Memorandum, November 23, 1927

11/23/27 MEMORANDUM OF INTERVIEW WITH DR. SZAMALOTSKI On Wednesday November 23rd,1927, I interviewed Dr. S. at the plant of the Burton T. Bush Company in Delawanna, N.J. Dr. S. immediately put himself on the defensive with the apparent belief that my object was to obtain from him information of such a nature that would be of value to us in courts, and perhaps involve him as a witness. I assured the Doctor that this was not my mission and told him that I had arranged the interview at the sugrestion of Mr. Stryker of Lindabury, Depue and Faulks, of Newark,N.J. and further explained that I was merely after information as to Dr. S's knowledge or experience with our zine sulphide, as well as data which he has collected relative to people who have been engaged in the application of luminous material, supposedly similar to that which we manufacture. After this explanation Dr. S. gave me quite a picture of his exact connection with the State Labor Department, which I gathered is as follows: Some 10 or 12 years ago this Department was organized for both the protec- tion of labor and manufacturers, and Dr. S., was invited to serve as representative of the manufacturers, particularly from the chemical stand- point - that is with regard to explosives and chemical: which might prove injurious to ones health. Dr. S. explained that he had served on this committee for 12 years, and felt that their work had been instructive, and that they had always endeavored to take a very fair and just view of matters with remard to both the mufacturer and the working man. He further stated that they had gone into the matter of our difficulties in quite some detail and that they folt that they had rendered justice insofar as it was within their power to do so. He infered that the State Labor Department had been most severly criticised for their attitude in these cases, but still felt that such criticism was without foundation. I was unable to get much in the way of concrete data from Dr. S., but he advised me that about two weeks ago he had returned from a trip abroad, where he had interviewed a number of concerns engaged in the application of luminous material. He has rendered a report to Dr. McBride of the State Labor Department, and advised that he would not feol free to give us this information without the consent of Dr. McBride. However, he did infer that his investigations did not bring to light a single case similar to that which has arisen in the Orance Plant. Perhaps the most interesting point brought out by Dr. S, is the fact that the State Labor Department feels that in connection with our cases there is something which is still unexplained. He is very much impressed by the fact that all of the girls reporting trouble worked at our plant during the interim of 1917-1921. He further inferred that the Department folt we had either intentionally or unintentionally with-held such information