Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1890-08-11
MAINE ICE IN aEw YoRK.


JsGgins from the foiIoviag 10 . View
York paper 1t would be inferred shaf New
Yorksrs believe that there 10 ~ unlimited
supply Of ice In Maine 70 meet their de-
maa'is. bat that !. is beiag handled 81 =
combined" to keep prices up. A near
- eaa be .earrsd here there Is not the an
limited sarply in this STATE that the metro
politans claim. and they are liable 70 dad
thss the Sos6bility Of Cutting their market
does not exist. However here Is What they
are talking Ia Mes York
| Pour additional sehoozers laden with ice
arrived a. this ssw York per. THURSDAY
| from Maine. Each carried abo1s four han-
dred tors. and sons effort was made by
| persons outside Of the strong Ice eoalbina-
ton that is holdieg mp prices 70 lay hold Of
| the supply. Il vas vain attempt, how
ever. ~ the ies tarens had their plans we'll
| laid. All the companies say that there Il
| nothing IN tbs talk Ct Trust 10 maintain
! prices. bat they do not seay the statement
tina; no ice comes down here 1t present
from Maine TO the open market
| The companies, it Is declared, have
agents in al the iee-shlpriag ports. whose
| Iaain business ~ 10 prsssst, - far ~ pos-
sible, shipments to New York. The plan
Of these agents. A. described, Is 10 spread
reports about the siaitsd condition Of the
ice market 10 Neg York; the iBpessibility
| Of di,posing OF shipments, ETC.. and by this
means 10 frights1 soald-be shippers. II
| these methods fail, ard the o~ners Of .
| coasting schooner conclude to send down
cargo OF ice anyway, the agents see that
their employees In New York can get con
troll OF the shipments upon their arrivals in
this port.
On one plea or another the agents induce
| the proprietors Of these vessels to consign
them TO one OF the local ice firms 10 this
eity that is in the combination In the few
eases where this cannot be- done the agents
telegraph 10 their houses in this city about
the departure Of any ice-I4tien vessel that is
not consigned, and the men here keep a
| sharp lookout for her arrival. When she
gets iafo port fhsir men a'e the frs. To
board her, aad the captain. glad Of an OPP
portanity to sell without delay Il a fair
price, closes out his cargo At onee. He car
be relied upon not To spread the good news
st home If he gets back in time 10 bling
down another shipment s. he will want TO
keep she neih 10 lubistlt a. inusb as possible.
There are thousands upon thousands Of
tons Of Ice in store in Maine, but because
Of the stories circulated the owners are
afraid 10 send their stock 10 this market for
fear Of losing rot only their ice, but the
cost Of transportation a. we'll. II the true
state Of facts could be brought home TO
holders OF this ice experienced men Drophesy
that the market would be flooded with good
ice. and that the influx would be so great
that the comb nsiion could not possibly
keep up the artificial prices
The average daily consumption of ice in
New York the year round is about 1000
tons, the consumption in summer running
up to 3. 0CO tons. On this AZ the present
artificial figures the combination companies
are making about 81 per ton over and above
their natural margin Of profit.
The consumers seem to have been ap-
poriioned out by all the companies, and
| ihers is no use fer them to protest and
threaten to 20 TO another dealer. In sew
ersl instances where this has been tried the
parties were told that their particular dis
trict was outside Of the bsiliwick Of the
particular wagon to which the application
was made.