Evening star., 1932-08-04
PARTIES WILL FOOT
BILL FOR RADIO.
Speeches So Far This Year
Free, but They Must Buy
Time From Now On.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

All political speeches that have been
delivered thus far. on the radio have
not cost the political parties anything,
but, dating from August /, they will
have to pay for the use of radio IA
cilitieS of the two broadcasting chains
Normally the broadcasting companies
allow the use of their facilities for po-
litical addresses without charge until
after the national conventions adjourn,
but this year Gov. Roosevelt made his
acceptance speech at the Democratic
convention itself and this in turn gave
the Republicans the argument that
| Secretary Of the Treasury Mills should
also have the right to answer the Dem
ocratic nominee without paying for it.
This accounts for the fact that the
Boston speech of Mr.. Mills was broad
cast without expense to the Republican
National Committee.
Record Evened Up,
It develops also that Gov. Roosevelt,
in reading the Democratic platform
over a Nationwide hook-up last Sat-
urday, was granted this time in order
to even up the record as between the
Republican and Democratic broad
casters.
The question whether broadcasting
companies should make any charge for
broadcasting speeches during the cam
paign has been a perplex1ng one. They
argue that inasmuch as nine months of
the year during campaign year and
IL months of all other years they make
no charge for the broadcasting Of pub
lie addresses by members of Congress
and the Government, they should at
least be permitted to charge for service
rendered during campaigns. 1t has been
suggested from time to time that all
political broadcasting should either be
free or borne by the Government, but
the difficulty has been TO define where
the broadcaSting should begin and end.
Thus the broadcaSting companies which
sell their time contend tnat the best
hours of the evening are arranged for
by commercial companies and that ar
rangements to obtain the same time
mean a loss to the broadcasting COM
panieS, unless they are compensated by
the political committee.
Furthermore, it is known that under
the law if time is granted free to one
candidate, it must be similarly given to
candidates or spokeSmen Tor other par
ties. This might mean that the So
cialist party, Communists party and all
other minor parties would have a right
under the law to insist on free service
and as much time on the air as was
given to the Republican and Demo-
cratic parties. This Is one of the rea-
sons why the broadcasS1ng companies
prefer to make a charge Tor their serV-
ices during q political campaign, since
it is well known that the minor parties
do not have the funds to buy as much
time as the major parties.
Expense Is Cited.
The broadcasting companies declare
that they are merely purveyorS OF IA
cilities; that the set-up of these wires
in stations constitutes a direct expense
which is not collected from the general
public, as in Great Britain, but is paid
for entirely by commercial firms which
use the air for advertising purposes.
The broadcaSterS are willing to make
contributions from these revenues Tor
the public service, and they do make
up a record each year OF the number
of hours they give to the public in con-
nection with current affairs and edu-
cational topics, but every four years the
method of payment for political ad-
dresses by national parties Is insisted
upon as a safeguard to the broadcast
ing companies and the stations aSso-
ciated with them.
It is estimated that approximately
$5O0,000 will be spent by each of the
two major parties in radio broadcast
ing this year. which, Of course, is paid
for by the National Committees as a
part Of their campaign expenses, just
as they used to spend similar amounts
for printing and distribution of cam
paign speeches or travelling expenses OF
speakers. Some campaign managers
say they have been able to effect GER
tain economies in distribution of cam
naicn literature loV using the radio.
The subject has stirred up much in