In the Public Interest

Reaching Out for Information

Lynn Sutcliffe was troubled. The former Princeton football player and present counsel to the Senate Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, wondered who was going to represent users and passengers during the planning process to reorganize rail services in the midwest and northeast regions of the United States. Backed by subcommittee chairman Vance Hartke, Democrat from Indiana,…

Read More

The New Student Activism

WASHINGTON–To many members of the New York State Legislature, the image of the college student these days is not associated with the current streaking fad. Rather it is connected with an in vestigation of each legislator by students and their full time lawyers and other professional staff called the New York Public Interest Research Group…

Read More

The Watergate Consumer Packages

WASHINGTON–Watergate-mired Richard Nixon is all but willing to sell the White House to big business to maintain the support of the large corporations. Earlier this month his operatives moved to make cancer, respiratory diseases and other pollution sicknesses hostage to his Watergate troubles. Over the strong objections of Environmental Protection Administrator, Russell E. Train, Mr.…

Read More

A Cashless Society

Washington–Stuart Speiser is a New York aviation lawyer who wants to abolish paper money. He believes that a cashless society would dramatically reduce much crime and corruption or at least make it easily detectable by law enforcement agencies. Coins and tokens would remain in circulation. A payment card system, keyed to bank accounts, would replace…

Read More

Coping With Consumer Shortage

WASHINGTON–In the midst of an economy plagued by monopolies, cartels, zooming prices and shortages, no one in Washington is asking what will happen if there starts to be a consumer shortage. They say it can’t happen here, not in the good old USA. Why American consumers will keep buying and buying lust to relieve their…

Read More

Deflating the Airbag

WASHINGTON—Former Secretary of Transportation, John Volpe, was fighting back tears when he told some of his associates in late 1972 that Mr. Nixon wanted him to leave. One of the reasons for his unanticipated exit was his strong support of the air bag and experimental safety vehicle programs in the auto safety agency. Volpe’s stand…

Read More

Breaking the Energy Monopolies

WASHINGTON–Among the flurry of legislative proposals in Congress on the energy problem, one stands out as a constructive and lasting solution to the monopolistic grip that the giant oil companies have on the nation, small businesses and consumers. S. 2506 and H.R. 11648 are bills filed by Senator Adlai Stevenson and Cong. John Moss to…

Read More

The Nuclear Energy Risk

WASHINGTON–Charles F. Luce must be a troubled man. As Chairman of Consolidated Edison, the giant New York City utility, he is known to be a more sensitive executive than most of his industry counterparts. Now a major challenge to his sensitivity arises over the question whether his company, hitherto cautious on nuclear power, should go…

Read More

The Medical Brain Drain

WASHINGTON–On June 4, 1973, Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, was angry over a report on foreign medical graduates and American medicine. First, he didn’t like the conclusions of the study by Dr. Rosemary Stevens of Yale University made under a contract with his Department. Second, he wanted his subordinates to understand that…

Read More

Fighting Back

WASHINGTON–If it all sounds bizarre, it nevertheless is happening up and down big business. Consider the following: Gas and electric utilities who for a number of months were telling customers to conserve gas and electricity are now demanding higher rates because customers responded and reduced demand. These utilities have consumers coming and going because it…

Read More