is arrived at in the manner prescribed by the statute, instead of attempting the impossible by prescribing their relative weight in advance for all cases, is no more an abandonment of the legislative function than when Congress accepts and acts legislatively upon the advice of experts as to social or economic conditions without reexamining for itself the data upon which that advice is based.

Measured by this requirement the present statute is no less an exercise of the legislative function than was the Tariff Act of 1922 authorizing the President to raise or lower tariff duties so as to equalize the difference which, with the aid of the Tariff Commission, he finds between the costs of production of dutiable articles in this and in foreign countries, his determination, to be based upon a variety of relevant factors, some specified and others not, for which the statute prescribed no relative weight. See Hampton & Co. v. United States, 276 U. S. 394; cf. Norwegian Nitrogen Products Co. v. United States, 288 U. S. 294; United States v. Bush & Co., 310 U. S. 371. See to the like effect under other statutes Interstate Commerce Comm'n v. Louisville & N. R. Co., 190 U. S. 273 (Interstate Commerce Act); Mulford v. Smith, 307 U. S. 38, 48, 49 (Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938); Sunshine Anthracite Coal Co. v. Adkins, 310 U. S. 381, 399 (Bituminous Coal Conservation Act of 1937); Currin v. Wallace, 306 U. S. 1 (Federal Tobacco Inspection Act); United States v. Rock Royal Co-operative, 307 U. S. 533 (Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act).

The procedure before the Industry Committee. The procedure before the Committee is assailed upon three principal grounds: that the changes in definition of the textile industry made after the appointment of the Committee rendered the order of apportionment void; that the order defining the industry is also invalid because the Administrator placed the woolen industry in a different

industry under a different committee, rather than in the textile industry including cotton, silk and rayon; and that the Committee was not properly constituted under the statute because the Administrator in selecting it did not give "due regard to the geographical regions in which the industry is carried on." Certain procedures before the Committee are also challenged because they are said to be unauthorized or contrary to the statute or to the requirements of due process.

At the outset the distinct separation of the functions to be performed by the committee under § 8 (a), (b), (c), (d), from that to be performed by the Administrator after submission of the committee's report, is to be noted. The committee is required to be composed of equal numbers of representatives of the public, of the employers and of the employees in the industry, selected with due regard to geographical considerations. It acts as an investigating body with the duty to report its recommendations to the Administrator. Its report is the basis of the proceedings before the Administrator under § 8 (d) which are judicial in character, with provisions for notice and full hearing. The issue to be determined by the Administrator upon the hearing is whether the recommendations of the committee "are made in accordance with law, are supported by the evidence adduced at the hearing, and, taking into consideration the same factors as are required to be considered by the industry committee, will carry out the purposes of this section." Review of the Administrator's order fixing a wage is had under § 10 by petition to the circuit court of appeals on the record made before the Administrator. Thus under the provisions of § 8 (d) no wage is fixed which is not recommended by the committee, and not then without appropriate hearing, findings and order by the Administrator.

As already stated the Administrator's order of September 13, 1938, setting up the Industry Committee, de

fined the industry so as to include the manufacture of a variety of cotton, silk and rayon products, including those made by petitioners, and throughout the proceedings their products were so included. On recommendation of the Committee two changes in the definition were made with reference to the inclusion and exclusion of products which were near the borderline of the definition before the amendment. December 19, 1938, the order was amended so as to exclude knitted fabrics and to include other products such as blankets and sheets. A second amendment ordered by the Administrator on May 22, 1939, just before the Committee adopted its report, added to the Industry the manufacture of mixed products containing not more than 45 percent wool.

In all this we can find no failure to comply with the statute. Section 5 (a) directs that "the Administrator shall, as soon as practicable, appoint an industry committee for each industry" subject to the Act. But it does not direct a final definition of the industry to be made before the committee meets and such a requirement plainly would not comport with the purposes of the Act. Section 8 (f) provides that orders of the Administrator "issued under this section" which are the final orders fixing a wage "shall define the industries and classifications therein to which they are to apply." So far as the definition is open to attack, it is upon the record made before the Administrator if it there appears that the definition does not conform to the statute, or that the recommendations of the committee were based on a different definition of the industry from that finally made and so do not support an order for the industry as defined. But subject to these requirements which in

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'Here the Committee reconsidered its report, after the Administrator had redefined the industry on May 22, 1939, and again adopted its recommendations which had been agreed upon.

sure that recommendations of the committee and the order of the Administrator are based on the same definition of the industry, there is no provision of the statute preventing amendment of the definition while the matter is pending before the committee and no purpose or policy of the Act which would be served by precluding such amendments so long as the report of the committee is based on the amended definition. It is to the advantage of the administration of the Act that the completeness and accuracy of the definition should be reexamined and the definition revised with the aid of the committee at any time before its report is submitted. We find nothing in the statute to prevent it.

Section 3 (h) defines "Industry" as meaning "industry, or branch thereof, or group of industries." In defining the textile industry and in fixing for it a wage which with due regard to "economic and competitive conditions" will not substantially curtail employment in the industry it was appropriate for the Administrator to take into account competitive conditions. In defining the industry the Administrator took into account the competitive interrelationship of the fabrics included and the interchangeability of the looms employed in producing them; and in excluding the woolen industry he took account of its competitive relationships with the products included and the different nature of the establishments, labor forces and wage structures associated with the two types of product. On the record before us, we cannot say that in so doing he transgressed any provision of the statute. Nor can we say that in applying these tests he departed from its purpose. The inclusion of a given product in one industry or another, where both are subject to the Act, principally concerns convenience in administering the Act. For the provisions for classification with appropriate wage differentials afford ample opportunity for fixing an appropriate

wage with respect to any product whether it is placed in one industry or another. There is no serious contention and we find no basis for saying that the evidence does not support the Administrator's order with respect to exclusion of wool from the definition of the textile industry.

We conclude also that the composition of the Committee satisfies the requirements of the Act. The Committee consisted of twenty-one persons, seven selected from each of the three groups represented. Of the employer representatives five were cotton goods manufacturers, and four of these were from the southern states. The rayon and silk manufacturers each had one representative. Since these branches of the industry are predominantly northern they were selected from the north. Three of the seven members representing the public were from southern states, one was from Pennsylvania and three from the middle west. Two of the representatives of labor were from the south, three from the north and two of them from Washington, D. C. All five of the non-southern labor members of the Committee were executive officials of or connected with labor organizations, national in scope, which represented employees in the south. Thus nine of the members of the Committee were from the south, and the Administrator could have concluded that five others fairly represented the south.

While only 31 per cent of the factories in the industry are in the south, 51.5 per cent of the value of the product is produced in southern mills and 55 per cent of the wage earners in the industry are employed by those mills. Petitioners argue that since the south had a mathematical preponderance in the Industry the Administrator was required by the statute to appoint a majority of each group, or at least a majority of the members of the Committee from that region. But the requirement of the statute that the Administrator give "due