Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-19
LIKELY T.OEXTEND
RADIO COMMISSION
Congress Expected to Grant
Third Lease of Time
to Body.
BY MARTIN CODEL.


As the United States Senate recon-
vened today, only to adjourn per-
functorly, according to the provisions
Of the special session, until the regu-
lar session Of Congress opens December
2, interest is momentarily revived in
the prospect Of radio legislation.
The only word about radio legisla-
ton that has been forthcoming from
any member of Congress recently is the
statement of Representative Wallace
White, jr.. of Maine, who expressed the
opinion that Congress will not have
time to pass any general legislation
covering radio before December 31.e
On that date, the Federal Radio
Commissions present tenure, which
represents second one-year extern
SIGN Of life granted by Congress, Is due
to expire and the commission becomes
an appeal board, sitting on appeals
from the administrative decisions Of the
Department Of Commerce.
Representative White called on Presi-
dent Hoover and discussed radio with
him, with other subjects. He indi-
Gated afterward that the President
q
commission, and 1t is probable that a
bill to that effect will be introduced
when the House assemblies.
Plans to Ask Extension.
Senator Dill of Washington, has also
indicated that he will ask the Senate
to pass on another extension of the
commission, pending the exhaustive
hearings that remain to be conducted
on the CouzerS communication bill.
Most of the legislators are away,
though some, like Senator Couzens, are
here but deeply engrossed in tariff
legislation. Although the committee on
interstate commerce, of which he is
chairman, has been empowered to hold
hearings on his communications bill
during the recess, Senator Couzens will
probably not call the committee to-
gether for that purpose before Novem-
Der, If he calls 1t at all before the
= regular session.
President Hoover may be expected to
incorporate some words on radio and
communications in his message to Con-
gresS next December, for he has always
been interested in the subject. If he
specifically recommends a continuance
OF the commission, it is more than
likely that Congress will comply with
his wishes. The Couzens bill, which
covers all branches of the communica-
lions industry and the matter of in
terState power as well, Is too sweep
ing IN character to expect action on it
before one or two Congresses have con-
Stdered it.
Hoover to Name Group.
Meanwhile, radio interest is not lag
ging in official quarters President
Hoover in a day or two will name the
delegation which will represent the
United States at the international radio
technical consulting committee meet
1ngS to be held at The Hague, beginning
September 10. The distribution of in
ternational radio channels among the
nations of the world will be one of
the major problems before this con-
ference. Three high Government off,
Gals and staff of engineering experts
Will be named for The Hague dele
cation.
In the radio industry, the maze of
litigation into which the radio COM
mission has been drawn and several
major patent suits have attracted in
tereSt to the legal side of radio The
decision Of Judge Hugh M. Morris in
Federal District Court at Wilmington,
Del, last week, holding Francis w.
Dunmore and Percival G. Lowell the
real inventors of the so-called socket
power" patents, has evoked a statement
from the Radio Protective Association,
an organization of independent manu-
facturers, again attacking the so-called
radio trust"
This decision, according to Oswald F.
Schuette, executive secretary Of the as
ISOLATION, reveals that the trust" has
been collecting royalties on patents it
does not own. He characterizes this as
patent racketeering' and has again
appealed to the Department of Justice
to prosecute monopoly charges against
the companies forming the patent pool
that dominates the industry.
Copyright, 1929 by North American News
paper Alliance)