Document 86GOap7g5dNqZvK1M2OY4a6m

/ Q J \VJUU-0 Cn-cS TELEGRAM S: E T H Y L P O R TAl S O W E S T . __ - >i<^ ?! Telephone: -V V I C T O R I A t&V - " I 4 ^ I - - ' ,?"/ *Ze ETHY L EX PORT CORPORATION . I n c o r p o r a te d In th e S ta te o f D e la w a r e . U. S . A. with lim ited liability. , THAMES HOUSE,MILLBANTK ' ; LONDON, S.W.I / Copy to Dr. Graham"Edgar* H ead Office: 135 E A S T 4Z<S> S T R E E T . . NEW YO R K .U .S.A Dr. R. A. Kehoe, . College of Medicine, ^ University o f Cincinnati, CIH3INNATI. Ohio. V^ 15th December, 1936. Dear Dr. Kehoe, . ,v < ; . t.\ . - - ^ I have just returned from, a trip to India and the Ear East inspecting the various mixing p lan ts, the reports on which I am en closin g herewith. Summarising these p lan ts, I found that the ones operated by the A siatic (Shell) are very sa tisfa c to ry . The plants are w ell b u ilt according to our sp e c ific a tio n s, and the medical supervision i s conscien tiou sly carried out. : - ; ''V ' * - .\ ' The Standard-Vacuum have, at the present time, only three plants in the Ear East. The one at Palembang, which has been in operation for some two years, i s e n tir e ly sa tisfa c to ry , but one cannot say the same for th eir plant at Shanghai, which was b u ilt according to plans sent out from th eir Company in New York, and i s too small fo r their present output. Rot only t h is , but th eir medical supervision has been undertaken, and I understand paid fo r, by th eir own Company, which simply means that the operatives v i s i t the doctor every three months instead of the doctor going down to the in s t a lls - tio n and inspecting the gas masks and plant at the same time as the individuals# f . ' ` . c The Texas Company--have but one plant, na;mely i.n Shanghai, which Il again has been b u ilt according to plans sent out from New York, which I cannot : ' help fe e lin g were e n tire ly inadequate. The only ru les and-regulations received in Shanghai cover bulk blending, in consequence o f which there i s no adequate description o f the correct method of blending w ith drums. E ull drums were -, stored in the changing room and empty drums outside the blending plan t. The .; washing f a c i l i t i e s were e n tir e ly inadequate, there bein^ no hot water although -i; the thermometer drops below freezin g in the w inter. The cloth in g and equipment /" i s v ir tu a lly non -existent, and the actual eductor system i s not equipped with | the necessary gauges, and there i s no medical supervision covering th is plan t. * I t seems to me that a situ a tio n such as t h is i s not in our best in te re sts and should never have occurred. As you know, i t i s not always e a s y ,: when once a company has started operating a blending plant, to g e t the necessary - a ltera tion s s a tis fa c to r ily arranged. I t would be very much simpler i f no Eluid were shipped to a plant u n til we made quite certain that the blending f a c i l i t i e s , ' " were co rrectly erected and the regulations understood. ^" . At Kehoe. .2 Dat e 15-12-36 b/hen in S hanghai I a rra n g e d f o r D r. T . B. Dunn to c a r r y o u t ro u tin e in sp ectio n of a l l the p la n ts in Shanghai as w ell as th e personnel ev ery th r e e m onths, and f o r h is rem u n e ratio n to be p a id him by th e S tan d a rd Yaeuum in S h a n g h a i, who i n t u r n w i l l d e b i t t h e i r New York o f f i c e . I gave D r. Dunn th e n e c e s s a ry l i t e r a t u r e f o r t h i s in s p e c tio n and a s u f f ic ie n c y o f in s p e c t io n r e p o r t s . He w i l l commence t h i s r o u t i n e i n s p e c t i o n fro m t h e 1 s t January, 1937. I t i s p o ssib le th a t th e Standard-Vacuum w ill e re c t a p la n t in Hankow and th e T exas in C an to n . I n th e c a s e o f th e fo rm e r I have ask e d th e Standard-Vacuum to arran g e f o r s a tis f a c to r y m edical in s p e c tio n and to d e b it u s th ro u g h t h e i r New Y ork o f f i c e , a s o u t l i n e d a b o v e . I n th e l a t t e r c a s e , we a r e a l r e a d y r e t a i n i n g th e s e r v i c e s o f a d o c to r to c o v e r th e S h e l l p l a n t , who c o u ld a lso cover th e Texas p la n t i f t h i s were e re c te d . He would much a p p r e c i a t e d i t i f you c o u ld ta k e t h i s p o in t up w ith b o th th e T ex as an d th e S tan d ard -V acu u m i n New York an d th u s k eep u s f u l l y in fo rm ed o f t h e i r a c t i v i t i e s so t h a t we can make th e n e c e s s a r y a rra n g e m e n ts fo r m edical su p erv isio n . I n a tu ra lly d iscu ssed the qu estio n p e rta in in g to m otor g aso lin e w ith th e Standard-V acuum in th e T a r E a s t, a lth o u g h a t th e moment th e y a re n o t u sin g le a d . I nas v e ry s u rp ris e d to fin d th a t t h e i r r e a c tio n was u n fav o u rab le t o t h e i n t r o d u c t i o n o f le a d owing t o th e su p p o sed h e a l t h h a z a r d s , b u t when c e r t a i n co rre sp o n d e n ce was shown me, c o p ie s o f w hich I a l s o e n c lo s e , i t was obvious th a t no o i l company would w ish to m arket a le a d tr e a te d m otor g a so lin e i f th e dangers suggested in t h i s correspondence were a c tu a lly e x is te n t. From th e d a te s o f th e s e l e t t e r s you w i l l n o tic e t h a t th e c o r r e s pondence is n o t r e c e n t. However, sin ce th e re h as been no subsequent re f u tin g o f t h e s e id e a s th e S tandard-V acuum a r e s t i l l g u id e d by th e n . Me w ould be much o b lig e d i f you would ta k e t h i s whole m a tte r up w ith th e Standard-V acuum , p a r t i c u l a r l y D r. S ch o en leb er, and re q u e st th a t t h e ir people in th e F ar E a s t, namely C hina, Hongkong, M alay P e n in s u la r and th e D utch E a s t I n d ie s , be in fo rm ed o f th e tru e s itu a tio n th a t, p ro v id in g th e y c a rry out our in s tr u c tio n s fo r b len d in g and such th in g s a s c le a n in g sto ra g e ta n k s , a le a d tr e a te d g a s o lin e can be h an d led in e x a c tly th e same way a s one u n tr e a te d . You can n a t u r a l l y u n d e rs ta n d th e d i f f i c u l t i e s of i n t e r e s t i n g such m a rk e te rs in le a d when th e s e e rro n e o u s con ceptions are prev alen t. Tiith b e s t w ish e s f o r C h ris tm a s an d th e New Y e a r, and k i n d e s t personal regards, , FMST/BB KE' 0007131