, oscillates first inside and then outside of the earth’s direct path, which brings her between the earth and the sun at one time, and causes the earth to be between her and the sun at another. She also oscillates up and down, above and below the plane of the ecliptic, thus giving her path a corkscrew shape.
The moon’s path is never very far from the ecliptic; the swing from the ecliptic is never so far as the swing from the equator. If the moon’s new or full falls on the same day as her crossing the ecliptic there will be an eclipse. If new moon happens when the moon is on the ecliptic, the moon is between the earth and the sun, and the sun is eclipsed. When full moon happens on the ecliptic, the earth is between moon and sun, and the moon is eclipsed.
These eclipses are primary causes for earthquakes, violent storms, hurricanes or seismic disturbances, intensified ifthe electrical puU ia
concentrated in one locality, or modified if the electrical energy is spread ©ver large areas. Earthquakes sometimes follow even the shadow of an eclipse, as in the northeast part of the United States last February 28 th. i Earthquakes are more common, too, where there are oil wells in operation. . '■
Cyclones and Tornadoes .
A CYCLONE is a vast area of low atmes-pheric pressure, with currents of air eir-cling aroundit and flowing into it with an upward tendency. All general storm disturbances are more or less cyclonic in their character. A large 'cyclone will sometimes cover as much as the entire United States, but at it travels east it will sometimes be central on land and sometimes out at sea.
In the northern hemisphere the general direction of the cyclone is from southwest to northeast. While the cyclonic disturbance is moving eastward the storms are raging at the outer edges in different extremes, whirling like a huge buzz saw, turning to the left as we in our minds face the north from a southern position. In the center of this mass there will be a calm; and these centers are not disturbed except, as the storm rims pass over them, the south winds on the front will carry warmth and the north winds on the rear will carry cold.
Following the lew pressure will come the high pressure, anti-cyclonic conditions, with cooler breezes from the northwest. Then comes the reactionary storm conditions, sometimes with renewed vigor, from the west, shifting to northwest. After the paroxysm, of a storm has subsided, if a dead calm sets in and the barometer shows no signs of rising, no matter if the sky is clear and the air is calm and balmy, those who understand those things will watch for the we,stern or rear -side of the cyclone to strike.
A tornado differs from a cyclone in that it is a small but exceedingly violent whirling point, comparatively local. When a tornado develops out of cyclonic conditions, it usually occurs on the south side and a little to the east of the center of down pr essure. ■ The violence .of a tornado is not. so much in the speed of the forward motion as. in; the. whirling speed. A tornado has , been defined as being "The impingement of ether, Jutting down from space, cold and intensely charged with positive electricity, which is the
cause of low barometer, around which the warm air, negatively charged, circulates ascendingly from right to left”. . . . .
We are not to expect tornadoes all over the continent when they are predicted : they are of a very local nature and should be expected locally. Cyclones are larger, bat not damaging.
T5te Language of the Barometer
rpiIOSE who understand know that a rising barometer, west to north wind and cold, will bring clearing weather immediately behind the ■areas of low barometer and rain and snow. Eves before the actual storms, er areas ef cloudiness and precipitation, have passed east of the Mississippi river, and before the storm conditions have produced marked changes in the extreme east of the country, high barometer, northerly gales and cold, clearing weather, as a rule are found following on the heels of all marked winter storms from western and northwestern extremes.
A rising thermometer, with falling barometer, at or near full moon, will bring cloudiness with winds and ruin, especially in March. If the full moon is ©n the equator, there will be abnormal earth currents, variations of magnetic needles, static in radios and telegraphic disturbances.
If a very lew barometer lies along the southern border in the winter, with a bligaard and high barometer rashing out of the northwest, the cold and frost will reach far into the south. The lower the barometer and the warmer and brighter the weather as the storm conditions come on, the greater the danger of severe changes to storms and wintry weather. If the barometer is much below normal all over the country, the weather comparatively warm and rainy, the change to .rising barometer is almost certain to precipitate a rushing and dangerous cold wave, which will likely extend to the southern limits of the preceding. low barometer, even to the south coasts. ■
Equinoxes and Solstices
THE vernal equinox is when the days and nights are of equal length in March; the autumnal equinox is when the days and nights-are of equal length in September; the winter solstice is when the days are shortest in December; th© summer solstice is when the days are longest .in June.- In March the earth’s .equator is over the sun; in September the earth’s equator
is wider the sun. At these four-quarter marks of the earth’s passage around the sun there are more or less electrical disturbances and aggravation for the storm periods, March being the most severe and possibly December the least severe. . '
The crisis of the electrical and magnetic excitement in March comes usually between the 10th and 15th. If the moon is at perigee and at one of her quarter-posts at this season, then the disturbances are greatly increased. These earth periods extend over about six weeks; and the disturbances are more or less intense, according to the pull of other planetary influences.
The autumnal equinox is milder than the vernal; but should a Venus disturbance be combined with it, there will be a series of storm and weather perturbations out of the average. There may be sudden changes with phenomenal fluctuate ons of the barometer, and at such times shipping on the lakes and rivers is endangered.
The earth is 3,000,000 miles nearer the sun in December than in June; and the reason for the colder weather is that the sunshine comes to us on a slant from low in the south, with nights neatly twice as long as the days. The colder weather of January and February is caused by the accumulated cold which the sun has not yet been able to overcome. Likewise the heat of July and August is accumulated heat as the sun apparently passes back over his own track, which he made in reaching his summer solstice. Furthermore, the rays of the sun at that season are more direct upon the earth.
Eclipses and Oppositions
IT IS a fact that meteorological perturbations are increased at the eclipses of the sun and moon. These occur when earth, sun and moon are in a line;' for there is a direct intercepting and breaking of the electro-magnetic force or solar energy that forms a bond between the sun and every other body of our solar system. When planets are in conjunction or opposition, or both, the same thing results, but in a lesser degree. Even when the earth passes between the sun and so great a distant planet as Saturn there is a perturbation of our atmosphere caused by the earth swinging into the solar energy which plies between the sun and Saturn. If it is warm at such a time, the warmth will be prolonged, with dryness.
Sometimes planets will gather on one side of our earth and exert such a pull on the electromagnetic ether that plays between the sun and the earth that cold will result, which is quite unseasonable and which is otherwise unaccounted for. The oppositions, conjunctions/ equinoxes, and quadratures of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn have a distinct effect upon the earth, and the movements of Vulcan and the moon are the great factors in causing variety. The oppositions of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn bring dryness; and when Mercury and Venus are at inferior conjunction we have wetness.
The direct cause of storms and weather phenomena on our globe lies in the sun. If its great energy were not sometimes excited to a maximum, and at other times modified to a minimum, we could reasonably count on the same kinds of storm and weather during the same months and days of each year. The solar energy is augmented or modified, in its effects on the earth, by the presence or absence of the perturbing equinoxes of the other planets. All these equinoxes are perpetually shifting their times into all parts of our year. Storm and weather changes shift with them.
Our sun is small compared with some of the other suns or stars outside of our solar system. Yet there are 2,357,127,702,000 square miles on the surface of this magnificent and powerful body; and the mass of matter contained in it is 332,160 times greater than that of the earth. No wonder its influence is so great upon our planet, though its distance be about 92,000,000 miles away from us! But we know also that such energy of light, heat and power that we get is to a large extent dependent upon the valency of our earth; for it is the unit of attraction, the drawing power or affinity, that the sun and earth have for each other, that makes it just as it is. Who will deny that there is superior, infinite knowledge and wisdom back of such an arrangement as this?
7 he Wonders of the Moon
THE moon accompanies the earth, swinging around it in corkscrew fashion, about 240,000 miles away, year in and year out. The light we get from it is reflected light from the sun. When it begins to rise between us and the sun it is at new; it gradually increases until it fulls
in the e&&t at sunset; it then becomes old and begins to wane until it passes out ©f sight in the glare ©f the sun. From new to full takes about fourteen days, and from full to now about fifteen days. The greatest speed is from first quarter to third quarter, but it slows down considerably after passing third quarter. At new the moon is directly behind the earth; at full it is directly in front.
We have full moons far south in summer, full moons far north in winter. New and full moons are always near the equator in March and September. New moons are high in the heavens in summer, and lew in winter. An almanac study of the monthly movements of the moon is instructive and entertaining to both old and young. One writer says:
Thousands ed beys and girls, growing tip fete intellectual observation ®f things around them, will be pleased if we tell them why Ged causes the full moon to be far south in the summer and far north in the winter. Remember that the axis of the earth is so inclined to the ecliptic as to make the. winter nights very, long and dark. This, you know, is the case with our winter nights in the northern heuaisphere; and the big, bright full moon is always high up in our northern sky, flooding the long nights with her silvery light. But when our summer returns our nights are very short, and the full moon hangs away over to the south. This is because the people on the south end of the earth are having their winter at this time with long, dark nights, and God in His wisdom and goodness causes the full moon to sail down into the southern skies and send its beams straight down upon the southern hemisphere. This is only one of many benefits resulting from this wonderful law.
Th© moon is north and south -of the equator each month, but it fulls in the south when they have their winter (in July), and in the north when we have our winter. The third quarter w south of the equator in spring, and north ©f the equator in the fall.
Atmospheric tides, like ocean tides, fellow the moon in its declinations north and south. Hence the storm periods that eome while the moon is moving south of the equator are much more liable to be followed by changes to cold, boreal conditions; for the atmospheric currents tend, from north t© south, bringing the cold out of the north, so to speak. When the moon is coming north the temperature will slowly rise, and the winds will be from south to north, if other causes do not interfere -with this normal ex
pectancy. As a rule, when the moon is en the , equator the storm periods d® not bring changes of temperature; but at such times electrical storms are much more liable, even in winter.
If, during a storm period (Vulcan period) the moon is either full or new on the equator, er at north or south declination, the storm will be severe, with rain or snow and strong winds. If this is embraced within a Mercury or Venus period, dr both, the intensity is increased ae-cording to relative positions. New and full moons on the equator come at the equinoctial periods, and therefore cause perturbations out of the ordinary as compared with other seasons of the year. Electrical storms, earthquakes, cyclones, seismic disturbances and other pho-nmnena are the normal things to expect at the
, earth’s equinoxes. If it is in the spring leek for heavy snow and blizzards in the west and north; if in the autumn look for rains and wind out of the west and south.
When the moon is at full, in perigee (point nearest the earth) and north declination, the tides and tidal waves reach phenomenal proportions on the North Atlantic; a reversal of this in the south makes high tides for the southern hemisphere. When the moon is on the celestial equator (over earth’s equator) in any of its phases the tendency is toward increased storminess, cloudy and threatening weather, electrical displays, and changes to warmer or cooler, according to season and other causes.
Thunder showers and gusts of wind are always liable in summer during the moon-on-the-equator days, intensified according to the positions of Mercury and Venus. If barometric pressure is uncommonly low anywhere, especially in the southern states at such times, the storm will b® sharp and quite severe.
Vulcan, Mercury, Venus
WHETHER there is actually a planet Vulcan close to the sun’s rim matters not.
There is certainly between the sun and Mercury some periodic influence which marks off time so precisely, causing atmospheric disturbances so pronounced, that weather predictions may be based upon it. The Vulcan period is the regular storm period ; in between these periods are the reactionary periods. A Vulcan period runs for five days, with an interval of about seven days. .
This five-day and seven-day phase marks off the time from one Vulcan equinox to another. Hence the revolution of Vulcan around the sun takes approximately twenty-four days, going at a slightly greater speed than the rim of old Sol, which takes a little more than twenty-five days to complete a rotation.
From equinox to equinox on Mercury is forty-four days, with the equinoctial “brace-’ or period of disturbance extending fourteen days. From equinox to equinox on Venus is 112 days, with the brace extending twenty days. From equinox to equinox on the earth is 182 days,: with the brace extending six weeks. From equinox to equinox on Mars is 343 days, with the brace extending about seven weeks. From equinox to equinox on Jupiter is 2166 days, with its .influence upon our earth-extending over more than a year. From equinox to equinox on Saturn is &380 days, with its influence extending over three years. The equinoctial periods of all the planets in our solar system affect our weather. Their oppositions and conjunctions affect it also, but the equinoctial influence intensifies the effect.
The normal condition during a Vulcan storm period is. for the barometer to fall, the ther- • riometer to rise, cloudiness to appear traveling •from west to east across the country in about five days’ time but striking each locality for a very brief period of time, followed by clearing, cooler weather. The condition of the moon and other planets may be such as to prolong the cloudiness and rain for several days over a given locality. Whether there are rains or not the storm conditions will register in the barometer at these intervals of the Vulcan disturbance.
Mercury periods prolong all disturbances; and oftentimes drizzling rain or snow, mist, sleet or blizzards will be the rule, according to season. Most of the sleet storms come near the Mercury equinoxes, and in the late spring ©r early fall heavy frosts may be expected during such times. The moon on the equator at such times increases the intensity of the storms with added lightning. The tendency during Mercury periods in winter is prolonged cloudiness, sleet and snow; and often such phenomena will fill the gap between the storm periods, especially so if the moon is on the equator or at new. A rising barometer will bring clearing and cooler weather when these storms have spent their force.
Venus always brings moisture, either rain or snow, according to season. Our most severe
electrical storms, thunder and hail, come near the Venus equinoxes. High winds and often tornadoes are characteristic of such times. The heaviest downpours of rain are liable to come within the Venus brace.
These storm periods are introduced with warm weather for the season, rapidly falling , barometer; and they close with rushing eu>-rents of air from the northwest with changes to - ■ unseasonably cold weather. If the moon is on the equator or at new during such storms, force , will be added to the change to colder. Venus, ; Mercury and the moon in combination for max- < imuna storm conditions prolong the storms <and make them more universal.
Storms will be characterized by violent gales ; on the great lakes and Gulf of Mexico. West .• Indian hurricanes and tornadoes are also move . commoB under these conditions. Nothing short of heavy downpours of rain with lightning need be expected.
. Mun, Jupiter, Seturn
fipiIB conjunctions of Vulcan, Mercury and •
Venus, as we have seen, bring wet weather upon the earth. Now we will speak of the in- • fluence of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. These. ' latter are outside the earth’s orbit; and when they are in opposition ©r exerting their equineo ; tial influences, dry weather is the result. Whan the “wets” and “drys” are exerting their influence simultaneously upon the earth there is a great electric strain, which may lie relieved by. . heavy storms here and there on land and sea . or by seismic disturbances, earthquakes, or by
Volcanic eruptions. During the periods of these great strains upon the earth something meat break loose somewhere.
As a rule, the general character of the weather upon entering a Mars equinoctial period will continue throughout the period. If it is warm it will stay warm. Storm clouds may appear, there may be gusts ©f wind and dust, but very little rain will fall. Do not forget, however, that the moon has a voice in the weather program; and if she is in any of her phases on the equator os at perigee, she will be heard. Mars will not retard any storm condition, but will serve as an exciter, with a marked tendency toward dryness.
Jupiter is larger than all other units ®f ©us ' planetary system combined, and with his several moons has a little solar system of his own. if *
is during the Jupiter equinoxes that we have the greatest weather disturbances. During such equinoxes all weather phenomena caused by the other members of our system are greatly increased and prolonged, except that the trend is toward dryness. Vulcan, Mercury and Venus may be unitedly pulling for rain; yet Jupiter’s influence will be neutralizing the rainfall, and yet will cooperate with the other planets in causing heavy gales, seismic disturbances, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. The Jupiter periods bring more heat in the summer and more cold in the winter.
The influence of Saturn is less perceptible than the other mentioned planets, because of his great distance from the earth. Nevertheless, during a Saturn period a tendency to dryness is noticed. It has been discovered that there are earthquake cycles, periodic times when great earthquakes are more liable than at others; and these correspond almost exactly with the Saturn equinoxes. Uranus and Neptune, because of their great distance away, exert no discernible influence upon earth’s weather.
Characteristic Monthly Changes
THE periodic changes in relationship between the earth and the sun, from month to month throughout the year, lead to characteristic weather conditions that may be expected in regular sequence, unless altered by other disturbing factors. For example, violent tornadoes may be looked for over the Mississippi valley during the last half of May each year. Daily storms may set in, recurring for several days at about the same hour, during May, winding up with a heavy rain storm, wind and thunder, quickly changing to high barometer and cooler weather.
Electrical and magnetic forces are excited 'during the first half of June. The earth currents are abnormal at this time, and disturb all wire and wireless communication; smouldering volcanoes are stirred up; and the atmospheric currents are erratic, so that the June solstice storms often rush in from unexpected quarters. The great displays of lightning at this time are mostly harmless, unless a thunderstorm is raging. These electrical displays, as someone has said, “are conserving a wise and munificent purpose of God in adjusting atmospheric changes and conditions so vital to plant and animal life at this time of the year.” 'While April showers bring May flowers, June is the month of greatest rainfall. During June, if there is the cooperation of the inferior planets, the electrical display and rainfall will be intensified. In July come the most ominous-looking clouds, often passing with gusts of wind and little rain. What heavy downpours of rain come will extend over very limited areas.
March, of course, has a bad reputation. It is caused by the breaking up of winter, the sun .. crossing the equator northbound, and by the cold currents of surface air going south and currents ' of warm air in higher altitudes going north. These fight and clash each other as the fighting line passes over the country from south to north at this time, until Jack Frost is compelled to hibernate in the far north.
The planetary eclipses and oppositions furnish the general causes lying back of weather phenomena; while the trusted barometer, hygrometer and thermometer give the local conditions as they exist day by day. Both factors must be considered in making forecasts. But regardless of whether rain comes in any given locality during a storm period, “the machinery of nature will conform to the periodic law that governs storm movements—the wheels of the weather-mill will go round in their accustomed way . . . whether there be moisture and electricity enough in the ‘hopperi to grind out a rain or thunder storm or not”
Signs of a Severe Winter
SIGNS of a severe winter seem to multiply.
In the eastern part of the United States there were said to be only three days of sunshine last month, and on those days for only thirty percent of the time. Both in America and in Britain there were gales of seventy-five miles an hour with much damage. Rains in London, in October and November were the heaviest known in many years. The storms on the Atlantic have been unusual thus far.
Millennial Climate
AN INTERESTING article in the Milwaukee
■Journal indicates hew the climate of the earth may become suddenly transformed. It seems that within the past twenty years an Inversion Stratum of the air has been discovered, which lies six to ten miles above the earth.
It is believed that this stratum is ©f new formation. It is lighter than ©ur atmosphere and lies upon our atmosphere like a blanket. While ©ur atmosphere grows increasingly ©older up to about five miles above the earth, yet the instruments sent up by scientific balloons show that the Inversion Stratum, which begins at six miles up, grows warmer as it rises. It is evidently composed of gases which have risen from the earth.
The theory is advanced that what is happening above us is that the gases ©f combustion are ascending above our atmosphere and remaining there. Moreover, they are being constantly added to as combustion increases. In other words man is artificially, by his own destruction of earth’s store of hydro-carbons, gradually restoring the conditions which existed before the flood—placing about the earth a blanket
May Come Suddenly
which, will create a hothouse condition and make the .earth' again a paradise everywhere, as it was in Eden in the long ago.
The position is taken that the United States cannot continue to burn four billion cubic feet of petroleum every year, and the world cannot continue to burn one and one-third billion tons of coal, without the gases going somewhere. The logical place for them to go is upward until they reach a state ©f equilibrium; and the Lord has evidently so arranged matters that this state of equilibrium is reached just beyond the limits of rarefaction where men can live, and the blanket is coming just at the time when He needs it, if He is to care for all the billions that have gone down into death.
The myriads of resurrected humans will have to eat. Most of what they eat will be grown on soil that is now unused. With changed climatic conditions even the soil about the poles may become gardens of fertility, as geology shows that it once was. Those who are willing t© see have fresh proof every day of the wisdom of God and of His interest in humanity
Personal Experiences in an
J HAVE thought, as many people do, that earthquakes are interesting; but now the people who live in Santa Barbara and vicinity realize, better than they did, that to see and feel and hear a really severe earthquake is a tremendous and awe-inspiring experience.
When the earth shakes and trembles and jerks and twists as it did here on the morning of June 28th, fifteen or twenty seconds seem a long time. ¥ve know of people here who thought that the last great day had come. Of course individual conditions and experiences were not all the same. In the majority of buildings, large and small, while the earth was going through the convulsions of the quake, pandemonium seemed to reign. I have heard a number of people say that there seemed to be something Satanic about it. Some said that it seemed as though a great monster were shaking the earth as a dog would shake a rat. .
There are terrible -sounds which accompany such an earthquake and whieh are impossible t®
Earthquake Helen Mundy
describe. In some of the settling quakes which have come at intervals since the hard one, there has been noticed, first, a distant rumbling seed, followed by a trembling of the earth and thf?n by a sudden sharp shock. Sometimes a sudden jerk comes first and the shaking afterwards.
Even where avails did not fall or the house was not thrown from its foundation many people were more or less bruised by being thrown to the floor or against pieces ©f furniture. My house is a small wooden bungalow, and it was not moved from its foundation, and the chimney did not come down.
I had been up a few moments, and was still in my nightdress, when the quake began. I was standing near an open door between two rooms when the shock same, and I did the only thing I could do to keep on my feet: I held tightly with both hands to the door casing. A large heating stove, similar to an open-front Franklin, was moved, several indies from its place; and the stove pipe fell down. This of 'course, waa a small matter, but it added to the din. A lamp on a table went down to the floor, and the shade crashed in pieces at my feet. Books were thrown from the shelves, and dishes from the cupboard. Vases were upset and some of them broken. Similar things happened in adjoining rooms, but I cannot tell now what went down first.
There was a lull of about a second or two in the middle of the quake, and then it began again as hard as before.
, After it was over I ran out of doors and into (the middle of the street, to get as far as possible Srom the house in case a quake should come again.
Some much lighter quakes soon followed the first one, but after fifteen or twenty minutes I ventured back to the house to see what the quake had done there.
I have a good-sized clock, with pendulum, which hangs against the wall. After the quake the clock was still hanging, but many degrees from plumb. It had stopped, and the hands were pointing to the fateful moment when churches, schools, hospitals, banks and all kinds of business places and some houses, too, were -wrecked. ' In one place a “grandfather’s clock” was moved out some distance from the wall, and stood on the rug right side up with care.
Almost immediately after going into the house I heard the excited cries of the neighbors and went out, expecting to see a fire, as that seemed the most probable thing to come. It was not a fire however, but a flood of water from a large reservoir in which the city kept a supply of water stored. The quake had broken the reservoir, so that a great wall of water had rushed down a canyon, tearing up great trees by the roots and gathering many kinds of debris as it went. The water followed the creek bed and bordering lands till it was stopped by a bridge a block east of this place. The water sought the lower land; and when it reached my front yard, it was about a foot and a half deep.
Not knowing how much water might be coming, the people left their houses, where they could. Some got away in their cars. Others climbed fences and ran for higher ground. Some of the neighbors a block from here waded in svater three feet deep. The water covered the whole of my lot, taking down about ninety feet of fence and burying it under mud and debris. Q?he people in this neighborhood suffered more from the flood than from the immediate damage done by the quake.
It is difficult to state just what I thought and felt during the fifteen or more seconds of that furious shaking. I do not know that I even thought a prayer; but I did have a comforting consciousness that what war taking place was a part of what must come at the beginning of the new age; and that “the earth abideth forever”.
It seemed that no building could stand the strain very long and not be wrecked. Institutions, churches, business houses, etc., suffered most in the quake, while much less damage was done to residences. And there was a surprisingly small number of people lulled. (Likewise, at beginning of the Millennium, ecclesiasticism and big business first suffer, and judgment of individuals will come later.)
Generally speaking, it was the larger buildings, especially the ones made of brick and concrete, which could not stand the shaking. Still, some of the larger buildings were little hurt, because they were properly built.
We still think that earthquakes are interesting, and many people express the wish that they might experience one, under specified conditions, yet we are convinced that one really hard one would be enough to satisfy most people.
The- people here are still startled by sudden noises, or a slight jarring of the house or the chair they occupy. Children who were old enough to be frightened, were very nervous for weeks after the earthquake.
Of course many individual experiences, including narrow escapes from injury or death, will never be published. I have heard of more than one instance in which a portion of a brick chimney went down through the roof to a bed which had been occupied by some one only a few seconds before.
Many strange things happened during the quake. In the San Marcos Building a large mirror, without a frame, went down three stories into the basement and was not broken. In one home there were several dishes of food in the oven of a gas stove. The quake opened the oven door, threw out the dishes of food, and left the door closed.
The quake was hard on the contents of china closets and canned-fruit cupboards. It is a sorry sight to see fruit and preserves and broken
JSffiCBMBaB 80, 1825
glass mixed together, and it mates the housewife feel sorry to see her treasured china and glassware carried away to the dump heap.
A number of people said that the ground during the quake rose and fell, with a progressive movement, like the waves of the sea. This is supported by the statements of those who say that when they tried to walk, the ground or the floor, as the ease might be, came up to meet them; and that when they tried to take another step they could not reach the floor.
The reports of the great damage done to ths eity are not exaggerated, Many was come here from ether parts of California say that conditions. are much worse than they expected to find them. The city is in need of help from those who are interested and able to help in the reconstruction work.
GOLDEN AGE
There has been so much published about the Santa Barbara earthquake that I do not know if these few personal experiences and thoughts will be of interest or informing. But the earthquake is still a subject of keenest interest to ail residents of Santa Barbara.
Unrest in Nature
ONE of our Canadian subscribers has sent ns the following interesting clipping:
“European unrest” is spreading to nature itself, and Europe is naw puzzled with strange manifestations of upheaval and decay.
France’s government scientists are studying the recent phenomenon of a plateau rising in the Bay ef Biscay, discovered when mariners taking soundings found they were almost agrousd at a spot where normally they should have had deep water.
This is only one of a series of mysterious occurrences in nature noted throughout Europe recently.
For instance, one side ef that tremendous pile of rock, the Matterhorn, in. Switzerland, has commenced to “move”. Inhabitants of half a dozen villages have been ordered from their houses to escape the danger of falling rocks and a guard of troops has been scattered through the district to warn off mountain climbers. Near Greece, on the island of Santorini, a supposedly extinct volcano has suddenly broken forth into violent eruption throwing smoke, lava and burning stones to a great height and causing a panic among the population. Many of the inhabitants have fled from the viae-dad island, fearing that mors violent eruptions and a disaster would overtake them if they remained. .
Heligoland, the mighty pre-war island fortress at t&a German Empire, is reported crumbling.
Twenty-five acres of the Isle of Wight have part faBca into the sea. Three villages on the shore ef the Isle will-shortly have to be moved further inland, while geologists report that the ocean is making inroads against the shore-line of the entire island at the rate of more than a yard a year.
The statuarf and copings of the Houses of Pariidn meat have suddenly succumbed to a mysterious attack of destructive gases in the air and are crumbling and falling at an alarming rate. Under the same sort of attack, the dome of St. Paul’s cathedral has developed-dangerous points of weakness.
Meanwhile the waters of the North Sea have become warmer than for many years, and tunny fish, sharks and other semi-tropical species rarely known in this region, have appeared this summer in large numbers in tha Channel.
Edison Company Watches the Weather
THE New York Edison Company and the Brooklyn Edison Company, the gold-dust twins whose duty is to make the greater city spick and span by flooding it with light and furnishing electric power for its many industries, maintain a miniature weather bureau of their own. They have a number of barometric stations situated at advantageous points far beyond and on all sides of the cities’ limits, which automatically report to the light companies the approach of rainstorms or cloudiness.
It is important that the powerhouses receive Buch information at least two hours in advance so that they can start up additional dynamos and generators and be in position to supply the extra demand for current which is always made upon it immediately the clouds begin to settle over the metropolis. Everybody turns on additional lights as soon as daylight is dimmed by cloudiness, and within a few moments the usual daytime demand for current has doubled er trebled.
Not only do these automatic weather stations report the approach of storms by the ringing of a bell at the powerhouse, but the bell rings louder and louder as the storm approaches.
Pennsburg’s Knight of
PENNSBURG, Pennsylvania, possesses a Knight of the Twentieth Century. In his home for several days prior to the first of October he had the. very great honor of entertaining two fine young Christian women, engaged in the noblest work of man, that of enlightening their fellows in regard to God's character and plan. They were colporteurs, these two young misses, successful ones too, placing here and there in Pennsburg sets of the Studies ik the Scbiptukes and The Harp of God.
But as soon as the success of these young women in placing really valuable Christian instruction in the hands of intelligent people of Pennsburg reached the ears of certain ones in the community, our Knight of the Twentieth Century suddenly summoned the two young women and told them that they must go immediately.
His own questioning and their replies filled up two hours; and as it was then dark Sir Knight allowed the young women to remain under the shelter of his roof till morning. Sir Knight has some education in matters outride of the Bible; but for once in his life learned that education in other subjects is no match for an education in the Word of God, which live th and abideth forever.
We do not know whether Sir Knight was peeved; but we do know that the next morning he sat on his porch and watched the young women, with their heavy suitcases and boxes of books, never assisting with a finger lift; and we do know that he straightway connected with that excellent paper Town and Country, which contains an “Editor’s Mail Bag” headed with the apparently just and reasonable provision that “letters to the Editor should be as brief as possible and to the point, avoiding anything that would open a denominational or sectarian discussion”.
Forthwith there appeared in Town and Country a brief letter to the editor from Sir Gallant, who had evicted the two Christian women. It was a very brief letter. Of necessity it had to be, to suit the just and honest editor of the “Mail Bag”. To be exact, the letter contained only a trifle over two thousand words, and could have been written comfortably on only about twenty-two pages of ordinary letter paper.
It is possible that the just and honest editor of Town and Country did not know that these twenty-two pages, “brief as possible, and to the
the Twentieth Century
point” contained “anything that would open a denominational or 'sectarian discussion”; because it mentioned “Russellism” as such only eighteen times in the whole letter.
The Knight of the Twentieth Century is the soul of courtesy and Kindness to the two Chris-Gan young women who have been entertained in his home, and whom he takes occasion to mention in the first and last paragraphs of his brief 2,184 word letter. He wants to be fair, this Ptmnsburg gentle man.
The only terms which he uses respecting the Bible Helps in which these young women ape , interested which might hinder anyone from having proper regard for them are merely that they are preposterous, rank, unchristian, bosh, nonsense, uncharitable, cheap stuff, contemptible drivel, ridiculous pipedreams, illogical juggling, erratic, artificial and ridiculous, fanciful and spectacular hairsplitting, insane pretended knowledge. The Knight uses no other objection- ,. able terms, unless some one might take exception to his reference to “Russell's hand-made Christ ■ of putty” or his expression “Rats”.
Toward the young women themselves, who have given their lives to the service of the Lord, he does not seem to have directed any shafts worse than to merely refer to them as dreamers, mentally unfortunates, misled and deluded workers, arrogantly and sanctimoniously putting forth Pharisaism. The Knight of Pennsburg is a Christian! Good Knight!!
But now reverting to the editor of the “Mail Bag”. We do not know whether the editor of the “Mail Bag” is Mr. Hillegass, the regular editor of Town and Country, or whether the associate editor, Reverend George W. Lutz, cares for the “Mail Bag”. About Mr. Hillegass we know little except that he permitted Pennsburg’s Valiant Knight to reveal his prowess in a one-sided fight against two young women. But we do chance to know something of interest regarding the Reverend Lutz.
The Reverend Lutz is on record, written record, too, that the teachings over which the Sir Knight raved for twenty odd pages are “advanced and intelligent views”. In conversation with the mother of one of the two dispossessed young women, to quote her words, “He told me personally that he would be only a voice in the darkness were he to say anything from the pulpit.”
The Gist of the World’s News
(Radiocast, 'with other items, from Watchtower WBBB on a wave length of 272.6 meters by the Editor.J
Points in the Coal Controversy .-■;■■_
IN THE anthracite mining district, according
to John L. Lewis, one man in six is injured every year and laid up for twenty-five days. For his work the man receives -from $4.62 to $5.96 per day. The mine labor cost of anthracite coal is $4.62 per ton. The consumer ordinarily pays an increase of upwards of $10 per ton ever these costs. The $10 or more go to the railroads which are, in effect, the real owners of the anthracite mines. They also charge more for transporting the coal than they should be allowed to do. When the miners asked for more money the operators had on had 7,000,000 to 9,000,000 tons of coal, for which they have been getting several dollars a ton more than when the suspension took place. Moreover, by substituting round-hole screen for square-hole screen and, in addition, reducing the sizes of the mesh, they are picking the pockets of the public to the extent of some fifteen million dollars annually. It is folly to talk of burning bituminous coal in heating plants made to use hard coal. The poor in New York City, who must buy coal by the scuttle ®r the basket, are at this moment paying for it $30 to $35 per ton. The rich who have their bins filled will not suffer. The poor will.
Who is to Benefit as Machinery Improves?
AT ITS convention in Atlantic City the American Federation of Labor has in substance taken the position that when machinery improves, and enables the worker to turn out mor®, some of the benefit must go to the workers, some to the owners of the machines, and some to the public in the form of lower prices for the goods. Unless the purchasing power of workers is kept at a high level it standsrto reason they cannot make good'customers. It is obviously unfair and impossible that the production of workers should increase and that at the same time their buying power should decrease or remain sta~ tionary. . .
What Machinery Has D&ne on the Farm
SEVENTY-FIVE years ago in the United.
States an agricultural worker could care for twelve acres of land.' Now, in places where the conditions are the most favorable totb as re-
spects the nature of the soil and the kind of machinery selected, a single worker can care tor three hundred acres, and do it in an eight-hour day and without drudgery. ■ : . .
Where Uncle Sam Flourishes
IN THE last three years Uncle Sam has more than doubled his foreign trade in brass, bronze, agricultural machinery and implements, automobiles and parts, raw cotton and paraffin wax. He has added more than fifty percent in the same time to his trade in gas and fuel oil, refined copper, typewriters, paints, pigments, varnishes, tools and fish; and large and steady gains have been made in the sale of medicinal and pharmaceutical preparations, books, maps, wheat flour and cured hams and shoulders.
Americans Pay Double for Bread
HE point has been brought to light that the price of bread in London is a little less than half of what it is in the city of Fargo, North Dakota, in the heart of the world’s greatest wheat belt. The London bread is made of wheat grown in the neighborhood of Fargo. Less for labor and less profits keep British prices down.
Fifty Cents for a Penny Tomato
IN THE New York American Mr. Hinman
■tells interestingly of seeing tomatoes sold in the field for $1 a basket, or about one eerti each, and then of going to a hotel not more than five miles away, where he saw no larger or better tomatoes sold for fifty cents apiece, baked. But the purchaser of the baked tomato besides paying for the food had an-incidental temporary interest in electric lights, elaborate linen and table service, an orchestra, a tenor singer, and an acre or so of lobbies, lounges, etc., all of which went into the price.
Valuable Work of Bureau of Standards
ASA result of a conference ©f manufacturers arranged by the Bureau ©f Standards the thirty-six varieties of building tile in use in th@ United Steles were reduced to nineteen; ths sixty different sizes ef roofing slate were reduced to thirty; kitchen'boilers from 130 to 13: woven wire fencing from 552 designs to 69. Lumber lias also been regraded.
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