Henderson daily dispatch., 1939-08-05
McNinch Did Good
Job In Tough Spot
Continued From Page One>

to anything after the experience he'd
had as chairman OF the Federal Pow
er Commission. He got that appoint
meat hard onto a decade ago, fol-
lowing the late Senator Thomas j.
Walsh's crusade against the private
power interests. Walsh got the COM
mission created. McNinch was picked
to head it. He was named from North
Carolina. Immediately Josiah w.
Bailey arrived in Washington from
said state to fight his appointments
senatorial confirmation. Bailey
wasn't a senator then; only a sena-
tor-elect. Nevertheless he had suf-
ficient influence to make Frank
plenty of trouble among Democratic
solons, with the charge that he'd
bolted AL Smith when the latter was
running for the White House. It like
wise was alleged, though never
proven, that Mac had been K. K.
K.
Anyhow, he skipped through con-
firmation. but it wasn't a very graft
flying way to arrive at the power
commissions chairmanship
Still More Trouble.
Once in office, plenty more
troubles awaited him.
The power commission was invent
ed by Senator Walsh and associated
liberals to put crimp into private
power. Private power was fairly well
suited with Mac, believing it could
control him. But, of course, the DOW
er liberals, thinking the same thing,
wished him all colors of bad luck.
TO everybody's establishment he
turned out to be corking good lib
eral himself. Thereupon the liberals.
Hopping over, began to like him like
everything. Naturally, though, pri-
vate power, likewise Hopping, has
hated him like poison ever since. The
net result was that he had a lot of
enemies and opposition, one way or
the other, all the time he held his
power Craftsmanship.
Well, he had nerve. He had, at
that particular juncture, about the
hardest niche to occupy that Uncle
Sam had to offer, and he filled it
super-competently.
That was o. k. as far as it went
But subsequently a still meaner niche
opened itself, with the creation of
the Federal Communications Com.
mission, an offspring of the earlier
radio commission. Now it already had
been demonstrated that a radio COM
mlssionership was cavity almost
impossible for human being to fill
adequately. Who was the best bet to
have a try at it? Echo answered.
Frank R. McNinch." So he was
boosted into it.
More Air!
There's tangibility about the
power business. It was to be regulat-
ed.
Certain forms of communication
can be regulated, too. BY mail is one
way, but that doesn't worry the COM
munlcatiOnS commission; the Post
office Department takes care of it.
Telegraphs and telephones came be
supervised; they have wires and such
things.
But suppose you have two Cor
more) competing radio outfits. They
conflict. One says, eve want more
air. mo-" says its rivals, "weve got
all the air there is in this vicinity
already preempted" They put their
problem up to the communications
commission. It's as if two individuals
want to talk at the same time. Which
OF the two is entitled to how much?
It's up to the commission to decide;
1t mustn't abridge free speech,
though.
And yet there isn't enough air to
go around. The competition for it is
terrible, and anybody is entitled to
all he wants, and there's an infinity
of it.
All the commission has to do is to
divide it up.
This little task was put up to Frank
McNinch. His health broke down un-
der it. A mere matter of splitting
lnflnlty up into small chunks! Who,
for example, has the best claim to ali
the space between here and Mars?
I'm speaking of radio; not small ter
restrlal telegraphic and telephone
communication.
James M. Fly, general counsel of
the Tennessee Valley Authority, sue
ceeds Mac on the Federal COMMUNE
cations board. He thinks he's had his
troubles with the IVA!