The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-08-19
Timely FACTS for
Coffee Drinkers,

SP HE FACT that coffee is readily
III grown in all the islands now COM
ing under control of the United
II States lends interest to some fis-
ures of the treasury bureau of
statistics which show that coffee, last
year, was the greatest item in our iri-
ports and that the years importations Of
that article were the greatest In our his.
tory. Porto Rico and Hawaii have for
years grown a fine grade of coffee Cuba
formerly produced it in large quantities
and the Philippine islands have for years
had reputation of producing grade
of coffce equalling that of Java and even
comparing fAvorably vith Arabia's world
famed Mocha. The United States has
been for years the largest coffee using
country In the world, our purchases since
1890 having averaged 80 millions of dol
lars per annum in value but 1t was re-
served for the fiscal years 1898 to show
the largest imports OF coffee in our his
tory. bringing the aN erage per capita
consumption among cur population up
to the highest point ever known.
The coffee importatons for the fiscal
year 1898, just ended, were SI0,jl42l5
| pounds. which is nearly 20 per cent great
er than in 1S93 practically double that of
| 1850 and more than three tines that OF
1874. Deducting the expectations, which
|
| sumption of the fiscal year 1898 would
stand at eleven and five-tenths pounds
| per capita against nine and nine-tenths
| III 1897, eight and two-tenths in 1893 seven
and eight-tenths in 1890. six and nine
tenths in 1871 five and one one-hudredths
In 1867 four and nine-tenths in 1866. three
and seVen-tenths in 1864 and two and two
| tenths in 1863 The war period of 1S6l-6
showed the lowest per capita consump-
| tion of coffee in our history. despite the
| large use of this article in the army,
| while the brief war period of 1898 caused
| no diminution in the imports, the total
| for April, May and June being 245 million
| pounds against 1893 million in the corre-
spending months of the preceding year.
| o
| The large importation of coffee during
the year Just ended was probably due in
some degree to its phenomenally low
| price the average value of The years i'm
ports being seven and four-tenths cents
| per pound against an average of eleven
| cents last year. fourteen and siX-tenths
| in 1886, sixteen and four-tenths in 1898
| The quotations to the bureau of statistics
| report the wholesale price of Rio No. I,
| standard grade for quotations, from five
| and one-half to seven and one-half cents
| in the New York markets in the fiscal
| veal 1895 against nire and cne-half cents
| per pound in 1897. eleven and one-half in
|
| and One-half in 1894, and eighteen and
| one-half in 1893. 1t may he added, how
| ever. that while prices have greatly fallen
| In recent years, the introduction of ma
chinery, the cheapehing of freight rates
| and the general improved facilities for
pi oduction and transportation still leave
| to producers, it is said a comfortable
margin of profit, especially on better
| grades of coffee.
| The total value of the coffee imported
into the United States in the fiscal year
| 1898 was, despite the low prices of the
| year, S65,06I5 SCI, against S605O1, $50 in 1855;
S51,9li COS in 1885, SOS. 2SS 451 in 1863 SIS, 3G9
| $40 in 1858, and $S,2i9 997 in 1913. Thus the
| money sent abroad for coffee in the year
just ended is eight times that of a half
century ago, and nearly three times that
of 1868. The cost of the coffee imported
| into the United States during the past
| ten years has been 1915, 494, ,24l, these fig
ures being the prices paid in the foreign
| markets at the pert of expectation. Thus
it appears in the deco de just ended there
has gone out of the country an average
| of $S7,500,0O0 per arEum for an article
| which may be successfully grown in all
the islands now coming under the juris-
| diction of the United States.
| %
Practically one-half of the coffee grown
| in the world low comes to the United
| States rhe latest estimates put the cof-
| fee production Of the world at 1,600,00Uo0o
pounds per arnum, V lille as shown above,
| the imports into the United States last
year were mere than half that amount.
OF the total coffee production of the
| world two-thirds is grown in Brazil,
| where an export duty of II per cent is
placed on every pound of c"ffee exported.
The other third of the worlds pro duction
Il NfTla L..
| tered around the world in the belt eX-
| tending to the thirteth degree on each
| side of the equator the mCst success vi
| locations being well watercd mountain
| slopes from 1000 to 1000 feet above the
| sea level. The requisites for coffee pro-
| duction are found in all of the islands
| now likely to come under control of IN ,
| United States, while the fact that Brazil.
| the great coffee producer of the world,
| places an export duty on all coffee OK
| ported. operates to the advantage of
| those desiring to enter upon the produc-
| ton of this article, either for home con-
| sumption or for competition in the mar
| ketS of the world.
| Porto Rico has for years produced con-
| siderable coffee. this being her most i'm
| portant export and amounting to from %
| to 30 million pounds per annum. Mr.. F..
| b. Thurber, a well known authority on
| this subject in his book Coffee, from
| Plantation to Cup" says: porto Rico
| furnishes a coffee that is in great favor
| in Spain and in Italy and also on the
| island of Cuba. The cultivation is carrie
| on largely in the provinces of Mayaguez,
| Ponce, Guayanilla, Aguadilla. Arecibo
| and St. Johns. In flavor this
ranks as a mild coffee" The coffee pro-
| ducing possibilities in Cuba are said to be
very great. Mr.. Thomas r. Dawley. jr.,
says in the 1897 volume of the "Amori-
can Annual Cyclopaedia": COFFEE was
| at one time the principal source of Cuba !
| wealth. In the early part of the present
| century 81 million pounds of coffee were
| produced in Cuba in a single year, rep
| resenting g, money value of 20 million dol
| lars, 1t was estimated that in 1898
| there We're six coffee estates TO one of
| sugar, one plantation is mentioned as
| having a million trees, and the writer has
| found an authentic account of a planta-
ton containing 10000 trees and 450 slaves
| in part of the island where at present
| there is neither Nestige of coffee plan
| tation or negro population"
| %
| Coffee is now being produced In con-
| siderable quantities in the Hawaiian ISL
| ands. Consul General Haywood expresses
| the opinion that the amount may be
| greatly increased with IToft to those
| undertaking 1t. The number of coffee
| plantations is row between 200 and 800,
| the sum required to successfully enter
| upon coffee production is from 5000 to
| 10000, and the Hawaiian foreign office
| estimates that the mercy so invested will
| be repaid to the investors with more than
100 per cent interest at. the end Of seven
years from the establishment of the plan
tation. The Philippines have for yea IS
produced a grade of coffee of which Mir.
| Thurber says in his volume quoted above:
1.-The Philippine Islands are said to be pc
| culiarly adapted to the raising of coffee,