by a Division of the Commission the petition for rehearing shall be directed to that Division; petitions directed to the whole Commission requesting a rehearing in any matter determined by a Division thereof shall not be permitted or considered. Petitions for rehearing must be filed within thirty days from the entry of any decision, order, or requirement complained of and except for those cases in which the decision, order, or requirement challenged is necessary for the maintenance or conduct of an existing service, the filing of such a petition shall automatically stay the effective date thereof until after the decision on said petition. The filing of a petition for rehearing shall not be a condition precedent to judicial review of any such decision, order, or requirement, except where the party seeking such review was not a party to the proceedings before the Commission resulting in such decision, order, or requirement, or where the party seeking such review relies on questions of fact or law upon which the Commission has been afforded no opportunity to pass. Rehearings shall be governed by such general rules as the Commission may establish. The time within which an appeal must be taken under section 402 (b) hereof shall be computed from the date upon which the Commission enters its order disposing of all petitions for rehearing filed in any case, but any decision, order, or requirement made after such rehearing, reversing, changing, or modifying the original determination shall be subject to the same provisions as an original order." SEC. 24. Subsection (a) of section 409 of such Act is amended to read as follows:

"(a) In all cases where a hearing is required by the provisions of this Act, or by other applicable provisions of law, such hearing shall be a full and fair hearing. Hearings may be conducted by the Commission or a Division thereof having jurisdiction of the subject matter or by any member or any qualified employee of the Commission when duly designated for such purpose. The person or persons conducting any such hearing may sign and issue subpenas, administer oaths, examine witnesses, and receive evidence at any place in the United States designated by the Commission. In all cases, whether heard by the Commission or a Division thereof or by any member or qualified employee of the Commission, the person or persons conducting such hearing shall prepare and file an intermediate report setting out in detail and with particularity all basic or evidentiary facts developed by the evidence as well as conclusions of fact and of law upon each issue submitted for hearing. In all cases the Commission, or the Division having jurisdiction thereof, shall, upon request of any party to the proceeding, hear oral argument on said intermediate report or upon such other and further issues as may be specified by the Commission or the Division and such oral argument shall precede the entry of any final decision, order, or requirement. Any final decision, order, or requirement shall be accompanied by a full statement in writing of all the relevant facts upon each issue submitted for hearing as well as conclusions of law upon those facts."

SEC. 25. Title IV of such Act is amended by adding at the end thereof a new section as follows:

"DISCRIMINATION PROHIBITED

"SEC. 418. The Commission shall make or promulgate no order, rule, or regulation of substance or procedure, the purpose or effect of which will or may be to effect a discrimination between persons based upon race, or religious or political affiliation, or kind of lawful occupation, or business association, and no rights, privileges, benefits, or licenses authorized by law shall be denied or withheld in whole or in part where adequate right or entitlement thereto is shown."

The CHAIRMAN. Then I want to make a part of the record, by reference only, the hearings which were held in 1943, upon Senate bill 814. That, I repeat, is made part of the record by reference only. It will not be reprinted.

I wanted to call attention also to the new rules with respect to committee hearings, rules which are found in the Reorganization Act of last year. Section 133 of that act provides that each standing committee shall, so far as practicable, require all witnesses appearing before it to file in advance written statements of their proposed testimony, and to limit their oral presentations to brief summaries of their arguments.

If there are those here who are interested in this subject matter and who desire to be heard as witnesses who have not filed their written briefs, I suggest that they should do so immediately if they want the opportunity to later make any oral comments, either on their own briefs, or on the briefs or statements of others.

Then I want to make just one more brief statement as a preliminary to the beginning of the testimony, which will be in the nature of a brief explanation as to the conduct of the hearings on this measure pending before us.

I pointed out when the bill was introduced that there is general agreement that new legislation in this important field is necessary. Existing legislation is, in all substantial respects, almost as old as the industry itself, and ample evidence has been offered to Congress that radio and radio regulations should be made the subject of intensive and thoughtful congressional study.

This evidence has come to us in a variety of ways: as a result of numerous hearings held before both Houses of the Congress, by statements and communications from the regulatory authority, by statements and representations from broadcasters and networks, and by statements and representations from the public found in the press, and in the great volume of correspondence which has been addressed to Members of the Congress.

I am not unaware of the dissatisfaction which has been expressed by individuals and groups concerning the time and the timeliness of this hearing. I am quite aware also of the legislative situation in the Congress, and particularly in the Senate and in the committee of which I am chairman.

The decision to hold hearings on S. 1333 at this time was made after full consideration of the problems presented, and particularly having due regard for the available time and commitments of the Members of the Senate who are charged with responsibility in this matter.

I am satisfied that a right conclusion was reached by the determination to adhere to the date originally fixed by the subcommittee. And this audience, I think, bears testimony that you have all heard about this hearing; and I think that most of you will admit that you have had opportunity to consider what you would say at this hearing, either in criticism or in commendation of the legislative proposals.

I hope that you who appear here to give us information on this measure, whether or not satisfied with the committee's judgment as to the date of hearings, will nevertheless show us the courtesy of your best efforts in working out sound legislation.

I repeat what I have many times said concerning the present proceeding. It is an attempt by the Congress, through its constituted agents, to secure information concerning our radio problems. It is not an attempt to force our individual views upon anyone.

This hearing will be conducted with a view to securing the greatest possible amount of information concerning this matter within the limits of time and opportunity which we can give to the task.

Neither I nor any other member of the committee has any pride of authorship. I am, however, fully persuaded that additional legislation on this vital subject is sorely needed and that it should be considered by the Congress either at this or at some early session of the Congress.

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I therefore request each person who appears as a witness here, either in a personal or representative capacity, to make such contribution as he can to this effort to work out sound legislation. I express the hope that each witness who appears and expresses disagreement with the measure as written will offer alternative suggestions, either in detail or in principle.

On behalf of the committee, I ask for your cooperation and your contributions in this respect.

It seemed appropriate that the first witness should be the Chairman. of the Federal Communications, Mr. Denny. He not only is Chairman of the Commission, but he represents here in a large degree, the voice of the Government itself with respect to these problems.

We will be very glad, Chairman Denny, if you will take the chair and proceed in your own way in comments approving, or comments critical with respect to this bill.

I think I have indicated what the usual rule is. Before anyone may testify, there must be a preliminary filing of a written summary, or a written statement. I do not know whether Chairman Denny has done that yet or not. You may proceed, Mr. Denny.

STATEMENT OF CHARLES R. DENNY, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION, WASHINGTON, D. C.

Mr. DENNY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I have filed a written statement in compliance with the rule. Before I begin my testimony I should like to introduce to you the members of the Federal Communications Commission.

First I should like to present Commissioner Paul A. Walker, who is Vice Chairman of the Commission, and chairman of the Commission's Telephone Committee.

Commissioner Walker is the senior member of the Commission. Next in seniority is Commissioner Ray C. Wakefield, chairman of the Telegraph Committee.

Next may I introduce Commissioner Clifford J. Durr, and Commissioner Rosel H. Hyde.

Commissioners È. K. Jett, and E. M. Webster have asked me to advise the committee that they regret that they are unable to be here today, because they are serving as members of the United States delegation to the international radio conference which is now in progress in Atlantic City.

They have also asked me to indicate that if the committee has any questions which it is desired to ask them, they will be glad to return to Washington.

The other members of the Commission are here to answer any questions that the committee may wish to put to them.

The CHAIRMAN. May I interrupt to say that you have called upon gentlemen whose faces are very familiar to us, and we are glad to see them here.

Mr. DENNY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The statement which I am about to present represents not just my personal views, but the views of the Federal Communications Commission. It has been carefully considered by all the members of the Com

mission, including Commissioners Jett and Webster, who returned last week for a series of special meetings for the purpose of considering this statement.

The necessity, of course, of having a series of meetings did somewhat delay my ability to get the statement prepared. The committee had an advance copy of it yesterday, but the mimeographed copies were not ready until 8 o'clock this morning.

For the most part, the members of the Commission are in agreement on all points. Naturally, on some particular points there are differences in opinion. Where that is the case, the statement which I am about to present will specifically so indicate.

The mimeographed statement which you have before you, considers the bill section by section, beginning with section 1, and ending with section 25. I believe that this arrangement will make it easy for the members of the committee to follow my comments.

The statement is 55 pages long, and if it is agreeable with the committee, I shall not read all of it. What I would like to do is to read the sections that deal with the most important points, and omit the reading of all those parts which deal with the more technical and procedural points.

However, Mr. Chairman, if it is agreeable, I should like to ask that my whole statement appear in the record as though it had been read by me in its entirety.

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, that will be done.

Mr. DENNY. For your convenience in following my reading of this statement, the mimeographed copies of it which have been placed before you have been so marked as to indicate the portions that I will read, and those that I will not read.

There is a vertical pencil line in the margin of the committee's copies beside those paragraphs and pages which will be read. The parts not marked will be omitted in reading, but, as the chairman has indicated, they will be copied into the record.

The CHAIRMAN. May I interrupt you right there? I want to say, in view of your statement that you are to take this up section by section, that you probably will say some things at least with which I am not in agreement.

I feel, however, that it is the part of wisdom that I should not attempt to be a witness and to testify in behalf of the bill which I have introduced. So I shall not interrupt you unduly for examination, but will read with interest what you have said when you have concluded, when I have a chance to do so.

Mr. DENNY. Mr. Chairman, I want to say on my part that I do not mind interruptions, and any comments that might occur to you as I go along will, I think, perhaps be helpful.

Finally, I should like to state that in the course of my testimony, I shall make reference to five exhibits. These have been distributed to you, along with the mimeographed statement, and I should like to ask that the committee print as many of these as it deems feasible.

There are two of them which I believe are so long that it probably would not be feasible to print them, but I do think it would be helpful for you to have copies.

I begin reading now with the second paragraph on page 1 of my mimeographed statement.

As your letter of invitation pointed out, many of the provisions of S. 1333 are derived from other bills on which extensive hearings were held both by the Senate and House Committees, principally in connection with S. 814, Seventy-eighth Congress, and H. R. 5497, Seventyseventh Congress. I have had an exhibit prepared which shows for each section of the bill the corresponding section in S. 814 and H. R. 5497 and the pages of the hearings on those bills where commission testimony appears.

I should like to offer this, Mr. Chairman, as my first exhibit. I think it might be helpful to the committee, and I believe this is in line with your request that we do not present material that has been previously presented to the Congress.

The CHAIRMAN. So far as possible that will be followed. The exhibit will be received and made a part of the record.

(The document referred to was marked "Exhibit No. 1," and filed for the information of the committee.)

Mr. DENNY. The method, as I have stated, that I should like to follow in my statement is that of a section-by-section analysis of the bill.

For convenience, I have listed under the heading of each section the page references to the hearings on S. 814 and H. R. 5497 where Commission testimony appears with respect to corresponding provisions in those bills.

Sections 1, 2, and 3 (S. 814, p. 939; H. R. 5497, pp. 796–800; 849–853) These sections contain the title of the new act, and propose to change certain definitions now contained in the Communications Act of 1934 and to add some new definitions.

In general, the definitions proposed are satisfactory. I should, however, point out that there appears to be a slight inconsistency between the definition of "network broadcasting" as used in section 2 and "network organization" as it appears in section 3. The former includes delayed broadcasts in the definition, whereas the latter does not. In the interest of uniformity, both provisions should be the same. It is suggested that delayed broadcasts be referred to in both places. Section 4

Under the present provisions of the Communications Act the Chairman of the Commission is designated by the President. Under the proposed amendment, the Chairman would be elected annually by the Commission itself. This procedure is followed in the case of many other administrative agencies and is entirely acceptable to the Commission.

Section 5 (S. 814, pp. 30-31, 620-622, 545–547, 939–941; H. R. 5497, pp. 765–780, 813–814)

Section 5 would require the Commission to organize its members into two independent divisions to be known as the Broadcast Division and the Common Carrier Division. Each division would have three members. The Chairman would be the executive officer of the Commission, but could not sit on either division except in case of a vacancy.

The purpose of this section is stated to be twofold. The first is that there are fundamental differences between rate-making and publicutility concepts, on the one hand, and broadcasting on the other, and