Evening star., 1926-08-01
FAIR RADIO PLAN
WAS HOOVER AIM
Request for Ruling on Right
to Control Ether Was
Only Course Open.
BIZ CARL HI. BUTNIAN.

1t was q. desire for fair play for
broadcasters which led Secretary of
Commerce Hoover to ask the Attor-
ney General for Q definite opinion as
to his legal authority to regulate radio.
Everybody thought he had such power
under the 1912 radio law, but Mr..
Hoover was beset with difficulties and
probably would have encountered Sc
rious complications IL he had tried TO
continue handling the broadcast situa-
ton after the Chicago court decision
against him.
After the Zenith case. he no longer
could assert his right TO make sta
tions operate on a single assigned
wave length. a. practice held legal by
the Court of Appeals OF the District of
Columbia sometime previous. This
court decision, il may be recalled,
stated that the Secretary Of Commerce
must issue licenses TO applicants but
pointed out that at his discretion he
could assign each station definite wave
lengths 10 prevent interference. He
continued handling the situation on
this basis until this decision was re-
versed in Chicago. and Congress failed
TO confer authority on him or any one
TO regulate radio
Ended Volunteer Control.
Then. it was up to Mr.. Hoover to
have a definite show down, in view
of the two conflicting legal opinions.
It also was apparent that the So
called voluntary control was at an
end. Mr.. Hoover could not. usurp
H.
the laws of the country; he did not
want to do this anyhow. as It would
have put him in a. position of a. die.
tator, or, as he so often has been
unjustly termed, a "czar OF radio.
There is only one authority who has
the right TO interpret the law for the
executive chiefs, and that is the At
torney General. To him Secretary
Hoover appealed, also because IT is
only through the office of that Off
cial that other executive departments
can proceed against persons who
break the laws and regulations OF
their departments. In other words.
the Department of Justice furnishes
legal advice and prosecutes cases for
the other departments.
The world now knows what the
Attorney General held, or at least the
radio world knows il. He said that
the 1912 radio law does not impose
any duty 10 regulate radio or any dis
cretionary power on the Secretary of
Commerce, whom he declares has no
more authority than the Secretary of
Agriculture. This left no question in
the matter Obviously, if one has
neither statutory duty nor power, one
cannot attempt TO exercise authority.
and if person did try To do so. he
could not enforce his decisions
through the courts. The Attorney
General, as a representative Of the
Commerce Department, could not, for
example, prosecute any one who
failed 10 comply with Illegal regula-
tions, in court.
Atmosphere Was Cleared.
This opinion cleared the atmos-
phere. Hoover had definite facts be
fore him. He was compelled to ac-
cept the judgment of the Attorney
General and comply with it,
The situation is now known to all
broadcasters alike, they know what
the ruling is and can act as their judg-
ments dictate. If Mr.. Hoover had
brazenly attempted TO continue regu-
lating them, some 80 per cent OF the
stations probably would have com
piled with his requests, but this would
have left the other 10 per cent 10 do
as they pleased, giving them slight
advantage in choice of wave lengths.
power and time. The new stations
would have Joined the minority and
aided in the making complete chaos
in the ether.
The problem of regulating a. fixed
number of broadcaSters with a definite
number of channels to divide between
them is a simple mathematical one
but when this is complicated by a
variable number of broadcasting sta
tions, it assumes unlimited scope. In
jecting the unknown quantity, TX.
puts the problem in the realms of
higher mathematics. with a new and
varied problem, each day.