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y bly given American meteorologists advantages over their Eu-  
  ropean contemporaries and it is to the former rather than to FZ;
  ~ the latter that we must look to see weather forecasting raised
‘· ». I iw from empiricism to the exactitude with which astronomical ° ‘
L I movements are determined. Justice, however, demands that
to the natural acumen and energy of the American a large
[ share of credit be given. _ _
The VVeather Bureau of the United States obtains twice
_ daily, 8 a.‘m. and 8 p. m., a photograph, as it were, of the
weather conditions over territory extending two thousand
miles north and south, embracing Canada and Mexico as well
, as the islands comprising the West Indies, and three thousand
miles, east and west. Two hundred stations of observation,
·— 1 established at the most favorable points for the collection and
_~,, dissemiation of weather information, keep the Central Office at
  Washington and the forecast centers at Chicago, San Francisco ‘
{ · and Portland, Oregon, fully advised as to the development and j
,1 progress of weather conditions as they take their general course
_   eastward. At the Central OHice only are reports from all sta-
' · . tions utilized in the preparation of a weather chart and the i
V . deduction of forecasts. At smaller stations reports from such
, stations as are necessary in forecasting for that. particular sec-
tion, or which in any way affect ·_ the agricultural or commer- Y
· , cial interests of the community only are used. The Lexing-
  a , ton office receives reports from territory extending from New
‘ l York City on the east to Salt Lake City on the west, and from
.4 Calgary, British Columbia, to Galveston. These reports are
used in the preparation of a daily weather map which is de- l
h livered to the public free of charge. In addition to the map
over three hundred postal forecast cards, containing the weather
and temperature forecast for the following 36 hours are deliv-
ered daily to the public in Lexington and to points outside the
city. A A p V "
The bureau is sustained by an annual appropriation made
V by Congress, amounting to about one million dollars, an appa— -
l·,_ rently large sum at first glance, but when it is remembered that
  by the forcast of a single cold wave in the State of Florida h
  alone, crops whose value was far in excess of that amount, i ~
were saved from destruction, the cost of maintenance of this
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