The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-01-21
Proposed Coffee Advertising at
the. Worlds Fair.

Mr.. EDiToR Ten years ago, any
man who talked of anything out
side of sugar as national indus
try was politely deemed fool. To.
day, even the planters have been
forced to acknowledge the folly of
that narrow minded exclusiveness,
and admit the necessity of putting
our eggs into more than one bas-
ket." In fact, il has even been con-
ceaed by some that unless other
industries can be rapidly fostered,
outside of sugar, the whole country
viii Ego to the dogs" and there
upon studies have been made of
the possibilities of our lands. Thus
far, these studies seem to point out
to coffee as the best or most pro-
missing substitute for, or partner to
the sugar industry, and no public
spirited man can have remained
indifferent to the efforts made of
late to develop a large coffee in
dustry. The resources of these ISL
ands in regard to coffee are not yet
fully known, but they seem to be
practically unlimited, and the
lately constituted Bureau of In
formation" has begun some work
Of great economical value, by try
ing to ascertain at least the area of
land that could be dedicated right
away to coffee growing, outside of
the enormous tracts of Government
and Crown Lands now locked up
by long leases in the hands of
few wealthy bat not very patriotic
sugar or cattle corporations.
But what is pre-eminently need
ed to foster good and immediate
start to coffee growing in this
country is capital, and especially
foreign capital, and, in my estima-
ton, no better move could be made
in the way of calling the attention
of foreign capital to the coffee pos
sibilities of the archipelago than
the one / understand to have been
started by our towns man Mr..
Mellis, under the patronage of a
few liberal-minded citizens.
The idea of establishing coffee
booth on the grounds of the next
Worlds Fair at Chicago, so as to
familiarize the visitors from all
parts with the idea of Hawaiian
coffee culture, by allowing them to
taste the genuine beverage, is GER
tainly an excellent one, even if
viewed only in the light of ma
tional advertisement,and there is no
reason to suppose that it would not
be also a profitable speculation for
the men who advance the necessary
capital. Here, | must remark
en- pessant,-that the terms die
tated by the Worlds Fair Commits
sioners, of so per cent. of the gross
receipts, for the mere privilege of
establishing the coffee booth, are
outrageously leonine; they may be
fairly stigmatized as far more ex-
tortionate than anything smart |
Yankeeism is generally credited |
with. Evidently the Worlds Fair
Commissioners have considered |
Mr.. Mellis' proposal in the light of |
a greedy speculation or of des-
perate effort of an over-stocked |
coffee grower to get rid of his crop, |
instead of seeing it, as we do here,
as a national effort (which may |
turn out to be a great sacrifce) for
national advertisement to foster
an industry not yet born, and l
think that, had they realized our
true position they would not have
been so rapacious.
However, the important point
in the matter, is not in the mere
fact of the cost of the proposed coffee
shop, but in this, that "eafe"
serving well made coffee from the
genuine Kona bean, accompanied |
by a distribution of the raw or
roasted bean, and display of we'll |
selected views of the Islands, to-
gether with documents giving in
formation on the country and the
possibilities of this special culture
would be a powerful adjunct to the
Kilauea Cyclorama, to bring this
group to the attention of the uni
verse and popularize our excellent
coffee, thereby inducing foreign |
If, further than that,
by clever management, the men
who lend their money to facilitate |
this wholesome advertising can be |
by a profit, it will be the
well earned recompense of a patri- |
otto duty and nobody will be-
grudge it.
Therefore, at the risk of being
called a crank-for such has been
my lot in this country nearly every
time that l have advocated any
measure of public Interest," shall
not hesitate to express my opinion
that Mr.. Mellis' scheme is worthy
of every encouragement from the
men who can afford to help it, and
that, by doing 50, they will serve
the country with anything but a
loss to themselves. | alluded just
above to 'good management" /
had then in mind what / have seen |
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