Evening star., 1937-11-19
SLAUGHTERHOUSE
TAXSUPPORTED|N
|CKES' NEW FIGHT
Says Iowa Subsidiary of
Gobel Forced to Pay
Sewage Disposal.
BREAKS LONG SILENCE
BY CITING PRECEDENT
Secretary Gives Added Impetus to
Collins Bill to Charge Cost
to Industry.
BY NELSON NJ. SHEPARD

Secretary of the Interior Ickes I'M
leashed a new attack on proposed
slaughter house operations of Adolf
Iooel' Inc, in Northeast Washing
Ton and presented to Commissioner
melvin c. Hazen further evidence
from similar experiences of other
cities in support of the pending COL
ms Dill, which provides for taxation
OF industrial sewage in the District
charging that the slaughter house
nrm proposes to use the Districts
facilities for the disposition of its
sewage without compensation there
Ior, ne reminded that Gobel SUBJ
sldlary company had tried to do lust
that thing in a Western CITY but
without success. Referring to the
situation in Washington, Secretary
1ckes wrote:
1t would seem unconscionable that
any industry should try to get nv
without paying its fair share of the
costs in the District when it is fullv
aware this is formal requirement
elsewhere"
Reports on Survey,
Secretary Ickes broke a long silence
IN the slaughter house controversy to
give the Commissioners the results of
an investigation made by P. w. A.
ofhclals into the experiences of a dozen
or more cities. Formerly he had sent
them information dealing with the
manner in which the city of Chicago
forced its huge packing houses to
defray the expense of treating sewage.
Having financed the Districts new
disposal plant at Blue Plains with a
s4,200,o0o Federal grant and loan.
Mr. lckes has a direct concern in
It's protection until the money is re.
paid in full. P. W. A. experts esti-
mated it would cost the District about
$4,000 per annum to treat the addi.
tlonal slaughter house waste if the
Benning plant should be completed
and operated at full capacity.
The facts laid before the Commits
sloners. he informed Mr.. Hazen. in
dlcate that the District of Columbia
has fallen far behind other munici-
palities in the matter of regulating
the discharge of industrial wastes into
city sewers"
In recent months the Blue Plains
plant has been placed in operation.
out there is no existing law under
winch the Commissioners can charge
industrial concerns for the volume
OF required sewage treatment.
Cites Iowa Case.
In his letter calling attention tn
the situation in Washington and the
need for such legislation Mr.. Ickes
said in part:
The Adolf Gobel Co. is proposing
TO use the sewage disposal facilities Of
the District Of Columbia for DISPOSE
ton OF its slaughter house waste with
out compensation therefor. This COM
pany. however Is no stranger to paw
ing municipalities for this type of serv-
ice. A subsidiary of this company was
forced to pay for such service in Ma
son City, Iowa, according to testimony
presented to the Fifty-eighth General
Assembly of the State of Illinois, at
the time that body was considering a
sewage tax law. The firm involved was
the Decker Packing Co. of Mason City,
at the time owned and operated by the
Adolf Gobel, Inc, of New York.
1T appears from the record that
the Decker Co. had been using the
city sewer system for disposal of its
slaughter house waste and that such
obnoxious conditions were created that
the municipality was forced to take
action. According to the testimony,
an injunction was obtained by the
municipality which forced the Decker
Co. to install a complete treatment
and disposal plant for the handling
OF its waste product The packing
plant now operates this disposal sys-
tenn, which has been studied extern
slvely and used as working labora-
tory by the Department of Bacteriology
OF the Iowa State College at Ames.
Because of its past experience IN
Iowa, the Gobel Co. cannot be un-
aware of the distressing conditions
arising from attempts to use public
sewage systems as a method of get
ting rid of slaughter house waste.
Nevertheless, it is attempting to do
this very thing in the District of Co.
lumbia. 1t would seem unconscionable
that any industry should try to get
by without paying its fair share of
costs in the District, when it is fully
aware this is formal requirement
elsewhere"
Corporation Counsel Elwood H. Seal
has had the Collins bill under con-
sideration for long time.