A. F. Townsend to M. F. Judd Questioning the Cost of Otto Binder's Services (1936)

A one-page letter of July 17, 1936, from A. F. Townsend of Raybestos-Manhattan in Passaic, New Jersey, to M. F. Judd of the Raybestos Division, on Otto L. Binder, the dust counter on the company's payroll since 1934. The arrangement began with a letter from "brother Brown, the attorney of Johns-Manville," of May 29, 1934, and up to June 30, 1936, "we have paid Binder $3,631.90." Townsend asked how long the work must go on: "we have had only one report, which candidly I don't think very much of. We have not seen Binder around here for I should say at least over a year."

What it shows

The letter shows how one of Raybestos-Manhattan's division heads saw the dust-counting arrangement two years in: as a running expense with little to show for it at Passaic. Judd answered on July 21 that, under the new arrangement with Johns-Manville, the company would pay for Binder only when it used him (Judd to Townsend, July 21, 1936).

In Johns-Manville's index

Johns-Manville's attorneys indexed the Sumner Simpson Papers. Their index describes this document as follows:

States that company has paid Binder $3,631.90 since 1934 agreement between J-M and RM. Says that Binder has not been to Passaic for over a year. States Binder's work is not highly regarded. Questions whether company could shut down this expense.

Related documents

• Vandiver Brown to M. F. Judd on Sharing Otto Binder's Salary and Expenses (1934)
• Raybestos-Manhattan Letters on Hiring Otto L. Binder to Take Dust Counts (1934)
• W. H. Dunn to M. F. Judd on Raybestos-Manhattan's Costs for Otto Binder, 1934 and 1935 (1936)
• M. F. Judd to A. F. Townsend on the New Arrangement for Otto Binder (1936)

About this copy

This is document 02951 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.