BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1904-12-13
EDITORIAL

coffee is cultivated along scientific
lines we are more than ever disposed
to accept everything emanating from
this source as huge joke, especially
when it treats of the present Crisis
of eur coffee growers and proposes
means tending to relieve them from
the strained situation. While it is
true that the "News" in everything
which it publishes is little weak On
authority, it is especially SO on the
coffee question, and at times it conve-
yes information which is as startling
as it is impossible. In this case the
"News" has certainly bitten of more
than it can chew, and tri goes merrily
on stumbling over one obstacle after
another in the most matter of fact way,
just as though its writer's were fully
cognizant of everything in connection
with the coffee question, entirely
ignoring the fact that it is attempting
to educate people on a subject with
which they have been thoroughly ia
miliar ever since birth, and of which
they know more in a minute than the
News" is ever likely to know during
the whole of it's career.
The solutions of this problem viii
ch are presented by the News" and
which are likely to stand as theories
because no coffee growrtre is so foolish
as to adopt them, are laugkable in the
extreme. 1t does seem funny. doesn't
it, that the Porto Rican coffee planter
has never thought of fertilizing his
already rich lands to such an extent
that they would produce double the
amount of their present product? Just
think of how easy it would be, accor-
ding to the News, to double the
present production of coffee. And the
coffee growers have SO much idle mo-
ney to use for this purpose, even tho
ugh there were a grain of truth in the
nonSensical assertion. Just think of
hew easy it is for SO startling a truth
to remain hidden for years, while our
agriculturists have been vainly striving
to increase their crops, never once
thinking of such an easy solution of
the problem as a little bit of fertilizer
judiciously scattered about over the
place.
Then just think of the logic, even
though it could be done, of doubling
the production of our coffee areas at a
time when we have no market for
what we do produce and no immediate
prospect of securing one.
Such procedure would only tened
to cheaper our coffee in the market if
it could be carried into effect.
Then consider the adviSability of
endeavoring to place more of the pro-
duct upon the market, at any price
whatever, when there is no call for
what little we are now producing
Perhaps the News would like 20
see Porto Rico in the market against
Brazil, selling her coffee at six or
seven sents per pound, with side bet
that we could produce more coffee
to the acre than the Brazilian agricul-
turist ever dreamed of bringing forth
in his best patches.
What the coffee interests requires
at the present time is market for
their production where they can secu-
re fair price for their berry and at
the same :time sustain the name
of Porto Rican coffee in the class
where it properly belongs-that of
the best coffee produced anywhere.
And when the American people once
begin to buy Porto Rican coffee and
to take no other until there is not one
grain of our crop left when our coffee
plantations have once more returned
to their original fourishing and va
luable condition, when or coffee once
more commands the price that it did
in times past, SO that We can feel
recompensed for the time and labor
invested in bringing on and market
ing the crop, then will the News see
how our coffee growers hustle to
Increase the production of their
acreages, provided that by SO doing
the quality of the product has in no
manner Perforated, for it must
be realised that everything which
is done tending to injure our coffee IN
any manner whatever is blow which
threatens to compromise forever the
economic life of Porto Rico, since our
coffee is our principal wealth, without
which we would be a ruined COM
mowealth forever
Of course it may be that all this no.
ise made by the News is but an