Evening star., 1922-02-12
TOLD TO WORK OUT
POLICY AS TO RADIO
Big Governmental Program of Communi-
cations Involved in Task Assigned Sec
retary Hoover by the President

monopoly the government should con-
( One of the principal conclusions
Of. this conference was that either
private interests or the govern
ment must provide cheap press
communication across the Pacific
ocean, not only to the United States
possessions. but to the far east. so as
to spread honest and truthful news
from the United States-American
propaganda. if you will. Admiral
Bullard was an especially strong ad-
vocate of this, and 1t was for that
reason that he was assigned to an
important post in China, where he
could work in sympathy and helpful
cooperation with such program.
1t was agreed that the commercial
field would be left wide open for the
initiative and development genius Of
private enterprise - especially for
international communication. But
the idea is growing in government
circles that the point of law govern
ing both the use Of the air and the
use of the ether should be decided,
and decided i'll favor Of the federal
government. That would mean that.
due to the fact that either is espe-
cially international. the government
in order to protect the national Sc
curity should automatically be SOW
ereign of the ether. and that COM
mercial interests should be permit
ted to operate on certain wave
lengths as heretofore. but would
prevent claims of ownership ON the
part of commercial interests or pri-
vate individuals. through prior. and
long-continued use of certain wave
lengths-a sort Of squatter's rights.
The idea. OF course. is that ether is
pie Of the United States as a whole
through the federal government.
Another conclusion was that the
State Department should actively
engage itself in securing the rights |
for American radio compa nies, back |
ed by private capital. to install and |
operate radio stations in foreign !
countries.
One of the most important and !
vexing questions raised was that it
is detrimental to the progress of ra-
dto communication to continue the
present patent control as monopolis- !
tic as it is. This monopoly is now
in the hands of several companies !
Not much was suggested in the way
Of solution. The consideration of |
this problem reached merely the |
stage OF general protest among all |
activities, private as well as govern
mental This monopoly. it is ex-
planned. is held by those who got
into the radio game early. secured
patents and gained control by TAX
ing over the basic patents.
In regard to the big future seen in
broadcasting of general government
al intelligence by the Post Office De-
partment, it Is explained that this is
all bulletinized and does not inter-
fere at all with, nor is it in the least
detrimental to. the work of news
papers.
The Post Office Department wants
to get control of the civil government
radio activities in the interior of
the United States. Postal officials are
emphasizing especially the installa-
tion and operation of a government
owned broadcasting system covering
the entire country. This system
would be in two parts, one composed
Of a super network Of high-power
continuous-wave telegraph stations
reaching all points, and with Sec
ondary network of smaller radio
telephone stations for local distribu-
ton. The Post Office Department has
found that radio telesraphy in
broadcasting is necessary where ac-
curacy is of prime importance, such
as information desired by associa-
tions, ranchers. farmers, etc. The
telephone network would fill the
popular demand where a casual ex-
animation of the market news of the
day only was needed.
The Post Office Department firmly
believes that broadcasting will play
an increasingly important part in
the dissemination of government in
formation to the people Of the United
States, and believes that the only
practicable solution of the interfer-
ence problems now existing is
through at least a partial govern
ment monopoly. Belief that broad
casting will prove to be a most in
teresting and popular feature of
radio development is based on the
fact that the news broadcasted would
get into the home of every individual
The question of censorship on radio
communication, especially interna-
ttonal communication. was not con-
sidered at all in the interdepartment-
al conference.
The national conference on radio,
which President Harding directed
Secretary Hoover to call, will also
assist in deciding a problem that has
been perplexing Walter F. Brown, the
Presidents personal representative,
who has been formulating a plan of
reorganization for the administrative
branch Of the government. which is
now before the President
The informal interdepartmental
conference gave first consideration
to cables rather than to radio, be-
lieving that the latter was more Of a |
home subject, while the cable oues-
tion on the Pacific was of imminent !
Importance. Among the decisions
was that the government should own
and operate duplicate cable and radio !
$4 oil