Vandiver Brown to M. F. Judd on Metropolitan Life's Bill and Otto Binder's Work (1935)

A one-page letter of January 25, 1935, from Vandiver Brown, Johns-Manville's attorney, to M. F. Judd, secretary of Raybestos-Manhattan, "Re: Metropolitan Survey," with its enclosure. The enclosed memo from Dr. W. J. McConnell to Dr. A. J. Lanza of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company listed field travel and maintenance costs through December 1934 "to be charged to the Asbestos Association": $355.68 for four Johns-Manville plants and $220.87 for Raybestos-Manhattan's Manhattan Rubber Works and General Asbestos & Rubber plants. Brown also reported that Mr. Jeffords had complained about Otto Binder, the man hired to take dust counts, and agreed that New York should be Binder's "home" location for expenses.

What it shows

The letter and memo show Johns-Manville and Raybestos-Manhattan paying Metropolitan Life's field costs for its dust survey of their plants, each company paying its own share. Brown regretted that Metropolitan Life, "which we all assumed would control and direct Mr. Binder's activities during the preliminary period," had not told him sooner of its dissatisfaction. The complaints, he wrote, "do not involve his ability" but "the diligence with which he has been applying himself," and he would see that Binder was given "a further opportunity."

In Johns-Manville's index

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

02379-02380. Transmittal letter for memo from Lanza regarding payment due from J-M and Raybestos. Mentions complaint by Jeffords re: O. Binder's lack of diligence in the performance of his job. States that this will be discussed with Dr. Lanza and brought to Binder's attention. Agreement that New York be designated as Binder's home location and expenses reimbursed to him only when activities take him away from New York.

02378. Cost of traveling expenses and maintenance to be billed to the Asbestos Association through 12/34. J-M costs are $355.68. Raybestos costs are $220.87.

Related documents

• Raybestos Division to W. H. Dunn on Johns-Manville's Invoices for Otto Binder's Work (1934)
• Vandiver Brown to M. F. Judd on Sharing Otto Binder's Salary and Expenses (1934)

About this copy

These are documents 02379-02380, 02378 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.