Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1934-06-10
Communications Board
Outlook Draws Interest
Law Expected to Be in Force by July l, and
All Eyes Are Turned on
Appointments.
Appolntm is.
BY THE RADIO EDITOR.

D1O EDIIOH.
destined to loom large In the
raj alphabet soup prepared by
note the Federal Communications
Is slated to assume broad control
S, including radio. r
ration Endorsement for the crea-
passed both by Senate and House.
re branches have adjusted the
assures and agreed on a seven
mendstions for whatever new legis.
lation 1t deems necessary.
4 ~
DROUGHT or food. radio Is to
- blame-and Americas several
thousand broadcasting and code
radio stations ought to be shut down.
So say certain amateur soothsayers
in the stricken areas. During this
seasons serious drought In the
Middle West, as. In previous years,
they have not hesitated to write to
President Roosevelt, the Secretary Of
Agriculture and the Federal Radio
Commission to expound their theories
or make their complaints. Always
their letters are referred to the United
States Weather Bureau. and always
| the reply is the same: There's nothing
to the claim that radio energy In the
atmosphere causes either too little or
too much precipitation.
Natures method of making rain"
declares w. r. Gregg, chief OF the
Weather Bureau. lis first to get an
abundance of water vapor into the at
mosphere by evaporation from water
surfaces, ice surfaces, growing vege-
tation and damp soil, and then to
squeeze it out again, as 1t were by
decrease of temperature. This de-
crease of temperature is accomplished
mainly by expansion Of the humid air
incidental to vertical convection.
Now, evaporation is q process that
consumes a very large amount Of heat.
and radio does not produce a n,easur-
able amount of heat. Furthermore.
We know from observation that evapo-
ration is neither FASTENED nor de-
creased by radio.
Neither does radio cool the air nor
in any way cause convection. In
short, from theory and from observa-
ton, We know definitely that radio
does not affect any of the steps or
processes by which water vapor Is
gotten either into the atmosphere or
out of 1t. 1t neither increases rain
fall nor decreases it."
That's the oficial dictum of the
man who ought to know. To this ra-
do engineers add that all the heat
produced by all the power of all the
radio stations in the world, let alone
in America, would hardly be enough
to heat an ordinary home If measured
few blocks away from the trans.
hitting stations. In other words,
radio energy is so quickly dissipated
in space that its effects on the tenn
perature are virtually nil. No matter
how high powered q radio station may
by any receiving sets antenna Is SO
to as Fly power"
So it appears that radio stations
won't be shut down this year either,
because 1t simply won't relieve the
drought.
JIMMY DURANTE, schnozzle and
y all. can 60 on reciting dogserel
and other poems over the air with
out worrying about infringement Of
somebody's copyright.
An infringement suit brought against
the comedian, alleging he had in
fringed the copyright held by Alfred
kreymborg, well known poet, has been
dismissed by the Federal District
Court in New York on the ground
that the copyright laws do not cover
poetry. The suit also was lodged
against the National Broadcasting Co.,
over whose radio facilities Durante is
alleged to have committed the in
fringement.
In his complaint, Poet Kreymborg
charged that Durante rsang, shouted
and recited" three of his poems, and
that these constituted infringement of
copyright. Federal Judge Patterson
held, however, that under the present
copyright act protection against pub
lie performance or delivery of copy
righted works Is afforded only in the
case OF lecture, sermon, address or
similar production, a drama. or a mu-
steal composition. Other copyrighted
works, he held, may be recited In pub
lie for profit without infringement.
Counsel for Poet Kreymborg an
nounced he would appeal the case to
the Circuit Court Of Appeals for the
New York district.