The Glacier reporter. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1953-current, 1954-03-26
CONGRESSMAN METcAlF
REPORTS FROM CAPITAL

ne COllec SouSc Is NIIII''E
newspaper headlines across the
country and bringing mail TO
congressional offices from COZ.
sumrrS asking action TO end 4
multlml!llon dollar >hakrdowN
Coffee a, more than 81 a pound
is ridiculous" even to some ~
duStvy spokesman - but Il Is
here. And II has resulted il ar
other round OF studies and III.
veStigatloNS.
The frs, crisis III coffee Of
which this country took official
note was early in the present
century. The most recent was
the investigation conducted Ivy
Democratic Senator Gillette "
Iowa III la4o after coffee prices
jumped to IS cents a pound from
81 III SIX weeks
Gillette. then chairman Of the
Senate Agriculture Committee
went behind industry statements
tina, the rise in coffee prices
could be explained in two words:
bad weather" Instead he found
an intricate structure q: price
FIXING and the creation OF false
shortages by coffee traders to
raise prices and profits.
The Gillette Committee repor:
vas printed in 1880. Because il
is SO recent. il is a valuable ref.
e-ence document on an industry
once again under investigation
by a Senate Committee and this
time also by the Federal Trade
Commission.
The committee expressed the
greatest sympathy for the farm,
e.> OF Brazil and 0; other coffee,
Producing countries. II Is they
who have borne the burden O:
!.>N!- costs II recent years and
WHO S!:ou!d. IL compensation.
have rcle!ved the wind:all profits
resulting from! the recent price
rise
Instead. the repor, continued,
al. evidence indicates that those
gains Went a!nlo>: exclusively 20
traders ard 10 parasitic spccu.
.at!vc interests.
Spectators. exporters and i'm.
po-ic.s We're in the main the ones
who pro:!,ed BY the rise in COT:
Zee prices IL late l9ia
TIE claim that the world was
consuming more coffee than was
then being produced was dis
missed this way
Admittedly there has been no
shortage 0: coffee in the United
states or the world a. large a;
any Hn,e in the pas. so years. the
fall Of 1919 being no exception
The committee closed its re
port BY making ~ recommend
aiIoH> - protect the America.
consume: from the coffee trad
ers One was tina, trading in cot
fee be brought under Fedora
regulation. There were request!
that the Attorney General lool
into the situation. in particula
the dealings Of the green cos!e,
buyer for the Maxwell House dj
vision 0: Genera! Foods Corpo,
alton with the National Cotfc,
Department o: Brazil in 1913.
None 0! these recommended
i!ons vas carried out - and ",
went on paying higher and high
g! coffee prices. A. the whole
sale level. the base price o: cot
Zee IN / 5. primary markets hac
risen 10 EOS cents a pound a
TIE end 0, las. December. Tn,
primary markc, ceiling pric,
which President scnhow
abolished March -. 1853. was 5.
cents The most recent quotation
VAS rs cents.
agree with Senator Gillett.
mat there IS not so much neec
10: an! more investigations O.
the coffee trade as there Is 70,
action on findings and recon-
menda,Ions o! the 1919 inves,iea
ton
What is needed is action,
both legislative and executive. ;
Senator Gillette said. TO dea
with an !nexcusable situation
winch Is rapidly approaching III.
!nio!crable. We know tina, the
IIL.,o1. ,..-.-.sl.. --..--s