Martinsburg weekly independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1873-1875, 1874-01-03
TEA AND COFFEE.
What Importers and Jobbers have
to saw

W soy.
When there il an opening for an adj
vance Of prices in the necessaries Of life,
retail dealers are the FIRST to take advan-
tage Of it, and the poor and salaried
men, those who are compelled to buy
small quantities at time, are the 6rst
81 ssc, Ia fleets of it.
As soon as there was talk 10 Congress
OF an increase Of duties on tea and cof-
fee, uptown grocers and small dealers
in the drinks that cheer but do not in
ehriate, ran up their scale Of prices, and
laid the fault upon the legislators at
Washington Insom cases coffee was
sold lately At As cents a pound, which
could have been bought week before
for 50, aud in other cases the advance
was smaller; but there seemed T., he
general consent to take advantage u
the crisis, even though it should turn
out TO be false alarm.
A reporter Of the Commercial started
out 10 make inquiry Of some Of the
leading importing and johbing houses
in the tea aud coffee trade, in relation
to the present condition Of the market.
At Messrs II X. Thurber & Co., No.
173 Chambers street, who have one Of
the largest grocery houses in the city.
be was told hat the tea market was bur
slightly affected as yet, though the al
vance had not been felt by i,bber, to
such an extent rs TO justify an increase
OF thirty per cent. in the retail price Of
the article. For the last two months
Their has been a steady advance in cof-
fee, which was due to the fact that the
importation Of Rio and Java were
smaller than usual, betokening falling
off in the crop Farther advance ia the
cost of these staples may be looked
for.
Popke Il Ried, Nos. 26o Washington
street and 100 Water street, are large
importers Of coffees and teas, and do
very heavy business in grinding coflees
aud mixing them with chicory) for the
jobbers in and ont OF town The firm
say that coffee was already high when
the proposition to increase the duty on
its importation was made OF course,
should Congress put on the additional
tax, it will advance to still higher
figure. Either direct tax or an inha-
ton of the currency would affect tea
and keep speculation busy, since much
of it has been selling % to SO per cent.
below the cost of importation; but cot
fee would only be affected by making
the dnty heavier.
A singular effect Of the advance in
coffee has been the larger aud increasing
demand for mixed or adu!terated coffee.
The mills owned by Pupke G Reid are
kept constantly at work supplying this
inferior article. They are now selling
twenty pounds of mixed Tor, as it is
termed in the trade, "gronud'') coffee
where they sold one pound month ago
Western jobbers write that people say
the times are dull, work is slack, they
are poor, and can't afford to drink pure
coffee. Yet they must have something
liquid at their meals, so they drink the
aduterated article and are happy. In
consequence Of this increase ia adnltera-
ton, chickory uas advanced 90 per cent.
in the past month. The available sup
ply Oh TINS atIlCic mas uteE dlFeduy NSeu
up and bought in, aud it is sold to ar
rive in large lots. In the last few
weeks the price has gone up from 81
gold To 8 gold per pound. This extern
sive use of chicory will, in time, pro-
duce a reaction, At present it has
reduced the consumption of pure coffees
so per cent, and this will tell upon the
market sooner or later. The adulter-
ated article will become scarce, aud
there will be glut of the genuine, and
this, of course, will result in decline
in the price of the latter.
Ives, Beecher d Co., who are extensive
importers of tea, at No. 90 Front street,
say that lea has advanced already i've
cents a pound, and will probably go
still higher. No doubt there will be
considerable speculation in it, as oppor-
tunity is offered. They do not think,
however, that Congress will legisate
any addition to the existing duties.
Inquiries elsewhere show general
expectation of rise ia quotation of tea
and coffee But there is nothing as yet
to Justify the large additional price
lie 5ied by retail dealers in these house.
hold staples. - N. Y. Commercial.