Omaha daily bee., 1906-07-17
RELIEF FROM The ICE TRUST
Movement on Foot that Premises Protection
from B1actious Esrt Year
COUNTY ATTORNEY snLL INVESTIGATING
Evfdeaee ~ Hand which Proves
sonse aaeeT Things - 70 How
the Local MARKET is
Manipulated.

Whether county Attorney slabauEh sue
ceeds OF NOT IN dfscoverine that such
thing a. an ice trust exists IN Omaha, q
popular movement has been set in motion
which promises TO give Omaha relief in
smother year from exactions that people
generally have decided are unjust and I'M
warranted.
Evidence IL said 10 exist that a spirit
OF mutiny prevails among the ice wagon
drivers for the big companies The other
day a woman paid her ice bill and bought
new book Her book cost her 81 more
than the one she had before and the two
we're duplicates. She remarked that It
seemed shame for people to be held
up IKE that by the ice companies. "It Is
a shame" replied the driver, but" he
added, 1T will be different next year"
He dId not explain how the difference
would come about. but II is understood
from other sources that a movement IL
bow on foot that promises to bring about
the organization % ''cftfsens' ice COM
psny," through witch the consumers may
expect and secure reitef from the drbitrary
prices they are being compelled TO pay
This yesr Just because the ice barors want
70 charge exoTbitaut prices and have the
power.
sabaueh PInds NothIne.
No proof Of an ice trust m Omaha has
been secured b. County Attorney s1abaugh
oy hfs inquiry into tire subject. but II has
been brought out that little companies
can buy ice from the bic ones for =. 30 a
ton, notwfthstsnding the common retail
price Of $40 a ton. delivered. Information
20 this effect wae given by Charles Boyd
OF Ssos North Seventeenth street, the
proprietor OF the Crystal Ice company,
which has two wagons in operation Mr..
Boyd said he procured his supply from
the Peoples Ice ana Coal company ex-
clusiveiy, but that he had no contract Of
any kind with this firm and no agreement
was exaeted as to what his retail price
should be-
Last year Mr.. Boyd said he had bought
tee for sl.5o a ton and sold IL for q and %
q ton. He was pressed for an explanation
as to why the ratio between the buying and
selling price had been Increased and re-
piled that II was due to the fact that the
fee this year Is much poorer in quality to
that Of last year He estimated the shrink
age at 80 per cent and declared II seemed
that the tee was no sooner in the wagon
than It melted. Last year, he declared, the
product could be hauled around ali day
and prove good fee the next morninE
cSAapar&(ive cSss 81 Delivery.
The cost Of delivering ice in Kansas city,
according to the dealers testimony, is
about $3.50 a ton. Figuring on this basis
the profit Of the man who has to buy his
ice from the COMPANIES that DO the great
bulk OF the local business is the neat little
margin OF - ton, or 30 per cent OF the
price the consumer has to she'll out.
II think we have demonstrated that ex-
orbitant prices are charged, although we
have not smoked out the Ice trust" said
County Attorney slabaugh 1--WE are still
WORKING on the matter and want all the
assistance we can get from the public and
the iewspapefs, = We have mo- power 10
subpoena witnesses or to compel them "a
testify or to give testimony under cath, and
we must rely largely upon volunteer evil
dence." 30 % ~,
Acting upon the orders Of Mayor Dahl
man Inspector Of weights aud Measure,
Pegs got busy Sunday and tested seven.
teen ice wagon scales used by the Omaha
Ice and Cold Storage company, the biggest
Ice concern in town. The Inspector found
eight out Of seventeen scales short anC
condemned and connscated them. One o.
these scales weighed ten pounds short on
OF twenty pounds.
All Zee TO BE weighed.
the mayor nae announced his intention I,
ask the council TO pass an ordinance re
curing all fee deliveries to be weighed
He has received many complaints that ic
men do not weigh the ice At all, but simply
guess at the quantity. One OF these com
plAfnts came from a man who declared n
had discovered an alleged 0-pound chunl
OF ice to weigh only seventy-two pound
when put on a scale.
That ice men are still princes of labo
was the substance of Proprietor Boyd
testimony when he remarked that he ha
To pay $50 a month to his assistants an
buy them their lunches. His small com
pany, it appears. is backed financially b
c. n. Isard. horseshoer and relative. Nj
Isard detailed n Conversation he had hef
with the officers OF the Peoples Ice an
Coal company early in the year from whic
he obtained the opinion that a feeling c
hostility existed among the big local &c
companies He had no knowledge Of an
ice trust or combination.
The most interesting part OF Mr. 1sard
testimony was given when he asserte
that tie had been told by a party VIII
seems to be relied upon" that the Dali
News man had gone to an ice company an
said II the company would furnish them
with the ice for the once and his resldenC
he would cut out all the talk about IN
ice trust In his paper" Mr. lsard abs,
iutely refused TO go into particulars bl
his source OF information has stated tn:
the ice company refused the temptatio