Eastman in Law School Talk Outlines Organization and Activities of I. C. C.

Speaking before a capacity audience in Langdell Hall Courtroom, Joseph B. Eastman, Interstate Commerce Commissioner and former Federal Coordinator of Transportation, declared that "he would rather work for Uncle Sam than anybody else." In the main, his talk dealt with the functions of the I.C.C., and included a defense of public agencies and servants.

Quoting several Supreme Court decisions, Eastman pointed out that the duties of the Commission were quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial, and that emphasis in his opinion should be placed on the former function. He then went on to explain the set-up of the Commission, and discussed at some length the varius committees, staffs, and bureaus.

Eastman devoted the last half of his speech to a defense of public service agencies. He asserted that delay, due to so-called bureaucratic red-tape, was a result of the difficulty in interpreting laws, knowing what evidence to accept and exclude, and making a decision fully backed by the most minute detail. If all these factors were not taken into account, endless litigation would quickly follow. But the greatest cause for delay, Eastman believes, is the vast undertaking of collecting data on large interstate organizations.

As for the frequently asserted charge that the Commission was both judge and prosecutor, and hence in no position to make an impartial decision, he declared that the Commission made every effort to be just, and that in the final analysis no alternative offered itself. If judgments were to be rendered by depart the result, and, if matters were in the hands of the courts, decisions in various localities would vary.

Asked what effect the president's proposal for regrouping bureaus would have on the status of the I.C.C., Eastman replied that he had not had time to study the law fully.