Evening star., 1937-09-09
SLAUGHTER HOUSE
POLICING WEIGHED
Health Officials See More
Teeth" in Law Needed
for Protection.

District officials indicated today It
may be advisable to put more teeth
in Health Department regulations to
provide maximum protection to the
public from anticipated nuisances if
there is to be revival of extensive
stockyard activities in Benning.
DR.. George C. Rutland, health off,
Ger, explained that stockyards, with
their "odors and other forms of nui-
sances," are inseparable from slaughter
house operations and can even be more
offensive under certain conditions.
I'VE anticipate that the people ex-
posed to the animal pens and the
cattle cars are bound to complain to
the Health Department" he said. For
this reason we intend to take every
precaution possible to keep these un-
pleasant conditions under control, If
that is possible"
The Health Department will be called
upon, in the event that the Adolf
Gobel Co. obtains an operating per-
NIT, to make all the sanitary inspec-
tons of the plant. Included also in
those inspections would be the Union
Stockyards in the adjacent lot.
Few Brought in Now.
DR.. Rutland pointed out that since
the former slaughter house went out
of actual operation in Benning, the
number of animals penned in the
Union Stockyards has been negligible,
seldom more than half a dozen a day,
brought in by farmers.
Conditions would speedily change.
he warned, with the Gobel plant re-
built and put into operation. Legal
officers have advised the Health De-
partment that the issuance of an
operating permit cannot be denied the
company if it meets all health restric-
tions
The Gobel Co. has entered into a
15-year lease with the Union Stock
yards whereby it will obtain possession
of several live stock pens at the rail-
road siding along the plant. These
pens are for the purpose of sheltering
the live stock brought in by rail
during the night.
Under ordinary operations, it is
to the interest of the company to
slaughter the animals as quickly as
possible and except on Sundays it is
not likely that animals will remain
penned longer than IL hours" DR..
Rutland said But hundreds of
animals no doubt will be brought to
the Union Stockyards, some by truck,
and held there until sold for slaughter.
Requires Close Attention.
During certain periods, when it is
hot and damp, the odors from these
pens are bound to be particularly
offensive and the same is true of the
cattle cars. 1t is possible to reduce
slaughter house odors in an up-to-
date plant, but the stockyards, more
than anything else. will require close
and constant attention"
DR.. Rutland said that the inspec-
tors Of the Bureau of Animal Industry
are "only interested in the carcass, ~
and that the duty of policing the
sanitary conditions in and about the
yards would fall upon the District
Health Department.
There are regulations governing the
penning of live stock in the District
but like the former antedated regu-
lations governing so-called nuisance
industries, they were adopted some
II years ago. In the face of threatened
slaughter house operations, the zoning
Commission was forced TO revise the
nuisance regulations, but the revised
regulations were ineffective in pre-.
venting the Gobel Co. from rebuilding
For this reason. it was said, the
present Health Department regula-
tions should be made as protective a.
possible.