The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-07-16
SHRIREAGE is ALLOWED FOR
Dealers Not Consulted in In
vestigation by City.
Officials Claim Consumers
Losses Are II Per Cent.

Following the charges by City Bac-
terioloEist Nicon that Topeka con-
sumers have been paying for approx
imately IA per cent more ice than they
received. Robert Billiard and C. T.
Lawrence. OF the City Ice Delivery Co..
today denied the allegations and de-
clared they were false and untrue.
The public absolutely does not
bear the cost CT shrinkage thru the
melting Of ice was the emphatic
statement made this morning by Bill
lard.
Billiard Not Consulted.
THAT the drivers of our wagons
must turn in tickets equaling the
amount OF ice they take out thai they
must pay for the amount Of ice waste ed
thru melting and turn in tickets for
all ice handled is equally untrue. 1t
is a deliberate falsehood and Is a
statement made without proper in
vestigation," Billiard stated.
Il was not consulted as 10 the truth
OF any OF these statements before their
publication and had no opportunity to
present our side of the question to the
people of Topeka" he continued.
ut has never been our practice to
make any arrangements whereby con-
sumers paid the cost Of shrinkage,"
said Lawrence. We try to deliver as
nearly as Is possible the exact amount
Of ice each customer calls for"
According to a statement issued by
the food inspector, based on investi-
cations. it appears that out of ninety
deliveries checked up in one day on
ten different wagons. twenty-six were
short so much in weight that it could
not very well be laid to an error in
cutting. Nearly all OF these were
short as much as five pounds. IL is
= = f11N
81 per cent of the deliveries were
short.
Cannot Be Exact.
While admitting the possibility of
some shortage. and asserting that It
is impossible to cut ice to an exact
weight. ice producers said that the
weight might vary from one-half to
two or three pounds depending on
the size OF the order, but asserted that
excessive shortage was almost i'm
possible and they do not believe il &C.
ours Save in exceptional instances
where real mistake has been made.
To this assertion members of the
food inspection department reply by
saying that 1t is admission on the
part Of the producers of inability to
control their men. They feel that IL
II is impossible for producers to feel
Certain that their wagon men are de-
ltyerinE the exact amount of ice called
for. and not giving small weights for
which they receive in tickets value
greater than the amount OF ice de-
hvered. the companies should insti-
tute system OF checking up deliveries
to see that the ordered amount is
delivered in similar manner prac-
ticed by the food inspection depart
ment in checking up the deliveries.
Check Up Wrong Ice.
The food inspector says that in the
checking up process they were at a
ff mir hob fNH
wagons and that al all times the wag-
ons were ahead OF them in the next
block
on the other hand, Billiard says that
in one instance he knows of the in
spectors were checking up ice deliv-
cred a half hour earlier. while on
ahead OF them was another wagon in
an alley that had not delivered the
ice they were checking up. The food