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    "localId": "75723102",
    "label": "Letters Received to H.H. Barker, September 5, 1928",
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    "id": "75723102",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Letters Received to H.H. Barker, September 5, 1928",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75723102",
    "collections": [
        "Safety Light Collection",
        "Records Related to Radium Dial Painters"
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    "seq": 1,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0001433_Page_1.jpg",
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    "ocrText": "PURDUE UNIVERSITY\nLAFAYETTE, INDIANA\nRECEIVE\nSCHOOL OF SCIENCE\nSEP 7 1928\nOFFICE OF THE DEAN\nSeptember 5th,\n1 9 2 8.\nRADIE\nMATERI\nMr. H. H. Barker,\nU. S. Radium Corporation,\nNew York, N. Y.\nMy dear Barker:\nAccording to instructions given in your letter to me of June 13th,\nas soon as I reached London I wrote to chief engineer Alvensleben, Centrallstelle\nI. Unfallverhuetung, Coethenerstr. 37, Berlin W 9, Germany, telling him that I\ndesired certain information concerning the effect of small quantities of radium on\nthe workers in watch factories and asked him if it would be convenient for me to\nvisit him in Berlin in order to get this information. I received no answer and\nconsequently shortly before leaving The Hague I wired to Mr. Alvensleben and received\na reply stating that he was sick and on leave of absence but that the organization\nitself would be glad to give me any information they possessed.\nTherefore, instead of going direct from The Hague to Paris as I had\nplanned I took the side trip to Berlin which was necessary to get this information.\nOn arrival I interviewed chief engineer Osenbrügge and engineers Soplawsky and Pôpelt.\nThey were very friendly and seemed anxious to give all the information that they\npossessed.\nThe organization itself is supported by German industry and is really\nan organization to determine industrial risks and to take care of such risks by\ninsurance. As I understood from these gentlemen it really is a method of German\nindustry insuring itself against industrial risks but the organization is directly\nunder the supervision of the government. Therefore, statements made by the organiza-\ntion have practically the same weight as though such statements came directly from\nthe German government.\nThe information obtained was apparently all that they possessed. They\nreceive written reports direct from various companies and in addition their engineers\nvisit the plants and check up on the reports furnished by the companies. I saw the\noriginals of most of the reports furnished in connection with radium paint and they\nconfirmed the statements made to me orally by the above named engineers.\nThey had reports from the following companies using radium paint:\nGebruder Junghaus, Schramberg, Switzerland.\nMouthe, Schweningen, Germany.\nHoller, Schweningen, Germany.\nHamburg Americanische Watch Company, Schramberg, Switzerland.\nAll of the above companies use physicians for periodic examination of their employes\nso that the statements made are based upon the reports of these physicians."
}