El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-10-30

NANTOS, Brazil, Oct. 30.-As you sip
your coffee let me give you some
moving pictures Of the Brazilian
port through which it comes TO the
United States Nearly all the coffee
consumed in America passes through
Santos. The city is the chief coffee
port of the world It handles more
Of this product than any half dozen
ports upon earth 1t is the gateway to
the vast plantations OF san PaulO and
for the greater part OF the year q
steady stream Of coffee bags flows
down into it from the Brazilian high
lands and then takes the ships which
carry them to the United States and to
Europe
Town Built Upon Coffee Beans.
Everything in Santos is coffee The
town is built upon coffee beans and the
fortunes Of its citizens rise and fall
with the prices OF coffee The pople
here believe in coffee They talk moth
ing else and as they talk they drink
They drink so much of this beverage
that they grow salloW and the muscles
Of their faces twitch continuously
When one of them sits in a chair, gest-
ing his toes on the floor, his knees bob
up and down with nervousness and his
whole system seems afflicted with 81.
Vitus dance.
me street traffic Of santos is coffee.
Huge automobiles, piled high with
bags. move this way and that Heavy
carts similarly loaded are hauled by
mules among the motor machines, and
negroes run across the rOadWGys with
great bags on their shoulders
Begin at the Wharves.
The coffee scenes begin at the
wharves- Landing. 7 took my camera
and made snapshots OF the loading.
Upon many Of the steamers the coffee
was being carried on the backs Of men.
They took the bags from the ware
houses carried them to the decks of
the steamers and dropped them into
OF porters Flows from the wharves to
the streau.er. The men 90 on the trOt,
each loaded with bag Of 132 pounds
Some Of them carry the bags on their
shoulders leaning them against the
back Of the head others raise them
ends OF the bags with the hands as they
run up the board walk TO the deck. The
men are brawny and full-chested- They
have necks like that of a bull, the
muscles Of which have been turned to
iron by the enormous weights which
from hOyhood they have been accus-
toned TO carry on their heads
Many of the steamers are now loaded
with endless belts like those upon
which wheat IS carried from place to
place in our great elevators These
belts run upon carriers which begin in
the basement Of the great coffee ware
house and wind their way under the
floor until they reach the Wharves-
Here they rise and travel overhead and
empty their loads into the holds Of the
steamers The bags are dropped on 10
the belts and are not touched again
until they are packed in the hold As
they move along through the air they
seem TO be fairly alive. They look Z
like gigantic mice or seals crawling I
along.
Acres Of Big Warehouses.
Warehouses more than a score run
ming for q mile or so along the docks, :
cover acres and are packed from floor 3
to roof. The bags are laid up like {
cordwoOd, and a warehouse may be a
solid mass Of these bags Of coffee.
In one of the warehouses the men Z
We're loading. Great, lusty fellows, they :
were bare to the waist and barefoOted-
Their muscles were like those of prize I
fighters, and all were broad shoulderd I
and thick neclled- I took out my watch I
and counted their speed. They dropped I.
the bags on the chute at the rate of one I
every second. At every time my watch Z
licked 132 pounds Of coffee fell upon
the travelling belt, and started on its