The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1913-08-14


that these Hamburg American ship:
had still another important mission
the principal part of which related &c
the carrying of bananas consigned tc
the Atlantic Fruit Company. have
been pulling the fruit from a hanging
stem on the upper deck with regularity
and in these last few days bananas
have ceased 10 be the mere barter OF
the Greek fruiterer. Bananas have
evolved in my understanding into a
great commodity OF commerce. One
stem grows on each stalk, and then at
the end Of ten 10 fourteen months the
stem is cut, and the stalk like that of
corn comes down, and the process
must begin all over.
The fruit companies buy the crops
in the field, and the smaller West In
dian stems with its supply of from 100
to 125 bananas brings approximately
IS cents to the planter, weighing from
~ TO IS pounds, and selling by weight
in New York at about one dollar. The
larger stems, with 80 to IFS bananas
and weighing approximately IS pounds
come from Costa RIGA, Nicaragua and
Columbia, and bring about $3.50 in
New York.
Great gangs of workmen from the
Bahamas travelled with us on the ships
TO handle the cargo, and thousands Of
stems we're taken aboard at the differ
ent stops. On the ship Prinz Joachim
We have about $4,000 stems aboard.
For hours and hours we have watched
the black men handling the fruit.
Their fleets of small boats have come
out to US a quarter or half mile from
the Jamaican shore; the matches have
been opened, and copper-hued giants
with great bare "slob feet that spread
out at the toes like the streets of
Washington running out from the Capt.
tol, come rushing over the sides of our
ship-there are perhaps $50 of them.
Once as a boy 1 saw a bucket bri-
gade at a fire, where the pals OF
water were passed along a line of men
from a creek. The banana brigade"
started in the bottom of the lighters
and extended up through human steps
or stations to the deck of our ship, and
then on down long lines the heavy
stems were tossed from one man to
the next. Hour after hour, as fast as
they a travel their curse leads
down into the deep hold of the ship.
wondered If there were any bananas
left after all we had received, but was
informed that like the cargoes Of grain
at the head OF Lake Superior, what we
had carried away, was an infentismal
part of the supply.
At Santiago I was interested in the
shipment Of hides to the United States.
and / learned that in Cuba, where the
cattle were practically exterminated
to meet the exigiencies of war, that
there are now large sized herds that
craze on the broad ranges of Cuba. II
Am told that Cuba is preparing to help
the situation of a shortage of
beef in the states, but up to the pres
the i~mportations are confined to
hides, and each Hamburg American
ship carries from one to three thous.
and hides on every return trip from
he island.
How little thought We give to the
source OF u food supply. For in
stance these ships have been loading
great quantities of cocoanuts-1OO in a
bag, and 20 bags to a ton. Frequently
$1,000 bags included in a cargo. We
also have large quantities of cocoa
bean aboard, and there are also sew
sral hundred bags of coffee, $50 cases
rum, and from Ecuador and Colum.
oia We have received $50 bags of ivory
nuts, which are destined to become
coat and other buttons. Bees wax
'asaparilla, tobacco, cola nuts, rubber,
ind pimentos are all in the cargo. /
have watched the antics of nearly so
great sea turtles, whose destiny in
soup and l am told as they splash in
heir tanks that they are worth %
tents a pound as they are, and as they
ire heavy "birds" many of them will
BRING more than $50. But what is that
IN Broadway, when the lights are shin
ng, and the cabaret is at it's height?
my shipmates now splashing so
nerrily, will be served at a dollar or
more a plate.
L