Letters Sent to Mr. Roach [John Roach], June 17, 1924

COPY June 17,1924. State Department of Labor, 571 Jersey Av., Jersey City,N.J. Att. Mr. Roach Dear Sirs: Confirming our conversation during your recent visit to our plant with Miss Erskine and also our conversation over the telephone, the following covers the various points upon which you have asked me to make a report: Employment dates of various operators concerning whom you have received reports. lrs. Hazel Kuser - 1917 1920 - Dates not complete in our records Miss M. Mággia - October 1,1917 to January 25,1922 Miss Virginia Rudolph - September 23,1918 to April 13,1921 Miss Grace Fryer - Have not located employment record Miss Margaret Carlough - August 12,1919 to December 24,1923 Miss Katherine Schaub - March 22,1917 to Merch 19,1920 Miss Helen Quinlan - July 13,1918 to March 19,1920 The first case of necrosis that Came to our attention was that of Miss Carlough who left our employ on December 24,1923. Shortly afterward we received notice from the mother of Mrs. Ruser stating that Mrs. Kuser was about to make claim for compensation because of having received phosphorous poisoning during her employment at our plant four years ago. There were various rumors in circulation which caused us to start a thorowgh investigation into the matter. As for the phosphorous side of the proposition if it has been found that this was phosphorous poisoning it could not possibly have come from our material as there is no phosphorous used in the making up of this material. Our first step was to have a thorough envestigation made of our oldest operators by the Life Extension Institute to determine their present condition particularly with reference to blood and teeth. The report of this Institution covering all the cases stated they could find nothing indicative of anything hazardous in the handling of our luminous material and the operators showed only such physical condition as is general amongst the women industrial workors. In: the meantime we got in touch with Dr. Drinker of the Harvard School of Public Health in order to enlist his services to mac e a more thorough investigation and determine whether there could be anything detrimental to the health in the handling of our material. He has not as yet completed his investigation as he is subjecting animals to an injection of our material and observing its effects. His preliminary report stated that he could not find where there could be any chance of poisoning from the sinc itself. The other phase of the material would be its radio active properties. There is considerable literature on the matter of the effects of Radium