REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF THE WEATHER BUREAU. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



Weather Bureau, 

 Washin(/ton, D. C, October, 11, 1919. 

 Sjr : I have the honor to submit herewith a report of the operations 

 of the Weather Bureau during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1919. 

 Respectfully, 



C. F. Marvin, 

 Chief of Bibi'eau, 

 Hon. D. F. Houston, 



Secretary of Agriculture, 



POST-WAR CONDITIONS. 



With the close of the fiscal year and the passing of war conditions 

 the Weather Bureau finds itself face to face with post-war conditions 

 of more serious character even than the difficulties imposed by the 

 war. It seems appropriate at this time to state briefly the status 

 and functions of the Weather Bureau because applied meteorology 

 as never before in history has come to be recognized as a highly im- 

 portant factor and guide in the conduct of almost every activity of 

 any consequence of the Nation. Never before in any previous war 

 did the science of meteorology play any important part or have a 

 place in the program of military and naval organizations and opera- 

 tions. Now it is regarded as indispensable and is destined to become 

 a permanent feature of each arm of the service. 



Created in 1870 as a part of the Signal Corps of the United States 

 Army by a joint resolution of Congress "to provide for taking 

 meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of 

 the continent and at other points in the States and Territories of the 

 United States and for giving notice on the northern lakes and on the 

 seacoast, by magnetic telegraph and marine signals, of the approach 

 and force of storms," its network of stations soon embraced the entire 

 United States. 



Subsequently the designation of the service was changed to the 

 Weather Bureau, which, by act of Congress approved October 1, 

 1890, was transferred from the War Department to the Department 

 of Agriculture and its duties and functions defined in the following 

 language : 



The Chief of the A^'eather Bureau, under the direction of the Secretary of 

 Agriculture, shall have charse of forecasting? the weather ; the issue of storm 

 warnings; the display of weather and flood signals for the benefit of agricul- 

 ture, connnerce, and navigation ; the gaging and reporting of rivers ; the niain- 



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