John R. Dillon's Secretary to Sumner Simpson Sending a Clipping on the Killed Silicosis Inquiry (1936)

A one-page letter of May 27, 1936, from the secretary to John R. Dillon, of 25 Broad Street, New York, to Sumner Simpson, president of Raybestos-Manhattan, sending "in accordance with Mr. Dillon's instructions" a clipping on "Silicosis" that "may be of interest to you." The enclosed clipping, from the New York Herald Tribune of May 26, 1936, reported that Representative Vito Marcantonio of New York said his resolution calling for "a broad inquiry into the prevalence of silicosis in various industries" had been "strangled" in the House Rules Committee. Marcantonio said more than 3,000,000 workers were exposed to the silicosis hazard and added: "I am afraid we stepped on somebody's toes."

What it shows

The clipping ties Marcantonio's resolution to the deaths of "hundreds of men" from Silicosis after work on the Hawk's Nest water diversion tunnel in West Virginia. Simpson's answer to Dillon is his letter of May 28: the inquiry, he wrote, would only have duplicated what the insurance companies and the foundrymen's association were doing.

In Johns-Manville's index

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

02850. Transmittal letter for newspaper clipping "Silicosis Inquiry Killed, Marcantonio Complains."

02851. Newspaper clipping "Silicosis Inquiry Killed, Marcantonio Complains." Explains resolution calling for broad inquiry into the prevalance of silicosis in various industries had been killed in the House Rules Committee.

Related documents

• Sumner Simpson to John R. Dillon on the Killed Silicosis Inquiry (1936)

About this copy

These are documents 02850, 02851 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.