The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-04-12 00:00:00

The COFFEE and CHICORY QUESTION, and the
present Chancellor of the Exchequer.***
ROYAL BANK BUILDINGS.—Those
Families who favour us with their orders not only purchase
from us fine qualities of Coffee, but are furnished with the finest
descriptions imported into Great Britain, and those at prices
which are in strict accordance with our leading maxim—that
of charging a small profit on the original cost of import, taking
care to make QUALITY the PRIMARY CONSIDERATION.
When QUALITY is thus prominently kept in view, and the
scale of PRICES is fixed so as to yield an adequate profit, the
respective interests of the Family Purchaser and the Dealer
are mutually adjusted.
High prices no longer afford any guarantee to secure the best
quality. The indispensable requisites are—a thorough know-
ledge, the result of practical experience; constant care in the
examination of samples; an acquaintance with the best mar-
kets; and the exercise of a sound judgment in making early
selections from arrivals.
Respecting the admixture of Chicory with Coffee, we submit
the following quotation from a liberal daily paper, as furnishing
additional proof—if such were necessary—of the scandalous
dishonesty which has been too long practised upon Families:—
"In the course of the proceedings in the Bank-
rupt Court, on Friday, in the case of
and Co. some curious statements were elicited
in the examination of the bankrupt, Mr. —,
in reference to the adulteration of coffee with chi-
cory. The bankrupts had been very large manu-
facturers of the so-called `coffee,' and attributed
their stoppage to the Treasury order prohibiting
adulteration. In reply to a question from the com-
missioner, Mr. stated that when the trade
was in a healthy state, they were able to get 9d. to
10d. per lb. for their so-called coffee, they made it
up half chicory and half coffee, but that when the
competition of other houses (Ohad reduced the price
to 6d., it was made up 14 oz. OF CHICORY AND 2
OZ. OF COFFEE TO THE POUND. it was not, how-
ever, asked how much chicory was 'NT the chicory.
Certainly we must give the government of Lord
Derby whafaredit is due to them for suppressing
by the Treasury order the continuance of the sale
of this stuff at an enormous profit, for the retail
price of the lowest was 16d. per lb."
The startling revelations contained in the above brief para-
graph ought to open the eyes of the public to the system of
unmitigated cheating which was carried on with impunity be-
fore the former Treasury order was so judiciously rescinded by
the late government.
The Earl of Derby's Government deserved every credit for
putting a stop to such fraudulent practices. They acted with
wisdom, with candour, with fairness, and with humanity in the
matter. They succeeded in effectually baffling the combination
which sought to deprive the purchaser of this act of common
justice.
The apprehended difficulties in the operation of the late sys-
tem of selling coffee and chicory separately were all proved
to be " mere moonshine," the crude fancies of a distempered
imagination. Consumers were satisfied with the change. The
honest dealers rejoiced at it ; the dishonest dealers alone de-
claimed against it.
This improved system—improved because brought into unison
with honesty—was being carried out most effectually, by which
coffee was sold as coffee and chicory as chicory—yielding mu-
tual benefit to the consumer and to the proper-minded dealer.
*** The present Chancellor of the Exchequer has deprived
the public of this great advantage, both in regard to purity of
quality and honesty of principle, by annulling the order of his
predecessor—so that
Coffee and Chicory may now be sold in a mixed state, the
packages in which such mixture is sold being labelled. The ab-
surdity of this regulation must be evident to all, when we state
that thesELLER of the mixture is not bound to say whether the
vile compound which he offers to the public is composed of
one-half or one-twentieth Coffee, or, indeed, whether there be
any Coffee at all in it.
It is evident, therefore, that the public have only one way of
protecting themselves, and that is by insisting upon being sup-
plied with the genuine unmixed article of pure Coffee.
Purchasers of Ground Coffee may rest assured of obtaining
from this establishment supplies of PURE COFFEE. If any
doubt should be entertained on this subject, science is at hand
to test the truth of these professions, and the public press is
ever accessible for the exposure of deception.
ROBT. ROBERTS- 8z COMT.
Tea and Coffee Dealers,
ROY Al. BANK . Thuunixos.
LlvannooL,APitlL, 1853.,