Radio Broadcast (May-Oct 1922)

464 Radio Broadcast case with most of the radio patent suits; the action may also be settled at much less cost to the litigants. It appears that there exists, in New York State, an Arbitration Law, amended in 1920, which makes possible and advisable such an association as this newly formed Arbitration Society. The law is probably known to-day to only a few outside the legal profession but if the Society functions as we anticipate and hope, in a few years more cases will be settled under this law than in the ordinary courts of justice. In brief, this law provides that two parties involved in an actionable difference may have this difference settled, legally, by arbitration. If both parties have agreed, in writing, to have the action settled in this manner, the award of the arbitrator is binding and irrevocable. The authority of the arbitrator is the same as that of a judge of a court, in fact his award will be confirmed by the court,' if necessary, and it is as final as though the case had been settled by regular trial procedure. The cost of carrying a case through the Arbitration Court will be negligible; there will be no red tape or peculiar legal technicalities to observe as in present trials; each party may tell his side of the story completely without being subjected to a bull-dozing cross examination by a legally trained ignoramus as is frequently the case in present methods. No expensive expert witnesses will be required by either side. Practically the whole cost will be that entailed for the rent of the rooms used and a nominal fee for the arbitrator, who is selected by the disputants themselves. The movement owes its origin to the vision of a prominent New York lawyer and former judge, Moses H. Grossman: on the present Board of Governors are deans of law schools bankers, business and professional men. Its start has been most propitious and augurs well for a career of increasing usefulness to the American public. It has received unanimous commendation from the legal fraternity and the press throughout the country, largely because it provides relief from the long and expensive process by which difficulties are at present legally s&ttled, a process which, as the Society's outline announces, constitutes in many cases a denial of justice rather than an administration of it. There is practically no limit to the scope of its services, any action other than criminal or divorce cases being within its jurisdiction. It is not impossible that in a short time the record of the Society will be such that its services will be at once invoked for the settlement of those complicated trade questions which are at present fomenting so much trouble and loss in our industrial life. In a typical case already settled by this method the taking of evidence for both sides lasted an hour and fifteen minutes and on the following day the arbitrator's award was made; it was evidently fairly satisfactory to both parties. The movement surely has our best wishes and its founders our respect and congratulations for a service so highly conceived, so intelligently planned, and so propitiously started. SHIPS AND AIRPLANES SHOULD CARRY EMERGENCY ANTENNAS WE HAVE passed legal enactment which requires that all vessels, falling within a certain classification as regards passenger traffic, shall have in addition to the regular radio equipment a complete emergency outfit, so that in case of need, with the regular apparatus out of commission, the emergency outfit can be used for sending out a call for help. Now, it seems not at all impossible that an accident bringing disaster to a vessel may also carry away her antenna, without which the emergency equipment is of little avail. It seems that in such cases a kite-supported antenna might prove of the utmost importance; there is nearly always sufficient wind at sea to support a kite and it seems as though in the provision for emergency equipment we might well require that proper apparatus for sending up one of these emergency antennas be included. Such a kite-fiown antenna, or possibly a small balloon-supported antenna might also be a very valuable adjunct to the radio equipment of an airplane. In case of a forced landing in some remote spot, it might well make the difference between death and rescue.