Sumner Simpson to Thomas L. Gatke Regretting Gatke's Refusal to Join the Saranac Study (1937)

A one-page letter of January 29, 1937, from Sumner Simpson, president of Raybestos-Manhattan, to Thomas L. Gatke, president of the Gatke Corporation of Chicago, answering Gatke's letter of January 26 refusing to sign the agreement for the "Asbestos Dust investigation." Simpson regretted that Gatke had not signed on the basis of the others, or at least at the $250 a year Union Asbestos & Rubber paid, and said the group would "have to go along without you." He added: "We should like every one in the industry to feel they were interested in Asbestos Dust results and the probable dangers to our employees."

What it shows

Sumner Simpson, writing to a fellow brake-lining maker, gave "the probable dangers to our employees" from asbestos dust as the reason the whole industry should back Dr. Leroy Gardner's experiments at Saranac Laboratory. The letter answers Gatke's refusal of January 26, and a copy went to Vandiver Brown of Johns-Manville. Gatke replied on February 1 that he had not meant to refuse (Gatke to Simpson).

In Johns-Manville's index

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

Acknowledges receipt of letter dated 1/26/37. Regrets Gatke Co. will not join in study.

Related documents

• Thomas L. Gatke to M. F. Judd Refusing to Sign the Saranac Agreement (1937)
• Sumner Simpson's Secretary to Vandiver Brown Enclosing Gatke's Letter (1937)
• Thomas L. Gatke to Sumner Simpson on Sharing the Saranac Cost by Number of Employees (1937)

About this copy

This is document 03183 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.