Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-06

ii is the mainstay of Brazil In 1895 the
total exports of the country amounted to
$lSo,t0a.Ho and of this 100000 came
from coffee The rise of a cent pound
means prosperity or the reverse to these
people, and the enormous fan the past
few years has made things tight in Brazil.
Just how much the fall has been few peo-
pie know. The truth is that coffee has
been steadily dropping for the past six
years and today it is not worth much more
than one-third what it was in 1893. With
our new possessions in Cuba Porto Rico,
Hawaii and the Philippines it is likely to
go still lower, for it is expected that the
Yankees will establish large coffee planta-
tfOns, and If SO the BraZlians Will have to
look elsewhere for market.
Brazil and the United States.
Ii is an outrage that Brazil has not done
more for the United States She should give
us the bulk of her trade and all her fat
contracts, for have been practically
supporting the country for years We
the greatest coffee drinkers of the world.
In 1897 we used 63G.0G00c0 pounds of coffee,
which was 1000oC00 pounds more than was
consumed in all Europe. We have in
creased our consumption during the past
year at the rate of more than a pound per
person. and We now use about fifty pounds
annually for each person in the | nited
is enormous. During the past ten years We
have paid out $s75 100000. or $sT,oo00o0 per
annum, for coffee alone The bulk of this
money has gone to Brazil. Some of ii has
found it's way into the pockets of the coffee
planters, a large part has gone into the
hands of the shippers and dealers, and IL
per cent Of the export price has been paid
TO the government. Brazil charges an eX-
port duty of II per cent on every pound OF
coffee that is shipped This is. of course,
paid by the consumer and such of our
people as engage in coffee raising will
have the advantage of IL per cent over
Brazil to start with. for they Will of course
not have to pay duty. Some years ago
there was talk of taxing coffee. but Con-
gress set up a howl about taxing a poor
mans luxuries, and coffee was admitted
nCminally free. II was not allowed to be
free however for Brazil at once put on an
extra export duty and the poor mans lux
ury was taxed just the same. The only diff
ference was that the Brazilian government
got the money and not Uncle Sam.
Brazil the Land of Coffee.
Coffee is raised in nearly every one of the
provinces of Brazil The country produces
the bulk of the worlds crop. 1t raised TO-
900 900 bags last year and it is planting
new fields now. I described in former let
ter my travels through the state of San
PauIo, the richest coffee-ra Using region of
the world. The states north of San Paulo
also produce vast amounts. and Rio ia
coffee centers. The kinds of coffee pro-
duced here are known in the United States
Rio and Santos coffee, These names
come from the ports at which the coffee is
shipped The Santos coffee is grown almost
entirely in south central Brazil. II is car
ried over the railroads to Santos and eX-
ported from there. 1t comes from a cooler
climate than does the coffee which is raised
further north, and is generally considered
to have mider and finer flavor than that
shipped from Rio 1t is estimated that we
take about 30 per cent of the Santos crop
and about 20 per cent of all shipped from
Rio 50 that the bulk of the coffee used in
our country is Rio coffee.
At both Rio and Santos the great coffee
houses of the United States have their
agents, who buy the coffee of the dealers
and ship it direct to their houses in New
York, Baltimore and Chicago. They have
large establishments for preparing the COT
fee for shipment. and some of the brightest
coffee men of the United States are here
watching the markets and buying by the
thousands of bags.
How Coffee is Bought.
Coffee is handled in different ways at the
two great ports. During my stay in Santos
l spent some time among the dealers and
watched them shipping the vast quantities
of coffee which come to that port. The cOf-
fee is put up in bags of 1872 pounds each,
and in this shape it is sold to the exporters
The buyers in Santos deal directly with the
planters agents, taking the coffee as a
usual thing i'll lots.
In Rio the coffee first comes to commits
sion men They dispose of it to the whole
sale coffee dealers, who grade it and put it
into the bags for the exporter. In this case
the coffee has passed through three hands
before it starts for New York
Since the remarkable fall in the prices of
coffee. however, the big exporters have
sent agents out among the planters. and