Document 9Gz71NrxqVymGBbbL4gaRjde

FILE NAME: Raybestos-Manhattan (RBM) DATE: 0000 DOC#: RBM087 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Phila Record Newspaper Article - Asbestos Mill Head Attacks Expose of Labor Conditions; Author Cites Facts in Proof  1/ . "- : ." , *> ., ' ' .P H IL A D E L P H IA n .-? * ' : - R E C O R D , :.'K( Asbestos M ill Head Attacks Expose oi Labor Conditions; Author Cites Facts in Proof Equipment Guards 'Against Dust Malady, Executive Asserts--Insurance Report Quoted in Reply by Spivak. E D IT O R 'S N O T E : John L . Spivak, noted liberal writer, in a tries of articles entitledr `7 Interview America," completed in . y ts^ rd cy's Record, told of the suffering of workers in Southern asbestos m ills. Today The Record prints a defense of f/i m ill* by Georgs S . Fabel, president of tho Southern Asbestos Company, end a rebuttal by Spivak. By GEOKGE S. FABEL Z ;.:o r oi Tha Record: B y JO H N Z . SPXVAJC Editor o The Record: Dear Sir: S ir :--I am verv gratefu l fo r your I have in m v hands a copy ct courtesy In sending me George S. your A u gu st 30 edition and re Kabel's letter and gran tin g me the fer to an article by Jo h n L . Spi privilege of answering it. v ak . To say that we are surprised M r. Fabel's assertion th at " In re th-ic a paper with your reputation cent insurance exam inations and published such obviously uncon- court trials it has been testified ir:::id dramatized t o n m y r o t by competent doctors that no one wov.'.i be putting it m ildly. I f has been known to contract as- c*wh one o f M r. Spivak's articles bestosU, or -what is known as the ss far from the facts as Article dust m alady, in textile mills within X o . i , on the asbestos m ill evils, Id months as is alleged by M r. then you .mould not lend your S p iv a k ," Id quite im portant. caiurr.r.? and certainly not place I do not know where M r. Fabel the editor's note preceding his ar got the IS-uionth period. W hat I tid e wmch m orally approves the | said was. quoting D r. P.ey, the city fau'.s to your reading public. health officer: "They (asbestos miU G etting to the facts, the only workers) can't last more than five are>:os. m ill he can. refer to m to seven years if they're white.'* O `.r'.ocre, X . C ., is ours. W e are Obviously, if such testim ony was affiliated v/nh the Therm oid Com given at court trials, then persons pany ir. T renton, X . J . # w hich also suffering from asbestosis were seek h as*a textile null and undoubtedly ing com pensation which had been the a rtic le referred 'to has come denied them , for injuries they to the attention of their employes claimed resulted from their work. well--ur.rest w ill be a conse It Is to be regretted th a t Mr* Fab el quence. did n o t see AC to tell fo r w hich side T a k in g his article In sequence the com petent doctors he mentions and trying to answer it without gave their testimony. Were they emotion (although that tear jerk not doctors paid by the asbestos in g style o f Spivak'a increases our miU to defend the claim s against fu rv). In recent insurance exam it? inations and court trials it has Insurance Paper. bc#n teatided by competent doc tors that no one has been known S. G . KopUlna and L . E . Ludwig, to contract asbestoata, or w hat is of the Penn M utual L ife Insurance know n as the dust m alady. In Com pany, prepared a paper on "As textile m ills w ithin IS m onths, as bestos M ills" covering conditions In Is alleged by Mr. Spivak. the United States. The paper was Bared by X-ray. read at the F ifth Inform al Inter In one or two isolated Instances company Occupational H ating Con _ it. w as found th a t asoestosis had ference at the home office o f the contracted by employes after John Hancock M utual 1--- Life ---- Ir.sur- l .t A* M <" ' r > Till* e m u * t r t tm o n v ( I f ?<|dvnU (* y,n cbUnt ! TvmiM Irnvn ftmml Mila ivi*1ImI>Io O f !tr*T=l-<> M m > iryca * ...... h u e* ivmov.M fm m the 1 , m m id eviKv.m. Affi*r eott- tr.ctlnjf It w ere n*>r fu r th e r nffcctril. In oUter wonts the disease is not yiogrc^rtlv*. W o hnve employee In our milt Vho w ith tie over 15 y ears -jro owl hov* worked under the conditions that Spivak attacks. Thnv hnve pn*vcd the most cureful pihM to_ a^.hjrct ^ ffc "^1 I ! p,i |tt (lift ('iiltnl w h i c h tl*' <ivnr- employe wmlc*. Along wifli mic.h iirotertlve device* * Unit cUmli*. (Ion y s l r n w , mi<ivir<*-Ud*n pltorc, w cll-llghiyd, wHI*v<*ntUntrcl buildings, prew nt a decidodiv nmre favorable picture than Jn form er years. MW e do. however, feel hat until we have the benefit of our experi ence with this clean of worker* we should continue to look upon thoee who m ay bo exposed to Jorge m iantitU s of dust, such as employe* s*c*r*e*e*n*i*ng tnand^ carding, as rpiisckkintgo. Store Opens at 9 Store Closes a t 3 :y] * " *, v c ilu V r ? f -<. f to. T. i `M _M rtm& A\ ` -JN' mI k* M - t* W uflB ajB & e isai* i u ir & 9 ,` { 3 ? __________ Ju st about 50 of these hnnclsou cru-seal-dyed coney, Bcavcr-d\^ cul, Lnpin, Leopard cat, Ri other furs in the group. .. < ` NorlhCara- i oony and DOWN STAIRS ST O R E -M i.R C*'J`:'\.-, *'i*rd V'lipltlnt; In #>UT 8* hcstr.a plant for so short ft period fii Spivak otnlme. - Jlerord (noted* Bpivttk. quoits th* testimony of ft Negro shout "lint from e*bcf03 In youi lu n g i." I f Spivak actually pot that UrtJm ony then that m r Negro *lo probably believes In vocdoolsm. II evidently doesn't know Negroos. W h*n they refer to lint In asbestos they mean the inrge particles of asbestos which is not injurious to workers' health. : Competent medical Authorities fire en record that workers will not contract asbrstosts from lint and can only become afflicted when they have a weakened Jung condition to begin with, end then after exposure over lonp periods of time to dust containing particles less than ten m icrons in size. W ith respect to hi statements about the stretch-out system, that 1 pure'unadulterated hokum since the article refers largely to colored workers or at least relies on thei? testimony. No stretch-out system in our asbestos m ill has ever been Attempted in any sense o f the word with respect to colored workers. Approxim ately a year ago in our twisting department, where white help is employed, due to lack of experienced twister help, we did c. give operators more spindles to get greater production but in so doing the operators earned more money and not less money. Clean Bill of Health. * In 1929 a twister made $18 per Week for 60 hours. A fter the* code twisters earned $35.74 per week for 40 hours. It Is true that N . R . A. investigators, because of such agi tators as Spivak, did make an in vestigation of the c o m p l a i n t against our company known as the stretch-out system and the re sult of their investigation is & mat ter of public record. It gave the Southern Asbestos Company ft clean bill of health. The statements made by Mr. Spivak involving Doctor G. T. Rev are absolutely denied by Doctor R ev. We are receiving a letter to that effect both as to any knowl edge in connection with the in form ation given in the article or that he knows of the colored fel low' referred to by M r. Spivak. t o t a .' W e supply each and every work S?: er In our plant with a respirator free of charge, including a mask which is Approved by the Govern ment Bureau of Standards. No employe ran start work with us unless he has signed up and agrees to use the respirator and every one :c f our employes has received one. No Railroad Near. * As further evidence of the lack c f truth or understanding in these alleged reporlorial qualities of Spi v ak, please be advised that the S7s-v i .' section of Charlotte called H eaven" is fa r away from "Blue any railroad, although ho talks about #,We sat for a long tim e talking find a freight train load with tex tiles and asbestos rattled past." ^ *`\ A s to the help being colored the extent of 91) per cent, only to 22 per cent of our employes today are colored and they are used as un skilled laborers in receiving, ship ping and power house departments. You undoubtedly have heard from tW Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, who have taken ex ception to the Article. Now, out of fairness, we .ask you to reprint this in rrmnnhblv prominent apace. r Called Misleading. ' We havo felt certain heretofore that the Philadelphia Record was n^ of ihe finest journals. How can you print such misleading propa ganda? W c have bad incalculable expense thl Hist half Uvldcnca our xtnt*m*tit) because of "walk ing dclp^iii***'" Ilka Spivak agitat ing and instilling unfounded frnr in the poor Ncgror* minds, f a i r plav and vnur dilignMon to m u- airuoMv indtiRiry in your vlrimty ab'-iM iirpiUi. v,iu to print tins. VffV IfuJv I , " ' ~ * r - N-V L-e gran ted. MW. V Inquiry Supported. "*Our personal inspection of plants . . . convinces us that all those who nre engaged In operations prior to the spinning and weaving of nibestos are subjected to extremely huge quantities of dust that must, from Us natural chemical form, contain a high percentage of In jurious materials. Our conversation and correspondence with physicians in these towns bear out to some extent the unfavorable findings of our honored investigators abroad " D r. Key's denial th&t he said precisely what 1 quoted strikes me as rather sad. I can account for it only as an incident in the life of a city official who recants what he said because of the influence, if not control, of mill manufacturers over the city's political life. It Is par ticularly sad to me because D r. R ev's letters regarding masks for workers are on file at the United States Department of Health in W ashington. Now, as to M r. F ab el'a vehement denial of the stretch-out system. O f course he would deny it; em ployers always do. B ut, possibly Mr. Fabel can give us a statement from* A . F . of Ju headquarters In Charlotte, or from Mr. Jackson, whom I quoted and who was a member of the N . R . A . board, that there was no stretch-out system? I am afraid a simple denial from a m anufacturer Is not enough. W ork ers told me otherwise and though M r. Fabel casts aspersions on the pathetic tales told by Negro workers, I. who have seen them coming from the mills after a day on the stretch-out, believe them. Mr. Fabel m ight also look up the complaints in the local N. R . A. compliance board in Charlotte against his company. I saw several of them. Free Respirators. M r. Fabel says that he supplies all his workers with respirators free of charge. Granted that that is true, it would be interesting to know since when these respirators have been supplied and how many compensation actions have been brought against' the company lor injuries to health as a result of the absence of these masks or with the use of these masks. It is very significant that Mr. Fabel's company compels e a c h worker to sign to use the respirator. M r. Fabel knows as well as I that you make a worker sign to use a certain object only for the legal defense of the employer. It is of no value to the worker except to make it difficult or impossible to collect compensation should he be come ill `despite the respirator. Lastly, Mr. Fabel denies that there is a railroad running near Blue Heaven as I described it. Un fortunately, I do not have a picture in my possession, but if Mr. Fabel will visit Blue Heaven, he will be short-sighted indeed if he dqes not see the railroad. Agltntlon Denied. Mr. Fabel harps on the belief that my report of what I saw and heard will "cause unrest," that "because' of such agitators as Spivak, N . R . A . investigators did make an Inves tigation of the complaint against our compeny about the stretch-out system" and that I am "a walking delegate agitating and Instilling un founded fear in the poor Negroes' minds." No, Mr. Fabel. I am not the agi tator. Tho agitator is the mill owner who forces his workers to labor under conditions which arc a shame to this country and to hu manity. All the agitation in the world cannot take root where woi it ers are contented. When mill own ers will eliminate the conditions that l saw and which the workers so tragically described to me, then vs will have no f*ar of such re* A good-looking, strongly sewn cf case 35: inches. Three pockets with ful inch gussc between. Straps all 'round. T1 ee-way loi fastening. Tan only. Mail ttnd phone orders, call RITtf house 1000. DOWN STAIRS STORE---GALLERY --CENTRAL S e p t@Esnlb$'* 2 &e l & a t k i a l l c i s -- !/ 2 p r i e * Regular 10c, September price 5c cake. Seve popular scents. Can be assorted if desired, : these special boxes. 20 ca k e s in b o x _____________ $ 26 ca k e s in b o x _______ 1.7 Cold cream--white. Rose--pink. Violet--orehi Carnation--blue. Verbena--yellow. Palm--gree A lm o n d --white. H o n ilcu r cold cream soap White, green, blue, peach. 40 cake.......... . - 1 . 5 1 Ilealih soap and v o id a b le oil seal Each regularly 50c dozen,*.___ 20 c a k e s 7.m 2Mnil m ill plio,K> o n lo r h ---- I l l T . 1001 DOWN STAIRS STORE-- CENTRAL