Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1902-10-09
PROTECTION Of COFFEE
CHICAGO COFFEE men
ARE VERY DISSATISFIED
FROM SOUTH
AMERICAN couNTRiEs-coF.
FEE PLANTERS MEETING
IN NEW YORK.

chicago, sept. 3U.-ChlcagO cO1ee
dealers are manifesting much interest
in the meeting of the coffee planters
OF tropical and sub-tropical America to
be held in New York October /. As
insist that their margin of profit is un.
reasonably narrow, and radical meas.
ures to remedy the condition of affairs
very probably will be taken. For
long time the general run of coffee In
this city has been bad, the dealers i'm.
porting inferior grades. and the COM
plants from retailers and jobbers have
been loud and long.
The local dealers insist that they are
not responsible for the undesirable
conditions, declaring that the planters
ship the best grades to foreign coun.
tries, actually forcing the poorer
grades on the Western public Up to
the time of the Civil War the demand
for coffee far exceeded the supply, Dut
since then the production has greatly
overcome the demand, and 1t now Is
alarmingly in excess of 1t. In conse'
Quence, the price Of coffee has been
hacked down so that in some coun-
tries the inducement has not been
strong enough to gather in the crops.
! II is estimated that the Brazilian crop
OF the last year has been sufficient In
itself to meet the worlds demand; and
Brazilian coffee that formerly found
ready takers at SIS a sack now can be
bought for s.. The cheapest coffee
now goes begging at 5 l-2 cents a
pound. These are wholesale quota.
tons, which, 1t is admitted. have not
affected the retail prices as they
| should
Said one Chicago authority: Coffee
has been cheap for years, and is now
cheaper than ever before. and one
would naturally suppose that hotels
and restaurants would take advantage
OF the opportunity and serve their Gus
toners with good grades. On the con
trary, however, the cheapness of the
berry only seems to whet rivalry as
to which Of them shall dish up the
cheapest trash. They seem to scorI
anything less than a profit OF SO pei
cent on a cup Of coffee. There arr
just three reasons why the Western
public never gets a good cup of coffee
The first is that hardly any of tn,
best material comes to this country
The second is that the coffee trade Is
labyrinth of fraud and adulteration
| The third is that partly through ignoI
ance and partly through negligence
coffee Is never cooked or served PROF
erly.
The only really fine coffees are tn
, Mocha and the socalled Java brands
or these, II Is said, the United State
gets not a grain of the real Mocha, an
not an eighth Of the Java grades. Tn
Mocha real thing" is cultivated in tn
, rolling region OF Yemen, in the south
western corner of Arabia, adjoinin
the port of Alden, and bordering on tn
Red Sea. The entire yield of tn
Yemen district Is only 100000
pounds. Nothing but the lower grade
of the yield ever gets away from tn
I natives, and the European countrie
get practically all or the better stoc
left over.
According to good authorities. tn
u annual production of Java Is 100000
4 900 pounds and that of Sumatra II
/. 100000 pounds. The latest statistic
II place the total importations and col
sumption of the United States in 49,
at S54,S71 $40 pounds.
Samuel Thompson, who is probabI
q the most prominent coffee expert
S Chicago, makes this statement: Son
& European countries have law e
= Guiding from consumption all coff'
below certain grades. While they a
; nit all grades to be imported, they r
II qure all coffees which are designC
h for consumption and which are belo
- the legal standards of excellence to
handpicked. The pickings, consistiI
of black and moldy beans and hull
i are called 'triage, and are not sold 4
70 a price much in excess of their intri