Cost Advisory Committee in Session at \(/ashington

Washington, D. C., Oct. 10.-The work of the lumber industry's Cost Advisory Committee, in session at the Mayflower Hotel here since Oct. 2, has progressed to such an extent that the Co,mmittee is now confident of being able to make a report to the Lumber Code Authority for its action shortly after that body convenes in this city on the 16th, according to statements made by members today.

The outstanding feature of the sessions was the quite evident fact that each of the members came to Washington with a hearty desire to cooperate in every way possible with representatives from other sections of the country and other branches of the industry. The members also showed a full realization of the magnitude and importance of their task, plus a determination to complete their job in strict accordance with the provisions of the Code and with full regard for the rights of those without the industry as well as of those subject to the jurisdiction of the Code.

C. Arthur Bruce, Executive Officer of the Lumber Code Authority, sounded the keynote of the Committee's deliberations when, upon opening the sessions October 2, he instructed the members that they were not there to "fix" prices in the sense that the general public understood a "fixed" price, but to recommend to the Authority costprotection prices, prices which will return to operators their actual cost after paying Code wages and working Code hours.

These prices, when approved by the Lumber Code Authority, will reflect the lowest levels at which lumber can be legally sold or ofiered for sale, but they will not in any sense "fix" the market. They will merely establish a bottom for the market, prescribe levels below which prices will not be permitted to sag.

One of the most significant of Mr. Bruce's remarks was his statement to the effect that the industry is now in the throes of exchanging some individual rights for many group advantages, and that those engaged therein must learn to cease thinking as individuals and cultivate the habit of thinking as groups. While the changes in the industrial structure are undoubtedly attended by inconvenience in all cases-by real hardship in many-from them will eventually come a stabilized industry. An ample but not an over-supply of forest products is to be maintained at fair prices for the public, plus the determination to provide steady employment for the hundreds of thousands dependent upon the industry for a livelihood.