The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1878-04-04
OH Bultetiu
COSTLY GOODNESS.
Ice-Water will be an Expensive
Luxury This Year. r
The supply Very Light and the Price
Very High.
(st Louis Globe Democrat, April2.l


the face, and the dealers are free to admit
that the price OF the cooling commodity
per ton will reach $50, and possibly $40,
before the close OF the heaIed term,
The past winter has not been equaled
In mildness of temperature since 1858.
and old citizens will remember well the
horrors OF the summer that followed.
The temperature reached degrees that
will ever be memorable, and the seeds Of
disease, which developed In the form Of
cholera one year later, were then plants
ed. The Ice crop has been a failure
throughout the north, and before the LIST
OF June had arrived ice was selling for
$50 a ton, or one and half cents
pound. Coal very seldom
acquired such a value. The price
advanced steadily during the next six
weeks. until the maximum was reached
at SO per ion, or two and half cents a
pound, and this in lots OF thousands Of
tons. Ice was necessary to lite that sum-
mer, and the retail peddlers, holding the
people IN their grasp, extOrrcd prices that
sugar or flour will not bring now. The
situation is not SO grave this year, but
the outlook is bad enough.
On last Wednesday Mr.. Garcone,
commissioner of supplies, awarded
contract Tor 1000, 600 pounds OF ice, to be
stored in the cellars OF the two Hospitals,
the insane asylum and the poor house,
at SIPS per ton, to Messrs. Huse, Loo
mis- q Co. The same firm was also
awarded the contract tor delivery OF Ice
to the city hall, tour courts, court
house, waterworks, etc, at 92c per 100
weight. or SIS 40 per ton. The beauty
of delaying the award OF contracts TOR ice
until It's Use is exigent, is here shown.
In order that the keaders OF the Globe
Democrat may thoroughly understand
THE SITUATION
and the prospects IN this matter, report.
er, armed with list OF Ike wholesale ice
dealers OF the city, started out on an In
terviewing expedition and arrived at In.
tellisent results.
The office OF MIR. j. VI cKenna, of No.
5 Locust street, who did Big business
last year. was visited, and il was learned
that he would act only as ar, taller during
the coming season, being supplied BY
Huse, LOOMS Il Co.
The office of Humble & Co., OF 200 s.
Fourth street, was visited but NOT found.
II was subsequently learned that the firm
were without stock Of importance and
would probably retail during the sums
mer.
James a. Smith, of Sl7 North Seventh,
is absent from the city, looking at the
IN Michigan and Wisconsin.
Call was made at the office Of j. II.
Mccormick, but that gentleman had re.
moved his business to Nashville.
Fortunate was the reporter to meet at
this point Mr.. 5. NJ. Hickey, a prominent
ice operator, who has just returned from
an extended northern trip and was brim.
ming with information. Dropping the
form OF the interview by which the de-
sired information WAS extracted, MIR.
Hickey's statements may be arranged
as follows. The outlook is bad. Ice will
be higher this year than it has been for
fifteen years, The stock in st. Louis is
40 per cent short. Ice is now being
at from IS to SO per ton, and
the price may reach $40 by June /.
II the summer is very warm the shorts
age or loss by melting OF ice will be cor,
respondingly large, and this waste is al
ways attended by a gradual
INCREASE IN PRICE,
which makes the people pay according
10 the degree Fahrenheit reaches by the
MIR. Hickey has just returned from Osh.
kosh, Green Bay, Whitewater, Delavan
and other points in Wisconsin, where he
succeeded In securing considerable ice,
but by no means the amount he desired.
The crop on the Wisconsin lakes was
fully forty per. cent. short OF the average
yield, and is OF an inferior quality. The
stock purchased will be brought to st.
Louis as soon as possible. MIR. Hickey
spent several days in Chicago, and finds
the people there looking dolefully at the
situation. MIR. Hickey said dealers"
but the reporter not understanding ex-
actly why "dealer" should look "dole.
tul" at the bonanza which the sun must
surely develop, takes the liberty to insert
people" or better. CONSUMERS" Word
comes from Dubuque and st. Paul that
they have got no more ice than they
need, and these two cities have In the
past done much towards helping st.
Louis out. Lacrosse, Lake City, Lake
Pepin and several other Wisconsin river
towns have several hundred THOUSAND
tons of ice housed. 1t has been custom
airy to bring this supply to st. Louis by
boat. This is out OF the question this
spring as the river Is at q miserably low
stage; there Is no snow on the ground
up-riyer, the frost Is almost out OF the
ground, and nothing but a meteorological
miracle can bring about a proper stage
of water to float the ice transports,
The Office OF the Mississippi Ice COM
pany, at II South Fourth street, was
visited. The company was last season
composed of Messrs. 4. e. Little and A.
z. Uffman, OF st. Louis, and Messrs. d.
d. Merriam, N. ID. Munson and 8. II.
Davis, of Quincy, ILLINOIS. Tho abso-
lutte and total failure OF the Illinois Ire
crop has led to the withdrawal of the
Quincy members, and MIR. Little Is prin.
cipally the Mississippi ice company. At
this place the statements of Mr.. Hickey
were In a general way corroborated, and
no new results reached. The last call
made was at the office Of Huse, LOOMS
4 Co., at the corner of Fourth street and
Washington avenue, where Mr.. James
l.. Huse cheerfully gave all the intorma.
ton desired.
Mr.. Huse said: "!ce Is this month. sell.
inc Mt 81 per ton to petldlars. On tho