El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-07-18
Crust" Gives Ice to Poor
So Great Has Necessity For lee Be
come that Public stations for Dis
tributiOn Are Established.
-Bx Frederic J. Hns<fn -
ASHINGTON. D. c.. July

the tops of Lebanon to the
wounded Richard of the Lion Heart,
he built for himself imperishable fame
as a generous foe, for in that time and
for centuries thereafter ice in summer
was a luxury that only kings and
great captains might hope for NOW
adays, in America at any rate, ice IS
no longer a luxury for city dWellers,
but a necessary thing something tnat
everybody who is above the direst
poverty, buys for himself, something
that charity feels must be furnished
to the very poor, ana in New HOrk
Ice Trust gives ice to thousands OF
The recent strike that closed the
ice factories of Cincinnati caused
such terrible suffering among the
babies and among the poorer people
that the mayor of the city felt justl-
fled in Selling the ice plants and run
ming them in the name Of the city,
pending the settlement Of labor trou-
Bile. The ice companies protested with
an application for an Injunction, but
when the mayor showed that he had
attempted to obtain ice from other
cities and had failed the court re-
fused for the time being to interfere
ing ice from privately owned plants
Declares lee n Necessity.
The government Of this one Amer
lean city took the position that ice was
municipal government could not per-
nit the supply to be stopped, even If
forced to resort to the most extreme
measures
The housing conditions in American
cities perhaps make its use more i'm
peratiYe here than in other countries
That it is looked upon as almost on
a par with water is proved by the fact
that president McAneny of the
Borough Of Manhattan not long ago
seriously proposed the municipaliza-
ton of all the ice plants Of New
Gee Trusty Gives Away Ice.
few weeks earlier it developed
that the ice trust" in New York
city without Ostentation. and without
any purpose that the facts ever should
become public, had been engaged for
years in giving away hundreds Of
thousands Of tons Of ice every sum-
mer, the companies basing their &C
ton on the conviction that everybody
in New York should have a bit of ice
every day whether able to pay for 1t
or not.
In most of the large cities Of the
United States the need of ice for the
poor has become so generally ac-
cepted that special funds are provided
IN the municipal budget each year for
this purpose. In others ice is sup
piled literally BY other organizations.
such as the Visiting nurses, the As
ISOLATED charities. and the various sick
diet stations Wherever milk is given
to a sick baby. ice is also likely to
be provided to prevent the milk from
souring. For this reason ice and milk
are frequently distributed from the
same stations A number Of cities
nave organized SteriliZed milk and ice
associations with distributing stations
in different parts of the city in order
that these two relief objects may be
as near as possible to the demand.
Dealers often Generous.
Few dealers in any commodity are
n 10 mr. ~ -
TO the needy as the icemen- Every
social worker knows that an appeal
for ice to any dealer is likely. to meet
with a ready response Frequently
the ice will be given in bulk to meet
some sudden emergency. When a
boiler explosion in southern PhiladeI-
phia injured several score Of men one
summer, only a Few of whom were adj
mitted to the hospitals, one of the ice
companies promptly erected a tempo
rary station TO which a thousand
pounds of Ice were delivered daily for
the benefit of the men and boys who
We're suffering from injuries sustained
in the explosion.
Sometimes an ice dealer will say to
the charity organization I will con-
tribute a thousand pounds Of ice a
week il you can arrange for its dis
ulouuon without calling for extra
service" This may call for some
planning but usually the organization
can arrange to cooperate with some
dealer handling the ice regularly who
viii receive the quantity and allow il
to be distributed to those having a
ticket or order furnished by the or
ganizatiOn-
Wealthy Girls Gratitude.
A wealthy girl went into the
crowded section Of New York one
morning IN quest OF some one She
lost her way, had her pOcketbook
snatched. and then tripped and
sprained her ankle. Two poor women
working in a hot stuffy room took
pity on her and helped her into their
close quarters After some difficulty
one Of them secured a messenger will
ing to take message to her home.
t'or several hours the girl crouched
upon the floor, her ankle throbbing
with apain, and her senses almost
benumbed by the sitting heat. She
begged for a drink of cold water but
the IukeWarm product from the hy-
drant repealed her Yet those poor
women working there every dav had
never had anything else. Her father
came to her aid and a few days care
restored her ankle One Of her first
acts afterWard was to arrange for a
cooler in that house with a daily SUD
ply Of ice in order that every poor,
Woodworking tenant might at least
have within reach the comfort of the
Scriptural cup of cold water
Means Much to the Poor.
The visiting nurse is most enthu-
siastic in her approval of this advan-
tage of being able to supply ice when
needed to the sick poor. No one can
understand what it means to a nurse"
said one of them recently, "to go into
a hot, StufIy room where someone is
suffering perhaps with fever, and be
absolutely without any means Of low
ering this temperature. Many a time
have gone out and bought ice out CT
my own money because the need was
so great could not bear it. Some
times a poor girl will come home to
the family her Scant earnings are help
ing to support, suffering from a blind
ing headache which seems impossible
to bear. The application of an ice cap.
after tepid bath, may give her a good
nights sleep and send her back to work
the next morning feeling refreshed
without it she might toss in pain all
night and be unfit for work next day.
1t is not always possible to have SUI
ficient ice even for every fever patient
in a hospital, and in many a home ice
cannot be supplied without outside
aid"
The most grievOus lack in a hos
pital is an insufficient supply Of ice,
and yet this happens sometimes be-
cause the hospital has not sufficient
money at its disposal to supply all
that is required. a well-tO-do man
one hot day suffered from severe pain
which only the ice bag would relieve.
The hospital was out of ice for the
day and it was only by communication
with outside friends that his need was
relieved When he recovered he es-