Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1937-11-25
National Press Building

Washington.-Word comes from
Rio de Janeiro that the government
:. of Brazil has de-
Brazil QUITS cided at long last
Crop Control to place it's coffee
business again on
a competitive basis. That is to say,
Brazilian coffee once more will be
sold in world market conditions. 1t
was IA years ago that crop control
was started, and now it has Topped
finally after costing the growers
losses accountable in millions and
after virtually wrecking some por-
tions of Brazil's foreign trade. i
! think it might be said also thaAt
the fallacy Of the coffee control polk
icy was among the real causes
which eventuated in the dictatorship
that established itself in Brazil re-
Gently. President Getulio Vargas
succeeded in placing himself at the
head of the nation indefinitely" and
he did so, he said, because of "un-
rest among the peoples" of the prov
inces. The first dictatorship in the
Western hemisphere, therefore, is
fact.
But to get to the coffee question:
1t was the determination of the Bra
lillian leaders that a policy of scar
city would force coffee prices higher
in the world market. The state of
Sac Paulo initiated the scheme. 1t
failed to work, and its sponsors
said the reason was its scope was
limited. Thus, it was expanded I'M
til the whole nation was embraced.
Still, coffee prices did not 60 high
enough and it was then that actual
destruction of coffee began. Mil
lions of tons were dumped into the
Atlantic ocean and other millions
were burned-even as we in this
country burned surplus wheat and,
corn and killed 5000, 900 pigs.
AS the destruction continued and
the growers found themselves tied
tighter with regulations and de-
crees, there were some increases in
prices. But the promised great
profits proved to be as illusory as q
mirage on the desert.
The whole thing was a boomer
ang. Not only were the producers
in Brazil disillusioned by failure to
gain the record returns they had
been led to expect, but they found
another sad and wholly disadvan-
tageous result staring them in the
face. There was some increase in
the price-just enough, indeed, to
reduce consumption to some extent
for the growers, but with Brazil
reducing available supplies others
got into the producing business.
Among these new coffee growing
areas, Colombia sprang into prom
inence. Maybe Colombia coffee was
not as good as Brazil's, in quality.
Maybe it was not quite as accepta-
BILE otherwise. But it was cheaper,
and it was profitable for Colombia
planters to produce. They found
ready sale.
That, however, was not the worst.
When other coffee-using nations
bought coffee from Colombia and
other growing areas, Colombia was
dple 10 puy OLner cOnmOQlLleS from
the nations buying her coffee. New
trade agreements suddenly showed
up; new relationships were estab-
Ished, and some of Brazil's former
business connections throughout the
world are gone with the wind. They
may never be re-established.
We, in the United States, ought to
give quite a bit of thought to Bra
ziPs coffee experiment for we have
had, and are threatening to have
more, experiments of a kindred ma
ture. Lessons in crop control are
right expensive, and more impor-
tant is the fact that sooner or later
all through history, they have had
to be abandoned. And when I re-