President Roosevelt yesterday appointed James McC. Landis, Dean of the Law School, to a three-man commission to investigate the wage dispute in the railroad industry. Other members of the group are Chief Justice Walter P. Stacy of the North Carolina Supreme Court, chairman, and Professor Harry A. Millis of the University of Chicago.

Dean Landis could not be reached last night for a statement. Under the provisions of the Railroad Labor Law the commission must report within thirty days.

Situation Serious

In setting up the body yesterday, President Roosevelt said that the rail wage dispute "now threatens substantially to interrupt interstate commerce to a degree such as to deprive the country of essential transport service."

Walkout Postponed

Nine hundred and fifty thousand railroad workers have threatened to walk out Friday night if the carriers go through with the 15 percent wage cut scheduled for Saturday.

Under the Railway Labor Act the appointment of a fact-finding commission will postpone a strike and maintain existing wage levels for sixty days pending recommendations.

Dean Landis graduated from Princeton in 1921, and from the Harvard Law School in 1924. The former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission and one-time member of the Federal Trade Commission succeeded Roscoe Pound, now Roving Professor, as head of the Law School last fall.