Great National Gatherings of Three Lumber lnstitutions in Chicago

Lumber Code Authority, Nationol Lumber Manufocturers Associotion and American Forest Products Industries to Hold Annual Meetings June 11-14

Washington, D. C., May 14.-The National Lumber Manufacturers Association, American Forest Products Industries, Inc., and the Lumber Code Authority will hold their annual meetings in Chicago, June 11-14. The Code Authority, however, will adjourn its meeting to reconvene in Washington on June 15.

The National Control Committee of the LCA will meet in Washington on June 4 and continue in session until June 9, when it will recess for the Chicago meetings. It is expected that there will be a full attendance of members of the Authority and of Division and Subdivision agencies at both the meeting of the Authority and of the National Lumber Manufacturers Association" according to an official notice sent out by C. W. Bahr, acting executive ofificer of the Authority.

All of the meetings in Chicago will be held at the Drake Hotel.

The Lumber Code Authority will meet at 1O a.m. on Monday, June ll, and after a short executive session will open the doors to the public for an absolutely free and unrestricted discussiqn of the Lumber Code. the Lumber Code Authority, and the administration and operation of the latter.

It is the purpose of the Authority, Mr. Bahr says, to do everything within its power to have every kind and degree of criticism of the Authority and its management brought into the open at this meeting. No matter what the nature or the severity of a complaint, it will be respectfully received and frankly discussed. The Authority has gone so far as to have notices printed in the style of legal advertisements in the lumber trade press which state that this meeting on June 11 is for the purpose "of hearing any interested person who has complaints, criticisms, suggestions, comments or commendation in respect of the lumber and timber products code and of the manner in which it is being administered." The advertisement continues as follows:

"In calling this open session it is the desire of the Authority to secure, as nearly as may be, a reflection of the views of interested parties concerning the Code and its operation. If required, the Authority will be divided into several committees so that every person may have an opportunity to present his views to the meeting."

Democratic Procedure

After the meeting a special committee will analyze and digest the testimony.,and present the burden of it to the Authority with recommendation for appropriate action. It is of special significance in connection with this un- heard of candor of procedure by a code authority that the members of the Authority who are appointed by the National Recovery Administration and also their advisors have been particularly invited to attend the open meeting. The members of the Code Authority and its admi4istrative staff are so convinced, according to Mr. Bahr, of the bona fides of the Code and the Authority as well as of its administrative divisions, that they are certain that a free and frank discussion cannot help proving to all concerned that the code is a blessing to the forest industries and that its administration strives for the general good without the least thought of particular favor.

On the llth there will be a meeting of the Committee on Recommendations and Nominations of the N.L.M.A., coincidentally with that of the American Forest Products Industries, Inc.

General public meetings of the National Lumber Manufacturers Association and Arnerican Forest Products Industries, Inc., will be held on the 12th. These meetings will give unrestricted opportunity for discussion of all subjects of interest to the forest industries, including also code matters.

On the 13th the directors of N.L.M.A. will meet in the morning, while those of A.F.P.I. will meet in the afternoon.

Markets Are Needed as Well as Orderly Marketing

In the invitation, which he is issuing to leading lumbermen of the country to attend this group of meetings, Wilson Compton, Secretary and Manager of the N.L.M.A., emphasizes the fact that the National Industrial Recovery Act, the Lumber Code, and N.R.A. present unprecedented opportunities to the forest industries, the utilization of which may shape the future of these industries for good or evil and that it is the obvious duty of every lumber manufacturer to attend. It is expected, according to MrCompton, that the problem of the future of the forest industries organization will be examined at length and that steps will be taken to unite these industries in taking the fullest possible advantage of their present exceptional natutal and artificial opportunities.

Emphasis will be placed on the need of trade promotion -especially as it is feared that the regulatory success of the Code has somewhat diverted attention from the fact that orderly marketing is of little use if there is no market"

"These national industry meetings, says Wilson Compton, promise to be as important in the history of the industry as the huge meeting a year ago at which the industry was committed to a Code of Fair Competition. Since then the industry has made progress. But its problems have multiplied."