The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1916-08-03
THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 1916
Cutting the Ice Supply.


and Sunday morning Kenosha people
pulled off a sort of an "ancient ma
riner" stunt. 1t is recalled that with
the ancient mariner it was "water,
water everywhere, but not drop to
drink With Kenosha there was some
hundred thousand tons Of ice stored up
in the confines Of the county and yet
not an ounce of it was ON sale in Ke-
nosha. Kenosha county ice was cooling
hiohbalIs in restaurants in Chicago and
Aurora and Pullman and no telling
how many other Illinois cities, but
right here in Kenosha there was not a
pound of ice to keep meats from spoil
ing and keep refrigerators in private
houses cool on the hottest night that
the city had seen in long time.
There was no fault on the part of
men who sell ice in Kenosha. These
men had done everything in their
power to keep the city supplied.
They had bombarded the big company
supposed to supply the ice with tele-
phones and kilograms; they had sent
motor trucks to haul ice into the city
in order that there might be few
pounds to dole out to people who had
loved ones desperately sick and to
whom ice may have meant life and
death; they tried every way to get ice
even to appealing to the sheriff and
district attorney to lend kindly aid to
get ice for the stricken of Kenosha.
The interesting question that is asked
by the people, and it is hoped that it
will be echoed by the district attorney,
is this: "Did Great Companies Practi-
cally in Charge of the Ice Supply in
this Section Discriminate Against Ke-
nosha?" If that question is answered
in the affirmative, then every official in
the city should stand to and get ready
to make life miserable for every COM
pany who had anything to do with the
cutting off of the ice supply of Keno
sha.
1t is admitted that there was no
trouble at the ice houses so far as labor
was concerned and that whole train
loads of Kenosha county ice was ship
ped to cool the people of cities in ILL
nois. 1t went out of the county on
the claim GIVE must take care of our
old customers and in the meantime
cries for ice for an Independent COM
pany in Kenosha were left on the desks
in Chicago.
If the orders which have been sent
from Kenosha to Chicago during the
last few days were ever transferred to
the shipping points, the superintendent
there said that he did not know it..
1t may be that the dog licks the hand
of the man who kicks it, but Kenosha
is no dog and is not doing and hand
licking just at the present time. IF
there was a great shortage of ice, if
the whole district had been left suffer
ing, Kenosha people would have borne
their burden of inconvenience and dis
comfort without word But ice was
being shipped by the trainload and Ke-
nosha was entitled to have her share
of it.
True enough the big company which
may control the supply Of ice is no
longer represented in Kenosha but that
same company had contract with the
Kenosha company to furnish ice and
it failed to keep that contract in order
that it might ship more ice to other
places.
"Well, what are you going to do
about its" is the pertinent question
that is being put up by lot of people
If the officials of Kenosha county have
the pep in them that we think they
have, we know just exactly what they
are going to do about it. They are
going to notify the men who control
the distribution of ice that Kenosha is
going to be served or else the Kenosha
lakes are not going to yield the harvest
for another sultry summer. Kenosha
IS not seeking the charity of these COM
panies. It's ice distributing company.
manned by men of integrity and honor,
stand ready to pay dollar for dollar for
every pound of ice they get and the
only demand they are making is de-
mand on a contract and demand
against discrimination. If Kenosha
county wants to enforce laws as thew
should be enforced, it would be a hard
matter for the millions to creep into
the pockets of the ice barons. Kenosha
county has too long temporized with
the men who cut ice on her lakes. She
has permitted state laws and local or
chances to be violated by men, who,
when the pinch of the hot weather
came forgot the existence of Kenosha.
The shortage of ice in Kenosha city
on last Saturday night should be re-
Hected in the manner in which sanitary
laws governing the management of ice
houses should be enforced in Kenosha
county next winter. Let the ice com
panies know that they owe big bill
to Kenosha county and there will be
no recurrence of trouble Of Saturday.
Kenosha must have an equal chance
to receive the ice that is cut from her
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