Evening star., 1928-11-28
RADIO BILLS NOT
LIKELY TO PASS
Representatives Active in
Framing Law Do Not Ex-
peCt Short Term Action.
BY MARTIN CODEL.

BY MARTIN CODEL.
Little or no prospect of enacting gen.
eral radio legislation in the short Ses-
sion of Congress, which opens next
Monday, is seen by members who have
taken leading part in framing the eX-
listing radio law. Committee hearings
will be held, and the subject OF radio
will probably be much debated in both
houses. but the great legislative prob
lens of radio will doubtless be left to
the Seventy-flrst Congress.
Neither Representative Wallace White,
jr., of Maine, chairman OF the House
committee which wrote the radio act,
nor Representative Ewin L. Davis OF
Tennessee, ranking Democratic men,
Der of the committee and author OF the
famous equalization amendment. eX-
poets Congress to be able to deal this
session with more than the question of
extending the life of the Federal Radio
Commission.
On that question Mr. White, who may
be assumed to have the ear of President
elect Hoover, by reason Of a close re-
lationship long before and all through
the recent campaign, said today he was
unwilling to commit himself now. Mr.
Davis said he favored retention Of radio
control in the hands of commission,
but was opposed to the present makeup
Of the commission and objected to some
of its actions.
Too Many Too Powerful.
Both Representatives said they had
not yet had sufficient experience with
the recent broadcaSting reallocation
necessitated by the equalization amend
ment to determine what its effects have
been. Mr.. Davis declared he still firmly
believes in the equalization amendment
but doubted whether the commission
had interpreted it properly concerning
power assignments. There are too many
stations with too great power, Mr.
Davis said.
The two House leaders in radio legis-
1ation expect other members of Con-
gress to manifest greater interest in the
radio problem than ever before on ac-
count of the tremendous part the radio
played in the recent political campaign.
Mr.. White said he thought the variance
of views that will develop on how the
radio should be governed in the future
will very likely have the effect of slow
ing the progress Of any legislation that
may be proposed.
The highly technical nature both of
the broadcasting and the world COM
munication problems has found only a
handful of Representatives and Senators
prepared to deal intelligently with radio.
The reallocation Of earlier this month
has awakened great public interest and
different public reaction to the way
broadcaSting in being handled. The
British cable-radio merger, voted last
week by the House of Commons, Is Serv-
ing to create some apprehension about
the competitive, status of American
cable and radio systems in world COM
munication.
Refusing to discuss broadcasting, Mr..
White did say that the major criticism
he has heard against the 1927 radio
act is leveled against the section pro-
hibiting radio and cable companies Of
the United States to combine. Certain
American interests, he said, want this
restriction removed, so that the British,
with their unified cable and radio Sys-
tens, will not dominate world commu-
nications. Mr.. White declared he was
studying closely this and other queS-
tions relating to the use Of the highly
valuable long and short waves.
Extension Probable.
Mr.. Davis regards the extension of
the administrative life of the Federal
Radio Commission as probable, but
thinks that sooner or later the Federal
Government will have to reconStitute
that body as a communications COM
mission, with control over cables, tele-
phone and telegraph, as well as over
the radio.
The present radio act terminates the
administrative life of the commission
on March 4, 1929, making 1t an appeal
board with quasi-judicial functions.
The administration returns to the De-
Nayfy, >Nf - &c
ends the terms of all the present COM
missioners as of February %, 1929.
While expecting that the life of the
commission may be extended as a tenn
porary expedient Mr.. Davis said it
makes no material difference whether
the commission or the Secretary of
Commerce handles the administrative
features of radio. Even as an appellate
board the commissions authority in
SureS judicial consideration Of radio
problems by taking all disputed cases
out of the hands of the Secretary of
Commerce and placing them under the
review OF five men before recourse Is
taken to the courts, he said.
That feature of the law was exactly
what PreSident-elect Hoover himself
recommended while Secretary of Com
merce, according to Mr.. Davis. The
Tennessee Representative decried re-
ports that Mr.. Hoover as President will
favor return of complete radio control
to the Department of Commerce. He
referred to Mr. Hoover's own statement
when he appeared in 1926 before the
House committee then considering the
bill that later became law.
II have always taken the position"
Mr.. Hoover is quoted as having stated
at the hearing, that unlimited author
fn "a
privileges is too great a power to be
placed in the hands of any one admin
1strative officer, and I am glad to see
the checks and reviews which are placed
upon that power in this bill"
(Copyright 1929 bv North American