Document B5qKbneYo2pep6dJGz2BrMoam

April 27, 1962 Mr. Sam K. Botsford Standard Oil Company (Indiana) 910 South Michigan Avenue Chicago 80, Illinois Dear Mr. Botsfordj I wish first, in addressing you, to thank you for giving me the opportunity, on short notice, to see and talk with you on April 11. t was a great convenience to me and X am most grateful for it and for your courteous reception of what I had to say. I am following the matter further, after some interchange of correspondence with Dr. Collings, by presenting you with certain fact3, which I believe to be pertinent, about The Kettering Laboratory and its present situation. The Laboratory was established in its present form in 1930, and has expanded its activities, steadily, since that time, but only in response to the growing requirements of American industrial organizations for investigations of industrial hazards, as well as community hazards (air pollution, food contamination, etc.) which arise out of industrial operations. Along with investigations in the Laboratory have gone field and in-plant surveys and epidemiological investigations', and consultations with industrial management over problems that have arisen. There have been consultations on behalf of industry (in representation of the facts) with governmental agencies, and also expert and factual testimony in legal and legislative situations. In short, we have undertaken to provide facilities in space, equipment and (above all) in personnel with which to serve the appropriate needs and interests of industry in matters of industrial and environmental health. There is no comparable organization in the United States. In 1947,-after some years of preparation, we began to train meaical and technical personnel for employment primarily in the duties of industrial and environmental health in industry. Some of our students have come to us from governmental services and have returned thereto. However, our orientation is definitely and persistently toward industrial employment. The cost of the educational program, with the knowledge and approval of our major sponsors, has been allocated as an overhead charge, project by project, on our investigative work. A few fellowships and traineeships have been obtained (when possible) from other sources. I believe it is fair to say that we have succeeded with the financial support of industry, and with good advice from industrial leaders in Mr. Sam K. Botsford 2 April 27, 1962 a number of matters, in making the Kettering Laboratory the outstanding facility in research and professional training in Industrial medicine and hygiene in the United States, and perhaps in the world. I say this, quite without any intention of boasting or any need to do so, and yet without i'al3e modesty, for it is a fact. We have reached tho point at which it is necessary again to expand our physical facilities. These have been overcrowded for several years, by the necessary work required of a slowly, realistically growing staff, as we have had to add experts to meet the situations with which we are presented. Our purpose is to be equipped to do what is required of us in an expert manner. The physical facilities now being added (construction is under way) will cost approximately one-and-a-half million dollars, this being added to a plant, which,at present evaluation,is worth about two million dollars in buildings and equipment. I shall indicate upon the attachment, the funds and the sources that have been required to provide the existing facilities, and tho now available for the new facilities, as well as those needed to complete and equip the new addition. Our problem for tho present and future is very simple in essence. We wish to continue the position and policy of the Kettering Laboratory as a source of sound and trustworthy information for industrial guidance in matters of health and safety, and as a source of well trained industrial medical and hygiene personnel, with the support of industry, and with such relationships with industry as will permit us to work with full realization of the benefits of university status and, at the same time, with such acceptance within industry as will keep alive in ourselves, a full appre ciation of the problems and needs of industry. We can do this only if industry makes use of us, trusts us, and supports us financially, our present industrial clientele is too small in numbers, and we must expand the base somewhat if we are to follow this course. Otherwise we shall have to turn to governmental sources for funds, and under these conditions our functions and relationships are bound to change. This I do not want, and I am sure in my own mind that that is not the way we should work, in order to accomplish the task. I believe firmly in the ability of industrial organizations to do a good job of industrial health, and in my view the job cannot be done well otherwise. Wo have some hurdles to overcome within industry if this is to be achieved. Some organizations come to us for a spotty bit of work, contribute little to our understanding of their problem, and give us no support beyond paying for what we do for them. These organizations have the benefit of facilities provided by other Industrie^ toward which they have made and Intend to make no contribution. Xn approaching some of these organizations I have been met with the statement that they cannot support public institutions such as Universities, but only private ones; that they cannot make gifts toward physical equipment; that, for a variety of other reasons of policy, they cannot support university research and educational efforts. I recognize the need for policies within industry Mr. Sam K. Botsford 3 April 27, 1962 whereby the money of the stockholders, whether directly or through foundations, is expended for the good of the country and of industry. I find it difficult to understand, however, that industry cannot invest in what it is greatly in need of. It is imperative that there be access to medical and hygienic investigations on which the procedures of industry must be based. How can such things be done except by independent research organizations? One of the most urgent needs of American industry, at this time, is that of trained personnel in industrial and environmental health. At the expense of a few industrial organizations, we have prepared some seventy-five (75) persons for work in this field - more than all of the other institutions in this country combined. Why should not other companies invest in this activity in order to meet their own needs? I know, from my own experience in industry, that these organizations manage to do what they know they must do, despite obstacles. I am not much impressed, therefore, by the excuses that are offered to me. They are based on a failure to understand the facts of life as these now exist, in American industry. I have set these things down on paper, in addressing you, not because you need to be convinced, but because I hope that you and your people will help us, in the future, when the opportunity presents itself, in representing the facts to some other people. Indeed, unless we are able to obtain enough industrial participation in our efforts, the Kettering Laboratory, as it is now constituted,cannot survive. Let me say flatly that I am not seeking charitable gifts. Unless this Laboratory is worth an investment, I am entirely in the wrong. I believe that your Company have need of our services. If this is the case, Br. Collings will know of it and will say so. We have served you in the past, and I suspect that we shall be asked to do so in the future. I shall be as blunt (for the record, and not for present purposes in dealing with you and your people) as the circumstances require, for the fact is that if your Company wishes to have this privilege assured over any very considerable period in the future, it should aid in the growth and survival of the Kettering Laboratory. To put this in more appropriate and general terras, if American industry wishes to have such an institution as the Kettering Laboratory available for helping it solve its own problems, in this field, it will have to expand the base of its interest and support. There is no other way in which this can be done. I believe that we have demonstrated, satisfactorily, the usefulness of the laboratory in fulfilling its function. I have pointed with pride in American industry, to the fact that the laboratory and everything in it, is a tangible testimonial to the interest of American industry in the health of its employees and in the public weal, I have had to "pull in my neck" to some extent, since I had to go to the- Public Health Service for a sizable portion of the funds needed to expand our facilities. It is still true, however, that industry will have been our primary support, for the contribution of the Public Health Service is only a small part of the whole (about one-third of the cost of the new facilities and about one-sixth of the total worth of our physical plant). I attach hereto some of the pertinent financial data concerning the Mr. Sam K. Botsford 4 April 27, 1962 Kettering Laboratory. It is possible that certain other facts would be of interest to you, and I shall be pleased to answer any questions that you may raise, if I can. Please accept again my thanks for your courtesy, and for any further consideration which you and your people may give to my words. Sincerely yours. Robert A. Kehoe, M. D RAK:ss Enclosure m O0) - ' -v.