VI. WEATHER AND CLIMATE 



WEATHER IN THE AFFAIRS OF MEN 



It is not at all strange that comments upon the weather 

 should be prominent as people exchange greetings in the 

 affairs of life. The advance of mankind from savagery to 

 civilization is intimately related to man's mastery of the 

 forces of nature. Not the least of these triumphs have been 

 achieved in efforts to secure protection from the weather. 

 Among civilized peoples dwellings are planned, built, and 

 furnished at relatively large expense in time, labor, and 

 materials. The cost of a modern dwelling of the average 

 type of American houses represents years of the savings of a 

 wage-earner. The annual outlay for necessary clothing 

 for the individual members of a family is a large drain upon 

 the average income. 



The tiller of the soil especially meets success or failure as 

 he is favored by weather conditions or experiences losses on 

 account of them. The complex machinery of modern life 

 becomes seriously disordered when snow blockades or floods 

 stop railway traffic for a time, and when communications by 

 telegraph and telephone are interrupted by storms. The 

 total of losses in great disasters due directly or indirectly to 

 the weather is, however, small in comparison with the extent 

 of suffering, impaired health, and shortened lives on the part 

 of those who by their own incompetency, or by force of 

 circumstances which they cannot control, lack sufficient 

 protection from the weather. 



