BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1904-12-24
EDITORIAL

In our great desire to see all of the
forces united and fighting as one TOR
the recognition and advancement OF
our coffee we have left no stone un-
turned to convince our esteemed tel
low collaborator, Don Julian Blanco,
but as yet it seems that our arguments
have not been convincing enough tol
dem monstrate to Don Julian that we
are entirely in the right IN main
tanning that Our coffee should be pro-
tected by duty imposed directly upon
foreigncoffee imported into the United
States, and not through the medium
of bounty for the Porto Rican coffee
planter either on the amount of coffee
marketed or the number of cuerdas
under cultivation.
And we might say right here that
Don Julian Blanco is as firm in his
belief that a bounty is the proper
method as we are that bounty is en-
tirely out of question in this matter,
and despite ithe fact, that he quotes
such date as expectation, statistics of
city and undoubted truth, being well
established on firm basis Of fguers
which cannot be controverted, he has
been as unsuccessful in converting US
as we have been in convincing him
that we are pursuing the proper
method.
AS we have stated Don Julian is
most decidedly in favor of bounty
for Our coffee, and toward this end he
is directing all the efforts of his pen.
If we are to look upon the matter IS
simply question of obtaining price
for our coffee by one means or ano-
ther, solely as matter of protection
through means of the customs houses;
if we leave aside I'll of the possibilities
which might arise in case bonnty
were placed upon our coffee, without
looking ahead to the future, then this
method of paying our coffee planter
for his product might be looked upon
with favor, and the solution of Our
most perplexing economic problem
could be worked out along the lines as
first proposed by the Boston He
RAID.
But We must consider what the future
has in store for US. A bounty, while
it would no doubt relieve the present
deplorab bic condition of the coffee gro
wer would not necessarily increase the
price of our coffee in the markets of
the United States, since the amount
which it is proposed to impose on
foreign coffee something less than
one cent per pound) would in no way
benefit Porto Rican coffee in the mar
ket, as it would not tend to give us
any advantage whatever, considering
the fact that Brazilian coffee at its
highest is never more than eight or
nine cents per pound.
Now add hut one more cent as an
import duty and it will readily be seen
that the price of this coffee is still
much less than we receive right at
home for our loves grades of coffee.
But look at the matter from the side
which the BOLETIN Las always advo-
Gated. Impose duty of from three
to FIVE or six cents pound instead of
one cent, and you will give us slight
advantage for our coffee, after which
it will not be necessary to grant a
bounty, since we will have no difficulty
in marketing all we can produce
within a very short time after people
once realize that our coffee is superior
to every other coffee grown. After
we have once established our market
in the United States we will not even
insist that the duty be retained upon
foreign ceffee, since we know that
once the consuming public knows our
coffee they will appreciate it to such
an extent that no other coffee will
ever be considered while Porto Rican
coffee can be secured. A superior
article is always appreciated by the
American public, once it is known to
them, and we are fully assured that
our coffee will prove no exception to
the rule, since it is Incompatible as
coffee.
This is the only logical manner in
which our coffee can find market.
Give it ample protection and its supe-
riority will do the rest: We have
begun to sgitate the question along
these lines and we most certainly
propose to continue SO doing until we
are firmly convinced that what we ask
is impossible; that Our contentious are