New-York tribune., 1900-05-13
uAKE YOUR OWN ICE
ovrY WAY TO BE INDEPENDENT OF EN-
T0RTIONERS.
s,c CONSUMERS CAN Buy REFRIGERkTING
MACHINES THAT OPERATE ECO
NOMICALLY.

inverse About five million tons is the esti-
nate of the ice used by New-Yorkers last year.
THAT is en allowance Of more than q ton for
Zach man woman and child in the five bor-
azrhs This year the Ice Trust controls about
seven million tons. but demands ard gets 100
per cent more for the bulk Of it than it brought
last year While artificial ice is sold to-day at
profit al l. cents a hundred pounds in New
orleans by a small combination of icemen,
big combination is forcing the small consumers
Of this city 10 pay co cents. or just four times
as much
The question arises Where IS the avenue of
escape from these harpes?' and the answer
given by experts is. Machinery" There are
hundreds Of hotel keepers, butchers. saloonkeep-
e-s. dairy and delicatess5n store keepers, apart
n,eur house proprietors and owners Of big pri-
vate houses in this city. who could thus release
themselves from the tyranny Of the trust. and
81 the same time put money in their own
pockets.
WHAT THE ICE MAKERS SAY.
4 Tribune reporter had interviews with sew
eraI manufacturers e ice and refrigerating
plants last week and was assured by them that
4 conservative estimate Of the average cost Of
manufacturing 5-e to-day was 81 a ton. This
price varies. Ct course. according 10 different
circumstances one prominent manufacturer
his 1u5-tor-a-day machine to turn out ice at
5G cents a ten. Indeed. the - cent q ton mark
is rot considered 70 he far away, rapid
the strides being made all thu time by manu-
facturers and inventors Of ice making ma
chinery. But" says many a moderate con-
surler. these figures are only attained by
machinery run by experts. How could I expect
70 achieve such results with the aid OF ordinary
help?
To this the experts reply that ice machines
have been reduced 10 such simplicity Of action
that any ordinary engineer who has skill enough
10 obtain a certificate 10 run small stationary
engine. can. with the aid OF his fireman. easily
and successfully operate a small ice plant. And
this is not mere theory. they declare. but e
proved fact Many and many 30-ton-a-day
plants are at present being operated all over
the country with no more hands than these.
Moreover. a 5-ton-a-day machine OF a lotion
requires only one man 10 manipulate il. if the
power is leased from some neighboring engine
OF dynamo.
The 5-ton-a-day plant IS about the smallest
made. One firm. which controls a number OF
cheap and popular dairy restaurants in New
York and several other large cities has now
more than a dozen Of these in operation. and
viii gradually equip il is said. each OF its many
restaurants with a 5-ton-a-day machine. Such
q machine viii last with ordinary care and
ordinary repairs for fifteen or twenty years
and at the prevailing rate for trust ice in this
city viii pay for itself in one year II can be
bought and installed for 5000. and can be run
70 its full capacity ar a cost Of s. a day in
this city Il might cost more in a city where
pure water dear. AS the capacity Of the
machine Increases so does the cost but not
exactly IN the same proportion. A 10-ton-a-day
plant. for instance. will cost about 81 600 and
lo0-ton-a-day plant. which would require
special building Of its own. would cost about
100000 including the building. The ) or 10
ton machine can be set UP in space not larger
than 10 by u feet.
COST OF DELIVERY SAVED
These who already have engineers in their
employ. as all hotels and big apartment houses
have. need incur little expense for extra Ia Dor
70 operate ice plant. BY far the larger part
OF The expense Of those who make ice or harvest
natural ice for the purpose Of selling it again
Is incurred in the delivery to customers The
man who makes ice for his own consumption
does not have TO meet this. The ice plant Of the
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. which makes more ice
Than the hotel requires. saves money for the
hotel. il IS said, even when ice can be bought
outside az l. cents hundred. An objection
which is sometimes raised TO a private plant like
this is that machine large enough TO furnish
the hotef with all the ice it wants in July and
The ready answer Of the expert TO this objection
is. first, that IL is not necessary TO run a ma
chine 10 its full capacity at any time, and. sec
ond, that II II is run its full capacity all the
THE the surplus in winter be sold stored
for summer use.
This is the plan upon which ice manufacture
ers work when they get up plants 10 supply
small towns. They buy a machine which will
make little more ice than the town requires in
cool weather and a little less than is wanted in
lot weather. All winter they store the surplus
and use II up in hot weather. Ice stored in an
insulated warehouse near the ice plant that
made il can be kept with much less loss from
sh-inkage than natural ice stored in such ice
houses as line the banks Of the Hudson and the
kennehec because by the attachment Of the re-
tngeraring machine 70 the ice plant the store
house can be kept always at a cool and equable
Temperature at slight expense. Even if hotel
keeper OF big butcher should install plant Of
MS own and find that in the next summer nat
ursl ice could be bought cheaper than he could
make H. he could let his own plant lie idle at
Slight loss. The deterioration Of the machinery
would be trifing if II were properly protected
rom rust. The interest or the money invested
II Il would be lost. Of course, but that would
oe more than made I'D 70 him in the hrst sue
eeecing season IN which the failure Of the nat
aral crop o. the manipulation Of a trust should
cause the price 70 rise above 81 a ton
PRESIDENT MORSE COHTRADICTED.
President Morse Of the Ice Trust declared
ciared recently that II cost 81 20 a ton TO manu-
'scture ice Experts laugh al this statement,
and retort that one or the Trusts plants in this
afy-and an antiquated al that's turn
1'g out ice az 9s cents a hundred right along.
and al the plants operated by the Trust are
making IL al an average cost OF 81 10 hun
sita including interest and wear and tear.
81 Morse also put forth the feeble excuse re-
THu# n afc h4r