Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-06-18
PRICE OF TOE TO CONSUMERS


PRICE OF ZOE TO CONSUMERS
Omaha ........,.,......'... 90 eents
! Denver ...............,.,.,.. 20 cents
Des Moines s.......,..........,..4 20 certs
Topeka .....,...'........'.. 70 oenSs
81, Joseph. ........,......., ,.... 70 cente
Kansas City ty........,,..,.So 20 70 20 cents
At Topeka q rebate OF per cent 10 al
lowed purchasers who pay In advance for
coupon books.
Ice dealers explain 10 The Bee why that
commodity costs more in Omaha than In
other cities OF the middle west The con-
sumer pays from 20 to q per cent more
for tee in Omaha than he does In Kan
sas City, Des Moines, Sioux City, 81. Jo-
seph Denver.
| Weather conditions of last winter were
responsible, say dealers. for the existing
shortage. which makes II necessary to
ship ice from Clear Lake and other
fields. The larger companies, for In
stance the Omaha Ice and Cold Storage,
and the Peoples Ice and Cold Storage
companies, charge $500 thousand TO the
domestic consumer, whereas last year q
half-ton book could have been bought for
81. Despite this price ch arged by the
larger companies, the small peddlers who
buy their stock from the larger compa-
nies then sell It to the consumer for 10
cents hundred pounds. This situation 10
acknowledged by managers.
II. A. Colvin, general manager for the
Omaha Ice and Cold Storage company, ex-
planned It thusly
THE one-price system TO all consum-
ers. In our opinion. is fairer than the
graduated scale The man who has room
for 100 pounds in his ice chest gets the
supply cheaper than the man who has
twenty-five pounds We pride ourselves
in the fact that wagons supply our
customers at any time of the day or night
at any time of the year. So when we saw
that there was going to be a marked
shortage in the store houses this year.
one price was fixed early in the season.
80 that there would be no necessity OF
making two or three increases as the
season progresses. These peddlers come
here and buy of us, and they. perhaps. will
deliver 30 their customers for a month
= or But then they will Quit. whereas
our customers have the assurance that
they will be supplied at any time they
need ice"
Just why is II that every other city
related in size to Omaha has cheap Ice
this summer. while 1t has increased In
price here7" Mr. Colvin was asked.
Open Winter Blamed.
Because Of the open winter" he replied
For a radius of $50 miles from Omaha
there was no Ice harvest There were only
, fourteen harvest days in the last season,
when, to assure a full crop, there should
be at least two cuttings of that length
Of time.
added to the fact that there was only
one freeze to assure supply. Carter lake
was five and one-half feet lower than
usual, thereby depreciating the cutting sur
face. The normal ice crop for Omaha,
should estimate. would be about 42b.0Oo
tons. 1t is at least 40 per cent short this
year. We now are shipping in from the
outside to supply trade. On one ship.
ment received yesterday there was 9
shrinkage of 3S per cent on one car. That
means an addition 10 the price to the con-
. sumner. Then the packing houses take up
big amount OF ice, and the railroads The
, situation here is not unusual for every
five six years we have a failure. In
1905 the price went to 90 cents a hundred"
' The SO cent scalu was put into effect by
! all ice dealers on May 1. Mr.. Colvin said
He declared. however, that this price was
2 set by the initiative of each company in
dividually, far as he was aware.
j I'VE figured what supply would be
and set price which would obtain
throughout the season, even though we
were forced to ship in" he added.
rs there an association or organization
of Ice dealers in Omaha, where the inter-
ests OF the trade are discussed?' Mr.. Col
vim was asked
I Organization is Denied.
mo, absolutely no." he cried.
William r. Wood, secretary and gem
eral manager of the Peoples Ice and Cold
Storage company, said that conditions in
= other cities were not comparable to those
I in Omaha.
t why is It that they sell ice so much
e cheaper in Kansas City than you do
o here?" he was asked
D Il see The Bee printed an article giving
the prices there But you did not learn
q OF the real conditions There is not an
= ice plant in Kansas city that is making
i money. Many OF them are on the verge
y Of bankruptcy. There are too many there.
The public should expect a company to
get reasonable return on the capital and
effort invested. 80
Artificial ice plants are a losing propo-
: sition IL they are depended upon entirely
-Four or five successive good ice erops
would put $5O0.0OO plant out OF business
I'VE advanced the price TO so cents a
hundred on May /. l can assure you that
that will be the only increase this year.
;, No there WAS no agreement between
the dealers when the price was increased.
We hear through our drivers and other
\ sources what other companies are charging