South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-05-12
.STRUBBE INSISTS THAT
FACTORY IS |NSANITARY
Button Plant Was Not Ordered
Out of City, But to Change
L0Cation-To Enforce De-
mandS.

The statement that the button
factory, which seems TO have caused
such a stir OF agitation among the
business men of the city, was ordered
TO remove its plant and factory from
Mishawaka 10y June 1, IS absolutely in
correct" said Sanitary officer Strubbe
10 The NeWs-Times Wednesday morn
ing. The notification which was sent
from my office by my authority TO r.
-. Wood, one OF the proprietors OF
the factory, plainly stated that they
were given until June l 10 remove
their plant To some outlying district
of the city and 70 clean up and make
sanitary the site which has been Oc
cupied by them. This, l am ready to
stand by, and expect TO take every
measure to enforce he further stat
ed. The plant is absolutely operated
in an inSanitary manner, and being
located IN the heart OF the residence
district it is obnoxious TO residents,
said the officer.
According to Mr.. Strubbe an agi-
tation was started last summer by the
business men when attempts were
then made TO have the factory re-
moved to some other location. The
first orders from the offices of the
sanitation department were issued on
July Is, 1914, and the owners OF the
plant at that time were given until
Aug. 10, 1914, to move. This action
was taken after a thorough inVeSti-
cation of the buildings and grounds
had been made and the methods of
conducting the progress of the work
had been gone over.
1t was found that by the methods
of the plant, the place was a breeder
of all kinds of insects, especially flies
and mosquitoes. Previous TO this in
vestigation, and while an investiga-
ton was being conducted to asceT-
tain the cause Of several cases Of
typhoid fever in the city at that time
it was discovered that five employees
of the button factory were then
stricken l went at once to the plant
and found for myself that it alone
was responsible for the fever. Not
wishing. however, to take the entire
responsibility of the action until fur
ther investigation along this line had
been made by other officials, DR..
DreSch and DR.. NitOu, the county
health officer, were invited to make
an inspection, TO which they respond
ed. Both men, following the visit to
the button factory" said Mr.. Strubbe
stated that the place was inSanitary
and should not be given even a 80
day notice to clean up. The county
official was of the opinion at that
time that if the state board was aware
of the condition prevailing, the place
would be given but a brief time to
clean up and better the conditions"
However at that time, Mr.. Wood
according to Mr.. Strubbe, asked that
he be given some extension of time
to remove his plant. Mr. Strubbe told
the owOner of the plant that if he
would make an agreement with the
city to follow out several suggestions
for lettering the conditions, the plant
would be allowed to remain at its
present site until Jan. 1. Later in
the summer another extension of
time was granted, carrying the priv
ilege to March 1, of this year. This
agreement between the city and Mr..
Wood, said Mr.. Strubbe, was several
times violated, and the plant has not
yet been removed from its site.
The following are some of the sug-
geStiOns of Mr.. Strubbe contained in
the agreement: The removal Of the
cooking equipment, construction of
cement floor in the baseme nt of the
plant, TO empty all tanks once a week
to keep oil in the tanks, to remove all
sawed out shells. and to prevent the
accumulation Of the shells in the fu-
ture. This agreement was partially
carried out