Show OCEANS OF ICE WATER alie amount of ice used by the cottrn duent at tire amount of ice consumed by the washington is enormous in the aggregate said a big dealer in the article to a washington star reporter at the treasury building alone a ton and a half of ice is delivered every morning lot the days consumption each see has it water cooler or at least a pitcher which must be kept filled with cold drink from nine a m four p m the ice is delivered in great blocks from carts at the door and the messengers chop it up into pieces fill buckets with the lumps and carry the buckets all over the building distributing to each pitcher or cooler its proper supply in the cellar there are big refrigerators which are filled with a reserved stock nothing is put in these refrigerators except ice the not oven being allowed to keep bottled beer in them for noontide refreshments it is the same way with all the other departments the war state ana naw together use about as much as is consumed in the treasury building betit is the department of the interior that is the great devourer of ice in the pension office and the main building of the department together from five to six tons are used every twenty four hours the ost gobbles up twelve hundred pounds a day however you remember that these quantities are always variable in summer much more goos than in winter and if the hot season is unusually long or intense we people who take the contracts ara apt to find them far from profitable each department makes its own contract for ice bids are advertised for annually and the dealer who offers a supply for tho following year at the lowest rate gets the job it is to a certain extent a gamble inasmuch as no definite amount of ice is agreed upon the contractor receives so much money for providing a department with all the frozen water that it requires whatever this quantity may be taking all the departments together with their branches it is probable that they con sumo about twenty four thousand pounds of ice daily averaging the year round this makes a total annual con sump lion of a good deal over four and tons ss |