Evening star., 1924-04-16
COM MON LAW COULD
BE APPLIED TO RADIO
Solicitor Davis of Commerce De-
partment Gives Opinion on In
reference Disputes.


reference between users of radio
could probably be settled by common
law, in the opinion of Stephen 3.
Davis, solicitor for the Department
OF Commerce. In speaking on this
subject before n meeting of the Fed
eraI club at the bureau Of standards
he called attention to the fact that,
while common law is based almost
wholly on. precedent, 1t Is often modi-
fed by court decision to meet new
conditions, such as have been created
by radio and aircraft. Thus in the
case Of aircraft, the old rule that the
land owner owned all the air above
him has been modified by a recent
decision. An airplane had crashed on
private property and done some DAM
age. 1t made a difference whether II
was trespassing or doing something
lawful before it fell, and the judge
ruled that the land owner owned the
air above him only in SO far as he
was able to make use of it.
Under the Constitution. Judge Davis
stated, the control of radio appara-
tus with regard to structural and
safety features properly belongs to
the Individual states, but the federal
government would control the inter-
state commerce features, and could
regulate any broadcasting station
whose signals could be picked up
outside the boundaries of the state in
which il is located.
There has been some fear of radio
monopoly, the judge said, but IL this
monopoly came about through the
fair trade practices the present anti
trust laws could handle it A mo-
nopoly arising from patent owner
ship, however, could not be broken.
for reasons that are inherent in the
patent law.
Radio Saved Troops From U-Boats.
Following Judge Davis. DR.. Del
ards radio section, gave n talk on
the general principles of radio and
demonstrated several types of radio
| apparatus which the bureau of stand
ards has developed. These included
| the radio relay, the direction finder
and the suit case type of radio set
| He was followed by Commander
| D. c. Bingham, assistant director OF
/ the naval communication division
| The radio direction finder. according
| to Commander Bingham, was largely
responsible for the ineffectiveness OF
| the German U-boats in preventing
/ the movement of American troops
| to France. The C-boats had radio
and they talked. Allied shore sta
tions equipped with direction finders
could thus locate them and would
follow them throughout their jour.
| neys. The approximate location OF
| the C-boats being thus known, the
| troop ships were routed around them
There are four factors to be con-
sidered in a naval force, the COM
/ n
munications, (2) mobility. Cd arma-
ment tD protection. Victory. he
said, might we'll go to the side that
has the best communications. as that
side could dispose its force more ef-
! fectively, and il is the force that
takes part in the battle that counts
! The latest American dreadnaught
/ the Colorado, is very well equipped
with radio. he said.
| No More Lost BattaIisns.
The most difficult communication
problem in the Army, according 10
/ Mai. J. o. Mauborgne. the next
speaker, has heretofore been that OF
troops in battle. All forms of COM
munication in use in the past wal
proved inadequate. he stated. He
| then told of a portable radio set de-
veloped toward the end of the wal
which is expected to solve this prob
| lem
! There are a great many radio sets
| on the battle front he said, and the
problem of assigning wave lengths
| TO them all Is a very complicated one.
! The wave lengths and call letters must
be changed every day or so. in order
70 avoid giving the enemy clue to the
nature of the sending station Radio
| sets are carried by tanks. airpianes
and advanced infantry units and
form part of the equipment Of all
| grades of headquarters and OF artil-
! lery brigades
| All the talks were illustrated with
| diagrams, and several pieces of radio
! apparatus were on exhibition, inciud-
! ing the direction finder, the standard
radio wave meter and several other
types of sets.