Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1892-11-03
ICE I'm THE TROPICS.
Strange Unpopulartty of Ice in Tropical
Regions.

OF Panama, has three forlorn and IN
appreciated refrigerators. Cigars are
stored in one of them, and a shop
keeper includes the other two among
his unstable lumber The town has
no use for ice, and refrigerators are a
drug in the market. According to
recent consular reports received at
Washington. the only countries where
ice is not popular are some tropical
regions Wnere one would suppose the
cooling commodity would be welcomed
as one Of Heavens best gifts. The
little island Of Reunion has ice and
snow on the tops Of two of its mount
aims, but the people regard them as
damp and uncomfortable, and keep
away Most BraZilians believe that
1T is unhealthy to use ice in their
climate. Three tons Of ice a day
sufices for the city of Santiago de
Cuba with AZ, 600 inhabitants. Two
thirds Of the population are negroes
and Consul Reimer writes that even
if ice were cheaper. he is convinced
they would not use it. In the Phil
ippine Islands ice-water is regarded
as injurious to health, and drinking
water is cooled by putting it into
bottles which are laid on the ice.
In Jaffa, the seaport of Jerusalem. a
company was formed three years ago
to make artificial ice, but the enter
prise was soon abandoned, as Gus
toners were not found for the pro-
duct. A liking for Ice, like the taste
for olives, must be cultivated. But
there are other very good reasons
why ice is not destined soon to come
inf II. %~rr
Most of their inhabitants are very
poor, and ice is luxury beyond their
means. Not few customers of ice
in this city last summer reduced their
daily supply when the price was adj
Vanced to a cent a pound. Perhaps
some Of them would have worried
along without any ice at all if the ice
merchant had demanded 5 cents a
pound, as he does in Tangier, Ma
magma, Iquique, Bahia, Valparaiso,
and many other places, or even 81
cents, the ruling rate in Rio de
Janeiro When ice sells for four
fifths the price Of sugar, poor people
have no opportunity to become
familiar with its advantages. Most
natives in the tropics, however, fail
to understand that ice is useful for
any purpose. The good housewife of
Brazil, for instance, would think it
very poor domestic economy to buy
an ounce of meat or fruit not required
for the days needs. One of our
consuls in Columbia says the people
of that country have prejudice
against keeping fresh meat uncOoked.
They do not wish to preserve food.
1.-The people of Dutch Guiana, " writes
Consul Browne, ''buy only food
enough to last from day to day"
The habits and ideas of these people
must be reVolutiOnized before they
will regard refrigerators with favor
or have any use for ice. In the chief
town of Dutch Guiana only 500 peo-
pie in a population 1000 use ice at
all Our consul at San Jose, the
capital of Costa Rica, writes that the
standard of comfort among the 25, 600
people Of that town is not sufficiently
high to bring refrigerators into use.
In Zanzibar and South Africa the
high price of manufactured ice pre-
cludes any general use of it. Maine
ice in considerable quantities finds its
way to far southern ATTITUDES. BY
the time CONCEALED portions of the
Kennebec River reach the Isthmus of
Panama they are quoted at cents
pound. The same ice at Nassau
is worth cents pound,
while at Bermuda it sells at the
comparatively cheap rate Of 4 of
a cent a pound. The only cargo of
ice ever landed in Cad1z went from
Boston in 1856. The customs officers
insisted that it must be landed on
the docks in a burning sun and
weighed like other freight. The
argument that ensued lasted for sew
eral weeks, and most of the cargo
turned into water before the vessel
was unloaded. Two shipments of ice
from New England have recently been
sent to the tropical coast of West
Africa. but neither proved profitable.
No adequate means has yet been pro-
vided there for the preservation Of
ice. and the larger part of these
cargoes melted before they could be
sold. Recent attempts to develop
trade in ice between this country and
Egypt have been unsuccessful because
the artificial product made in Cairo,
Alexandria, and Suez undersells the
imported article; and one Of the most
interesting phases of the commerce
in ice is the rapid growth of the
manufacture Of artificial ice in many
parts of the tropical and semi-trOpical
world, even in Asia Minor, Fiji and the
Philippine Islands. 1t is altogether
likely that its production in tropical
regions will gradually overcome the
widely prevailing prejudice, and that
ice will be used for other purposes
than merely to cool beverages in bar
rooms for foreigners.