Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-17
RADIO COMMISSION
FACES HARD TASKS
Official Orphan of Govern
ment Prepares to Remedy
Broadcasting Chaos.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press
The Radio Commission, the youngest
of the great family of Uncle Sans
bureaus in Washington, is begin
ming to get its eyes open. And about
all it sees is trouble
Probably not one of it's sister agen-
cies began life under such handicaps.
Left without visible means of support
by failure of the deficiency appro-
priation bill in Congress, the new
conner was thrown upon charity be-
for it was a day old. Immediately
thereafter 1t found itself tossed and
buffeted by great flood of inquiries
and petitions dealing with every sub
ject even remotely connected with the
radio problem. Now that it has found
time to examine carefully the law
that will govern it. new complexities
have arisen to cloud the future.
Tell Troubles to President.
Just before the commissioners sat
down Monday to undertake the trOu-
blous task of bringing order and au-
thority to the crowded and chaotic
ether they went over to the White
House and called on the President.
Mournfully they told him they were
going to tackle the job without any
salaries while they worked and minus
even wastebaskets and office desks,
owing to the failure of Congress to
appropriate funds to back up the
regulations. They explained that the
law they are expected to administer
automatically cancels all Of the $4,000
licenses to operate radio stations
which are now outstanding, and that
about 100 times that many worried
individuals occupied with radio over
the United States were crow(ling in
10 Lon hot
The President condoled with them,
thanked them for their public spirit
in undertaking the unrewarded labor
and listened to their tentative plans
for coping with the job.
Become Official Orphan.
Somewhat comforted, the commits
sioners returned to an empty wing of
the Commerce Department and sat
down upon borrowed chairs to ponder.
They decided to become, through ne
cessity, a sort of official orphan amidst
the Government establishment, deter
mined to beg and borrow enough of
the necessary official existence to
carry on. Every Government commits
sion must have secretary, so they
borrowed Sam Pickard from the Ag
riculture Department. where he has
been assigned to develop the possibili-
ties of radio service for farmers. They
begged desks and typewriters here
and there, and even instituted some
thing resembling raids for stenogra-
piers.
Thus scantily equipped. and out of
the weather. they were ready to study
the somewhat delicate and difficult
position in which they had landed.
The pressing emergency before them,
all agreed, was to determine what
could be done in the broadcasting field
to enable the radio art to live and
progress.
More Than 700 Stations.
There now are more than 700 sta
tions broadcasting to the listening
public, and broadcasting with head-on
collisions and interference constantly.
No power has existed in recent months
to prevent the multiplication of new
stations. and the limits of available
time and ether wave bands have long
been plainly exceeded everywhere.
None of the commissioners thinks
anything can be done quickly. They
agree that the patent and unpleasant
necessity of putting out of business,
or at least restricting a large number
of hitherto entirely legal enterprises,
had been laid upon them, but they are
resolved to move slowly. and to see
what mitigation of inevitable harsh
ness can be attained. One step in the
process will be to get out an applica-
ton form, to be used by every radio
operator in asking for new license.
The information compiled from this
legion of individual returns will go
far toward giving the commission a
detailed view of the radio world. An
other step will be to hold hearings and
consider what general rules may be
laid down for licensing and regulating.
Will Not Govern Radio.
Another complication, born of the
congressional compromise which shaped
the radio-regulation program, is that
while the commission will rule. it will
not govern. It's findings are to be adj
ministered by the Hoover organiZa-
ton, which was first in the field. and
Judge S. B. Davis. Assistant Secre-
tary, and w. d. Terrell, head of the
Commerce Department radio division,
will be expected to apply the rulings.
In some other respects the law is a
curious instrument, in it's dividing up
of power. but the commissioners are
hopefully looking forward to a day
when they can sit back in a regular
routine, and act solely as an unpreju-
diced board of appeal, considering how
common justice and established prac-
tice touch the merits of individual con-
Etroversies which will always arise