Document gDQbKvZoQwQDqk8oY5YQNdN8q

Copy to ilr. Harold Howe febru&ry Si, 1940 Mr. I. . Schoeppel -ttCicnai Lead Company 7? Chestnut Street St. Oouis, Missouri Sear Mr. Schoeppel: I am always glaa to ansaer questions about t.ic Lead Industries association whi.cn 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 ora people may have of the Aasoclatlon. If it doesn't, please ask any other nUestlons that will help to clarify matters. Kith klnuest regards. Sincerely yours. Secretary* T 7* * The Lead Industries Association ;us organized in the Fall of 1923 and, unlike other matal associations, comprises lead mining, smelting, refining and manufactur ing companies, all under one Association*, hr* Crane, the Presi-ent of tne largest mining company, the bt. Joseph Lcaa Company, Ar. Brownell, Presi-er.t of the American buelting and Penning Company, the largest smelting and refining company, and Xr. Cornish, then chairmen of the largest lead cor.runer, tne National Lead Company, were tne three men most responsible for establisnlng the Association* Tnoir 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 as a whole ana that, wit., com bined efforts greater and more economic progress could be nu.de in solving them than t.JOUgh individual associations representing miners, smelters, refiners and manufacturers respectively. How v.ell tneir plan has succeeded I an 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 materials and finished products are gathered by the Association and dis tributed promptly to all members of the association. Tnis en ables them to obtain a broad perspective of various related sections and products of tne lead industry. g. Legislative - The Lead 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 purposes, 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 beer, successful so far in preventing a breach in tne lead tariff structure threatened repeatedly by the reciprocal trade treaty negotiations of the present adminiatratloxi. In N.R.A. days the Association was instrumental in protecting the white lead industry from discrimination in N.R.A. codes by successfully resisting ar. effort of the paint industry to incorporate white lead in its own code. 1MLI uu21u" -rt Pftgt 2. Lead pp^yenfng - 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 aaount of time and attention to lead poisoning probleas 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 the 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 magazine, "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 petrolumm industry for the refining of gasoline. g. Promotional Activities Ca) Plumbing FroaotlonJgqtxraa - The Association, primarily at the suggestion of Hr. Besehorman 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 aaount on adver tising in the trade magazines, publishes a plumbing magazine, "Plumbers1 Forum% copy of anion is attached, and has bean 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 1the Association can jointly do on a problem affecting effect 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 had to devote their own energies and funds to preventing 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 what the cost would be to in- dividual companies if to them for action* -- O ^ (rt hafrtr frrtittU-Btjttr __ - This program was suggested by Mr. F* M. Carter_____th_e_____i_te V_l_ll_ard X. hasten of the Kagle-Pleher Lead Company, and was designed ^4 to arouse the lumber industry to the common problem It had, together with the paint Industry, of making certain that only ^ Page 3 quality lumber and paint arc used in home construction. Here again a program was tackled which individual member companies mould not have undertaken. At an expenditure of about $25,000 per year, two and three sen have been kept In the field continuously and an extraordinary amount of good-will tea been cultivated among the important lumber associations such as, the Western Pine, Bed Cedar Shingle Bureau, Southern Cypress, Redwood and others, wnich I am sure our paint competitors would pay handsomely to have for themselves. I am sure this brought white lead to the atten tion of the lumber industry in a manner which, as the years go by, should help the national Lead Co., and other white lesd produce*# greatly. The cost to us of the campaign has h been matched, in great part, by expenditures of lumber com panies for folders, leaflets and other literature on the SA&e objectives. (cl White Lead Prosras - This program was spon sored by the lead mining companies who have watched with dis may e steady decline In the use of white lead over the pest few years despite its wonderful paint qualities. They were willing and anxious to do wnat they could tc correctuthia situation. The Shite Lead Promotion Program is a national advertising campaign, not quite a year old. Tne 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 naturej 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 strews in the wind which indicate already that white lead will be given more attention i -in many directions than it has heretofore. Co&petltlve at tacks on white lead, adjustment of which so frequently occupied the time of the Secretary, have been conspieuoms by their ab sence since the Campaign started. .(&) Sh.et L.d froiria - Th. Ai.ocUtloo h*. ^ k gathered a vast amount of accurate and authoritative infor- nation on the proper application ef sheet lead to building ^ construction and is prepared to publish a book giving funda mental details when, ae and if the interested members desire to proceed with this program. __________ - In all of its activities the Lead Industries association has only attempted to engage in work *1 which would not duplicate any activity ef an individual nenber z Promotional activities, which new comprise e large Page 4 fart of Its budget, are based upon the assumption that the ead mining 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 have 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. 1 think it speaks well for the future of lead. it NLI 00240:i