The Mena weekly star. (Mena, Ark.) 1904-1977, 1911-11-09
1utckeoest Crust
:. in the ClaorIo :.

On Friday, the thirteenth OF Oc-
tober. the hand Of J. P. Morgan
reached out from that austere
counting room at Broad and Wall
streets aud tagged the wrecks of
humanity in Chatham square and
Five Points. simultaneously the
nroprielors of the Scent coffee
houses on the Bowery hung out
signs announcing an advance in the
price Of coffee to 3 cents per cup
30 per cent.
On Friday the thirteenth-un-
lucky day for the American con-
sumer-the price of No. 7 Brazilian
coffee touched a new high record
mark of rs cents per pound, an
advance of 90 cents per pound in
short IS months, and the coffee
trust stood to clean up something
like S50,00O,000
A year ago Arbuckle's and other
brands OF Rio and Santos coffee
known in the trade as standard
package coffee" sold at retail at II
and iS cents per pound. On Friday
the thirteenth" it sold for 25 cents
per pound, and the record price set
on that date means a further boost
in the retail price to q cents per
pound. Immediately, and at that
price the grocer has no profit, I'M
less he, too, raises the prices.
The steel trust only exacts an in
I,.a.I tnsb,tgn fHhn Apaapipnn pnn-
sumner once boycotted beef The
American workman can and does
wear shoddy instead of wool. He
can even do without bread. But he
must have his cup of steaming cof-
fee.
The pooled coffee is No. 7 Brazil
ian-the coffee consumed almost
entirely by working people. Thus
the trusts S50,000,000 profits are
the piled-up pennies of the poor.
Don't comfort yourself, Mr.. Con-
sumner, with the thought that this
pool wind wind up its affairs after
a short season of gouging the pub
lie, after the manner of a corner
lin wheat. The coffee pool is here
to stay. Its agreement expires in
1919. 1t is entirely entrenched be-
hind laws passed by Brazil express
ily on the orders of the gentry now
manipulating the deal.
These laws absolutely limit the
size of the coffee. crop by forbid
ding the planting of new coffee
trees, and by putting prohibitive
tax on all the crop above certain
lquantily. They even permit the
burning of coffee in bumper crop
Years.
The pool will undoubtedly be re-
newed for a short term of five years
lin 1919, and renewals will continue
after that.
Tragic enough though it be, the
formation Of the coffee is fas-
cnating chapter in high finance.
It's inspiration came from the brain
of Herman Selcken of New York,
a multi-millionaire, known in the
coffee market as old "Sealskins."
| From 1895 to 1906 Sielcken dom
mated the American coffee mar
lket Usually he was bull" He
conducted several corners. 1t is
Isaid he cleared Si0,000000 in his
valedictory effort. He represented
Willie and Company of Rio.
In 1906 "Sealskins" began study
ing the worlds coffee supply with
the idea Of controlling it perma-
nently. OF that supply So per cent
is raised in Brazil and rs per cent
of the Brazilian crop is raised in
the state of Sac paulo.
He came to an agreement with
Willie and Company and they put
the proposition up to the Sac Paulo
authorities.
They proposed with the actual
partnership of the state Of Soa
Paulo to act as a syndicated JOS
eph to the tribes in the coffee fields.
In fat years they would buy the
crop and store it-coffee keeps in
definitely in storage-for lean years,
and thus by holding out the crop
in fat years get a big price for the
growers. Sac Paulo was to pass
the necessary crop limiting laws
Sac Paulo accepted joyously.
Morgan, the Standard Oil people
through their banks, the Roths-
sehilds in London the Banque de
Paris, eBlgium and German flnan-
ciers, as we'll as the government Of
Brazil, got in the pool through it's
reorganization. Bonds up to the
Iamount of S75,0Oo,00O, guaranteed
by Brazil, were issued and taken
lup by the finaneiers, who received
a nice 10 per cent, or S7,500,000 for
their favor
Brazilian laws prohibited the
lplanting of any more coffee trees,
and Brazilian government agents
even went through the fields de-
stroying young trees. Then they
were ready TO dictate the price of
coffee throughout the world.
A provision Of the agreement
Imakes it compulsory upon the trust
to store its coffee 0utsides of Bra
I'll. So during the recent furry,
when pessimistic brokers We're call
ing attention to the fact that the
visible supply Of coffee is not suf-
ficient for 60 days consumption
locked up in the trust warehouses
in New York, Havre. Hamburg.
London and Trieste were 663.000.-
1000 pounds Of coffee years sup
lply but not an ounce OF it for sale