THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION*美国联邦通信委员会R. H. COASE 科斯University of Virginia 弗吉尼亚大学I. THE DEVELOPMENT OF GOVERNMENT REGULATION政府法规的发展IN THE United States no one may operate a broadcasting station unless he first obtains a license from the Federal Communications Commission. These licenses are not issued automatically but are granted or withheld at the discretion of the Commission, which is thus in a position to choose those who shall operate radio and television stations. How did the Commission come to acquire this power?在美国除非他先获得了联邦通信委员会发的许可证，否则没人可以经营广播电台。这些许可证不是随意发放的而是要由委员会来决定许可或者扣留，因此委员会就具有了选择谁可以经营广播和电视台的权力。那么，委员会是怎么得到这项权力的呢？About the turn of the century, radio began to be used commercially, mainly for ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship communication.1 This led to various proposals for legislation. Some of these were concerned with the promotion of safety at sea, requiring the installation of radio equipment on ships, the employment of skilled operators, And the like. Others, and it is these in which we are interested, were designed to bring about government control of the operations of the industry as a whole. 大约在是在本世纪之交，无线电开始被用于商业，主要是船岸和船船之间的通讯。这导致了各种各样的立法提案。其中一些考虑促进海上安全，要求在床上安装无线电设备，雇佣有技术的操作员等等。另一些呢，是我们感兴趣的，整体来说就是为了使政府能控制这一产业的经营。The reason behind such proposals can be seen from a letter dated March 30, 1910, from the Department of the Navy to the Senate Committee on Commerce, which described, clearly and succinctly according to the Committee, the purpose of the bill to regulate radio communication which was then under discussion. The Department of the Navy explained that each radio station我们可以从一封1910年3月30日海军部门写给参议院商业委员会的信中看到这些提案背后的理由，信中参照了委员会的要求清晰简洁地描述了这项当时正在讨论中的规范无限电通信议案的目的。海军部解释道，considers itself independent and claims the right to send forth its electric waves through the ether at any time that it may desire, with the result that there exists in many places a state of chaos. Public business is hindered to the great embarrassment of the Navy Department. Calls of distress from vessels in peril on the sea go unheeded or are drowned out in the etheric bedlam produced by numerous stations all trying to communicate at once. Mischievous and irresponsible operators seem to take great delight in impersonating other stations and in sending out false calls. It is not putting the case too strongly to state that the situation is intolerable, and is continually growing worse.每一个无线电站都视自己为独立的并且主张在任何需要的时候发送它们横贯以太的电波，结果这导致了许多地方的混乱状态。公共的商业被阻碍到让海军部门十分窘迫的地步。来自海上处于危险境地的船只的悲惨呼救无法被注意到或者埋没在由无数电台同时通讯所产生的以太的喧嚣中。恶意的和不负责任的操作者似乎在冒充别的电台和发送错误呼救中感到愉悦。如此严重的情况并没有得到遏制，还在进一步恶化中。The letter went on to point out that the Department of the Navy, in cooperation with other Government departments, has for years sought the enactment of legislation that would bring some sort of order out of the turbulent condition of radio communication, and while it would favor the passage of a law placing all wireless stations under the control of the Government, at the same time recognizes that such a law passed at the present time might not be acceptable to the people of this country.2这封信继续指出，海军部门与其他政府部门协作多年，寻求通过这项可以给混乱无线电通讯状况带来一些秩序的立法，并且它将支持通过一项使所有无线电台处于政府控制之下的法律，同时它也承认在现阶段通过这一法律可能让这个国家的民众觉得难以接受。The bill to which this letter referred was passed by the Senate but was not acted upon by the House of Representatives. Toward the end of 1911 the same bill was reintroduced in the Senate. A subcommittee concluded that it bestowed too great powers upon the departments of Government and gave too great privileges to military and naval stations, while it did not accurately define the limitations and conditions under which commercial enterprises could be conducted.8 In consequence, a substitute bill was introduced, and this secured the approval both of the Senate and of the House of Representatives and became law on August 13, 1912. The Act provided that anyone operating a radio station must have a license issued by the Secretary of Commerce. +这项针对信中所指内容的法案在参议院得到通过但是在众议院没有起效。到了1991年末同样的法案在参议院再次被提出。一个附属委员会得出结论，“应给予政府部门最大的权力和给予军事和海军的电台最大的特权，而不用精确定义商事企业可以执行的限度和条件。”结果，一条替代法案被提出了，并且稳当地得到了参议院和众议院的批准并且在1912年8月12日成为了法律。这一法案（Act）假设了任何人想要经营无线电台必须要有商务部长颁布的许可证。+This license would include details of the ownership and location of the station, the wave length or wave lengths authorized for use, the hours for which the station was licensed for work, etc. Regulations, which could be waived by the Secretary of Commerce, required the station to designate a normal wave length (which had to be less than 600 or more than 1,600 meters), but the station could use other wave lengths, provided that they were outside the limits already indicated. Amateurs were not to use a wave length exceeding 200 meters. Various other technical requirements were included in the Act. The main difference between the bill introduced in 1910 and the Act as passed was that specific regulations were set out in the Act, whereas originally power had been