Letters Sent to Dr. Herman Schlundt, May 5, 1931

May 5th, 1931. Dr. Herman Schlundt, University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo. Dear Dr. Schlundt: Dr. Flinn called me on Monday morning, and he seemed to be in quite a "stew" over the forthcoming report of the U.S. Depart- ment of Public Health. It seems that he was called to a conference in Washington the latter part of last week to discuss this forthcoming report, and I infer that the discussion revolved itself into the U.S. Dept. of Public Health advising Dr. Flinn, in a nice way, regarding their forthcoming report, and some of the recommendations which they vere making. The reason for doing this is probably to forestall Dr. Flinn's taking an antegonistic attitude toward the Government's report at such time as it is published. Dr. Flinn sected to feel that that was the purpose of the meeting rather than to discuss with him his work and tie his work in with the Depart- ment's investigation. That is, he got the impression that they seened to have no consideration for his work in the field and the results which he had obtained. Dr. Flinn further received the impression that the report was very damaging in its nature, and that the Public flealth Dept. felt that at the present time the industry was highly hazardous, even when conducted along lines taking into consideration all possible precautions. It is my impression that Dr. Flinn may be exaggerating these points to & slight extent, although he stated that the feeling of Dr. Leake, and his associate, was to the effect that the only way to really protect the employees health was to discontinue the industry. He sermed quite upset that you and Dr. Lind had not succeeded in more forcefully showing the Department where some of their tests were subject to severe criticism, and probably did not form the basis of the conclusions which they are drawing from same. I told Dr. Flinn that we really had little information as to the outcome of your conference there, but that you did indicate to us that you believed the analysis of the Department's investigation was not subject to much criticism. It seems that the Department advised Dr. Flinn that Dr. Alice Hamilton was bringing pressure to bear to force them to issue their report, and that they expect to make a report upon their work at the June meeting of the American Medical Association.