Westward course of industry

X1t110ugh the cust Oi gettin g weather reports is a rlifticulty. perhaps a greater One is the fact that clften there are no ships in areas where dangerous conditions exist. ~lcmover, when ship are warned of storm areas the\, avoid them. ‘1%~ hurricane that struck Floritla last year, for example. was forecast 1)~ thr Li’eathcr Bureau, and ships in the hurricane area were advised Of its appmach. They got out Of the way so lmnq~tl~ that for twenty-lcmr hours IJefore the sturni struck the coast not a single weather report was received front a ship in the hurricane area, for the good reaScJl1 that none was there. .+nother tlifticulty is heavy competition f0r the use of Atlantic ra(lic) facilities. Ships on the regular traflic lanes in the E’acific ~ilucli morv conimonlv and regularly send weather reports than those on the Kcw \‘ork to Europe routes in the i\tlantic. Apl)arent,ly, moreover, the value Of weather forecasts to Atlantic shipmasters 1s not a sufticient inducement to them to make regular weather reports, since most ocean liners are well ahle to cope with Imlinarv storm conditions. Nevertheless, inforination Of big 1~10~s Wdd 1Je Of value t0 Oceaii hei-5. Iiventually, when funds ancl facilities permit, the LVeather Bureau hopes to get reports twice daily from all the ships in the Atlantic lanes. Such relmrts. sulq~lementetl Ix reports frum land statims in this country, in Canada, in Greenl&l and Iceland. ant1 also in I
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[J. F. I.

TOPICS.

made by the Geological Survey, are based on the capacity of steam engines, steam turbines, water wheels, and internal-combustion engines installed in manufacturing plants and in public-utility power plants. Twice the weight is given to the power equipment in publicutility power plants, as it is used twice as much as power equipment in manufacturing plants. Previous determinations of the centre of industry have been based on the installed capacity of prime movers in manufacturing plants only. It is believed that more representative results are obtained by using the capacity of power equipment in both manufacturing and public-utility plants. The geographic centre of the United States is near the centre of the northern boundary of Kansas, and the centre of population is in Owen County, southwestern Indiana. The centre of industry of the United States in 1926 was therefore 640 miles east by north of the geographic centre and about 170 miles due north of the centre 0 f population.

THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTc OFFICERS FOR 1927 President

WM. c. L. Elx_IV HENRY HOWSON

Vice-presidents

C. C. TUTWILER

StXretllYy Assistant Secretary md T7eaSU*eY Controller

Librarian

WALTON FORSTALL. HOWARD MCCLENAHAX ALFRED RIGLINC BENJAMIN FRANKLIN WILLIAM F. JACKSON, JR.

Board of Managers JAMES BARNES GEORGE H. BENZON, JR. CHARLES E. BONINE EDWARD G. BUDD FRANCIS T. CHAMBERS G. H. CLAMER THEOBALD F. CLARK WALTON CLARK

CHARLES DAY ARTHUR W. GOODSPEED CLARENCE A. WALL ALFRED C. HARRISON NATHAN HAYWARD GEORGE A. HOADLEY ROBERT W. LESLEY MARSHALL S. MORGAN

CHARLES PENROSE JAMES S. ROGERS GEORGE D. ROSENGARTEN E. H. SANBORN HASELTINE Snrr-rrr SAMUEL T. WAGNER J. T. WALLIS WILLIAM C. WETARRILL