St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-08-06
TEA MAY BE ADVANCED
BY THE WAR BETWEEN JAPAN
AND CHINA.
st. Paul IL the Tea Market of
America-Some Peculiar Facts
About the Article.

xviii tea advance in price," was the
question asked yesterday of one of the
leading tea brokers in the city.
ut has not yet advanced" replied he,
.'but tits very probable that the price
will advance if the war between Japan
ana China continues long. There is no
sign of advancement in prices yet, but
all tea dealers are naturally expecting
an advance"
1t is, perhaps, not generally known
that st. Paul is the key to the tea trade
of America at the present time. Twenty
years ago New York held the proud
distinction of handling the tea trade of
the United States. But since then the
transcontinental railway lines have
revolutionized matters. The Union Pa
citic was the first to bring about the
change. For a short time Omaha and
Chicago held the key to the situation.
But when the Northern Pacific opened.
i'll 1888, st. Paul began to be the tea
mart of the country. Portland is a much
nearer port than san Francisco to the
tea markets of the Oriental countries.
and from the beginning of the opening
of the Northern Pacific tea came this
way by the trainload. The opening Of
the Canadian Pacific added an impetus
to the wholesale tea trade Of st. Paul.
And then the Great Northern transcon-
tinental line made tremendous i'll
crease to the traffic. st. Paul is now the
acknowledged center OF the tea trade of
this country.
By the way. the tea trade is one that
is little understood. Americans gener-
ally drink tea Of medium grade.
Russia is the great tea drinking country
of the world. The ordinary people of
that country. however, drink a lower
grade of tea than the ordinary people of
this country. 1t is the royalty and
nobility of Russia that drink the ex-
pensive teaS-teas that the richest peo--
pie of this country do not think Of
drinking. The tea drank by Russians
of the princely and ariStocratic order
coasts on an average SIG pound.
This tea" said Marshall w. Fenton,
one of the leading tea brokers of st.
Paul, yesterday afternoon, lis not the
buds of the tea trees. as has been er-
roneously stated by Eastern papers, but
is the first pickings of the tea leaves.
Of course, the first pickings of tea
plant is the final picking of the season.
hence. dis the quantity is very limited in
comparison to what might be gained
from the tree later in the season, the
price Of the product is necessarily very
costly. But SIG pound for tea is not
the utmost that product has COM
ufauded. Twenty years ago or more.
before tea began to come from the West
into this country. the product on one
special occasion brought 1852 pound
| in London. OF course. this price was
| for the very choicest article. The price
but was the result of corner Ill the tea
market. As matters now stand. Lon
| don can never run another corner in the
tea market. st. Paul probably stands
better show for proceeding of that
kind than any other city in the world.
''Were Americans disposed to indulge
| in the costliest teas they could not do
so. 1t is a peculiar fact that trans
porting tea over the salt water weakens
it in quality. The high priced teas
used in Russia are conveyed OH the
backs of camels, and the routes taken
l-are as remote from salt water as posi-
BILE. Why salt water has this effect on
the article L have never heard explained
satisfactorily. 1t doesn't seem to
matter how tightly the product is en-
closed from the air, when it has gone
over the salt water it is weaker than
| when it started