The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1935-08-16

plants about tn e
Too Much federal government
Red Tape at Washington has
been the tendency
toward bureaucratic control. Bureau
cratic control, simmered down, Is red
tape; 1t is attempted management Of
even personal affairs by a government
al agency and 1t is naturally and obvi-
ously repulsive to the average Ameri-
can. 1t was a condition thoroughly to
be criticized in Mr.. Hoover's admins
tration when there were boards, bu-
reaus, and commissions everywhere.
1t Is even worse now, believe, with
all of the New Deals alphabetic soup
agencies scattered hither and yon In
execution of various New Deal expert
ments and theories.
All OF this constitutes a prelude to
what appears to me to be most fla
grant attempt by bureaucrats to man.
age private affairs. ! refer to an or
der issued the other day by the fed
eral communications commission under
which 1t has asserted Jurisdiction
which / cannot believe congress ever
intended 1t should have. Further, the
asserted Jurisdiction which the COM
mission Is seeking to exercise goes far
beyond anything which might be made
the basis of complaint solely because
1t Is. bureaucratic. 1t has reached into
the field of commercial enterprise in
n ryhinh With n doubt will
have the effect of covering invention
and experiment in industry with de-
structive frost bite-if the commission
Is allowed to get away with 1t.
The facts involved are these: The
American Telephone and Telegraph
company, which Is spending millions of
dollars annually in scientific research
to improve our system Of communica-
lions such as the telephone, the tele-
graph, and the radio, lately has per-
fected what Is technically known as
the coaxial cable. This cable Is revo-
lutionary. 1t holds the possibility of
transmission of 240 telephone CONVEX
sations simultaneously over single
pair Of wires. 1t is not commercially
complete in all of its phases Like ev-
cry organization of sound judgment,
the A. T. & L. wants to ircn out weak
nesses and imperfections through Pc
Rod Of experimental operation.
Here is where the federal communI-
cations commission enters the picture.
AS courtesy, pure
FEC Enters ly, the A. 7. & T.
Picture submitted its plan
for experimentation
to the communications agency, saying
as it did so that the commission did
not have jurisdiction but that in the
development of such a revolutionary
invention the corporation was advising
the commission of it's plans and sug-
gested that If the commission thought
it had Jurisdiction it could issue an
experimental license covering the work.
In all of this it is to be remembered
that the communications commission
has Jurisdiction over rates, regulations,
and practices of the wire, telephone
and radio companies.
1t seems that some bright young men
in the communications commission i'm
mediately conceived the idea of hay
ing that group take jurisdiction when
legal authorities tell me there is moth
ing in the law giving them that au-
thority. The story I get around the
commission lobbies is that the A. 7. &
T. would net have objected to having
the commission exercise what 1t be-
lieved its right. to be in granting q
license for the experiment but when
the order emerged from the secret
chamber of the commission, it carried
In it provision which said that the
commission could withdraw its ap-
prevail and nullify the permission
granted on 10 days notice as it saw
fit.
Suffice to say that this provision to-
gether with several other technical
phases of the circumstances was
enough to arouse the ire of the bust
ness men concerned. They are not only
disguised. They are downright sore.
1t is one of those things that poll
ticians, UNDETERMINED in science, at
tempt to do that cause practical peo-
pie to lose faith in their government
If 1t were simply fight between the
A. T. & T. and the commission that is
involved, the situa-
Ftght or ton would held no
Vital Interest interest at all for
me as Washington
writer. But, as said above, 1t goes
much further. am told that some of
ficials of the A. T. & T. are so dis
satisfied with the attitude of the COM
mission in this instance that they are
ready, even anxious, to withdraw their
application and decline to proceed
with this experiment which ultimately
is going to mean enormous changes In
telephone and telegraphic contact be-
tween cities located great distances
apart. The A. T. & T. engineers have
been working on this problem some six
or seven years. They proposed to
build 100 miles of cable by connecting
| New York and Philadelphia. 1t had