Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-06-17
THE ICE SITUATION.
Two Sides of the Question--An Expla'
nation From an Ice Company.

|
| at is all nonsense to say that the price Of ice
has doubled" said representative of the
American Ice Company to STAR reporter
this morning. Compare the prices of 1889
with those of the present date and see for your
| self. Last year we sold seven pounds of ice for
8 cents. Now seven pounds cost the consumer
cents. You could get % pounds for Is cents
year ago. This day you pay 20 cents for the
same quantity. Fifty cents hundred was the
/ figure last year. Now t is 70 cents. DO you
know what ice costs here? In
Maine it is Sc ton; freight
is $50 and then you must add % cents ton
| for handling from the vessel to the ware house.
That brings up the cost to S7.75. Is that all!
| No! One-third of the cargo is waste by the
| time we get 1t into the wagons for delivery.
Add S2.5S; that brings us up to S1033 per ton.
| We are selling 1t around to the houses at Sl4 a
ton.
''Some people are talking about that slump
! in the price of ice that took place a few days
| ago. i want to explain that to you. in
| ordinary winters there Is an ice harvest on the
| Hudson river between Albany and New York
| of about 100000 tons. Last winter they
didn't get a pound. New York, Brook
| lyn. jersey City and a few of the
| surrounding settlements consume from $4,000
/ to 10000 tons daily. That takes fifteen 1000
| ton vessels every day to supply the demand.
round trip; that means from 200 10 300 sailing
vessels right out of the ice fleet that were not
| in that service last year because the ice
| harvested on the Hudson towed right
| down. Recently good deal of ice has been
| shipped on to the New York market by parties
blnatIon among the Ice dealers took advantage
of that fact, stood off and didn't buy the Ice
| until they got it at their own prices That
accounts for the low figures quoted on ice in
Il N1~l- Of
fessiOnals who shipped on the market didn't
| realize enough to pay freight.
| 1t has been stated that there is a combina-
| ton here on the ice business. / want to say
most emphatically that the American Company
is not i'll combination, nor will it be. We
stand alone"
AN ICE CONSUMERS SAY.
what are we going to do about the extor-
tionate rise in the price Of ice?' said a WELL
known citizen to STAR reporter this after
noon. If there was any real reason why the
price should go up no reasonable being
would complain, but it seems to me
somebody ought to kick at being
practically compelled to add to the wealth of
meI and corporations already over rich. The
ice supply in Maine last winter was nearly
| 1000, 900 tons more than it was during the
| previous ice-cutting season. The COM
\ panles IN the cutting and storing business
| knew that but little ice was being made
/ sOuIn OF New 1Ork. 50 tney kept Oh cutting
until there was nothing more to cut. Never in
all the history of Maine was there such supply,
| and yet the local company with which have
been dealing has notified me that the price
| has advanced very considerably. Now, I'm
| only poor man and small consumer, but
probably represent the views of the great
majority Of those who reside here when l say
that when have to pay Is cents for the fifteen
pounds OF ice We use daily at my home
/ am paying much more than
| ought to. OF my own knowledge / know that
the ice, with all its attendant expenses. can be
| laid down in the ware houses ON our wharves
| for less than $40 ton; this to more than
cover all waste. 1 buy it at the rate of go. 40
a ton. and the kind of a ton get never weighs
| more than the table of weights and measures
| says it should. This morning a man connected
with the company have been buying from
| called at my house and said, in effect, that
| would be doing the company favor if would
buy my ice from some one else; that his COM
pany could do better by selling il
| III the warehouses in Maine. / men,
ton this because early in the season
| this same man and others connected with the
same concern pestered me that agreed to
deal with them instead of with one of the other
companies from which have been buying for
some years past. Why don't they cease doing
business here and move right up to Maine!
Why did they worry me for my trade il they
| don't want il?
My eyes will be wide open next spring when
the Ice dealers are out canvasSing."