The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-05-02
FRIGID FOR ICE MEN.
They Have No Prospect of
Taxing the Public
Heavily This
Year.
GOOD CROP, BIG COMPETITION.
Of Course They All Say There Is No
Combine-F0rty Cents a Hun
dred TO Families.

"There viii be no cry of ice famine
this coming season. said Mr.. Samuel
Burney, secretary and treasurer Of the
Hudson River Ice Company, to NEWS
reporter this morning. THE best the
companies can hope for is that the
weather will be intensely hot and cause
an unusually large consumption OF ice.
II such proves to be the case prices win be
forced mp probably towards the end Of
the season"
"Plenty of icet" asked the reporter.
"Well, about a two thidr crop Of Hud-
son ice. Some Of the fee houses along the
Hudson are more than two-thirds full
and others more than half full. The
lakes hereabout have also furnished ice
enough TO fill the ice houses about them.
The Hudson River and the lake ice crops
usually supply New York, Brooklyn. Jer-
sey City and Hoboken. A full crop
would more than have supplied these
cities, and ice would have TO be carried
over until next season."
REASONABLE PRICES
"What will consumers pay for ice this
summerf asked the reporter.
"1he heavy trade, including that of
saloons, restaurants and butcher shops, is
now being supplied at 25 cents hundred
pounds, the family trade at the rate of 40
cents hundred. This isa big drop from
the prices of last summer. There was no
crop in this section at all, winter before
last. The lowest retail price last summer
was 20 cents a hundred. 1t advanced to
n dollar a hundred. The price in the
heavy trade advanced from s. to SIS q
ton, from the wagons, and from IS TO sl2
at the bridge"
ANY prospect of a combine of the ice
companies"
mo there's too much ice this season.
There is no combine, and there is no pros
pect OF a combine. The present low price
Of ice is due to the fact thatthere is plenty
of it, and the competition between rival
any competition with the ice factories
this season. / believe there are none In
Jersey City. / understand that even the
Swift Beef Company who put IN
machinery last season find 1t cheaper to
purchase natural ice at the present low
figures. There have been but few ice
factories erected, and these are nearly all
in the far south. There is no better ice in
the world than Hudson River ice. The
wholesale price at the bridge will prob
ably be less than IS ton"
HIS WEALTH NELTs AWAY.
At the office OF the New Jersey Company
the reporter was told pretty much the
same story concerning crops and prices.
except that ice was selling at the bridge
for 81 ton. The Superintendent said
that no com blnation exists at present, and
none is likely to be formed this season.
Some people" said the superintendent,
"nave an fdea tnat fee men are bioated
moaoPo..s.5. They cal &c 'Ice ba-o1s
and such names. Last season made
sorry old barons out of some ice men.
The Knickerbocke rice Company OF New
York lost a COOL million of dollars. The
Ridgewood and the Mutual Benefit Com
panies are now In the hands of receivers.
We all lost money last season. and it is
seldom we have profitable season. This
company paid of a dividend two years
ago. 1t was the first paid in fifteen years.