Document evREY83bOgjZJyLD5yddqD8D4

October 30, 1929 Mr* A. E. Mlttnaeht, Ethyl Gasoline Corp*, 25 Broadway, New York City. j ; Dear Mr. Mittnacht: , A matter was brought to my attention a few days ago when one of the men at one of the western mix ing points asked Dr. Sanders whether or not we were re quiring the use of an inflammable label on return drums which have been washed out with gasoline. This point had never occurred to me before, but it seems to me to be a matter of some consequence. When these drums are washed out with gasoline some gasoline is almost cer tainly left in them, and when drums containing small quantities of gasoline are put back in freight cars and re-shipped to the Dye Works Plant it 3eems to me that there is some danger from the point of view of fire, which, if understood by the railroad companies, would be seriously regarded by them. ; This may or may not be the case, but since it never occurred to me before the possibility suggests itself that it may never have occurred to anybody else, but I merely men tion it for what it is worth. Another point arose, which is of somewhat more consequence. When our Fluid is shipped to Casper, for example, it is then re-shipped fi^om Casper to Lara mie and Greybull, and the shipments to these points go by local freight and, so far as I know, are mixed with other goods in the cars. I have no rjeady solution to offer for this problem, but it probably occurs it a number of different places in the country and it strikes me that it constitutes a danger which we ought to avoid as far as possible. We have had several instances of drums which have developed leaks in shipment, and we have had several instances in which gallohs of fluid leaked out on the car floor, Wherever this occurs we are likely to have a duplication of the situation that occurred some months ago, in which a cargo of material had to be condemned and destroyed. Mack tells me of a similar leak which occurred during this past week, in which some fifteen gallons of fluid ran all over the floor of the car. This^car was not used for any other purpose so that therel/no special difficulties beyond the hazards of cleaning, which, in this Instance, were H 0000675 V Mr. Mlttnacht -2- great. How it is easy to sdW that such instances must be avoided and that they could be avoided by greater atten tion to the drums used for shipping Ethyl Fluid, but such instances are likely to occur from time to time and it s should be a certainty that they do not result in the con tamination of goods of other kinds. This brings to my mind the question as to whether we are doing everything we can do to obviate this kind of danger, which I believe is the most serious one which confronts us at present. Is there any way in which these local freight shipments can be decreased in number, or done away with entirely? Shipments to Laramie, for example, are handled at Casper, at Cheyenne and at Laramie. In this latter Instance I believe it would be desirable to have the drums shipped by truck from Casper Instead of going through the nec essity of changes In cars before arriving at their final destination. Furthermore. I believe that we ought tovery carefully look into details of handling at every point of shipment, with the idea of seeing whether there are any other plaees. where this same condition prevails. We are certain to run into trouble on thi3 score some time, and the trouble might well be very serious. We can not afford, therefore, In the rush of other business to neglect this, which I believe is by all odds the weakest point in our chain of precautions. - I shall wish to talk over this whole natter with you again and w i t h Mr. Schaefer, but I bring up these points at this time in order to properly bring the matter to your attention and to your thought. Kindest regards. Sincerely yours, F.AK:EJ KE 0000676