New Britain herald., 1916-02-17
COMMUNICATED.
Cattle Dealer .Wa,ris Against Estab- fishing a Municipal Slaughterhouse.


 l To the Editor of the Herald:
 As 8 taxpayer of the city of New ! Britain and a cattle dealer--a business l to which l have directed my efforts for
 many years, also in this city-l should ] like to express my views on the prac-
 ticability and advisability of building
 a municipal slaughterhouse inx this
 city. I shall attempt then, in <, this
 communication to view the matter l both in the light of a taxpayer and as l cattle dealer-one who would have 1 immediate relations with such an in- Sututlon as slaughterhouse, 1f one l were to be set up by the city.
 1t seems that as our municipal Ice i house has practically proven failure in the eyes of most of the taxpayers of New Britain we should exercise more thought and discretion as regards this Big Idea" as proposed by a certain lew here who plead disease, contamin-
 alton and all other things that go with
 disease. It is all right to argue dis
 ease and other high sounding phrases that go with it on paper but when me
 right and the wrong of a'thing is ut
 terly disregarded, it is about time to
 call halt, draw rein and think.
 Here we have built an icehouse. of the city, and for the city. NOW we are cutting ice for the city lcehouse on Shuttle Meadow Lake which furnishes
 drinking water for the entire popuia-
 tlon Of New Britain. Are the people
 of the city stopping to realize under
 what conditions the ice is being cut? The thought can not be put away. The danger of contaninating the water with the excrement of horses Q D>ylD ,tf cutting the ice is too evident to need further expression h ere. We have built an lcehouse, it seems, without g1VlnS in the beginning all the attention needed in the project. Was the 1dea or constructing an artificial ice plant for the city considered? Certainly, it this project was more expensive, It was less eXtrava gant and less costly from matter of health, and cutting ice on Shuttle Meadow with the danger ot contamination to the city's water sup ply and an inefficient municipal Ice system thrown into the poor bargain IS clearly unsanitary and Wasteful, to say the least.
 Now that we have a municipal ice house, the next matter to be cons1d- cred for our municipality is a muni- cipal slaughterhouse Here again we must meet the cries of disease and al so consider what such a propect would cost, were it practical and necessary, let us say.
 Let us take the matter from the health standpoint. It is said that the city should have a municipal slaugh- terhouse because some persons in the city are eating diseased meat which has been slaughtered and sold to the hl1t tTJ,n for r who Is engaged in the business of buy ing up cattle and having it slaughtered and sold to the butchers, I cannot see why under the present system of in- spection, the meat can be sold to the people in poor condition. Most of the slauGhtering done in the city is for the use of the Jewish people. Any one at all Conversant with Jewish reg ulations relative to the butchering of meat will soon discover that the meat must be good else the rabbi who is doing the butchering will not consent to making the meat ready for these of his flock. Moreover, the city has a system of inspection which covers amply and carefully the point of health. If the inspection is not strict enough. the health board can make it so.
 Economically, the ice house has proven a failure and judging from the little need that is required of a slaugh- terl1ouse, this must also prove a fail- rre. Such a construction for public l would cost thousands of dol 1 lars for building and maintenance. If YOU have from ten to twenty head of | cattle with scattering of hogs a l week, to be slaughtered, where is all 1 the revenue coming in to fill the city 1 coffers and pay the cost of the slaugh- 1 terhouse? But this is not all.
 What about the cattle dealers and 1 the farmers who depend upon the | cattle business for a livelihood? With | the construction of d municipal | the cattle dealer will find that he cannot pay the prohibj- tive fees as demanded by the city and he will have to go out of business. Not only that alone must be considered. What about the farmer, who is to sell