The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1945-07-20
Mnsonite Must Show Proof

NtNSOHskG 1VtU9l 0EEQW FTOOE
Along with other Mississippi newspaper editors, represen-
tatives OF the Chronicle-Star spent an interesting day last
Friday touring the Masonite plant at Laurel, where they
listened to the ~companys version of its long-standing stream
pollution condition that is gradually running the Pascagoula
river system. The group was invited to the plant by the
president and high officials of the corporation, and was
received by the Masonite management with an air of apology
rather than of defiance. The editors were told by President
Matthew P. Mccullough that the cooperation admitted its past
befope 5iseb reeonu u i IT l .he rivers 20 u and l Wss'i IN et tbs weaE
they were notified by telegram from Chicago, after Mr.. Nc
Culloughs return there. that the Masonite board of directors
had voteda "quarter-of-a-rnillion dollar program" in an effort
to correct the condition.
These events are OF keen interest to us. and indicate
that If the condition is brought TO a head through effective
prosecution by the attorney generals office in Missis-
sippfs courts. the company is in q frame OF mind where
and legal obligation to the state in whose borders II has
enjoyed twenty years OF prosperity.
teddy bad as Masonites on this stream pollution matter, it
will be folly for the state of Mississippi to take any promises
on faith alone, and to forgive a long and fragrant series of
poration has plead guilty in a speech by its president. AS
glad as we were to. hear President McCulloughs frank talk
and promise of reform, we were soon again reminded of
the need for actual evidence and results, and for realistic
skepticism in dealing with this plant, when the ~company's
chemical director followed him with a speech which repeated
the same old alibis and high-handed claims of innocence
in technical language.
What the editors saw at this plant by way of ponu-
ton negligence and calculated disregard was an outright
scandal
The huge settling pond" where the fbres were supposed to
settle out, had been filled up over much of its area. Channels
carried the waste directly through this bog and dumped them
intO II creek. One section OIL the dam between the pond
and the creek had been washed out, by the admission of
c H. Westphalen, acting plant superintendent, "for the last
ten or eleven months" In short, the company had callously
been dumping the waste in complete contempt for the anti
pollution statutes, while its officials were meeting public
protests with elaborate claims of waste-treatment methods.
1t seems a shame to US that the attorney generals office
has had to wait until a dramatic slaughter of fish had taken
place in June, leading to public exposure of this disgraceful
condition, before moving to seek a civil injunction which at
best can only mildly tell the Masonite plant it must obey
the law like everyone else. The state game and fish com
mission shares direct responsibility for this also. It hap
pened to have a chemist of the u. S. Fish and Wild Life
Service studying this condition in June; but he had studied
it several times before, since 1886, and reports with abundant
evidence of this destructive abuse went as far back as 1929.
This failure on the part of these two apartments is a poor
record for administration and law enforcement.
In view of the long record of bad faith. we do not
believe the company should be accepted on the. face
announcing the board of directors authorizes a "s250.0O0
expenditure" but we also ask to see a concrete outline
Of the antipollusion measures this money is to be spent
Last Friday at Laurel we asked the plant officials
to let US see an outline stating specifically what they
planned to spend this money for. The president had told
US that the the program" had been estimated to call for
this much money. But we ask emphaticallY to know the
details OF this program The officials said they would
be most happy to let US see such an outline. and that one
would be forthcoming dprinq the week.
in our opinion is only a telegram. We are not chemists.
but we know where expert and disinterested chemists
are available. We want an expert on pollution to look
at the plan and tell us whether 1t will stop the wholesale
contamination Of the Pssesgouls river system.
This company has made many promises in the past: now
facts.
we most earnestly welcome and desire the cooperation
and straightforward dealing that President Mccullough prom
ised in his talk. II this company could be made to spend the
necessary money and quit fouling this invaluable river val
ley It would be the type of corporation that Mississippi could
be unequvocably proud to have We feel unqualified adj
miration for the inventive genius of the late Nh. Mason. after
seeing the workings of his brilliant process by which wood
chips are exploded BY steam into tiny fibers and pressed
INTO boards more durable and beautiful than the original
wood. 1t was a thrill to us to inspect this plant. and to stand
finally in the warehouse where the boards of this useful,
beautiful product were piled high awaiting shipment to mil
nary bases and warfronts all over the world.
Yet nothing Is gained by manufacturing a useful ma
ferial at the cost of a ruined countryside. Mississippi's for
ests are gone now, and the rivers are threatened. Before