Valdez daily prospector., 1918-01-21
BUY PORTO
 RICO COFFEE
Should Work Together to Increase Purchases from New InsuIar
 Possessions

II WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 21.-- Especial Correspondence We should
 increase our purchases from our lit-
 tie possession, Porto Rico. The Porto
 Rican legislature has just appropriat-
 ed $2O,O0O to extend the market for coffee and a commissioner will soon
 open offices in New York City who
 will encourage our consumption of
 the Porto Rican berry. While he is ex-
 tolling the virtues of the insular cof
 fee the Department of Commerce
 could commercially work in conjunc- ttion with him by boosting our coffee trade with Porto Rico as a sound com
 mercial policy, helpful to one of our
 insular possessions.
 1 At the time we took possession of Porto Rico that island was exporting
 1O.000.000 pounds of coffee annual
 ly, and this trade grew until it reach ed it's highest point in 1915. when
 51 100000 pounds of coffee. worth
 over $7,000.0OO was sold in the mar
 kets of the world. Spain. France. Bel gium. and other European countries are Porto Rico's best customers for coffee, while the United States has been relatively poor customer. In 1913 we took 774.O0O pounds of the Porto Rican product and during the !, fiscal year 1917 we took 212.6O0l pounds. Our largest purchase was in 1915 when we took 4,16O,000 pounds
 The coffee importation of the Uni ted States has grown wonderfully dur ing the five-year period 1913-1917. i from S63.000.0O0 pounds for the for mer, to 1.320.OOO.0O0 pounds for the latter year. Practically all coffee inn ported is consumed here. During this period our purchases from Brazil have , increased about 42 per cent, or from
 639. 100000 to 9O7.OOO. 900 pounds; from Colombia nearly 70 per cent. or from 90.0O0.0O0 to .15O,O0O.0O0 pounds: from Central American states nearly 300 per cent. or from 32,OOO.- 900 to 127.OOO.OOO pounds. and from Venezuela. 1913 to 1916. almost 50 per cent. or from 5O.000.000 to 73.- OOO.00O pounds in 1916. Imports from Venezuela fell off considerably last year. We have slighted the home grown coffee and bought the foreign product, and that is not a wise trade policy.
 It is not the policy of the Allies, particularly England and France. : have adopted with respect to their colonial possessions. The plans of ; those two countries outlined at the Paris Pact in 1916. and which have rbeen in process of perfection since that time. contemplate. among other things. that the parent country shall supply it's needs so far as possible from the product of its dependencies
 This has particularly in view raw and semi-raw products. And. in turn. the parent country expects to enjoy first preference in the markets of it's de- pendencies for manufactured goods Commerce of this sort will tighten the bonds of friendship between the pow CT and her wards and it will go far toward assuring control of certain
 basic raw materials. control which
 will be of weighty consequence in the trade competition which Is to follow
 the establishment of peace.
 Our dependence on Brazil for the
 bulk of our coffee has long been at-
 tended by exasperating conditions. Valorization, restriction of acreage,
 and other means of holding up price
 have been practiced by the Brazilian
 Government. Last season is said to
 have been the record one in Brazil ian coffee production. yet no one in
 America will profit by 1t in the way of
 cheaper coffee. The Brazilian Gov
 ernment will attend to that. And as
 we depend on Brazil for from 70 to
 75 per cent of our consumption we
 hesitate to act It has been suggested
 that duty of cents a pound on cof-
 fee would bring Brazil to time. In-
 cidentally it would produce $26, 6,000,-
 900 of revenue without affecting the
 price to the consumer. And it might I go far to encourage the use of Porto Rican coffee in the United States. In
 any event. it is to be hoped that the . efforts of Porto Rico's coffee booster
 in New York will be successful in in-
 creasing the amount of coffee purchas-
 ed by us from one of our own family.