.... - (/"' . .... ·r ··~ :~ J ohns-}v'1anvi1le = TWENTY- Two EAST FoRTIETH STREET ': v/ ~ NEW YORK,N.Y. f· •. ·. Januar y 22, 1935 .· . Mr. M. F. Judd~ Secret ary, Raybes tos-Ma nhattan , Inc., Bridge port, Conn. Re: Mellon Institu te qf Indust rial Resear ch Srroposium o~ Dust Problem s Dear 1l:r. Judd: As· I indica ted to you over the telepho ne this afterno on, I am enclos ing a copy of a memorandum I prepar ed for Mr. Lewis H. Bro\vn regard ing my trip to Pittsbu rgh· last Tuesda y, Januar~- 15th, to attend the Symposium on Dust Problem s held under the auspic es of the Mellon Institu te of Indust rial Resear ch. Very truly yours, ~/ . .. ('\ . U ev-A. do~I-cn .~- C/(~o-z,v'r\ Vandiv er Brown Attorn ey VB:T Enclos ure JAN~ 0.1935:. ~ J&~ .----. SC-BE-00175 .. ~~ (.:u. (' ~s .- . ------ ! ... •• ~- ,.. ...-,... Mc-::J.Ofd~IDIT'.J i/i. ''/Yl\ J, ~ \ \ . fl · . HE:- !.iELLOil INS11: 'ID:LE OF Ii:DUS'!:!Uli.L ru:SE!..?.CH Sl1iPvDIUil ON DUST PP.OEL'E:!JS - PITTSBTJEGH- J ft.il. :15, 1 '?35 On or about Docmibcr 12, 1934 the l!ellou Institute hnvir..g 1odl.l'; tr!nl di::wase problems inviting thctl to nt tond a ceeting to be bcld under the nu~picc3 of the Institute on the 15th day of Jnr.:nary.. One of these :tr..vi tn. tions »as rccci ved by the t~:Jbestos Institute nnd, o.l though the Asbestos Iustitu ta did not nccopt ~d was not offic1<:ill y reprcm:n!t ed, Johns-}.tzm vllle Corporati on requested and obtuined pc-rclssio n to send a .representative . Tha invitation s expressly :;t~ted trot "attendan ce --at this 1:1eetillg need entail. no obligatio n'. . tho writer Johns-1~nnvillc wa:J represent ed at tJu3 r::eet!r.g by this rnemorm1dum. Approxicn tely 250 people were presont rcpcsentin r. over 50 inaus tries v:h.tch had ncceptcd the or invi tat1on of the UeLlon Insti tu.te. The Mellon !nsti tute rras greatly surprised at the re~arkablo response ~nd it is ~Y opinion that one cannot find a bcttP.r 1nd1co.tio n of the serious n~ture of the problems 1 t \Vas tha purpose of' tha mcotir.g to discuss ... I ttas able to nscertain that the llcllon Instttnte had been prompted to call the ~eeting by represent atives of the snnd and glass e.nd th·~ refractor- ies industl•ic s. F.epreson- . tnti ves of the:J~ industrie s con.fer~ed with !ir. E. R. l7eitllein,. Dfrcctor of the In::ti tute 1 and after advising ·hir:l of the nature· of their proble:n, o:r its wide-spre ad chnructer ~nd rrJ.I~routl cenacit'l..g aopects, suggested the need of some form or couccrted notion on the part of those industrie! l presently o:r potential ly involved. I unde:rstan d thnt ::!r. F. Yl. ShcT\1ood, Vice-Pres ident of Q';'i"en!l-I llinois Glass Coupany to.nd Mr. Bogor Ritchius, Presi- dent of the l~t!lerican He.fractor ies Institute, were tbe persons who pre !Ient cd the si tua tiou to the l!ellon . Ins ti tu te. J!r. Weidlein~ on behnlf of tho Institute , nereed to cooperate to · the extent o.f ca.ll1ne the meet~ and having. thH I·cpresent a ti ves spend n day in Pittsburg h as the Ruests ')f the In!Jti tute. Trtcre )T::tS sos.a prolic.inn ry d1:Jcu:.;sio n as to the poss1b111 ty of using the liellon Insti tutu as a clcurlr.g houso tor 1nfor!no.ti on nnd reser.1rch upon aspects of tho problei!l col!.t.'!I.On ·to all industrie s but def1n1to corruuitmont:J wcro postponed until after the holding or the ~eating. An impressiv e li9t of o~perts ~pecializing upon various aspects of the dust problcnl a ttemled the meetiug nnd ' I -2- delivered nddres~es. t~~on~ those ~ere Mr. A. c. Hirth~ a lm?Jer ns!30ci&ted with rf1111nms, Eversman and Morgan, Toledo, Ohio~ attorn€lys for q_~_!l.:::J;l:L+p.o1s_ Gla~s Coi!lpany; Dr. Bugene p. Pendergr~ss or the X-ray Laboratory, Universtty Hospital, Philadelphia; Dr. A. J. Lanza, Ass1stnnt Medical Director or the Uetropoli~~~llte Insurance Co~pany; Dr. R. R. Sayers, lledical Officer in Charge or U. S. Public Health Ser.v-lce; Professor Philip A. DriiL~er or the School of Public Uealth~ Harvnrd University; llr. F. Robertson Jones~ General Manager, Association of Casualty nnd Surety Executives; and Mr. Donald E. Cur.L~n~s, .Assistant Director, Saranac Laboratory for Study of 'IU.berculqs1s . The nddresses delivered by these spectslists, together wtth the open discu~sion that tollo~ed th~m, revealed, nmo~~ other thines, tho very cenacing character of the problem, its complex nature, the uncertaintie s attending nost of its aspects and the necessity of sooe foro of united action by ~"le afflicted industries . It was recognized thnt some aspects of the probleo. were pecul.iar to special industries-b ut 1t-1Yns equally evident that other aspects li"erc common to all. For exnnpl.e, only th'o forms of dust, namely., free silica and asbestos, are definitely k11own to produce disablil\1 fibrosis of the lung.. Even in the case of the so dusts the problems resultil"'..g thcre.from are quite different since the fibrosis resu.J.tii\1 fro:n silica is of a much more serious character than thG.t resultill,:~ fron asbestos in tlmt the former predisposes to tuberculosis and is ~ch mora likely to hs7e n ratal te~nation. On the other hand (and this illustrates one or tbe ~ost seriou3 aspects or the problem that is co~uon to nll dust producing industries) the tact th~t no other dust is lo1own to produce disability has not prevented entirely groundless claims ne~regating millions and even hundreds or millions or dollars being brouzht against industries which have no silica- or asbe::~tos dust hazard. For exa!llple~ Dr. Lanza pointed out thtit no one had ever maintained that gypsum dust was harmlill end 7et~ nevertheless , the gyps~ industry had suits pending ~gainst it covering cla~s in excess of tour million-doll ars. It appeared that among the problems coo.mon to allindustries wera the fol1o~ing: (1) The ~en~ce of nmbulnnca chnsil~ lawyers in combination '~1 th unscrupulous doctors. The uncertaintie s surrounding diagnosis of any of the various forms. of pneumonocon iosis are so ~anr that a que~tion or fnct is presented 1n every case. Expert testicony can be produced by both plaint1f.f und def'endant and it is ~or the Jury to decide whose e~pcrts ere .. ..· ~ -.3corre ct in their interp retati ons. In makin g this decision~ the jury is not likely to favor the opinio n or the exper ts produ ced by the emplo yer. (2) The desir abilit y or ankin~ variou s dust disea ses compe nsable under prope rly drawn One or the wor~en's compe nsatio n laws. 8 speak ers stated that tue strong est bulwa rk again st fUture disns ter ror indus try is the enactm ent or prope rly drawn occup ationa l disea se legis lation ". SUch legis lation ;;ould (a) elinin ate the jury nnd e~power a Ued1c al Board to pass upon the CT~stence or the disea se and tile exten t or the disab ility; (b) elimin ate the shyst er lawye r and the quack docto r since fees would· be strict ly limite d by the lew; and (c) permi t the corre cting or 1n1 t:f,.al mista kes 1n the makim .or award s by provid ing for hearin g a to reduce or elinin ata award s if proof could be adduc ed that the claim ant was not disab led or that the exten t of his disab ility had been overestim ated. (3) Probl cns of venti lation , dust collec ting and elimi nation , &nd respir atory devic es. for dust (4) The estab lishin g ot standa rds {a) inatio n, determ size cle parti and ing count (b) for the taking or x-ray s for diagn ostic use, and (c) for the intorp reta t1on o:r the marldn gs on the .rums so produ ced. At the close of' the discu ssion a 1!r.. -Kurtz , Vicen Presi dent of ~€rican Refra ctorie s Corpo ration , made a motio a nt appoi g meetin the of an that Mr. Willia m P. Ynnt, Chairm iduals nomin a t:lng cooci ttee who would nomin ate a group of indivtleans and nays of.' tion la to serve as a co:l!lli ttee for the fornu .to brin@ about effec tive coope ration or some charn cter bet'ife en phase s the vnriou n indus tries for t~ect1ng and co:-:1bating those d carrie r1as n ::lotio o£ the dust proble c co::n:lon to all. This upon and d and a tTominn ting Coo~1 ttee t:!.p;Jointed )'1hich retire iduals retur nim pl'"ese nted to the tncetin g the rw.me:s or seven indiv plnced to act as such Co~~lttee. No other nnccs r~ving been Co~lttee in no~ination, the follo~ir~ were electe d to act as sthe lontod repre! and repor t back to the vnriou .s indus tries und group ally origin at the neetil: lg or to whom the invita tion had been extand edt . ' - ________ -4- Vandiver Brown represent ing A9bestos, Cork and Uon-t!etal lic: ..__.._ Dr. B. D. Snklatwal la represent ing Chcmicalt Abrasives , /uloys n.nd E. o. Jones represent ing A. w. Sher~oad Uon-rl3r:::"o~s tletals Foundrie~ represent ing Glass Sand, Ground Sand and Glass · l!nnu.tnctu ra A. J. Gentholts represent ing Iron, Steel and Orcs ..· A. J. R. Curti~ representi ng· Lime, Limestone , Ce6ent and , Gypsum Roger A. Hitchins represent ing Re.frn.ctori~s~Ceramics ·I explained to the other met::~bers and Clc~ of" the Co!:Imi ttee thnt I bsd been sent to the meeti~ solely as an observer nnd had no nuthority from Johns~anville Corpora·tt on to accept membershi p on the Conmi ttea and certainly none fro:-1 tha J\sbestos Industry as a· whole. I was urged, however, to r:-e~t rrith the Committee and agreed. to do so on tm condition that I niF;ht withdraw if approvnl of ny serving in that cepacity should not be fortl-lcom:!..ng. ! point.ed out tho.t !llL'tibr:rs of the l;.~bcstos Industrf. did not care to be assoctate d in the m11~s of the public or or employees with those industrie s t!hose proble=t was ellicosis nnd ti1at for this renson I relt there eight be some opponitio n to ha'ling·: n represent ative of the Asbestos Industry ;rork1ng with them.. I did,indica tc,.ho-n'e ver, that I rclliz.od nu,merous .ospects of our problem were the sam.e nnd that if cooperatio n could be worked out ...-1thout nn undue amount of publicity~ Johns-JJl! nville Corporati on nn:i p!.'H"hap-9 the Asbeutos Industry ha n whole, \1oulq .1n nll likelihoo d be \'tilling to cooper&te . It Tfas the opinion of tha Comoittee that this condition would not present any insuperab le d1£f1cult y. l!r. ·Roger Hitchins, President of .ftJ"ierican Rofractor ies Institute , was cade Chair~n of the Committee ~hich held a meeting Tucsdny evening nftcr the close of the Syopos!um . Ur. H1tchln3 was designate d to nect with lir. Weidlein of the Hellen Institute and ask him to ~akc n proposal in definite and concrete form ns to 'i..he rtill.lll:ler in which tho Uellon Institute might be 1ndu~trio5 fol~ a fea of ~25,000. recciYed and approved by the r..~obers been has When this proposal submitted to 1.he various industrie s be ;1111 or the Committee , it it be accepted End tha. t the v· Pious thnt -c·i th tho recoc...-'":lendn t1.on industrie s or individual . corporatio ns agrc~e to stand r;ood fur a proportio nate aoount or the fee not in excess of a definite able to assist thn various specified sULl. .. -s) . I gather ed that t..l-Ia proposa~ which would be 1~~-de b:r the llellon In:~tltute uould include _, a:llOng others. , tb.c rollow ing: (n) The co!!l:>iling of n compre hensive bihlit)g "raphy or all books, treatis es nne! publ1c atiomJ dealing with any ~spcct or the dust problem; and the evalua tion thereo r. (b)- Tho compil ing, dlgesti r.,z and cor:ela ting or datn and infor~tion from variou s subscr ibing indust ries relativ e to their partic ular experi - ences. (c) The dra~ti~~ of npprov ed ~orkcen's compen sation leg1nln t1on_c over1n g pnetllllonocon1os1a. (d) The digest ing of the laws ot the variou s stntes which might arrcct the operat ions or indust ries presen ting a dust hazard . (c) The outlini ng or problem s requir ing researc h or the estnbl lsloen t of' fixed standa rds and the preven tion or duplic ation of effort and expens e along these lines • .The intarc st with n:-hich the discus sions l1ere follm:1 ed and the enthus iasm which greete d the propos al for unified e~rort lead ae to believ e that the necessa~y supnor t will be found tor some sort or progrn.m along the above lines. VAllDIVEP. BROWli Januar y 18, 1935