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    "localId": "75723543",
    "label": "Letters Sent to H.M. Armstrong, December 18, 1928",
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    "title": "Letters Sent to H.M. Armstrong, December 18, 1928",
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    "collections": [
        "Safety Light Collection",
        "Records Related to Radium Dial Painters"
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    "seq": 2,
    "pageIndex": 0,
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    "ocrText": "-2-\ntheir attorney and the third by the other two.\nlie have felt that it would be very unwise for us to make any\npublic statements regarding the condition of these girls under such\ncircuastances. In other words if we were to make statements we might\npossibly have to retract them, for it is only after this Commission\nhas completed its investigation that the true condition of these girls\nbe\ngenerally known. There is nothing to be gained by speculation or\nexpressing a personal opinion when a thorough investigation is under\nway. within the past two or three weeks we have had somo indication\nfrom this Commission as to what they are finding, and it is our\nbelief that they are go ng to report that these girls are in all\nprobability suffering, to some extent, as a result of their employment\nby us. However, thoy are also going to state that the girls\nconditions are not accute, and that with proper care it is quite probab-\nle that they will live the normal spen of life, so far as any injuries\nsustained while working for us are concerned.\nNow a fow words, as to the guilt or radium veraus mesothorium:\nOur contention has been all along, that if either one was guilty, the\nother was equaliy guilty. The contention which we still hold today,\nand which all evidence points toward as being the truth.\nThe article occuring in the Chicago Herald and Examiner, under\ndate of February 28th,1926, resulted from propaganda sproad by our\ncompetitors that mesothorium was to blame for this reported condition,\nand they used this to undermine our accounts. At that time we were\nusing some mesothorion, while they were not, and it was their conten-\ntion that it was only luminous material containing mesothorium\nthat was hazardous. As a matter of fact tiro of the five girls involved\nin the recent litigation worked for us at a time when we had no\nmesothorium in our plant, while the other three were there at a time\nwhen we were using both mesothorium and radiun.\nat the present time we are disposed to recognize that there is\na distinct hazard in the application of luminous material, bat that\nthat hazard can be controlled by proporly controlling the conditions\nunder which the work is carried out. I have repostedly discussed this\nmatter with the medical profession, as to whether or not the bazard\nfound here was common to the intravenous u,se of radium chloride, and\nwhile I find some difference of opinion, the concensus of opinion\nsemm to be that under controlled medical condtions there is probably\nno hazard in the intravenous line. However, I appreciate that there\nis always the mental reservation that possibly after the material has\nbeen administered for a sufficiently long period of time, the effects\nmay become manifest.\nIt is true that there hever has been an\nuntoward effect reported in the literature, so far as we have been\nable to find in connections with the intravenous use of redium - but\nthose who are particularly averse to this type of medication claim\nthat such cases have never come to light. Personally I don't believe\nthat the two are at all comparable, and that radium can be administered\nunder medical supervision with safety. However, I am not a medical\nman, and my thoughts do not carry much weight in this line."
}