Evening star., 1898-10-13
Proposed Purchase of ALI the Com
panies in This City.
DEAL MADE WITH THE HYGIENIC
What is Said of the New Com
blnaton and Its Plans.
c A PITAL OF MILLIONS


management of the various ice companies
In this city have quite recently been visited
by a representative of a combination OF
capitalists that during the past spring sue
ceeded in securing the control of the ice
companies in Baltimore. II e has laid be-
fore them in general way in some cases
and with more specific details in others a
proposition for the purchase of the rights
and property of the companies. The gen
eral proposition is that Il control of all the
stock be secured either by purchase out
right or the consent of the stockholders
and that 1t be exchanged at par for the
stock of the purchasing company which Is
known as the ickerbocker Ice Company
of Maine
1t is said however, that the real COM
pany Is the Consolidated Ice Company of
New York city, and 1t is further claimed
by some In this city, who are believed to
have accurate information, that the latter
name is only another form for the Stand
ard Oil Company. At any rate this COM
blnation aims, it is believed, to form a gil
gantic ice trust
Three years ago. 1t is said operations
were begun in New York city by securing
control of all the companies there and then
they went to Philadelphia and made the
same deal. A similar series of purchases
have been made in Chicago, Richmond and
capitalization of this company is $7,OOO,O ,OOO
of which 100000 is preferred stock, pay
ing per cent dividends, while the balance
is common stock.
Six Local Companies.
There are in this city six companies. as
follows: The Independent Great Falls. Hy-
gienic, Washington, Purity and National
Capital. The Independent, Great Falls and
National Capital handle natural ice, as
what is brought from Maine is called, while
the Hygienic and the Washington manu-
facture ice, and the Purity makes ice and
also handles the natural product.
AS stated, the proposition is to include all
the companies in this combine, but, as far
as could be learned today, only one COM
pany has finally closed deal, and that is
the Hygienic, which has plant at the
Read of 18th street northeast for making
ice The president of the company is Mr..
Samuel w. Curriden, and the manager is
Mr. Frank p. Davis.
1t is stated that the new owners will
take charge in a few days, and that Mr..
Davis will be retained as manager, and
that the business will go on as usual, the
only difference being that there will not
be separate company and a separate set
of officers.
Terms Not Made Public.
The officials of the company do not give
publicity to the terms upon which the
deal was made. The company is capital
ized at 100000. and the bond issue amounts
to s15O00O. and of course the latter, being
a mortgage on the property of the COM
pany, will have to be provided for by the
purchaser. The par value of the stock is
$50 per share. and 1t is stated that the
price paid was s67. half of which was cash
and half in stock of the purchasing COM
pany.
l! these figures are correct more than
par was paid for the Hygienio stock. al
though the proposition, as generally ma lie
by the representative of the syndicate, is
that the shares Of stock will be exchanged
a. par.
In the case of the Independent Company
the capital is s3oo,o90. while the price all
though 1t is seldom offered on the market
is in the neighborhOod of $500 per share
The capital stock of the Great Falls
Company is s2OO.OOO, and, according to the
quotations of the Washington stock ex-
change. s11S is bid and $123 asked for it,
These two are-the largest companies. and
while it is believed that money will buy
anything, yet it is understood that in
neither instance has offer been made
which will be accepted.
The Alternative Presented.
1t is stated that the alternative presented
to the companies is either to sell or to
stand the chance of an active competition
and reduction in prices. An official in one
of the city ice companies said today to a
Star reporter III talking over the situation
that as soon as the syndicate got a start
IL Baltimore prices were reduced to Il
cents per hundred pounds but after con-
troll of all the companies had been secured
then the prices went to 30 cents Now he
said according to statements in paper
devoted to the interests of the ice industry
capitalists in Baltimore are talking OF
starting several artificial ice plants with
the view of meeting and fighting the syn
dicate.