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capable of meeting the normal communication requirements between such countries or localities or between any locality and privately operated ships, and the licensing authority shall have notified the Secretary of the Navy thereof." SEC. 12. Section 32 of the radio act of 1927 (U. S. C., Supp. V, title 47, sec. 112) is amended by striking out the last four words and by inserting in lieu thereof the following: "each and every day during which such offense occurs", so that the section as amended shall read as follows:

"SEC. 32. Any person, firm, company, or corporation failing or refusing to observe or violating any rule, regulation, restriction, or condition made or imposed by the licensing authority under the authority of this act or of any international radio convention or treaty ratified or adhered to by the United States, in addition to any other penalties provided by law, upon conviction thereof by a court of competent jurisdiction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $500 for [each and every offense.] each and every day during which such offense occurs." The following new section is added:

SEC. 13. No person shall broadcast by means of any radio station for which a license is required by any law of the United States, any information concerning any lottery, gift enterprise, or similar scheme, offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon lot or chance, or any information concerning any ticket, certificate, or instrument representing any chance, share, or interest in or dependent upon the event of any lottery, gift enterprise, or similar scheme offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon lot or chance, or any list of prizes or information concerning any list of prizes awarded by means of any such scheme, and any person so doing, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

ANALYSIS OF THE BILL

This bill amends 12 different sections of the radio act of 1927 by clarifying and amplifying provisions dealing chiefly with procedure and administration, and also contains a section forbidding the broadcast by means of any radio station, any information concerning any lottery, gift enterprise, or similar scheme, offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon lot or chance, and fixing a penalty for such violation.

No attempt has been made in this bill to change any provision of substantive law dealing with radio, with the exception of the lottery

section.

All of the provisions in the bill have been considered by the Federal Radio Commission and its counsel, and have their approval and

recommendation.

Section 1 simply adds the words "the jurisdiction of" before the words "United States" in line 8 of page 1. This amendment was originally suggested by counsel for the Radio Commission.

Section 2 excludes the Virgin Islands, Porto Rico, Alaska, Guam, eastern Samoa, and the Hawaiian Islands from the equality allocations of the broadcasting zone system, but provides that other portions of the radio act shall apply to them.

The amendment to section 3 provides for a fixed term for the chairman instead of leaving it indefinite and also provides for a vice chairman to function during the absence or disability of the chairman.

Section 4 amends paragraph (f) of section 4 of the act by omitting the words "in the character of emitted signals," which do not properly belong in the paragraph, and also provides that changes in wave lengths, authorized power or in the times of operation shall not be made until after a hearing. No hearing is required by existing law. Paragraph (k) of the same section is amended by setting forth with more particularity the procedure under which the commission shall conduct its hearings. The amendment specifically authorizes the holding of public hearings, provides they may be held at any desig

nated place, and designates who may hold hearings and the authority of such persons.

A further amendment to paragraph (k) requires that the commission file with its decisions opinions or memorandum opinions stating the reasons for its decisions or orders and that where a hearing or investigation has been held it shall file findings of fact and conclusions. There is no such requirement under existing law, and the commission is permitted to file a statement of grounds for its decision within 20 days after an appeal has been taken.

In general, the procedural provisions of paragraph (k) as amended conform to similar sections in other laws.

Section 5 authorizes the commission to require the painting and/or elimination of radio towers if in its judgment such towers constitute, or may constitute a menace to air navigation.

Section 6 of the bill amends section 9 by eliminating the territories and possessions from the zone system, and also by subjecting renewals of licenses to the same restrictions governing the original granting thereof.

Section 7 amends section 10 of the act by clarifying the purpose of the first sentence in the section. Provision is also made for the issuance of licenses, renewals, and modifications without formal written application in cases of emergency, but for terms no longer than three months. Provision is also made for the issuance of emergency permit to vessels of the United States at sea.

Section 8 limits the prohibition in section 12 of the act against granting licenses to aliens by permitting such grant when radio facilities are required by act of Congress or a treaty to which the United States is a party. This amendment is necessary because certain vessels of American registry, which are required by other provisions of the radio laws to be equipped with radio, are owned by aliens or by corporations over 20 per cent of the stock of which is owned by aliens. This amendment will remedy the present inconsistency in the laws. This amendment further restricts alienation by including indirect transfers by transfer of control of corporations.

Section 9 clarifies the language in section 14 of the act and simplifies the procedure under which licenses may be revoked, modified, or suspended.

Section 10 substitutes for section 16 of the act a simpler and more efficacious procedure in appeals.

Section 11 of the bill makes the same change as in section 2.

Section 12 amends section 32 of the act by providing the same penalty for offenses as is usual in similar cases in other governmentally regulated activities.

Section 13 is a new provision in the radio law, and provides that no person shall broadcast by means of any radio station, for which a license is required by any law of the United States, any information concerning any lottery, gift enterprise, or similar scheme, offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon lot or chance, etc., and provides penalties for such offense, upon conviction thereof.

The committee does not think that the United States should permit any radio station, licensed and regulated by the Government, to engage in such unlawful practices.

Furthermore, the broadcast of such information is unfair to the newspapers, which are forbidden the use of the mails, if they contain such information.

1st Session

No. 222

RELIEVING COMMISSIONERS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA OF CERTAIN MINISTERIAL DUTIES

JANUARY 21, 1932.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed

Mrs. NORTON of New Jersey, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany S. 2077]

The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred the bill (S. 2077) to relieve the Commissioners of the District of Columbia of certain ministerial duties, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon, with the recommendation that the bill do pass.

This bill passed the Senate on December 21, 1932. A copy of the report submitted by the Senate District Committee thereon is hereto appended and made a part of this report.

[Senate Report No. 18, Seventy-second Congress first session]

The purpose of the bill is to free the District Commissioners from a considerable amount of routine work, necessitated by the signing of certain official papers of the District government. The documents are listed in the bill as deeds, contracts, pleadings, leases, releases, regulations, notices, or other papers which the commissioners are now obliged to execute by affixing their signatures.

Under the terms of the bill, the secretary of the board of commissioners will be allowed to sign such documents in the name of the District or of the board, and to affix the District seal when requisite. These papers must first have been formally considered and approved by the commissioners, meeting as a board, and their approval noted in the minutes of the meeting, which minutes must be signed by the commissioners or a majority of them.

An identical bill passed the Senate during the Seventy-first Congress. The commissioners' letter, requesting introduction and enactment of the bill, is appended hereto as part of the report.

Hon. ARTHUR CAPPER,

COMMISSIONERS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,
Washington, December 9, 1931.

Chairman Committee on the District of Columbia,

United States Senate, Washington, D. C.

SIR: The Commissioners of the District of Columbia have the honor to transmit herewith draft of a bill entitled "A bill to relieve the Commissioners of the District of Columbia of certain ministerial duties," and to request its introduction and enactment.

The object of this proposed legislation is to relieve the Commissioners of the District of Columbia of a great deal of burdensome work of signing official papers and to place this duty upon the secretary of the board of commissioners.

The commissioners will continue to exercise the functions placed upon them by law of considering and approving all matters referred to in the proposed law, but they will be relieved of the actual execution of the instruments therein referred to. They believe that the passage of this legislation will enable them to give greater time to the larger public problems of administration by relieving them of much detail, which can well be performed by the secretary of the board of commissioners.

Very truly yours,

L. H. REICHELDERFER,

President Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia.

о

1st Session

No. 223

CONSERVATION OF ESTATES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS DYING WITHIN CONSULATES

JANUARY 21, 1932.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed

Mr. MAAS, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 6310]

The Committee on Foreign Affairs, having considered the bill (H. R. 6310) to amend section 1709 of the Revised Statutes, as amended by the act of March 3, 1911 (36 Stat. 1083), and section 304 of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921 (42 Stat. 24), report favorably thereon and recommend that the bill do pass.

The primary reason for the proposed legislation is that section 1709, Revised Statutes, as amended by the act of March 3, 1911, was enacted when the accounting officers of the United States were a part of the Treasury Department. The Budget and Accounting Act, 1921, separated this connection, but did not as to certain statutes expressly substitute the General Accounting Office or its head for the performance of duties theretofore expressly imposed by statute on the Treasury Department or the Secretary of the Treasury due to the then status of the accounting branch, and it now gives rise in instances to divided authority, with a need for a single authority only, and more or less doubt as to which official should act. See, in this connection, the recent case of the United States v. La Grange Grocery Co., decided March 29, 1929, district court, northern district of Georgia (31 Fed. Rep., 2d, 297), in which the court concluded that by the operation of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921, certain jurisdiction passed from the Secretary of the Treasury, as former accounting bureau head, to the Comptroller General of the United States as head of the General Accounting Office, an independent accounting establishment created by that act, without an express statute to that effect.

While the effect of section 1709, Revised Statutes, as amended, in estates matters is, on the one hand, to require the General Accounting Office to act as conservator of the estates of said deceased citizens and for the purpose to authorize the Comptroller General to "indorse

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