Vandiver Brown to Lewis Silverman of Union Asbestos & Rubber on the Air Hygiene Foundation (1936)

A one-page letter of December 17, 1936, from Vandiver Brown, Johns-Manville's general attorney, to Lewis J. Silverman of Union Asbestos & Rubber Co. (Unarco) in Chicago, thanking him for kind words about the Air Hygiene Foundation. Brown writes that the foundation "deserves the support of those concerns which have a dust problem." Its return was hard to measure in dollars, he says, "but the creation of experts on this subject, who understand and sympathize with Industry's viewpoint, impresses me as being a good form of insurance against wild-eyed legislation and the sensationalism with which the subject is inclined to be treated in the papers and even in the Halls of Congress."

What it shows

Brown adds a warning: "We who feel our problems are solved in Illinois should bear in mind that statutes can be, and often are, amended or repealed." Illinois's new law, which Brown had studied closely (July 1936 memo), limited what workers with dust disease could recover. The letter shows how J-M's attorney described the value of supporting the foundation to another asbestos company.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

In a letter to L.J. Silverman (Union Asbestos and Rubber Company) dated 12/17/36, V. Brown discusses the importance of assisting the Air Hygiene Foundation and points out the importance of developing experts "who understand and sympathize with Industry's viewpoint". Brown states this is a good form of "insurance against wild-eyed legislation and the sensationalism with which the subject is inclined to be treated in the papers and in the Halls of Congress". He points out that "we who feel our problems are solved in Illinois, should bear in mind that statutes can be and often are amended or repealed."