Starch and Potato Company01

Waupaca Republican

September 14, 1894

The Nuisance Question

“A motion to dissolve the injunction against the Waupaca Starch & Potato Co., was heard before Judge Webb at Grand Rapids, Tuesday. E.L. & E.E. Browne represented the defendant, and Goldberg & Hoxie appeared for plaintiff, Mr. Middlestadt. At this writing the motion had not been decided. As the case will come to trial at the October term, there is a possibility that the temporary injunction will be dissolved, in which case the defendant will have to give bonds for any damages caused thereafter. There can be no question but that the Starch Co. will be defeated on the trial, for if there was ever a nuisance created, the Starch Factory has created one, the Waupaca Republican to the contrary notwithstanding.” – A.L. Hutchinson in the Waupaca Record.

It seems, somehow, that because the REPUBLICAN was inclined to the opinion that the starch factory washings were not deleterious to fish or health (but at the same time waiving a provision that if it was proven that the sediment in the river was the cause of the disease we had nothing to say,) it should come in for harsh criticisms by the local and editorial search lights of the village weekly. An article in Harper’s of last week goes on to show that odors arising from water never breed disease. And it is a fact that the odors from all ponds are natural in hot weather, whenever there is a low stage of water to expose the sediment, but that when flushed or covered with fresh water the odors cease.

It has also been hinted that the cases of typhoid fever have resulted from the starch factory refuse in the pond. Has Weyauwega ever had the waters form her older wells analyzed? How many deep vaults and cesspools are maintained that might contaminate the water? These are questions which in a critical examination into the cause of disease in a town will always be asked by medical and sanitary experts.

Some of our Weyauwega friends say they are bound to prevent the Waupaca starch factory using the river for potato washings and sediment. The Waupaca starch and potato company will undoubtedly resist the action of Weyauwega in restraining them from letting the waste water and sediment run in the river/ and whether the sediment is any more deleterious than ordinary washings that find a course to the natural drainage channel will undoubtedly be finally determined by the higher courts, the correspondent of Record et als, to the contrary notwithstanding. The REPUBLICAN is perfectly willing to let the courts decide it.