The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-03-24
ICE GOES UP 5 PER CENT
 TO FAMILIES
Advance to Small Consumers from 40 to
 50 Cents Per Hundred.
Dealers Say bat Third of UsuaI Crop Has Been Harvested - WiHsted Has Ice, But New York Has None Maine Will Supply Demand-What Ice Men Have to Say.

The open winter is ending with only
 about one-third of a crop of ice in the storage plants in this part of the state There will be lift in the price. The directors of the Naugatuck. Valley Ice Company, one of the largest deal
 CTS in this vicinity met recently and
 after discussion fixed the price to take
 effect April 1st at 30, 40 and 90 cents per hundred according to the quantity
 used. While this rate is not binding
 on the other companies doing business
 in the city 1t will probably be adopted
 by the others.
 E.. H. Walker. secretary of the Nau-
 gatuck Valley Ice Co.,, said this morn
 ing: "We have been able to harvest
 and will have to go to Maine to sup ply our customers. This of course will entail an additional expense. Af- ter considerable discussion the direc- conclusion that 50 cents per hundred would be as low as the company could furnish ice to families and small con- sumers. In Hartford and New Haven the price will be at least 60 cents. Last year the uniform price in this city was 20 80 and 40 cents., according to the quantity used. The increase of 10 cents per hundred does not pay us for ting ice to this city from Maine. but the sentiment of the board of d.rec- tors was against making the families and the small consumers bear the heaviest part of the burden.
 Similar conditions exist in all the towns in this vicinity. In some pla- ces no ice was harvested, and in the remainder hardly One-third of the us- ual crop was put into the houses. winsted had a. good season, but they have so little storage room there that what little they can ship has no ap- preciable affect upon the market-H Hart said that there is plenty in the adjoin- ing towns. The price will be 50 cents to families there. The price we have fixed applies only to our own plant organization to fix prices. Every company will act independently, but none of them can go below that rate and live.''
 B. D. sprague, manager Of the Sprague Ice company said:
 we have not settled on a price as yet for the season, but it will prob- ably be 30, 40 and 50 cents an increase Local dealers will be obliged to go to Maine for ice this season. We have only one-tllird of crop and all or the other dealers are in the same boat The increase in expense is greatly III excess of the additional charge. The freight and the waste is dead loss and the demurrage is no small Item. Last year we paid $500 in demurrage- We are at the mercy or the iMalue ne shippers. It is not often that they have an opportunity to control the market and when they do get it they make us toe the mark. The increase all around will be about g per ton ana there is no profit in it at that. New yorlx will suffer worse than this sec ton. With scarcely any crop from | the Hudson and only about half crop | in the Mohawk Valley there will De Q struggle in the metropolis to supply | tI,e demand We shall not be able to get any ice from that direction.