Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "75724205",
    "label": "Letters Sent to James Ewing, May 13, 1929",
    "core": "doc",
    "dtoType": "document",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75724205"
}

{
    "id": "75724205",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75724205",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Letters Sent to James Ewing, May 13, 1929",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75724205",
    "collections": [
        "Safety Light Collection",
        "Records Related to Radium Dial Painters"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0001757_Page_1.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0001757_Page_1.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0001757_Page_1.jpg",
    "imageCount": 4,
    "hasImages": true,
    "source": "import",
    "hasTranscription": false
}

{
    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75724205",
    "naId": 75724205,
    "levelOfDescription": "fileUnit",
    "recordType": "description",
    "ocrSource": "nara-archive"
}

{
    "seq": 1,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0001757_Page_1.jpg",
    "mediaId": "6adec0629dc90e1f",
    "ocrText": "May 13th, 1929.\nDr. Janes Ewing,\nCornell University Medical College,\nFirst Ave. and 28th St.,\nN.Y.C.\nDear Dr. Ewing:\nPlease pardon my delay in answering your note of May 7th, enclosing\nletter from Dr. Krumbhaar, both of which we have read with considerable interest.\nIn view of the fact that Dr. Krumbhaar was selected by Mr. Berry as\nthe girls representative on the Committee, and his more or less close contact with\nMr. Berry, we can well appreciate his viewpoint. However, we feel that our\noriginal position with regard to the Committee making any formal statements about\nthese cases is sound and most equitable to all parties concerned.\nMr. Berry has not only stated in our presence, but we understand\nhas more or less generally broadcast the statement that he is not going to try the\ncase which he now has until he has the formal report from the Commdttee, as he feels\nthat such report is very essential to his winning the present case.\nWith reference\nto Mr. Herry advising Dr. Krumbhaar that after he has once established unquestion-\nably that the five girls are suffering from \"radium poisoning\" he will not be interes-\nted in any further cases and, that he is only trying this case to establish such fact,\nallow us to advise you that Mr. Berry at the time the five cases were settled stated\nthat he was not interested in handling any further cases.\nWe did not take such\nstatement seriously for we well realize that the legal profession is dependent upon\nsuch cases as these for a goodly part of their income.\nIt seems to be quite a\ngenerally accepted fact which no one is attempting to deny, as far as I know, that\nthe five girls have or are suffering from a hitherto unknown condition as a result\nof continued ingestion of small amounts of radio-active materials. Just what argu-\nments Mr. Berry can set forth in order to clinch this matter he must prove it before\nthe courts we are unable to fathom.\nDr. Krumbhaar's statement as to the fact that the Committee is permitt-\ning the continuance of the girls annuities as well as medical expenses constitutes\nnegative evidence to the effect that the girls are suffering, is well taken and one\nwhich would be difficult to deny.\nIn our opinion the current case is strictly individual and should be\nhandled entirely apart from the preceeding cases, especially in view of the fact that\nthese cases were settled and there was no decision rendered. Mr. Berry is apparently\ntrying to obtain such a decision from your Committee to use it to arouse public\nsympathy in behalf of his client in a manner somewhat the same as he aroused public\nsympathy\nin behalf of the five girls. I believe that your Committee will agree with\nus that any unnecessary publicity given to the condition of the five girls will not\nresult in anything beneficial to either them or the case in question so far as their\nactual condition is concerned and, it is even quite possible that such publicity\nmight be considered decidedly harmful to the girls. So long as there is no breach\nof\nthe stipulation on our part, and the girls medical expenses as o.K'd by you, are\npaid, and their annuities continued, there is, in our opinion no necessity for either"
}