The Society of the Living Dead (2020)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jim Ridings,

The Society of the Living Dead: 

The Illustrated History of 

Ottawa’s Radium Dial Scandal

(Arcadia Publishing 2020)

(160 pages)

 

Jim Ridings (born 1950) graduated from a school of journalism in Illinois in 1976. He was a reporter at the Daily Times in Ottawa and the Beacon-News in Aurora. He is the author of several books about historical events in the state of Illinois.

 

The book under review here is about the Radium Girls. It is a dark chapter of US history. A story of needless pain and suffering. For many years, it was virtually unknown to the public.

 

The Radium Girls had an unusual job: they painted the dial of clocks and watches with radium. The clock and the watch would glow in the dark, but the radium used to paint the dial was dangerous to the workers who came into close contact with it.

 

The young women who worked in American radium factories did not know the truth about this substance. They were told it was harmless, perhaps even beneficial. The truth is they were slowly poisoning themselves.

 

The owners of the factories knew the substance was dangerous long before the workers, but they did not inform the workers. They kept it a secret. They did not ask the workers to take precautions when they were working with radium.

 

When a worker was taken ill, the managers claimed they had no responsibility for what was happening. The managers did not care about the health and safety of the workers as long as the company was making a profit.

 

In the US, there were at least three radium factories, located in three different states:

 

** In Ottawa, Illinois

** In Orange, New Jersey

** In Waterbury, Connecticut

 

When you look at the subtitle of this book, you can see that it focuses on the factory in Ottawa, Illinois. This factory was active under two different names and at two different locations for more than fifty years.

 

The first name: The Radium Dial Company (1917-1936)

The second name: Luminous Processes (1934-1978)

 

While the focus is on the factory in Ottawa, Illinois, there is also some information about the factory in Orange, New Jersey, and about the factory in Waterbury, Connecticut.

 

The book is divided into 15 chapters which cover a period of ca. one hundred years: from the beginning of the 20th century until the beginning of the 21st century. Here are the headlines:

 

# 01. Radium: The Wonderful Discovery

# 02. Radium Dial Company

# 03. The New Jersey and Connecticut Radium Women

# 04. Death Comes to Ottawa

# 05. Lawsuits Against Radium Dial

 

# 06. The Donohue Hearing of 1938

# 07. Radium Stories

# 08. Luminous Processes, 1934

# 09. Luminous Processes, 1978

# 10. The Locker Plant

 

# 11. Cleanup Time

# 12. Where Are the Luminous Owners?

# 13. Denial

# 14. Acceptance

# 15. Aftermath

 

Most chapters are short, less than 10 pages. But there is one exception: chapter # 7, which runs for more than 40 pages. In this chapter, Jim Ridings tells the story of several Radium Girls; often a tragic story about a short life and a painful death.

 

As stated in the subtitle of the book, this is the illustrated history of the Radium Girls of Ottawa. The subtitle is fully justified: there are many illustrations in each chapter. In fact, there are not many pages without an illustration; there are not many pages where there is only text.

 

All illustrations are black-and-white. They can be divided into four categories:

 

# 1. Pictures of Radium Girls

# 2. Pictures of buildings which housed the radium company

# 3. Documents and letters written by or to the Radium Girls

# 4. Photostats of articles published in local newspapers. These articles show us some examples of how the topic was covered by the media in the past.

 

The quality of the illustrations is often poor. This is no surprise, since we are talking about old pictures. We cannot blame the author for this. Instead, we must be grateful to him, because he managed to find so many items to illustrate the history of the Radium Girls.

 

The title of the book is The Society of the Living Dead. What does it mean? The Living Dead are the Radium Girls who are still alive, but who know that their days are numbered. Most of them do not have long to live. Such a group was actually formed in Ottawa in 1937. And the sinister name of the group was used in the media.

 

For many years, the fate of the Radium Girls and the horrible conditions which they faced were ignored by the media. The Radium Girls lived and worked and died, but most people did not know about them and therefore most people did not care about them.

 

When we read this book, we can see that there are in fact some exceptions to this rule. On five occasions during the last one hundred years, the media took an interest in the case and began to cover the story of the Radium Girls.

 

The first time: the 1920s

In the 1920s, some workers in Orange, New Jersey, began to suspect that radium was the cause of their poor health. A small group of five women wanted to sue the company. This difficult battle took place 1925-1928.

 

The second time: the 1930s

The workers in Ottawa read the reports about the workers in Orange and their attempt to sue the company in the 1920s.

 

In the 1930s, some workers in Ottawa wanted to follow the example of the workers in Orange. A small group of women suspected the company was responsible for their suffering.

 

They wanted the company to tell the truth and they wanted the company to pay economic compensation. This difficult battle took place 1937-1939.

 

The third time: the 1970s

In 1978, the radium factory in Ottawa was closed by the authorities. In connection with the closing of the factory, there was some media coverage and some public discussion about the factory and the role it had played in the history of the town.

 

The fourth time: the 1980s

Radium City is a documentary film which premiered in 1987. In 1988, it was shown in Ottawa where it was filmed. There was some public discussion about the role the factory had played in the history of the town.

 

Local activists had formed a committee called Residents Against a Polluted Environment. In the film, there is a brief clip where we can see the office of this committee. The name of the committee is written on a poster placed in the window:  

 

Residents

Against a

Polluted

Environment

 

When the name of the committee is written in this way, something happens. An acronym appears. We will read the first letter of each line from top to bottom and discover a new word:  

 

RAPE

 

This is hardly an accident. This is probably done on purpose. The residents want to show what they think about the radium company. They think the company is guilty of violation and rape of the local community.

 

The fifth time: the beginning of the 21st century

In the beginning of the 21st century, there was a significant change in the political climate in Ottawa. The local politicians (including the mayor) no longer refused to talk about the topic. Instead, they were bold enough to face the facts, even though it was hard to do this.

 

In 2006, a local school girl (Madeline Piller) became aware of the topic. She contacted some local politicians (including the mayor). She suggested that the town should have a monument to remember the Radium Girls. 

 

Amazingly, they agreed with her.

 

When a suitable location was found, and when a suitable artist (Madeline’s father William Piller) was found, the plan could begin to move forward. 

 

When sufficient funds were found, the plan could be completed. In 2011, a memorial to the Radium Girls was unveiled.

 

This book covers an important topic. And the topic is covered very well. This is a great book. Having said that, I must add that there are two things about this book which I do not like. It has two flaws.

 

# 1. The first flaw: there is no index. Many names are mentioned in this book; names of people and names of places. Maybe I remember a certain name, but I cannot remember where it was. There is no index which can help me find the page where this name appears.

 

In the old days, it was a time-consuming job to create an index for a book. These days, when we have computers, it does not take long. Just pick the names you wish to have in the index and press “search.” The computer will find the relevant pages for all names. It does not take long. An index increases the quality of a book, because it is possible to use the book as a working tool.

 

# 2. The second flaw: the letters used in this book are too small. For general text, the letters are small. And it gets worse. For captions and for long quotations, the letters are even smaller! 

 

This is a shame. It is difficult to read this book. Many readers will need a magnifying glass to read the text!

 

In this book, how many lines are there on a page with no illustrations? The answer is 44!

 

In a normal book with normal letters, how many lines are there on a page with no illustrations? The answer is 30 or 31!

 

In other words, this book has 13 or 14 extra lines on every page! The only way to fit so many lines on one page is to reduce the size of the letters. Using a small font is a very bad idea!

 

The number of pages in this book is 160. If the book had been published with letters of normal size, it would have been much longer; perhaps 224 or 240 pages. A longer book means a more expensive book. I know that. But I do not care!

 

I would gladly pay five or even ten dollars more in order to get a book I can read; a book where the size of the letters is normal and not reduced to microscopic size as in this book.

 

I like this book and I want to give it a high rating, but I cannot hide the truth. This book has two flaws. It would be much better if there was an index and if it had been published with letters of normal size.

 

Having said that, I will repeat my previous statement: the author has chosen an important topic and he has covered this topic very well.

 

Jim Ridings was a young reporter in 1978 when the radium dial scandal exploded in Ottawa. He covered the case at the time. On page 125 there is a photostat of an opinion piece written by him and published in the local newspaper on 4 May 1978.

 

The headline says:

 

“Doubletalk from Luminous.”

 

The last paragraph reads as follows:

 

“The whole incident would be laughable if people’s lives weren’t at stake. Luminous Processes seems to put profits before people. It appears to take a casual attitude about safety precautions for its employees and has few regrets about any illnesses that may befall the workers. That may be the worst illness of all.”

 

Chapter 13 of his book opens with this paragraph:

 

“From the very beginning, Radium Dial spokesmen lied and denied – they lied to the women about the danger of radium; they lied to the women about their results of their physical exams; they paid Ottawa doctors to lie on the death certificates; they paid Ottawa lawyers to refuse to take the women’s cases; they refused to cooperate with government health inspectors; and they denied any responsibility for the dozens of their women who were dying the most agonizing deaths.”

 

In the conflict between the workers and the company, Jim Ridings can be objective, but he cannot be neutral. He has to take a stand. He sides with the young female workers who are victims of a greedy and ruthless company.

 

Fortunately, denial is no longer an option. These days, the city of Ottawa is facing the past with open eyes. The past is no longer buried or hidden.

 

The Society of the Living Dead is difficult to read. Not only because it is published with very small letters, but also and mostly because the truth about the Radium Girls is a heart-breaking story, a dark chapter of US history, which was buried and hidden for too many years.

 

If you are interested in the history of the modern world – if you believe the lives of people are more important than the profits of private corporations – this book is definitely something for you.

 

REFERENCES

 

PART ONE = BOOKS

** Radium Girls by Claudia Clark (1997)

** Deadly Glow by Ross Mullner (1999)

** The Radium Girls by Kate Moore (UK 2016, US 2017)

 

PART TWO = FILMS

** Radium City (1987) – a documentary film

** Radium Girls (2018) – a historical drama

 

*****

 

 "Society of the Living Dead!" 

The Star (Toronto), 23 April 1938

 

*****

"Living Dead Insist Radium Is Poisonous"

Chicago Herald and Examiner, 28 March 1938

*****