Henderson daily dispatch., 1939-05-20

the late T. A. Walters, who was, when
he wrote it, subordinate OF Mr..
Ickes. Walters, as Mr.. Celler ala,
mentioned the usefulness OF Such a
station in providing programs OF
national" interest before ne came
to programs of "internationaP' inter-
est. He stressed, too, the deSlrablllty
of such a step, as "a means OF pro-
viding more adequate educational
service to the people of this country
through programs dealing especially
with government activities" Similar
emphasis in the testimony of others
likewise suggested that the desire to
broadcast to South America is mere
ly a part of the purpose of those who
want a federal radio station.
Arguments for the station seem to
stem from a common misconceptions
This has it that the Germans, Italians
South America with radio propa-
ganda and that we, in sorry contrast
have been twiddling our thumbs in
stead of providing the people to the
south of us with information about
the United States. It isn't true. Fig
ures carefully compiled indicate that
the hours per week of German broad
casts in Spanish and Portuguese to
South America are only a small frac-
ton of the hours per week of Spanish
and Portuguese broadcaSts from the
United States. One American broad
casting company alone, for instance,
was broadcasting AZ hours per week
in Spanish at the time the test was
taken, five months ago. German
broadcast Sis hours per week in
Spanish; Italy 2:20; Japan 80; Eng
land, 1:45; and France LAS. In Portu-
guese, that single American company
transmits more hours than do the
other five aforementioned powers
together. This scarcely sounds as
though the privately owned broad
casting companies in the United
States could be convicted of indif-
ference to the Importance of broad
casting to South America in the
language Of the people there. Nor
does the vast, enthusiastic mail re-
Sponse from individuals in South
America suggest that Mr. Chavez
statement-"Travelers tell us that
nowhere in South America are they
able to get reception'-isn't a little
wide of the mark.
There is no question but that short
wave broadcasts by such station
as is proposed in the Chavez bill
could and would be picked up by
diversity receivers of local stations
in the United States and rebroad-
cast to their listeners. In fact, there
has already been official talk of the
'rebroadcasting by existing radio
stations . of educational and cul-
tural programs for domestic use dur
ing the time the station was not
t + ansmitting Pan-American pro-
grams"
In the palatial Interior Building,
where the horny-handed Iclzes COM
radeS labor to leather cushions for
the common man, there is already an
elaborate broadcasting studio. Every
thing for radio is there-except a
government station for transmitting
the gospel directly to the people.
The Chavez bill would fix this. And
with the enormous outlay of federal
money that is going into musical,
Thespian and other forms of relief,
the country could easily be flooded
with programs which would per-
meate all parts of the country Pre-
sumably these so-called cultural pro-
grams would be punctuated by eff
forts of administration members
eager to give the people the "real'
facts about public affairs.
Before America quite realized
what was happening. an enormous
institute of nrOna oanda nn1Mer would