The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-27
RuShtsn Says Drivers Are Per- secuted and Ice Famine
 is Threatened
WEST END MAN SAYS HE
 WILL FORGE DELIVERY
Head of the Birmingham Ice Factory Claims Consumers Are Giving the Drivers So Much Trouble They
 Are Throwing Up Jobs.

sided proposition. Police judges and plain
 ordinary citizens have declared war on short weights and impudent drivers, and
 have begun active operations towards breaking this up. On the other hand thc ice officials claim that their drivers are being persecuted and state that if 1t con- tinues for a few days longer there is be impossible for them to secure any driy-
 CTS for their wagons. The ice officials
 are very much worried over the matter. Inspector A. J. Hall has been very ac-
 tive for the past few days and mas
 arrested several drivers for giving short
 weights. One driver was fined $50 for not
 having scales on his wagon and for giV- ing short weight. All this fine except Sl0
 was remitted by Acting Mayor Klotz, which was assessed for not having scales as required. Louis Schillnger of the Phil Schillinger Brewing company, whose
 wagon this negro was driving, paid the | fine. MT. Schillinger stated that he could appeal the case and prove by the man who had purchased the ice that he re- l ceived full weight but that it was cheaper 1 to pay the $10 fine than to pay an at- torney s25 to fight the case.
 Bitter Dispute at West End. Complaints have been received from all
 parts of Birmingham, and things are rap 1 idly coming to a focus in West End, where the City Delivery company has re- fused to deliver ice to A. K. Rennie, the druggist. There is tale to each side William J. Rushton of the City Delivery | company claims that MT. Rennie detained
 their driver for twenty-five and thirty | minutes waiting for his money at various | times. and that MT. Rennie abused the | driver when he asked for the money. 1 This, MT. Rushton states, so frightened the negro Thursday that he drove his
 wagon back to the ice factory and gave up his job. It was impossible to secure | another driver to take the wagon back out i that day. The ice house in West End was | kept open until o'clock that night, how 1 ever, to accommodate those who could | send for the ice. MT Rushton furthsc l states that MT. Rennie called up yester- ! day and ordered ice and that he (NGr. Rushton) told him he could get it by send | ing to the ice house, or that they would de- | liver 1t to him if he would promise not | to detan and abuse their driver. This, | to Rushton states, Mr Rennie refused
 to do.
 | Another driver was secured yesterday | morning and ice was delivered in West
 End. Mir Rushton states that this wagon
 was not sent out, however, until the mar
 shal of that suburb had promised to pro-
 tect the driver from abuse.
 Rennie States His Views.
 MT. Rennie states that the reason the | ice company refuses to deliver ice to | him is because de demands that the { ice be weighed. He says that he has
 never detained the driver; that the negro | would stop and talk to some negro wo- | man for thirty and forty minutes at a 1 time and then report that he had detained | him. He said the negro was very im- | pudent Thursday and refused to deliver | any ice because he demanded that 1t be | weighed. MT. Rennie says he then se-
 cured plank and gave the negro two
 minutes to put the ice in his box. He | further states the negro quickly compiled
 with his request
 MT. Rennie further stated that yestcr- | day when the wagon passed his resi- | dence that Mrs Rennie ordered fifty | pounds of ice from the driver. The negro and secured the pay for it when he l learned that it was MT. Rennies resi- | dence. He immediately went to the re-
 frigerator, secured the ice again and car
 ried it back to his wagon. laying the
 money down as he went out.
 1 He also stated that if the ice company
 refuses to deliver him ice today that he
 will take the matter to the courts.
 In discussing the situation yesterday | MT. Rushton said:
 | Rushton Tells of Trouble. | "Our drivers are being persecuted, and as a result we are finding it next to | impossible to secure negroes who are | competent to handle an ice wagon. Sev- eral of our very best drivers who have been with us for years have quit in the | past few days stating that the abuse | they received from their patrons es- | pecially the women, was more than they | could stand.
 We want everybody to get their l 1 power to see that they do so, but there
 are numberless cases where our drivers
 are badly abused for giving short weight,
 when the consumer is actually receiving | more than he is paying for. Our wagons
 are all provided with scales, and it Is | carelessness on the part of the driver. | when he fails to have them with him. and we have no kick coming if he IS arrested for not having them.
 We pay off every Saturday night. holding back one days pay, and we never can tell whether or not we will
 have any men at work Sunday morn ing. Sunday is our heaviest day, and
 it often finds us with five empty wagons standing in our yard, and try hard as we can it is impossible to secure men to take them out. Sunday is also the day when everyone rises late and we can't start our wagons out early on this ac- count
 Two Hundred Men on Payroll. "We carry about 200 men on our pay
 roll and there are from forty to sixty
 changes every week, when things are
 running comparatively smooth. It can
 very readily be seen how handicapped we
 are when several of our best and oldest
 men cult every day. People as rule.
 don't seem to realize the responsibility