The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-05-21
GILKESON & TAYLOR.
Hats. Shoes, Furnishings

h6hASo WAA3 no VI ihtcEcot. Ou6 ton, or
2,240 pounds, at 60 cents per hundred
will bring Sl3 "A. Ten per cent. ia
allowed as waste in melting and cut
ting, which will be Sl.34, which taken
from the original leaves the sum of Sl2 10
received for Q ton of ice at retail.
Deduct thetcost of manufacture, So. GO.
! and this will leave profit of SO. so per
| ton. Now If the delivery of ice should
| cost as much as ga so per ton, which is
probably enough to cover the cost of
delivering two or three tons, q net profit
of SIS per ton over and above ali ex-
pense s will be made by the company.
Yet 1.-The sixty cent raIe ID not unrea-
sonable." (?)
Reference Was made in the communi-
cation OF the ice company to several
Virginia towns, in sustaining the
reasonable" price charged for Ice here.
The TIMES not being satisfied with hear.
say evidence on this point, went to the
trouble to investigate and found in ono
OF the towns mentioned that the gentle.
man who sells ice in the town in uues-
ton has complete monopoly OF the
business and can charge just what he
chooses, yet he buys his ice from the
factory, giving the manufacturer a fair
profit, and then prefers TO sell il to his
people at the rate of fifty cents per hun
dred pounds, which is ten cents under
the reasonable" price charged In Roa-
noke by the very people who manutsc-
ture the ice here and thus save the
profits above mentioned and the twenty
per cent increase in price beside. Yet
"60 cents per hundred is 8 reasonable
price"
The dealer above referred TO sells his
ice in quantities OF 800 pounds at 40
cents per hundred, but he does not give
the wealthy an advantage over the poor
man by way Of the purchase OF tickets.
II he is able TO buy hundred pounds OF
ice at time he can as easily afford to
pay one-half cent per pound for it as
the poor man, who can only purchase
ten pounds at 8 time.
This dealer could force his people to
pay more for the ice than half cent q
pound, but he says 1t would not be
right He deals upon the principle of
live and let live" and says he Is maxi
ing good living out of his ice trade,
and expects to live among the people he
Is now serving, as they are his neigh
bors.
This man delivers ice In sparsely
populated town. and las long drives to
make, snd estimates his loss by melt
ing and cutting to be at least 90 per
cent. With this much loss he is still
o
half cent per pound.
This gentleman also stated that he
would rather deliver ice in Roanoke at
forty cents per hundred than in his
town q: sixty cents, as he could save
more than the difference in time and
waste by melting which ice must neces-
sarily undergo while exposed in being
delivered in sparsely settled towns.
All this goes TO show whether sixty
cents is reason able" price or not.
The ice company says: Under our
partnership arrangement which
lessens the cost OF delivery. one wagon
does the work which would be required
Of two or three" That lie every word
true; but why not give the people whom
you serve the advantage Of this saving
instead OF increasing the cos. OF ice TO
them full so per cent? You not only
want this much increase, but you add
10 that the saving Of the cost OF running
the two wagons, which. according to
your own statement, saves you from
one-half to two thirds the cost OF YOUR
delivery.
II the people OF Roanoke have been
"spoilt" on the Ice question 1t is no
reason why this combination should be
formed and the people forced to paw
monopolistic prices this year. THE
1lAEs IL In favor OF fsir prices and of
the Ice people living, and will say that
IL they can vindicate them selves In the
eyes OF the people that the columns OF
the paper will always be open for full
| discussion Of the matter.
Tickets must be bought by Saturday
afternoon II you wan. TO go on the r r.
Y. M. G A. excursion 10 WASHINGTON
May 25.