« Reply #54 on: Wed, 17 September 2014, 15:08:37 »
and they did it only as a fire retardant.
Asbestos was a very popular substance in the first half of the 20th century. Asbestos siding was very popular on lower-end homes until well after WW2.
It was a great material except for the fact that it was somewhat brittle.
The problem only appears when it is ground into dust and breathed.

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“These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power."
He paused for a moment, then thundered, “Our allegiance to American institutions requires the overthrow of this kind of power!”
“In vain,” Roosevelt said, “they seek to hide behind the Flag and the Constitution. In their blindness they forget what the Flag and the Constitution stand for. Now, as always, they stand for democracy, not tyranny; for freedom, not subjection; and against a dictatorship by mob rule and the over-privileged alike.”
- Franklin Roosevelt 1933