Raybestos-Manhattan's General Manager to Vandiver Brown on the Mellon Institute Group (1935)

A one-page letter from the general manager of Raybestos-Manhattan to Vandiver Brown, Johns-Manville's attorney, after he and Sumner Simpson, the company's president, had read Brown's report on the Mellon Institute dust symposium. The company felt it hardly needed "the additional expense of joining the group" that would use the Mellon Institute's services, "for the reason that we have a pretty definite program which yourselves and ourselves are following." The writer grants the value of getting other industries interested "in order that proper legislation may be enacted," but feels "we could determine what is best for our own industry."

What it shows

The letter adds that Simpson had suggested that day that "possibly the time is ripe" to interest the Asbestos Institute, "or at any rate, as many of the manufacturers in the industry," though the writer thought J-M and Raybestos-Manhattan should make "a little more progress" first, and asks Brown's view. It shows the two companies treating their dust and legislative work as a joint program, and weighing whether to bring in the rest of the asbestos industry. Brown's report is at Brown's memorandum on the Mellon Institute symposium.

About this copy

The letter is signed only "General Manager," with typist's initials that look like "MFJ-G." The writer may have been M. F. Judd, who signs as Raybestos-Manhattan's secretary with the same initials (Judd to Brown, January 1935), but that is a guess.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

Johns-Manville's own chronology of what the company knew describes this document as follows:

Appears to be correspondence from the GM of Raybestos to Vandiver Brown stating that he and Mr. Simpson (RM) do not feel it's necessary to "make use the services of the Mellon Institute" at that time, and that JM and RM have a "pretty definite program" with regard to presumably dust reduction/collection, testing of workers, etc. Also references that it may be time to get "as many manufacturers in the industry" as possible interested in working together on legislation that would benefit them.