Evening star., 1927-05-29

there is every assurance that the wild
waves will be held in check, but deeper
and sounder legal foundations are
necessary for the great capital struc-
ture the radio industry is beginning
to build. Both men and political adj
ministratiOns are mortal and new
and adequate framework of law, ma
tional and international. must in
evitably be the next great concern of
radio.
That is why the Geneva Radio Con
gress Is assuming world Importance,
i'm the minds of informed persons.
Constructive radio control must be
evolved and this must be done with
as little delay as possible.
Solution Is Expected.
This unquestionably will be one Of
the most important undertakings of
the next congress. One of my asso-
ciates, Chester w. Cuthell, a promi-
nent New York attorney. who is
chairman of the air law committee.
IS confident that. following the recon-
mendations of the American Bar AS
sociation committee. solution will
be found by the Radio Commission
and that this will be embodied in
new legislation to be placed before
Congress.
1t has been noted that an applicant
for a license must first sign waiver
of rights. 1t is quite likely that
cases will arise in which the appli-
cant, after signing the waiver, will
still fail to receive license. On
appealing to the courts. which the act
provides he may do. the applicant will
be handicapped by the fact that he
has previously waived any rights he
might otherwise have.
When the time comes for the COM
mission to renew licenses to existing
stations. litigation growing out of
such situations as the above inevitably
will result in instances in which the
commission refuses to renew licenses.
The air law committee is giving intent
study to these considerations.
Questions of monopoly loom ahead.
The air law committee recommended,
before the passage Of the present law,
that the anti-monopoly provision be
eliminated. The committee took this
position on the ground that any
monopoly clause would be an un-
necessary and superf1uous duplication
of the Sh, rman and Clayton laws.
The suggestion of the committee
was not followed and the anti.monop-
oily provision was retained. This is,
perhaps, not a detail Of primary i'm
portance for the present, but is illus
trative of the legal underbrush re-
naming to be cleared before radio
becomes as smoothly and effectively
legalized as, for instance, public util-
tiles.
Ownership Sidestepped.
Thick books might be written, and
Il tUil no daV "VNhO
Owns the Ether?" But the Grotius
of the upper air has not appeared and
the legal eXegesis of this and other
basic problems is still to come.
The preamble to the new law side
steps this question by omitting the
former reference to it and proceeds
under the commerce clause of the
Constitution. A wave length Is ap-
parently conceived as a franchise, to
be withheld or withdrawn, and carry
ing none of the characteristics of a
vested right, and yet, as noted above,
some kind of rights are recognized
by the requirement for waivers in ad-
vance.
Radio began as a curiosity. became
the obsession of small boys, progressed
to the stage of a popular amusement
and then suddenly lowered into the
most overwhelming fact in the his
tory of communication. 1t assumed
financial and commercial significance;
it became an Indispensable instrument
for the transmission of news: it be-
came a cultural factor of tremendous
significance; it began to foreshadow
a new internationalism, leaping all
barriers of insularity and searching
out countless millions with new i'm
pulsions to a wider and richer cultural
life.
Blackstone distinguishes carefully
between laws which are obviously zen.
during and founded in reason and
justice" and laws which are ''neces-
sary and justifiable to meet issues as
they arise" 1t is apparent that radio
legislation is progressing from the lat
ter to the former stage. New radio
legislation was imperative. The new
law meets this emergency sensibly
with a minimum of bureaucracy. and