The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-04-28
GOVERNMENT
CONTROL OF
RADIO NEAR
Bill to Be Introduced in
House and Senate
Next Week.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

tcopyrigh., 1922, by The Argus)
Washington, ID. c., April Is
plans for government control of
radio have been completed. An
administration bill will be intro
dueed in the senate next week by
Mr. Kellogg OF Minnesota and in
lhe house by Mr.. White of Maine
Briefly, the bill when passed,
wopId authorize the department of
eommerce to prevent the growth Of
sny monopoly in transmitting mes
sages Of any kind through the air.
II would encourage division of the
hours of the day among the cend-
ing stations.
For many months the radio prob
lem has been growing in complex
tty. The limited number of wave
lengths and the, great number of
people who have sought to estab-
ish transmitting stations has
compelled the government to take
band. Committees OF experts
representing every kind, of busi
ness interest and every phase of
/ government equity have been at
4 work on the matter and have final
H " come to a unanimous conclus-
| lon.
Their findings will be embodied
ID the new bill to be introduced in
congress.
The legislation. itself. will be
broadly phrased so as to give the
widest latitude possible to the ad-
illustrative agency of the govern
ment-the department of commerce
but the report which has Just
been agreed upon by the army,
navy. private companies, amateurs
and all kinds of concerns interest
ed in radio makes certain recon-
mendations which the department
Of commerce would be morally
bound to follow when the law is
enacted
In the first place, no transmit
ting station will ever be given a
monopoly for certain city or dis
met The government believes
such a practice would be giving
privileges to vested interests.
If there are several newspapers
In city or several business houses
who want to use the radio for
transmission purposes. the govern
nent will grant licenses to any of
them But the time for using the
transmitting stations will have to
be divided equitably among the
users. The inspectors OF the de-
partment of commerce will assist
IN bringing the parties at interest
together but the division OF time
must be made by the transmitting
station or else the government viii
decline 10 interfere. But the ad-
vantage of dividing the time so
that each station my be free from
Interference during its sending
periods are so obvious that agree
INIT is confidently expected.
Wave Lengths Cause Trouble.
Secretary Hoover, who has been
working on the matter for many
months. believes that the number
OF sending stations will be mater
tally increased when as many as
iour or five lengths can be used
IN a city at the same time. Up
till now, there have been very few
wave lengths available for private
uses as the navy has reserved for
ils own use most of the wave
lengths. This has compelled sta
ions in the same vicinity to use
the same length with the result
taat they have drowned each other
out or interfered with each other
/ 50 seriously as to be ineffective.
Most of the programs, especially
concerts and ,ertaining features
o. radio telephony have had to be
sent on the same wave length
s6o meters. This has made it i'm
possible, for instance, to hear sta
IONS at great distance because the
aatons nearby took precedence in
tie air.
Tue granting of more wave
sengths for private use may rev.
osationize radio. 1t will then be
possible for each city to have as
many as 10 s;.tions for instance
aad each station would be able to
use every other hour of the day.
there were more sending sta
ions, the time could be reduced
70 periods of a half hour each and
se on Sending stations are rath-
e expensive to build and unless
private companies can see a mater
Continued on Page Eleven.1