in 1874 the Smithsonian Institution turned over its entire body of volunteer civilian weather observers to the direction of the signal service. The telegraphic facilities of the service soon led to a new system, that of simultaneous weather observation and instantaneous reports. This gave the central office valuable data on which to base a scientific study of the weather, and largely increased general confidence in its predictions. The network of signal lines now extends over the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Gulf of Mexico, including the West Indies, to the Canadian frontier, and daily reports are also received from the Canadian Dominion and its outlying posts. Perhaps the most important work of the bureau is that on the Western frontier. Tridaily observations are taken at all the stations east and west at 7 a.m., 3 p.m. and 11 p.m., Washington `time, and immediately put upon the wires. So nearly are these observations simultaneous, and so carefully are the differences of time calculated, that they are usually all concentrated at the central office within about forty-five minutes. They include readings of the barometer and of exposed and wet-bulb thermometers; the direction. and velocity of the wind; the amount of rain or snow fallen since last reports; the kind, amount, and direction of movement of clouds, auroras, haze, fog, smokiness, frost, etc., to which river stations add readings of the river gauge, and the seacoast stations the direction and character of the ocean swell. These data, received at the central office, are made the basis of draughting seven graphic charts, the first showing the barometric pressures, temperatures, winds and states of weather throughout the country; the second showing the dew points at all stations; and the third the cloud conditions visible from the different reporting stations. The fourth and sixth charts show the normal barometric pressures and temperatures, and existing variations therefrom in the same general mode; and the fifth and seventh show the deviations or departures from the normal condition in these particulars, for the previous

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twenty-four hours. Armed with all this charted material, and taught by long experience how to reckon the probable course of storms, the signal officer proceeds to calculate the probabilities of the weather at the different points on his chart for the next twenty-four or forty-eight hours. These probabilities or weather bulletins" are immediately sent by telegraph to all the stations, and made public through the daily press. Special "farmers' bulletins are also printed and sent to small towns and villages along most of the railroads radiating from the chief cities of the Union, to be posted in some public place. If storms are to be expected, the display of a cautionary signal is ordered at each station of the bureau. The general soundness of the plan upon which the Weather Bureau works is shown by the fact that, taking into account the entire twenty-one years of its existance, the percentage of verifications of its predictions has been over 85 per cent. In 1891 the signal service was transferred from the War Department to the Department of Agriculture. Silk Stockings is a term of reproach applied by professional politicians to the better circumstanced classes when these latter attempt to play a part in politics. Kid-glove politics (which see) is a similar expression.

Sink or Swim, Live or Die, Survive or Perish, I Give My Hand and My Heart to This Vote.— August 2, 1826, Daniel Webster delivered a eulogy on John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in Faneuil Hall, Boston. They had both died on July 4, 1826. In the eulogy, Webster puts into Adams' mouth the speech that he supposed him to have made in Congress, in 1776, before voting for the Declaration of Independence. The proceedings of the Congress were secret; the journal of its proceedings did not contain the debates; it is only known that Adams made a remarkable speech on that occasion. No record of it was preserved, and the one that Webster imagines him to have made is entirely the work of Webster. The speech contained the above sentence, and concluded as follows: "It is my living

sentiment, and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment-independence now, and independence forever. On the day of Adams' death the noise of cannon attracted his attention. He asked the meaning, and was told that it was Independence Day. He replied, "Independence forever."

Silver Bill, The, was a bill passed by Congress, vetoed by President Hayes, and passed over his veto February 28, 1878. It made the standard silver dollar, the coinage of which had been suspended by the Act of 1873, a legal tender in any amounts, and directed its continued coinage at a minimum rate of $2,000,000, and a maximum rate of $4,000,000 per month.

Silver Grays. (See Conscience Whigs.)

Silver Question.-Previous to the Act of 1834, the ratio of gold to silver at the mints of the United States had been one of the former to fifteen of the latter. The ratio in the principal European countries, notably France, was one to fifteen and one-half. Under these circumstances one part of gold might be exchanged in Europe for fifteen and one-half parts of silver, of which one-half of one part might be retained, and on sending the other fifteen parts to the United States one part of gold would be received therefor, the return of which to France would leave its owner richer by one-half of one part of silver. This was done, and gold flowed out of this country. As a remedy the ratio was changed, by the Acts of 1834 and 1837, to one to 15.98. This remedy was too drastic. Gold ceased to leave the country-in fact, returned to it, but silver flowed out rapidly, because now the exchange of silver for gold in France, and the reëxchange of gold for silver here, produced a profit. For the purpose of keeping in the country sufficient small coin for the needs of business, the Act of 1853 reduced the weight of fractional silver coins. By the Act of 1873 the coinage of silver dollars was stopped. The Act of 1878 revived the coinage of the 4124-grain silver dollar, and required the purchase of at least $2,000,000, and not more than $4,000,000, worth of silver bullion per month and its coinage into

these dollars. Free coinage of silver was not established. By free coinage is meant the coinage into money of bullion for any one presenting the same for that purpose. There is in this country at present free coinage of gold. No country has at this time free coinage of both metals, for fear that fluctuations in the market price of silver might cause sudden and violent exports of the metal that happened for the time being to be more valuable, compared with its fellow in the markets of other countries, than by the standard of the country's mint. A double standard of gold and silver is possible only by the joint action of all the principal nations in establishing the same fixed ratio. The fall in the price of silver during recent years has rendered the gold value of the standard silver dollar considerably less than its face value (about seventy-five cents). Were the bullion value of these dollars equal to their face value, no harm could flow from their continued coinage, for whether for export or other use they would everywhere be received. The danger lies in the possibility that the continued. compulsory coinage of these dollars may lead to the issue of more than the business of the country requires. As the Secretary of the Treasury (in his report of December 5, 1887) pointed out, this would lead either to their export or to their depreciation at home. The former is impossible on account of the reduced bullion value of the coin; the latter is the result to be feared. The Treasury holds a trust fund of $100,000,000 for the redemption of legal tender notes, and the further sum of more than $100,000,000 in trust for the redemption of national bank notes. When the receipt by the government of one form of money exceeds the demand of the people for that same form (for the government's creditors have their choice of the different forms of money in receiving payment), the result is the accumulation in the Treasury of the form of money not desired by the people. The bulk of the money held by the Treasury belongs to the above-mentioned trust funds. To them is thus apportioned the money not desired by the people. Had it not been for these funds, the govern

ment would have been obliged, in 1884, 1885 and 1886, to make payments in the coin received by it, namely silver, in spite of the fact that the people did not desire it, as is shown by its accumulation in the Treasury during those years; one result of which would have been, and will be whenever an aggravated case of the kind again happens, the forcing into circulation of a kind of money not desired, and its consequent depreciation. From this would flow all the financial and commercial hardships incident to a depreciated currency. In the report (above referred to) of the Secretary, he recommends that above the amount of silver held to redeem silver certificates, there should be kept on hand some fixed reserve in silver to meet the possible demand for silver on the part of United States creditors; the amount of this reserve to be fixed by Congress, and provision to be made for the temporary cessation of silver coinage whenever the reserve exceeds the specified limit by $5,000,000, to be resumed when the reserve is again reduced to its legal limit. The South and the West clamor for the continuation of the coinage of the silver dollar. They call it "the poor man's dollar," and the gold dollar "the rich man's dollar." They assert that the silver dollar is the only kind of money that can be rendered sufficiently abundant for the needs of their sections. Those that assert the impossibility of this country maintaining a double standard without the coöperation of other countries, and those that assert the absolute impossibility of maintaining a double standard-the monometallists are dubbed gold bugs" by them. These sections refuse to see a distinction between absolute cessation of the coinage of the silver dollar and coinage limited and proportioned to the wants of the country as suggested by the Secretary. Congress has taken no action on this question, and the silence thereon of many public men is asserted to be an unwillingness to antagonize any portion of the community that can aid the political aspirations of an ambitious man. (See Coinage.)

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Single Standard.-This phrase is used in discussion