Evening star., 1931-11-29
LITTLE RADIO WORK
SEEN BY CONGRESS.
Other More important Mat
ters Expected to Keep
a Session Busy.
BY MARTIN CoDEL.

manifold man di3 aspects oouao m coDgpe 70 pfo
sional debate. Out Of it az
however, probably will come some very
little legislation affecting radio in spite
of the hue and cry being raised against
certain practices of the broadcaSters
and despite the demand OF the educa-
tors for a slice of the broadcaStlng
wave band.
Except possibly for an act placing
radio under much the same restraints
as newspapers with respect to lotteries
and schemes Of chance, there seems to
be scant likelihood of the enactment OF
more radio laws at this session of Con-
gress. For one thing, the economic de-
preston will present more serious prob
lens for the minds of the Nations leg
islators. For another, the national elec-
ton year is in the offng.
That there will be much discussion Of
radio matters, particularly the matter
of broadcast advertising, is practically
certain. The influence of expressed
congressional opinion will probably play
a large part in shaping the future poll
cles OF the broadcaSters, for they are
keenly sensitive about their own short
comings and they know that they are
liable to be regulated to the death.
Appointment to BE Made.
The one important action affecting
radio that is practically certain to come
out of this Congress is the confirmation
by the Senate of an appointment to the
Federal Radio Commission. Judge Ira
Z. RobinSon'S second term expires Feb
ruary %, and President Hoover must
send nomination to the Senate before
that time. Whether it will be a reap
pointment of Judge Robinson is still in
doubt.
The former commission chairman
came to the commission as West Vir-
ginia second zone appointee of President
Coolidge in 1929. Long in the minority
for his views on various aspects of radio
regulation, particularly his conviction
that the broaocasters must purge their
houses of undesirable advertising and
that radio is a form of public utility,
Judge Robinson in the last year or two
has found his views gaining wide cur
rency and favor. Lately his votes have
been much more frequently with the
majority than with the minority of his
colleagues, whose determination to rid
the air OF undesirable broadcasters has
been placing all stations more and more
on their mettle
Extremely popular with the commits
sion staff and enjoying a devoted fol-
lowing. Judge Robinsons reaappoint-
ment would be welcomed in many quar-
tiers. When President Hoover reap
pointed him two years ago, it was for
the two-year or shortest term available
Judge Sykes of Mississippi, secured the
three-year term which expires a year
hence Whether President Hoover will
reappoint the Republican from West Vir-
gtnia can only be conjectured; it is
known that several individuals are eager
TO get the job, and it is not improbable
that 1t will go to somebody from a
section OF the second zone where more
Republican influence is needed in the
forthcoming presidential campaign.
Plans Lottery Ban.
Senator McNary of Oregon has indi-
Gated that he will offer bill amending
the radio law to impose practically the
same restraints on radio as the postal
laws place on the press with respect to
lotteries and schemes of chance. The
organized broadcasters have expressed
themselves in favor of such legislation.
In the wake of the recent Treasury
announcement that it was considering
q luxury tax on radio sales-a tax which
the manufacturers will bitterly OPPOSE
comes word that Representative La
Guardia OF New York intends to offer
legislation designed to bring 100000
600 into the Federal Golfers from broad
casting and radio apparatus sales. He
would impose 25 per cent tax on
broadcasters' incomes from the sale of
time, and 10 per cent tax on all radio
receivers, transmitters and tubes and all
acoustical devices such as those used in
the talking pictures.
The educators have Senator Fess of
Ohio, who Is also chairman of the Re-
publican National Committee, commit
ted to the reintroduction of his bill al
loting Is per cent of all the broadcast
wave lengths to educational institutions,
which would mean that about that pro-
portion Of existing stations would have
to go of the air TO make way. This
legislation will be bitterly opposed by
the broadcasters. The latter are also
deeply interested in copyright lesisIa-
tion which failed in the last Congress
and which in amended form will be re.
introduced in this Congress.
White Now in Senate.
The new Congress will have Senator
Couzens of Michigan probably again
heading the Senate Interstate Com
merce Committee, which has charge of
radio legislation. Senator CouzenS has
expressed the opinion that radio will
play relatively minor part in this
session in view OF other more pressing
matters. On the House side, Repre-
sentative Ewin l.. Davis of Tennessee, as
ranking Democrat on the House Marine
and Fisheries Committee, will probably
succeed to the Craftsmanship of that
committee If the Democrats organize
the lower chamber.
Wallace White, jr., OF Maine. former
chairman of the House Committee, goes
to the Senate this session. Senator
Dill Of Washington, was expected to re-
turn here this week. They are the CO.
authors Of the 1927 radio law, and they
will provide the Senate with two of the
hest iHfAFT1aR6 minds IN PoIia tFa,~
on Capitol Hill.