The Washington times., 1906-07-14
Invested 5000 by Acct
dent and Made Fortune
in Six Years.
CASH ALL CAME HIS WAY
Remarkable Testimony of w.
F. Lyons, Who Controls
Kansas City Output.

methods OF the alleged ice combine. how
he started in the business six years ago
with capital OF 5000, made profit OF
SO. OOO in first year, and now is head OF d
$4,000 corporation. doing more business
than any two other ice concerns in the
city combined.
His story Of the enormous profits In
the business created establishment until
he told Of the cost of making ice and
the prices charged for it, Then the in
vestigators readily saw thar his tale of
how fortune smiled on him was no ex-
aggeration.
The cost OF manufacturing ice. he said,
was from SIT5 to S1-S5 a ton. 1t costs
the small consumer SO a ton, and Mr..
Lyons felt aggrieved that the ice dealers
We're too timid" to force the big con-
sumers in the business district to pay
somewhere near the same figure.
Two Advances in Price.
Mr. Lyons told OF making two advances
this season In the price OF ice sold 10
the peddlers-on April 1 and on May 1.
How did you come TO raise the price
on the LIST OF ApriI?" was asked.
I heard that the Peoples Ice Com
pany was going to raise the price on
that date. so 1 raised it,"
''Why?"
''Weu. I am not IL the ice business as
a philanthropist. I wanted to get all I
could for my ice"
The FIRST advance was Of 81 a ton.
Later he made an additional increase
when he heard that the other com
panies intended doing so.
Mr.. Lyons said he knew Of no combi-
nation IN the ice business. But II is
not necessary this year" he added.
In reply TO furthe- questioning Mr..
Lyons said;
II 1 had the making of the price OF
ice, it would be higher on the business
sales than 1t is now. The downtown
trade today ought 10 be paying s. a ton.
1t is due 10 the timidity of the ice men
that the price is not higher. ! say tim
idity. I won't say cowa dice. but It is
business timidIty and moral timidity."
Iceman by Accident.
Many careers have turned upon tribes.
II his friend Tom Bear, Of HigginsvilIe.
had not borrowed a couple Of hundred
dollars from him. Lyons might never
have gone into the ice business al all.
II there had not been a providentially
warm winter preceding the summer Of
1901, and If Mr.. Lyons had not been
shrewd enough 10 corner all the natural
ice crop OF the season. he would not
have become the ice magnate OF this
community.
Mr.. Lyons was born forty-four years
ago on a farm in Lafayette county.
Mo. and on the farm he stayed
until he was eighteen years of age. He
was sent 10 Emery and Henry College
In Washington county. Va, and after
graduating at that institution. he at
tended succes essiVely Chicago and ST.
Louis law schools. He came 10 Kansas
city in 16S6, after his graduation from
the St Louis school. He was supplied
. with exceedingly modest means, and
while he acquired a fair reputation as
q lawyer. he made little money at II.
Turns to Politics.
He was something of a mixer and
naturally Fravitated toward politics. He
early, took a prominent part in local
Democratic affairs. and ten years after
his arrival nc was nominated for State
senator and elected. He served his fun
term OF four years as State senator. and
then resumed the practice OF law. He
went 10 the senate poor and he came
back with the reputation Of being no
richer.
In 1900 Bear. an old friend. borrowed
500 from Mr.. Lyons 10 buy out a modest
little coal business. which he carried on
during the winter. When spring came
and coal was a drug on the market Mr..
Bear proposed 10 Mr.. Lyons that they
go into the Ice business. 10 keep the
horses bpsy until the coal season rolled
around. Nothing was further from Mr..
Lyons mind than TO go into the ice
business. He knew little or nothing
about H. He had taken no part in the
coal business. and had small funds TO
engage IN any business at all. He Taked
together just $500. and on the modest
capital the frs years business was
done.
From the ] oid Packing Company ice
was bought for some time. but the DOlds
abruptly refused 10 sell any more and
Mr., Lyons applied 70 James Yates. an
icemaker, for enough ice to supply his
limited clientele. If Bear had had the
courage TO go ahead with the business
at this Juncture Mr.. Lyons might not
have engaged in ii. but Bear was timid
and lnsl ted on working for a salary
In this way Mr.. Lyons literally was
forced 70 become an ice man himself
IN order 10 save that $500
Corners the Crop.
The winter OF l9O0-lsu was ver, mild
and there was little natural ice bar-
vested in this " ,inity. This was the
tide in the affairs of Mr.. Lyons which
he took at the food He went Norm
on a still hunt after ice and cornerad
the available supply of about "a ooo
tons Following the mild winter there
was an unprecedented hot summer. For
weeks the thermometer registered 100
degrees, and the artificial ice made here
could not half I'LL the demand
There was no natural ice 10 be had
for love or money except from Mr.
Lyons. Train after train came from
MinneapoliS and ST Paul laden with
nothing but Lyons ice. Men stopped
him in the street and begged him to sen
them ice zt 81 per hundred. He paid
from IS cents to S1.25 per ton in the
North, paid from $3.50 10 s. freight. and
sold il here for ali the way from S.
10 81 at first TO So, $40 and as high as
Sl2 per ton as the season advanced
That was the beginning Of his for
tune. He cleaned up something like
$4,000 on the summers work. and then
he had a bad year, when he lost s.. OO0
But the next two years We're good ones
and he cleaned up about half as much
each year as he had made during the
banner year.
In the winter Of 1904 he was in a po-
SitiOn 10 build an ice plant of his own
Up 10 this time he had been buying all
his natural and manufactured ice, and