program was executed with no marked labor shortage or serious pressure upon the building material, manufacturing, or transportation industries. The prices of most building materials, in fact, actually decreased.

ESTABLISHING STANDARDS OF GRADES AND QUALITY IN THE LUMBER INDUSTRY

Lumber is our most widely used construction material, and the gradual decrease in our forest resources demands at once better utilization. Reforestation, even if started on a large scale to-day, would not bring results for many years to come. However, the elimination of waste in the manufacture, distribution, and consumption of wood will give immediate relief.

Under the central committee on lumber standards,2 appointed by the Secretary of Commerce in July, 1922, "American lumber standards" have been worked out and ratified by the three annual conferences of lumber manufacturers, dealers, and consumers called by the department. At the same time progress is being made in the grade marking of lumber. The savings in consumption of wood, through better guarantees of quality, more stable manufacture, and more economical distribution are already very large.

DOCUMENTATION

Through the committee sponsored by the Secretary of Commerce, representing contractors associations, architects, engineers, railways, public officials, and other large construction users, standard construction contract forms have been drawn up which afford better assurance to both contractor and owner, and which should eliminate much of the area of possible dispute and create a more uniform basis for competitive action.

A number of the local groups, representing all elements connected with construction, including owners and public officials, which have been formed along the general lines encouraged by the department, have instituted measures to cut down excessive expenses involved in the taking of estimates and bids from numerous contractors and subcontractors. They have also sought to eliminate the causes of disputes by efforts to define more clearly the conditions under which various groups ordinarily function, with a view to simplifying business transactions.

The personnel of the First Central Committee on Lumber Standards, appointed July 22, 1922, was as follows: John W. Blodgett, chairman; president, National Lumber Manufacturers' Association; W. E. Hawley, American Railway Association; Dwight Hinckley, president, National-American Wholesale Lumber Dealers, secretary; John E. Lloyd, president National Retail Lumber Dealers Association; Sullivan W. Jones, American Institute of Architects and Associated General Contractors of America; John H. Kirby, president, Southern Pine Association; E. E. Parsonage, president, Association of Wood Using Industries; W. L. Saunders, National Hardwood Lumber Association.

TESTS OF BUILDING MATERIALS

Studies of the properties and use of building materials, which have been carried out by the Bureau of Standards as rapidly as funds have permitted, have proved of increasing value during the past four years of large building programs. Many of the results have been embodied in the recommendations of the building code committee. Directly and indirectly the facts learned from the tests have been used by builders throughout the country, who have been endeavoring to meet the large demands for dwellings within range of the income of the majority of the people.

SIMPLIFICATION OF DIMENSIONS

Simplification of dimensions of building materials has been carried out in a great number of branches of the industry. Committees have been appointed by the Secretary of Commerce on request of the industrial associations covering brick, steel, roofing, slate, lumber, etc., and in each case the consuming trade or the consuming public through some public agency has been represented in the deliberations and conclusions of these committees.

The major simplifications reached in this manner include the elimination of 60 per cent of varieties in softwood yard lumber and structural timbers, the establishment of one standard size of common brick in place of 44 sizes, 19 types and sizes of hollow building tile instead of 36, 11 cross-sectional sizes of reinforcing bars instead of 40, and so on through the 25 items entering directly or indirectly into building and construction."

The benefits to the home builder, the architect, the materialsupply dealer, and the manufacturer are reflected in greater ease of procurement, better service, better values, and in some instances lower prices. Considering the current high demand for building materials and their relative availability, it is obvious that simplification is expediting production, shipment, and assembling or installation, with consequent saving to all concerned.

MUNICIPAL BUILDING AND PLUMBING CODES AND ZONING ORDINANCES

In May, 1921, the Secretary of Commerce appointed a committee on building codes which made exhaustive studies of existing build

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Details of these simplifications are given in the table on pp. 20-22.

Ira H. Woolson, chairman, New York, N. Y., consulting engineer, National Board of Fire Underwriters; Edwin H. Brown, Minneapolis, Minn., secretary, American Institute of Architects; William K. Hått, Lafayette, Ind., professor of civil engineering. Purdue University; Albert Kahn, Detroit, Mich., fellow, American Institute of Architects: Rudolph P. Miller, New York, N. Y., ex-superintendent of buildings; John A. Ner Madison, Wis., in charge section of timber mechanics, Forest Products Laboratory.

ing codes, conducted scientific tests, and got in touch with more than a thousand engineers, architects, contractors, public officials, trade association executives, and others interested in its field of work. With this broad background the committee was able to prepare a number of reports which have been accepted as authoritative and have been utilized widely in progressive revision of obsolete requirements in different cities. Adoption of the recommendations of this committee permits savings of 10 to 20 per cent in the construction of brick walls, installation of plumbing systems and other elements of small houses, compared with costs under many of the codes which have been replaced. At the same time safety is assured and sound, durable construction is encouraged. The subjects covered by the committee's reports include "Recommended minimum requirements for small dwelling construction," "Plumbing in small dwellings and similar buildings," "Masonry wall construction," and "Minimum live loads allowable in design of structures." These have been utilized in framing municipal code provisions in States as widely separated as California and Massachusetts, Louisiana and Minnesota, and Georgia and Montana.

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An advisory committee on zoning was also appointed by the Secretary of Commerce in 1921 to deal with another aspect of municipal building regulations. The standard State zoning enabling act which this committee prepared has been used wholly or in part by 17 States, a fact which bears eloquent testimony to the value and farreaching scope of the committee's work in this field. The number of zoned municipalities in the United States has increased to about 360 from a total of less than 50 at the time the committee was formed. As a result several million additional home owners have better protection for their equity in their property. The zoning ordinances

are helping to safeguard the houses of these families from wanton intrusion by uses of land which are best grouped apart from homes. Reports indicate that zoning ordinances have been helpful in cities throughout the country in avoiding the blighting of districts and the unnecessary scrapping of buildings and costly public utilities that are still serviceable. The razing of a single block of dwellings and the scrapping of utility connections unsuited for altered occupancy usually involved a destruction of $100,000 or more worth of property, depending on the number and character of houses. Where the scale of such operations is reduced by a good zoning ordinance the annual savings, even in a city of moderate size, are very considerable.

DEVELOPMENT OF CONSTRUCTION STATISTICS

The work of the department in collecting and publishing statistics relating to construction activity and building materials has been of great practical value. It has helped to make possible a change in the prevailing attitude of the industry and of building owners. In the spring of 1923, for example, when the lettings of contracts were extraordinarily large, fears were expressed that an inflationary boom might result. The department was able to point out in a public statement that the resources of the industry would undoubt edly be fully occupied for several months. The report of the committee on business cycles and unemployment, appearing shortly afterwards, gave great emphasis to the point that under such cir cumstances it is better for owners to wait until men and materials are available than to bid recklessly for the first place in line. As a result no real crisis developed, and the industry has continued to operate at a very high and extraordinarily even rate of activity with comparative steadiness in building costs.

HOME-OWNERS' PROBLEMS

Important progress in the science of small-house construction has been made as a result of the work of Better Homes in America This organization for public service is supported by public contributions and is under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce as president. Other departmental officials participate in its affairs. Among the thousands of voluntary local Better Homes committees"Better Homes Week" was observed in more than 2,000 communities last May-a large number have built, furnished, and equipped demonstration houses with the object of developing a better utilization of funds for household expenditures. The result has been to evolve conveniently arranged, attractive houses of good quality with the proportionate expenditure for different items well suited for families of average and lower incomes.

Financing the home owner of a small home is in reality one of the great problems of the construction industry, and the department has endeavored to aid the best classes of home-financing agencies through its publications. The importance of saving as a preliminary to home ownership has been emphasized in the booklet How to Own Your Home, of which about 300,000 copies have been sold. All these activities have contributed to a greater, steadier, and more discriminating demand for improved dwellings.

The following table shows the growth in home building:

RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS IN 27 NORTHEASTERN STATES

[By RAY M. HUDSON, Chief, Division of Simplified Practice]

Simplified practice means the reduction of variety in sizes, dimensions, and immaterial difference of everyday commodities. Its purpose is to eliminate waste, decrease cost, and increase values in production, distribution, and consumption. It has nothing to do with style problems or matters of individual creation.

The method is that upon request of a given industry a survey is made of the variations and the major uses. A conference is called not only of the producers but of the distributers and consumers of this given commodity, and unnecessary sizes and grades are eliminated.

Adherence is purely voluntary, but is supported by the widespread listribution of the recommendations, and by the consistent efforts on the part of the acceptors of the recommendations to focus public attention on the advantages of buying and using the simplified lines.

The department has the fine assistance of a planning committee comprising: B. H. Ackles, president, National Supply and Machinery Distributors' Association, Detroit, Mich.; W. L. Chandler, secretary, National Association of Purchasing Agents, New York, N. Y.; E. W. McCullough, manager, department of manufacture, Chamber of Commerce of the United States, Washington, D. C.; L. W. Wallace, executive secretary, American Engineering Council, Washing cago, Ill.; A. A. Stevensor Vorks Co., Philadelphia, P of the Budget, Washington

D. C.; A. W. Shaw, president, A. W. Shaw Co., Chi"esident in charge of manufacture, Standard Steel

Gen. H. C. Smither, Chief Coordinator, Bureau