Document e1zGdynjxJwRx1BvKrG8N1OMp

Copy to Mr. Harold Kov.e February ii, 1940 Mr. X. . Schoeppel L&tionai Lead Company 7? Chestnut Street St. Louis, Missouri Dear Mr. bchoeppel: X am always glaa to answer questions about t.*e Lead Industries association ahic.i Is an important agency of the National Lead Company ana others comprising Its sembersiiip. I hope ay brief description, attached, clears up, as you state, any hazy notion some of your own people may have of the Association. If it doesn't, please ask any other nuestions that will help to clarify matters. Kith kinoest regards. Sincerely yours. Secretary. T 7* ' The Leah incus tries Association mas organized in the Fall of 1922 and, unlike other attcl associations, comprises lead mining, smelting, refining and manufactur ing companies, all under one Association*, hr. Crane, the President of tne largest mining company, the ct. Joseph Lena Company, Ar. Brownell, Presi-er.t of the American smelting and Refining Company, the largest smelting and refining company, and Xr. Cornish, then chairman of the largest lead conrumer, tne lictior.al Lead Company, were tne three men most responsible for estabiisnir.p the Association. Tnclr belief was tnat tne component parts of t.*e lead industry were all vitally interested ir. many problems relating to the welfare of the lead industry us a whole arm that, wit., com bined efforts greater and more economic progress could be tm.de in solving then than t..rough individual associations representing minors, smelters, refiners and manufacturers respectively. Ho*, well tneir plan has succeeded I am con tent to leave to the record. Tne work -of the Association concerns itself with the following main sub-uivisions: 1. Statistical - Statistics of both raw materi-ls and finished products are gathered by the Association and dis tributed promptly to all members of the association. T.iis en ables them to obtain a broad perspective of various related sections and products of tne lead industry. g. Legislative - The Leaa Industries Association has acted promptly on federal and other legislative matters affecting its welfare saving ouch duplication of effort. It succeeded early in its career in procuring a change in the drawback laws permitting substitution for drawback purpor.es, a change that had been attempted individually for 40 years prior to its organization, but without success. This change in tne law saves our members thousands of dollars annually. Tne Association has nelpea to protect tne lead in dustry in tariff matters. It has been successful so far in preventing a breach in tne lead tariff structure threatened repeatedly by the reciprocal trade treaty negotiations of the present administration. In N.B.A. days the Association was instrumental in protecting the white lead inuustry from discrimination in N.R.A. codes by successfully resisting an effort of the paint industry to incorporate white lead in its own code. NL I m m tf " Page 3. Lead Po^-pon^ng - The Association has suppor ted medical research on lead poisoning at Harvard University ever since its inception. It has devoted and. is giving a large amount of time and attention to lead poisoning problems arising in tne use of numerous lead products, which cause the industry a large amount of trouble and unfavorable publicity. Through its efforts a better appreciation of tne medical posi tion of lead is being witnessed in tne United States, but pro gress is neoessarlly slow. 4. Publication of "Lead* - The Association pub lishes slxttlmes a year a magasine, "Lead", having a circula tion of 32,000 going to people in a position to specify various lead products. A great many unsolicited complimentary letters from readers make us believe that this project is well worth its cost. 5. Litharge Research - The Association is investi gating the threatened displacement of the use of litharge in the petrolvmm industry for the refining of gasoline. (a) Plunking Promotion Frocraa - The Association, primarily at the suggestion of Mr. Beschorman of the National Lead Company, several years ago undertook to see what could be done to save and increase tne use of lead in the plumbing and water works field. Starting modestly, the Association now has three field representatives, spends a small amount on adver tising in the trade magazines, publishes a plumbing magazine, "Plumbers' Forum", copy of wnion is attached, and has been successful in definitely restoring lead to tne plumbing codes of dozens of cities, and has been directly responsible for the use of hundreds of tons of lead plumbing goods where they or dinarily would not have been considered. Considering the modest expenditure for this work, averaging about $30*000 per year, and the results obtAlned, I think it is a good Illustration of what the Association can jointly do on a problem affecting Ntm industry, with out duplicating any of the individual member's activities. Without the assistance of the Lead Industries association's campaign, the National Lead Company and other member com panies would have bad to devote their own energies and funds to prsventing changes in plumbing codes disadvantageous to lead, and working with the master and journeymen plumbers' associations, work of an indispensable nature. I leave it to your own imagination as to chat the cost would be to individual companies if l^t to them for action. -- o ^ ^ (E), foaEtr Pirtufiti-fltntr Pilat 9n p i1 m - This - program was suggested by Mr. F. M. Carter and ths late Nillard X. Mas toe of the lagle-Pleher Lead Company, and was designed uy to arouse the lumber industry to the common problem It had, together with the paint industry, of making oertain that only IS ' Page 3 quality lumbar and paint are used in hose construction. Hare again a program was tackled which individual member companies could not have undertaken. At an expenditure of about $25,000 per year, two and three men have been kept in the field continuously and an extraordinary amount of good-will has been cultivated among the Important lumber : associations such as, the Western Pine, Red Cedar Shingle Bureau, Southern Cypress, Redwood and others, wnleh I an ' sure our paint competitors would pay handsomely to have for themselves* I aa sure this brought white lead to the atten- : tlon of the lumber industry in a manner which, as the years L^go by, should help the National Lead Co., and other white 1ST lead producwws greatly. The cost to us of the campaign has bean matched, in great part, by expenditures of lumber com- panles for folders, leaflets and other literature on the : same objectives. ' (c) White Lead Program - This program was spon sored by the load mining companies who have watched with dis may a steady decline in the use of white lead over the past few years despite its wonderful paint qualities. They were silling and anxious to g o wnat they could to correctsthis situation. The Shite Lead Promotion Program is a national advertising campaign, not quite a year old. The largest part of our funds are invested in advertising to consumers. A small part of the budget permits collateral activities such as work among the agricultural leaders of an educational mature| field work among the journeyman painters, also among municipalities, counties ana other government users of white lead; publication of auxiliary pamphlets, booklets, broad sides, etc.,; and enlarging our "Lead" magazine to include white lead articles. The Campaign is too young yet to demonstrate Its value to the industry but there are straws in the wind which indicate already that white lead will be given more attention f-in many directions than it has heretofore. Competitive at tacks on white load, adjustment of which so frequently occupied the time of the Secretary, have been eonspieuems by their ab sence since the Campaign started. ; : (dl Sheet Lead Proxraa - The Association has ^ ! fathered a vast amount of secure te and authoritative infor- nation on the proper application of sheet lead to building ^ construction and is prepared to publish e book giving funda mental details when, as end if the interested members desire to proceed with this program. T- Conclusion - In all of its activities the Lead Industries Association has only attempted to engage in work which would not duplicate any activity ef an individual member company. Fronctlonal activities, which now comprise a large Page 4 ?art of its budget, are based upon the assumption that the ead &inlng Industry should be prepared to shoulder the burden of the fundamental promotional work necessary to insure the continued use of the various lead products, and to offset the competition of other metal products serving the same markets. The lead mining companies nave always been keenly Interested In the many uses to which lead is put and the fact that they are now so closely allied with tne manufacturers In one association has given them infor mation and a point of view that they ordinarily would not have possessed. Indeed, there is no other metal industry, outside of tne monopolies, or near-monopolies, aluminum and nickel, where one will find tne cooperation and solidarity of thinking that now exists in the lead Industry. I tnlnx It speaks well for the future of lead. b NLI 002403