April 26, 1920 - Crop shippers seizing ice, creating shortage
A 1920s-era ice box
Commercial interests usurped the needs of regular Floridians again, leaving the manager of South Florida's main ice plant pledging that the precious refrigerant and drink chiller would soon be again available in accustomed-to quantities. Big Agriculture was to blame for the shortage, the Miami News reported. The state recently lifted an embargo on cabbage harvesting "and in the race to ship cabbage and fruit to the markets, the railroads are exercising their power of seizure of all ice necessary, with consequent inconvenience to the Florida public," the story said. The ice shortage wasn't isolated to South Florida but was playing out across the state and nation, said F.N. Holmes, manager of Southern Utilities. The utility operated two plants in Miami, but demand was so high that 55 tons were being shipped to Miami from St. Augustine, Titusville, West Palm Beach and Pensacola. Large quantities of that ice were being "seized on route" while product was also being lost to the "melting of great quantities in transit." Holmes also addressed customers' complaints that when they could get their ice deliveries, their ice blocks were less than the ordered weight "for the purpose of supplying as many customers as possible." Holmes said that if "such a mistake is made and it is the delivery man's fault and if the householder has checked up on his own scales and is sure of the error, the ice company will make good." Fortunately for residents suffering from the ice shortage of 1920, electric refrigerators were just a few years away from becoming common in homes. Read the story in The Miami News: Ice Shortage Be Relieved Within Week