Sumner Simpson to Vandiver Brown Forwarding a Letter from Asbestos Magazine (1941)

A one-page letter of October 31, 1941, from Sumner Simpson, president of Raybestos-Manhattan, to Vandiver Brown, Johns-Manville's secretary and attorney, enclosing a letter from A. S. Rossiter, editor of the trade magazine "Asbestos." "I am not answering it," Simpson wrote, "but will leave it to you to handle as you see fit." He added that he had not seen Dr. Leroy Gardner at Lake Placid in August, had had no report from him lately on the asbestos dust experiments, and wondered whether Brown had.

What it shows

Rossiter's letter is not in this file; the fact describes it as asking whether Simpson objected to a review of a book on pneumoconiosis in the November issue. In 1935 Rossiter had told Simpson the magazine published nothing on asbestosis at the industry's request (her 1935 letter). Here Simpson leaves the answer to J-M's attorney. Three days later Brown wrote to Gardner asking for his report (Brown's letter of November 3).

About this copy

Only Simpson's cover letter is in this file. Brown's reply of November 3, 1941, with the "ostrich-like attitude" remark that J-M's chronology quotes, is on the site as a Sumner Simpson Papers page.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

A.S. Rossiter writes to Sumner Simpson stating that she is considering including a review of "the book on 'pneumoconiosis'" in the November issue of Asbestos. Rossiter asks if Simpson has any objections. Simpson asks for Vandiver Brown's comments on 10/31/41. Brown writes to Simpson on 11/3/41 that he had told Rossiter that J-M has no objection to her publishing the review, but that he felt a number of her subscribers would dislike an article on this subject published in the trade magazine. Brown explains: "I had in mind the ostrich-like attitude which has been evidenced from time to time by some members of the Industry." Brown reports that he believes Rossiter will not publish the review.