The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1945-07-13
.Masonite Asks Editors To Study
p ollution Situation AT Laurel
An Alibi Is Not "A Cure
IAN %EDITORIAL)

~
The Masonite Corporation at Laurel has invited the
editors of Southeast Mississippi to be its guests at a discussion
meeting Friday in order that the plants officials may offer
"first-hand information and knowledge of what the Masonite
Corporation has been and is now doing in trying to over
come its problem of contributing to the harmful pollution
of streams " The editor of the Chronicle-Star for one,
is glad to accept the invitation and will follow the discus
sions with great interest. The states real task in fighting
the increasing contamination of the rivers is winning the
offending plants to a sense of duty and fair play, and it is
therefore gratifying to learn that Masonite is DESTROYS of
presenting its views on this problem. We trust that TINS IN
vitatlon to the editors Is evidence Oh Inc plants unquam!eo
determination to clear up a chronic, correctible condition
which is a disgrace to Mississippi.
1t seems to US that the waYto stop polluting a stream
is to stop polluting it. and that anything short OF this is
an alibi. no matter how persuasivelY it is explained in
words. no matter how many graphs and statistics the
engineers may bring forward to show that everything is
perfect and under control-although fish continue to die
by the hundreds of thousands. spawning grounds continue
to be ruined and one of the finest rivers in the South
faces complete contamination. We hope sincerely that
Masonite is determined to go to the core of this problem
and provide the solution. There is no question but that
it can be done if the plant is willing to spend the money.
That is the crux of the whole matter at Laurel.
We shall attend the conference with keen and genuine
interest, but we realize nevertheless that the meeting of a
dozen or so newspapermen and plant engineers is not by
itself going to solve this problem. Without making preten-
tons TO any special altruism on our own part, we do keep
looking at this thing somehow from the long view of passing
generations, and we cannot escape the feeling that some later
generation of Mississippians is not going to be interested so
much in what is said but in what is done. We might say to
them that the charts and the graphs showed that such and
such q treatment was considered. simpracticableS and that
the other one was '"uneconomical," and the other one "inad-
visable at the present time" And our descendants will re-
ceive our alibis with cold disbelief, and contempt. And we,
ourselves, looking at the foul-smelling, lifeless streams, that
once were countless creeks and bayous that gave the Mis-
sissippi countryside a quality of indefinable, haunting beauty,
will realize the futility of our excuses.
Mississippi is at the beginning of its industrial life.
We are still rated the most rural and agricultural state
in, the Union. Undoubtedly we shall see the continued
drift of industries from the overcrowded East and Mid
west toward the undeniable advantages that we offer.
No one with any idea of Mississippiis history can deny
that we do not welcome this development and need it.
Industrial paYrolls and tax money make possible the
schools. cities. housing. diet. and higher living standards
that we need. But the industries that do not care to
play the good citizen. but would rather cut all corners
and alibi out of legal and moral responsibility are really
not going to help US achieve this vision in the long run.
This is a statewide problem and we must confront 1t
wherever it exists. whether a hundred miles away or in
our own front yards. Chemists have a solution for every
industrial pollution now existing in the state-let there
be no doubt on this point-and the law requires that they
be applied. We are in a formative period in our indus
trial history and the law enforcement officers must set
the precedent of a fortnight policy. Thus far the efforts
of the attorney generals office and the game and fish
commission have been notably weak and dilatory.
The Masonite pollution is far and away the most serious
the state now faces. in volume, in effect, in the number of
years II has run its fragrant course. This week we have
studied a half dozen official and private chemical studies of
this condition going back as far as 1929. And we state frank
ly that the solution has been available from the beginning.
We have responsible data on this point, and intend to de-
velop it in future editorials.
Reading the numerous reports and studies, one becomes
aware of the simple and incontrovertable fact that Masonites
difficulty in solving its pollution problem has been the
fact that it was not Interested in saving Mississippi's rivers
product out of its waste-Sueh as furfural, a chemical used in
the dye industry.
sible attitude toward the welfare of Mississippi. What we
hope the editors will be told at the meeting Friday is that
Masonite has come to realize this, and that now, out of graf
ltude toward a hoSp1table ana cooperative commonwealth,
it intends to obey the law and stop polluting the Pascagoula
river system. We hope that we shall see this policy put for
ward under the acting general manager who is now signing
officials can attest, the plant has pursued a different attitude.
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