The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-30
COFFEE PRICES TOO HIGH:
Treasury Officials Think the Retail Rates
Now should lie Lower.

WASHINGTON. No.. % - Over-produc-
zion Of coffee everywhere has resulted in
breaking the rice paid to the pI oducer
! To the lowest figures eietofore known.
4 prtilu llrly in Bra.i For some time past
| quotations for cargoes have been steadily
ranging downward Within "A week car =
goes Of No Rio, the standard grade. have
ola in Now York AT 5 l-l8 cents a pound.
w. lowest price ever quoted
Nevertheless, these low Wholesale rates
ha W. not bi ought about any appleo liable
ted ,Ction 10 consumers Of coffee The
reta.9 ri - me practically the sane that
prev died in ls9G-07. when the Wholesale
Ti.e 81 No. ! Rio standard conee in New
! o < as almost exactly double the quota
tons OF To-day.
The Tasury officials deem It extraor-
dina,y IN, y "A ia Of more than 50 per cent
In IN" p.i ,aiy cost of all coffees has not
cauiaI Win it a 81 lilar or at least some
reduction in thcl' retail price Consumer =
nave applreivy received no benef, from
IN" break III i'S p rimtly markets
Dealers cpl III he matter by as -ert ing
that the higher PRICED sraaes of coffee in
,9cnoi al usr III che All, FL States are very
much sIpcl iol 10 the common SANTOS
kios, &c quoted al the ports OF entry 1T
the present tdp FADES hey talk about
Sirt-edgeu blancs oy Mocha, Java. sc,
which aIe san TO cost much more in the
primary maj "ct-.
Treasury officials tank that statistics
contradict this eAplaLa ion As matter
Of fact, not one grocer IN fifty Throughout
the Union ever has II pound of genlin.
Mo, ha az ia, a in hi, store from one year :
end to ans,h'r.
A. none vi The so-called Mocha and Java
high grade 60 ees il p, oauced in the west
.rn homisp here. here is suggestive group
, ing Of eight months of American coffee
! Imports
Pounds
From all America. .... ............ a?7 $50 .OSs
From all tHc rest OF SAe world 81 Sass2
Total imports. eight months ........ s4s? go
Five-si1ths Of aB the coffee imported
comes from Brazii alone. Only one
thirtieth is imported from all Europe:
| Asia, Africa and DC. ania- Only the small
| quantity II 3,s9725J ponds came from
| all Oceana. in which lies the native island
home Of Java coffee.
Conccdin& all he imports from the Old
World TO have been of he Mocha and Java
varieties. the total would BE- no more than
a few DAYS supply for the $1,000 900 Ameri-
can coffee drinkars. But much of the
| imported Old World coffee il not of those
grades and IL inferior to the average South
or Central American coffee.
II il estimated that 2OO. OOO 600 pounds
of the coffee consumed in the United States
is labelled Mocha and Java by the coffee
merchants. Wholesale and retail. In view
OF the foregoing. then, whore does all this
vast tonnage Of so-called Mocha and Java
coffee come from?
so far as true Mocha is concerned Treas
urv officials say little or none of it enters
American ports The quantity of genuine
Java imported il very small. or course
there is no smuggling because cofYees
come in free
In short, the foregoing exhibits prove
conclusivelv that nnety-nine one-hun-
dredths of the alleged Java and Mocha
States are just clean, well-cured and care
fully graded South and Central American
products, and nothing else now quoted in
New York al no more than 81. to cents
Experts assert that the very best grades
of coffee naturally should nov be selling
for 25 cents or less a pound