Letter of the day, April 15

Balduin Lucké was a Philadelphia pathologist, a professor of pathology at the University of Pennsylvania, Deputy Curator of the Museum, and in charge of the Professional Service (primarily the pathological division) of the Museum/Army Institute of Pathology.

I thought this letter interesting from the scrap-metal-salvaging aspect during WW2, and funny because of  government paperwork requirements in the face of roadblocks as shown at the end of paragraph 2 and the beginning of paragraph 3.

We have some of Dr. Lucké's materials in our Registry of Noteworthy Research in Pathology collection.

The American College of Pathology
East University Avenue
Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.

April 15, 1944

Lt. Col. Balduin Lucké, M.C.
Army Medical Museum
7th St. and Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington 25, D.C.


Dear Colonel Lucké:

I am returning the letter from Major Pons, and Mrs. Weller joins me in thanking you for letting us see it.

We have noted that 1,050 reprints of your papers will be required. Do you wish the reprints of the two articles bound together?

We, of course, will wish to cooperate in respect to the preservation of the blocks for future use. We have been under considerable pressure to assure re-use of the metal as quickly as possible. There is a War Production Board order, under the title General Conservation Order M-99, covering this matter. As I understand it, we should be protected in the same manner when the issue is between two Government agencies as though we were dealing with a civilian. After the issue of General Conservation Order M-99, we withdrew the privilege of securing the blocks for a nominal fee to cover packing. On three occasions when re-use of the blocks seemed imminent, we have released them. The mechanism by which this is done is to file with us, in triplicate, a signed statement in the language which appears in fine print near the bottom of the middle column of the printed order which we are sending you herewith. One copy has to go to our engraver, one to our printer, and one copy is retained in our files.

Since it is almost impossible to secure additional copies of General Conservation Order M-99, and the one I am sending you is the only one which we have, I must ask you to return it at your early convenience. I will have to leave it to your judgment as to whether the statement which you submit should be signed by you or by General Love. Because of the large number of illustrations in your articles, the amount of metal is considerable and I fear that I am going to meet with some objection from our engraver, whom I believe to be under a quota in respect to the metal supplied him. This quota is influenced by the amount of salvaged metal which he can release. Therefore, any plan to retain these blocks should be well considered and readily defensible.

Sincerely yours,
[signed] Carl V. Weller

CVW:DS
Enc., 2