that which would be received if renting or leasing to others.
3. Charge, in addition to what is paid for hired help, an amount
equal to what the proprietor's services would be worth to others;
also treat in like manner the services of any member of the family
employed in the business and not on the regular payroll.
4. Charge depreciation on all goods carried over on which a less
price may have to be made because of damage or any other cause.
5. Charge depreciation on buildings, tools, fixtures, or anything
else suffering from age or wear and tear.
6. Charge donations and subscriptions paid.
7. Charge all fixed expenses, such as taxes, insurance, water,
lights, fuel, etc.
8. Charge all incidental expenses, such as drayage, postage, office
supplies, livery expenses of horses and wagons, telegrams and
telephones, advertising, canvassing, etc.
9. Charge losses of every character, including goods stolen, or
sent out and not charged, allowances made customers, all debts,
etc.
10. Charge collection expense.
11. Charge any other expense not enumerated above.
12. When it is ascertained what the sum of all the foregoing items
amounts to, prove it by the books, which will give the total
expense for the year; divide this figure by the total of sales, and
it will show the percent which it has cost to do business.
13. Take this percent and deduct it from the price of any article
sold, then subtract from the remainder what it cost (invoice price
and freight), and the result will show the net profit or loss on
the article.
14. Go over the selling prices of the various articles and see what
are profits; then get busy in putting your selling figures on a
profitable basis and talk it over with your competitor as well.
_A Credit Policy for Retailers_
While the minor factors governing a credit policy for retailers vary
with local conditions, the fundamental principles are alike everywhere,
and should have the thoughtful consideration of all retail distributers
of coffee. After a retail grocery store experience of twenty-five years,
a past president of the National Association of Retail Grocers of the
United States[344] found that a grocer should insist upon references and
a thorough investigation of every new applicant for credit, refusing the
privilege when the prospective customer hesitates to give the needed
information; that he should arrange a date for periodical payments,
explaining that this is necessary so that the storekeeper can arrange to
meet his own bills, which will enable him to discount his invoices and
to sell his goods cheaper; that statements of accounts should be sent
out promptly and never a few days late; that he should insist on payment
in full when due, requesting the customer to call if an extension of
time is asked; that he should not let the customers decide when they
will pay bills, bearing in mind that the possible loss of a few
customers who do not pay promptly is offset by the advantages of cash
when promised; that he should never abandon the hope of collecting an
old account, but should try the method of sending statements only to the
surest customers, sending a clerk for the collection of all other
accounts; that he should personally examine all uncollected accounts
every month, insisting on a reason for failure to pay; that he should
study his customers and not trust those who give a bad impression; that
he should have the courage to say "No" when necessary; not to be
satisfied with merely a financial rating on a credit applicant, but to
ascertain his general reputation and character; and to help to eliminate
the "dead beats" by giving careful attention to all requests received
from other retailers for credit information.
_Premiums for Retailers_
House-to-house dealers are the largest users of premiums among coffee
distributers. Most of them operate under what is known as the
advance-premium method.
The plan followed by house-to-house dealers until about 1910 was to
issue checks redeemable in premiums after a certain amount of tea,
coffee, or other products had been purchased. This practise has not been
entirely abandoned; but in most instances, the premium is now handed to
the consumer in advance of the initial purchase, in consideration of the
buyer's promise to use a stipulated quantity of tea, coffee, or other
merchandise. The driver of the wagon generally carries a portfolio
illustrating numerous premium items redeemable through the purchase of
varying amounts of merchandise.
Many retail coffee stores also employ premiums, using both the old-style
and "advance" methods. This type of store, however, is being supplanted
by the chain grocery store.
Some independent retail grocers use premiums to a limited extent. These
usually carry a small line of premiums, featuring a piece of
kitchenware, or other inexpensive item, with bulk coffee.
It is significant that one of the largest chain-store organizations in
the United States--the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company--uses few
premiums today, although its business was founded on the premium idea.
[Illustration: AN AMERICANIZED ENGLISH GROCER'S SHOP
Ernest Carter's store at St. Albans, England, operated under the name of
Thomas Oakley & Co., has a distinctly American atmosphere, accounted for
by the fact that the fittings were supplied by an American manufacturer,
the Walker Bin Co., of Penn Yan, N.Y. The tea and coffee department is
shown in the foreground. The coffee is roasted in the window]
Trading stamps, which are sold to grocers and other merchants by firms
making a specialty of this form of premium-giving are little used
nowadays. The average retail grocer is antagonistic to trading stamps,
as a result of the methods of certain unscrupulous stamp-dealers.
Legislation against trading stamps is in effect in many states.
[Illustration: SOME PACKAGE COFFEES THAT ADVERTISING HAS MADE FAMOUS]
CHAPTER XXVIII
A SHORT HISTORY OF COFFEE ADVERTISING
_Early coffee advertising--The first coffee advertisement in 1587
was frank propaganda for the legitimate use of coffee--The first
printed advertisement in English--The first newspaper
advertisement--Early advertisements in colonial America--Evolution
of advertising--Package coffee advertising--Advertising to the
trade--Advertising by means of newspapers, magazines, billboards,
electric signs, motion pictures, demonstrations, and by
samples--Advertising for retailers--Advertising by government
propaganda--The Joint Coffee Trade publicity campaign in the United
States--Coffee advertising efficiency_
In a work of this character the chapter on advertising must of necessity
be in story form. It may tell what has been accomplished in advertising
coffee, and perhaps point the way to greater achievement. In so far as
possible, the story is supplemented by illustrations, which here tell
the story even better than words.
Advertising to the trade or the consumer calls for expert advice. There
are successful trade journalists who are competent to supply such
advertising counsel; and new-comers in the field should consult them
first. These men are in the best position to suggest the means for
successful accomplishment. They know the men who are best qualified to
render assistance for all media, and are glad to recommend those who can
be most helpful.
Jarvis A. Wood has said that advertising is causing another to know, to
remember, and to do. If we agree with this excellent definition, then
the first coffee advertisers were the early physicians and writers who
told their fellows something about the berry and the beverage made from
it.
Rhazes and Avicenna told the story in Latin, and appear to have
recommended a coffee decoction as a stomachic, as far back as the tenth
century. Many other early physicians refer to it. Thus it was that
coffee was solemnly introduced to the consumer as a medicine. The first
step made by the berry from the cabinets of the curious, where it was
known as an exotic seed, was into the apothecaries' shops, where it was
sold and advertised as a drug. Next, the coffee drink was advertised and
sold by lemonade venders; then by the proprietors of the coffee houses
and cafés; and finally the coffee merchant sold and advertised the green
and roasted bean.
Rauwolf told the Germans about it in 1582; Abd-al-Kâdir wrote his famous
_Argument in favor of the legitimate use of coffee_ in Arabic about
1587; Alpini carried the news to Italy in 1592; English travelers wrote
about the beverage in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; French
Orientalists described it about the same time; and America learned about
it long before the green beans were offered for sale in Boston in 1670.
Because of its frank propaganda character, Abd-al-Kâdir's manuscript may
rightly be called the earliest advertisement for coffee. The author was
a lawyer-theologian, a follower of Mahomet, and as such was eager to
convince his contemporaries that coffee drinking was not incompatible
with the prophet's law.
Soon the news of the day became the advertising of the morrow. In 1652
appeared the first printed advertisement for coffee in English. It was
in the form of a shop-bill, or handbill, issued by Pasqua Rosée from the
first London coffee house in St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill; and the
original is preserved in the British Museum.
It is pictured on page 55, chapter X, and is worthy of close
examination. It reads:
The Vertue of the _COFFEE_ Drink
First publiquely made and sold in England, by _Pasqua Rosée_.
The Grain or Berry called _Coffee_, groweth upon little Trees, only
in the _Deserts of Arabia_.
It is brought from thence, and drunk generally throughout all the
Grand Seigniors Dominions.
It is a simple innocent thing, composed into a Drink, by being
dryed in an Oven, and ground to Powder, and boiled up with Spring
water, and about half a pint of it to be drunk, fasting an hour
before, and not Eating an hour after, and to be taken as hot as
possibly can be endured; the which will never fetch the skin off
the mouth, or raise any Blisters, by reason of that Heat.
The Turks drink at meals and other times, is usually _Water_, and
their Dyet consists much of _Fruit_, the _Crudities_ whereof are
very much corrected by this Drink.
The quality of this Drink is cold and Dry; and though it be a
Dryer, yet It neither _heats_, nor _inflames_ more then _hot
Posset_.
It so closeth the Orifice of the Stomack, and fortifies the heat
within, that it's very good to help digestion, and therefore of
great use to be taken about 3 or 4 a Clock afternoon, as well as in
the morning.
It much quickens the _Spirits_, and makes the Heart _Lightsome_. It
is good against sore Eys, and the better if you hold your Head over
it, and take in the Steem that way.
It suppresseth Fumes exceedingly, and therefore good against the
_Head-ach_, and will very much stop any _Defluxion of Rheums_, that
distil from the _Head_ upon the _Stomack_, and so prevent and help
_Consumptions_; and the _Cough of the Lungs_.
It is excellent to prevent and cure the _Dropsy_, _Gout_, and
_Scurvy_.
It is known by experience to be better than any other Drying Drink
for _People in years_, or _Children_ that have any _running humors_
upon them, as the _Kings Evil_,&c.
It is very good to prevent _Mis-carryings_ in _Child-bearing
Women_.
It is a most excellent Remedy against the _Spleen_, _Hypocondriack
Winds_, or the like.
It will prevent _Drowsiness_, and make one fit for business, if one
have occasion to _Watch_; and therefore you are not to Drink of it
_after Supper_, unless you intend to be watchful, for it will
hinder sleep for 3 or 4 hours.
_It is observed that in Turkey, where this is generally drunk, that
they are not trobled with the Stone, Gout, Dropsie, or Scurvey, and
that their Skins are exceedingly cleer and white._
It is neither _Laxative_ nor _Restringent_.
Made and sold in St. _Michaels Alley_ in _Cornhill_, by Pasqua
Rosée, at the Signe of his own Head.
The noteworthy thing about this advertisement is, that in comparison
with the best copy of today, it has high merit. For this early
advertisement seems to have embodied in it superbly well those
qualifications which modern advertising experts agree are essential
requirements for success--measured in terms of sales to the consumer. We
shall return to it later.
The first newspaper advertisement for coffee appeared in the form of a
"reader" in the issue of _The Publick Adviser_, London, for the week of
Tuesday, May 19, to Tuesday, May 26, 1657. _The Publick Adviser_ was a
weekly pamphlet partaking of the nature of a commercial news-letter. The
advertisement was sandwiched between a reader advertising a doctor of
physick and one for an "artificer," the latter being a ladies'
hair-dresser. It was as follows:
In _Bartholomew_ Lane on the back side of the Old Exchange, the
drink called _Coffee_, (which is a very wholesom and Physical drink,
having many excellent vertues, closes the Orifice of the Stomack,
fortifies the heat within, helpeth Digestion, quickneth the
Spirits, maketh the heart lightsom, is good against Eye-sores,
Coughs, or Colds, Rhumes, Consumptions, Head-ach, Dropsie, Gout,
Scurvy, Kings Evil, and many others is to be sold both in the
morning, and at three of the clock in the afternoon.)
About the time that Pascal opened the first coffee house in Paris in
1672, the Paris shop-keepers began to advertise coffee by broadsides. A
good example is the following,[345] the text of which closely resembles
the original by Pasqua Rosée:
_The most excellent Virtue of the Berry called_ Coffee.
_Coffee_ is a Berry which only grows in the desert of _Arabia_,
from whence it is transported into all the Dominions of the Grand
Seigniour, which being drunk dries up all the cold and moist
humours, disperses the wind, fortifies the Liver, eases the dropsie
by its purifying quality, 'tis a Sovereign medicine against the
itch, and corruptions of the blood, refreshes the heart, and the
vital beating thereof, it relieves those that have pains in their
Stomach, and cannot eat; It is good also against the indispositions
of the brain, cold, moist, and heavy, the steam which rises out of
it is good against the _Rheums_ of the eyes, and drumming in the
ears: 'Tis excellent also against the shortness of the breath,
against _Rheums_ which trouble the Liver, and the pains of the
Spleen; It is an extraordinary ease against the Worms: After having
eat or drunk too much: Nothing is better for those that eat much
Fruit.
The daily use hereof in a little while will manifest the aforesaid
effect to those, that being indisposed shall use it from time to
time.
The following are typical London trade advertisements of 1662 and 1663.
The first is from the _Kingdom's Intelligencer_ of June 5, 1662, and
reads as follows:
At the Exchange Ally from Cornhill into Lumber Street neer the
Conduit, at the Musick-Room belonging to the Palsgrave's Hall, is
sold by retayle the right coffee powder; likewise that termed the
Turkey Berry, well cleansed at 30d. per pound ... the East India
berry (so called) of the best sorts at 20d. per pound, of which at
present in divers places there is very bad, which the ignorant for
cheapness do buy, and is the chief cause of the now bad coffee
drunk in many plaies (sic).
The _Intelligencer_ for December 21, 1663, contained the following
advertisement:
There is a Parcel of Coffee-Berry to be put to publique sale upon
Wednesday, the 23, instant, at 6 a clock in the evening at the
Globe Coffee-house at the end of St. Bartholomew Lane, over against
the North Gate of the Royall Exchange.... And if any desire to be
further informed they may repair to Mr. Brigg, Publique Notary at
the said Globe Coffee-house.
Dufour's treatise on _The Manner of Making Coffee, Tea and Chocolate_,
published in Lyons, 1684, was generally regarded as propaganda for the
beverage; and, indeed, it proved an excellent advertisement, being
quickly translated into English and several other languages.
In 1691 we find advertised in the _Livre Commode_ of Paris a portable
coffee-making outfit to fit the pocket.
The first coffee periodical, _The New and Curious Coffee House_, was
issued at Leipzig by Theophilo Georgi in 1707, being a kind of house
organ for what was, perhaps, the first kaffee-klatsch; the
publisher-proprietor, however, admitted that the idea of making his
coffee salon a resort for the literati was obtained from Italy.
[Illustration: FIRST NEWSPAPER ADVERTISEMENT SOLELY FOR COFFEE IN THE
UNITED STATES
_New York Daily Advertiser_, February 9, 1790]
In chapter X we have described a number of broadsides, handbills, and
pamphlets having to do with the introduction of the coffee drink into
London between 1652 and 1675. The advertising student would do well to
refer to them because they serve to show how completely the true merits
of the beverage were lost sight of by those who urged its more fantastic
claims. It is interesting to note, however, that this early copy was of
a high order of typographical excellence; indeed, the display letter
used for the word coffee is often like that found in copy in the United
States two hundred and fifty years after. Also, it should be noted that
"apt 'illustration's' artful aid" was first employed in 1674. Again,
note this curious contrast. Two hundred and sixty-nine years ago all the
resources of advertising were being laid under contribution to make
propaganda for coffee as the great _cure_ for many ailments of which
nowadays the enemies of coffee would have us believe coffee is the
cause! Those who have possessed themselves of the facts about coffee
know that both arguments are equally fantastic.
Coffee was mentioned in shop-keepers' announcements appearing in the
_Boston News Letter_ as early as 1714, and in other newspapers of the
colonies during the eighteenth century, usually being offered for sale
at retail with strange companions. In 1748 "tea, coffee, indigo,
nutmegs, sugar, etc.," were advertised for sale at a shop in Dock
Square, Boston. The following advertisement from the _Columbian
Centinel_, Boston, April 26, 1794, is typical:
GROCERIES AT NO. 44 _CORNHILL_ Norton and Holyoke Respectfully
inform their friends and the publick, that they have for sale, at
their Shop, No. 44 _Cornhill_, formerly the Post-Office.
A GENERAL ASSORTMENT OF GROCERIES among which are the following
articles: Teas, Spices, Coffee, Cotton, Indigo, Starch, Chocolate,
Raisins, Figs, Almonds, and Olives; West India Rum, best French
Brandy, excellent Cherry Wine, pure as imported, etc., etc., all
which they will sell as low as any store in Boston.
_Any article not liked will be taken again, and the money
returned._
It appears that the first advertisement dealing with coffee alone was
published in the _New York Daily Advertiser_ for February 9, 1790; and
this was primarily an advertisement of a wholesale coffee roasting
factory rather than an advertisement of coffee per se.
This advertisement, and a later one published in Loudon's _New York
Packet_ for January 1, 1791, also of a coffee manufactory, are
reproduced herewith.
Not until package coffee began to come into vogue in the sixties was
there any change in the stereotyped business-card form followed by all
dealers in coffee. And even then the monotony was varied only by
inserting the brand name, such as "Osborn's Celebrated Prepared Java
Coffee. Put up only by Lewis A. Osborn"; "Government coffee in tin foil
pound papers put out by Taber & Place's Rubia Mills."
_Evolution of Coffee Advertising_
Real progress in coffee advertising, as in publicity for other lines of
trade and industry, began in the United States. Here too, it has been
brought to its lowest degradation and to its highest efficiency. The
entire process has taken something less than fifty years.
[Illustration: EARLY COFFEE ADVERTISING IN UNITED STATES
Printed in the _New York Packet_, January 1, 1791]
The first step forward was the picture handbill. The handbill, or
dodger, had been common enough in England and on the Continent, where,
for upward of two hundred years it had served as an advertising medium,
in company with the more robust broadside, and in competition with the
pamphlet and newspaper. It remained for America, however, to glorify the
handbill by means of colored pictures; and one of the earliest and best
specimens of the picture handbill is the Arbuckle circular here
illustrated.
[Illustration: FIRST HANDBILL IN COLORS FOR PACKAGE COFFEE ABOUT 1872]
Soon the handbill copy began to appear in the newspapers, but mostly
without the illustrations. Later newspaper developments were to
introduce more of the picture element, decorative border, and design.
The ideas of European artists were freely drawn upon, but put to so
utilitarian uses that their originators would scarce have recognized
them.
In the _Ladies Home Journal_ for December, 1888, the Great London Tea
Company, Boston, an early mail-order house, advertised, "We have made a
specialty since 1877 of giving premiums to those who buy tea and coffee
in large quantities." In the same issue, there was an advertisement of
Seal Brand and Crusade Brand coffee by Chase & Sanborn, Boston. Dilworth
Bros., Pittsburgh, were also among the early users of magazine space.
The menace of the cereal coffee-substitute evil had grown to such
proportions at the beginning of the twentieth century, that the coffee
men began to be concerned about it. Misleading and untruthful
"substitute" copy was freely accepted by nearly all media. The package
labels were as bad, if not worse. With the advent of the pure food law
of 1906, the cereal label abuse was reformed; but not until the "truth
in advertising" movement became a power to be reckoned with, nearly ten
years later, were the coffee men granted a substantial measure of
protection in the magazines and newspapers. Meanwhile, many coffee men,
lacking organization and a knowledge of the facts about coffee,
unwittingly played into the hands of the substitute-fakers by publishing
unfortunate defensive copy which made confusion worse confounded in the
consumer's mind.
[Illustration: REVERSE SIDE OF THE ARBUCKLE HANDBILL (IN COLORS) OF
1872]
[Illustration: A ST. LOUIS HANDBILL OF 1854]
At one time there were nearly one hundred coffee-substitute concerns
engaged in a bitter, untruthful campaign directed against coffee. The
most conspicuous offender employed the principle of auto-suggestion and
found a goodly number of pseudo-physicians and bright advertising minds
that were quite willing to prostitute their finest talents to aid him in
attacking an honorable business.
[Illustration: ADVERTISING-CARD COPY, 1873]
In one year $1,765,000 was spent in traducing the national beverage. The
burden of the cereal-faker's song was that coffee was the cause of all
the ills that flesh is heir to, and that by stopping its use for ten
days and substituting his panacea, these ills would vanish.
Of course, there were many people (but they were the minority) who knew
that the caffein content of coffee was a pure, safe stimulant that did
not destroy the nerve cells like such false stimulants as alcohol,
morphine, etc.; and that while too much could be ingested from abuse of
any beverage containing it, nature always effected a cure when the abuse
was stopped.
However, there was undoubtedly created in the public mind a suspicion,
that threatened to develop into a prejudice, and that affected otherwise
sane and normal people, that perhaps coffee was not good for them.
Then came the winter of the coffee men's discontent. Floundering about
in a veritable slough of cereal slush, without secure foothold or a true
sense of direction, coffee advertising went miserably astray when its
writers began to assure the public that _their_ brands were guiltless of
the crimes charged in the cereal men's indictment. In this, of course,
they unwittingly aided and abetted the cereal fakers. For example, one
roaster-packer advertised, "The harmful ingredient in coffee is the
tannin-bearing chaff, which our roasting and grinding process completely
removes." Scientific research has since proved the fallacy of this idea.
[Illustration: HANDBILL COPY OF THE SEVENTIES]
[Illustration: BOX-END STICKER, 1833]
Another roaster said, "if coffee works havoc with your nerves and
digestion, it is because you are not using a fresh roasted, thoroughly
cleaned, correctly cured coffee. Our method of preparing gives you the
strength and aroma without its nerve-destroying qualities." A well known
coffee packer advertised, "Our coffee is free from the dust and bitter
tannin--the only injurious property in coffee." Still another packer
informed the consumer that "by a very special steel cutting process" he
sliced the coffee beans "so that the little cells containing the
volatile oil (the food product) are not broken."
A prominent Chicago packer put out a new brand of coffee which he
claimed was "non-intoxicating," "poisonless," and the "only pure
coffee." A New Yorker, not to be out-done, brought out a coffee that he
said contained all the stimulative properties of the original coffee
berries, but with every trace of acid removed, every undesirable element
eliminated. "Also," he added for good measure, "this coffee may be used
freely without harming the digestive organs or impairing the nervous
system."
And one package-coffee man became so exercised over cereal competition
that he brought out a _grain_ "coffee" of his own, which he actually
advertised as "the nearest approach to coffee ever put on the market,
having all the merits without any objectionable features, strengthening
without stimulating, satisfying without shattering the nerves."
And so history again repeated itself in America. Five hundred years
after the first religious persecution of the drink in Arabia, we find it
being persecuted by commercial zealots in the United States. And even in
the house of its friends, coffee was being stabbed in the back. The
coffee merchants themselves presented the spectacle of "knocking" it by
inference and innuendo.
Something had to be done. As cereal drinks, standing on their own feet,
the coffee "substitutes" would have attracted little notice. It was only
by trading on the allegation that they were _substitutes for coffee_
that they made any headway. The original offender sold his product as
"coffee," which was an untruth, as he later admitted there was not a
bean of coffee in it. He boldly advertised: "Blank coffee for persons
who can't digest ordinary coffee."
When it became no longer possible to perpetrate an untruth on the
package label, there still remained the newspapers and billboards. For
years before fake-advertising laws and an outraged public opinion made
recourse to these no longer possible, it was a common practise to use
the newspapers and billboards to promote the idea that here was a
different coffee; and in this way to create a demand for a package,
which, when purchased, was found to tell a different story.
[Illustration: A CHASE & SANBORN ADVERTISEMENT, 1888
As printed in _Harper's_ and _Scribner's Magazines_]
As late as 1911, one of our most respected New York dailies was carrying
an advertisement calling the product "coffee," although fairness
demands it be recorded that the coffee part of the announcement was
stricken out when _The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal_ called the
attention of the publisher to its misleading character. This trade
paper, from its start, had been urging the coffee men to organize for
defense. The agitation bore fruit at last, first in the starting of the
National Coffee Roasters Association, and later in the inception of the
movement that resulted in the international advertising campaign for
coffee now in progress in the United States.
Meanwhile, the cereal coffee-substitute had been thoroughly discredited
by governmental analysis, although even today newspaper publishers are
to be found here and there who are willing to "take a chance" with
public opinion and who will admit to their advertising columns such
misleading statements for the substitute, as "it has a coffee-like
flavor."
[Illustration: A GOLDBERG CARTOON, 1910]
[Illustration: NEWSPAPER COPY USED BY CHASE AND SANBORN ABOUT 1900]
In the United States today, coffee advertising has reached a high plane
of copy excellence. Our coffee advertisers lead all nations. The
educational work started by _The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal_, fostered
by the National Coffee Roasters Association, and developed by the Joint
Coffee Trade Publicity Committee, has laid low many of the bugaboos
raised by the cereal sinners. The coffee men, however, have left
considerable room for improvement. There are still some who are given to
making exaggerated claims in their publicity, who make reflections upon
competitors in a way to destroy public confidence in coffee, and who
display an ignorance of, or a lack of confidence in, their product by
continuing to claim that their brands do not contain what they assert
are injurious or worthless constituents. It is to be hoped that in time
these abuses will yield to the further enlightening influence of the
trade press, and of the organizations that are continually working for
trade betterment.
Before the international coffee campaign started in 1919, the National
Coffee Roasters Association promoted two national coffee weeks, one in
1914 and another in 1915, wherein excellent groundwork was done for the
big joint coffee trade propaganda that followed. Some original research
also was done along lines of proper grinding and correct coffee brewing.
A better-coffee-making committee, under the direction of Edward Aborn of
New York, rendered yeoman's service to the cause. Much educational work
was done in schools and colleges, among newspaper editors, and in the
trade. This campaign was the first co-operative publicity for coffee.
Among other things, it put a nation-wide emphasis on iced coffee as a
delectable summer drink and, for the first time, stressed the correct
making of the beverage by drip and filtration methods instead of by
boiling, which had long been one of the most crying evils of the
business.
[Illustration: CHART SHOWING MONEY SPENT ON ADVERTISING COFFEE AND
SUBSTITUTES
Only advertisements printed in magazines and periodicals are considered
in making this calculation]
_Package Coffee Advertising_
Coffee advertising began to take on a distinctive character with the
introduction of Ariosa by John Arbuckle in 1873. Some of the early
publicity for this pioneer package coffee appears typographically crude,
judged by modern standards; but the copy itself has all the needful
punch, and many of the arguments are just as applicable today as they
were a half-century ago. Take the handbill copy illustrated. It was done
in three colors, and the argument was new and most convincing. The
reverse side copy is also extremely effective. Note the expert-roaster
argument and coffee-making directions; some of these may still be found
in current coffee advertising.
Most of the original Arbuckle advertising was by means of circulars or
broadsides, although some newspaper space was employed. Premiums were
first used by John Arbuckle as an advertising sales adjunct, and they
proved a big factor in putting Ariosa on the map. Mr. Arbuckle created
the kind of word-of-mouth publicity for his goods that is the most
difficult achievement in the business of advertising. It caused so deep
and lasting an impression, that in some sections it has persisted
through at least five decades. The advertising moral is: Get people to
_talk_ your brand.
Since the death of its founder, the Arbuckle copy has been changed to
fit modern conditions. That it has kept pace with all the forward
movements in business and advertising is evident from the specimens
which help to illustrate this chapter. A significant change is to be
noted in the fact that, for the first time in its history, "the greatest
coffee business in the world" has adopted a policy of advertising to the
trade as well as to the consumer, thus giving its publicity a well
rounded character which it formerly lacked.
The evolution of other notable package coffees is also shown by
illustration. Several concerns blazed new trails that have since been
picked up and followed by competing brands.
[Illustration: CHARTS SHOWING PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION AND COFFEE AND
SUBSTITUTE ADVERTISING]
Among the many long-established advertised package-coffee successes may
be mentioned:
Arbuckle's Yuban and Ariosa; McLaughlin's XXXX; Chase & Sanborn's Seal
Brand; Dwinell-Wright's White House; Weir's Red Ribbon; B. Fischer &
Company's Hotel Astor; Brownell & Field's Autocrat; Bour's Old Master;
Scull's Boscul; Seeman Brothers' White Rose; Blanke's Faust; Baker's
Barrington Hall; Woolson Spice Company's Golden Sun; International
Coffee Company's Old Homestead; Kroneberger's Old Reserve; Western
Grocer Company's Chocolate Cream; Leggett's Nabob; Clossett & Dever's
Golden West; R.C. Williams' Royal Scarlet; Merchants Coffee Company's
Alameda; Widlar Company's C.W. brand; Meyer Bros.' Old Judge; Nash-Smith
Tea and Coffee Company's Wedding Breakfast; J.A. Folger & Company's
Golden Gate; Ennis Hanley Blackburn Coffee Company's Golden Wedding;
M.J. Brandenstein & Company's M.J.B.; Hills Brothers' Red Can, the Young
& Griffin Coffee Company's Franco-American, and the Cheek-Neal Coffee
Company's Maxwell House.
It was estimated that the amount of money spent by the larger coffee
roasters upon all forms of publicity in the United States in 1920 was
about $3,000,000.
Charts prepared by Charles Coolidge Parlin of the division of commercial
research of the Curtis Publishing Company, and checked by the
Publishers' Information Bureau, show the advertising for coffee and for
coffee substitutes in thirty leading publications from 1911 to 1920; and
compare the advertising for coffee and coffee substitutes in 1920 with a
chart of per capita consumption. It should be noted that the figures
exclude all other forms of advertising, such as newspapers,
bill-posting, street-car signs, electric signs, and so forth.
Experience has proven that a package coffee, to be successful, must have
back of it expert knowledge on buying, blending, roasting, and packing,
as well as an efficient sales force. These things are essential: (1) a
quality product; (2) a good trade-mark name and label; (3) an efficient
package. With these, an intelligently planned and carefully executed
advertising and sales campaign will spell success. Such a campaign
comprehends advertising directed to the dealer and to the consumer. It
may include all the approved forms of publicity, such as newspapers,
magazines, billboards, electric signs, motion pictures, demonstrations,
and samples. One phase of trade advertising which should not be
overlooked is dealer helps. The extent to which the roaster-packer, or
the promoter of a new package coffee, should utilize the various
advertising media or go into dealer helps must, of course, depend upon
the size of the advertising appropriation.
[Illustration: AN EFFECTIVE CUT-OUT]
Many roaster-packers supply grocers handling their coffee with dealer
helps in the shape of weather-proof metal signs for outside display,
display racks, store and window display signs, cut-outs, blotters,
consumer booklets, newspaper electros, stereopticon slides, moving
pictures, demonstrations, samples, etc. Dealer selling schemes based on
points have also been found helpful in promoting sales.
_Advertising to the Trade_
Until a comparatively recent date, the green coffee importer, selling
the roasting trade, has not realized the need of advertising. He has
inclined to the belief that he did not need to advertise, because, in
most instances, green coffee is not sold by the mark; and, to a certain
extent, price has been the determining factor.
During late years, however, many green coffee firms have come to realize
that there is a good-will element that enters into the equation which
can be fostered by the intelligent use of advertising space in the
coffee roaster's trade journal. Also, a few importers are now featuring
trade marks in their advertising, thus building up a tangible trade-mark
asset in addition to good will.
For a number of years the green coffee trade used the business card type
of advertisement; but some are now utilizing a more up-to-date style of
copy, as typified by the advertisements of Leon Israel & Brothers and
W.R. Grace & Company. Specimens of other green coffee advertising of the
better kind are here reproduced.
Advertising campaigns in behalf of package coffees can not be fully
effective without the proper use of trade publications. Advertising in
the dealer's paper has many advantages. It is good missionary work for
the salesman. It creates confidence in the mind of the dealer. It is an
excellent means for demonstrating to the retailer that he is being
considered in the scheme of distribution--that no attempt is being made
to force the goods upon him through consumer advertising alone.
Trade-paper advertising also offers the packer the opportunity to
acquaint the dealer with the selling points in favor of the brand
advertised, thus saving the time of the salesman. An increasing number
of coffee packers are now using the advertising columns of trade papers,
and some typical advertisements are reproduced herewith.
_Advertising by Various Mediums_
Billboard and other outdoor advertising, also car cards, are being used
to a considerable extent for coffee publicity. Painted outdoor signs
have been the back-bone of one middle-west roaster's campaign for a
number of years. Both car cards and billboards are growing in popularity
because they enable the coffee packer to reproduce his package in its
natural colors and permit also of striking displays. Such firms as
Arbuckle Brothers, New York; Dayton Spice Mills, Dayton, Ohio; W.F.
MCLaughlin & Company, Chicago; the Puhl-Webb Company, Chicago; the Bour
Company, Toledo; B. Fischer & Company, New York; and the Cheek-Neal
Coffee Company, Nashville and New York, are consistent users of this
character of advertising. Electric signs also have proved effective for
coffee advertising. Reproductions of some characteristic outdoor and
car-card advertisements are to be found in these pages.
Motion pictures are a comparatively new development in coffee
advertising. One of the first coffee roasters to adopt this plan of
publicity was S.H. Holstad & Company, Minneapolis. The film used
depicted the cultivation and preparation of coffee for the market, also
the complete roasting and packaging operations. The A.J. Deer Company,
manufacturers of coffee mills and roasters, Hornell, N.Y., was another
pioneer in the use of coffee films. Jabez Burns & Sons, coffee-machinery
manufacturers, followed with an educational coffee picture. The National
Packaging Machinery Company, of Boston, is another concern that has
utilized films for advertising purposes, showing its machines in
operation in a coffee-packing plant. Many roasters made use of the
coffee film produced by the Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee.
In using advertising films, it is customary for the roaster to arrange
for a showing at one or more theaters. The advertising in the local
papers features the coffee brands, also the name of the local dealer,
the latter being furnished with tickets which he distributes among his
retail customers. There are several concerns making a business of
supplying commercial films and of getting distribution for them.
Another form of theater publicity is that of the advertising
slide--stereopticon views thrown upon the screen between feature
pictures. Many packers find these are effective for cultivating the
dealer, it being customary to show the brand name, together with that of
the local distributer.
_Advertising for Retailers_
When retailers analyze the people to whom they sell coffee, they usually
find three types. First, there is the woman who thinks she is an expert
judge of coffee, but who is unable to find anything to suit her
cultivated taste. Then there is the new housewife, possibly a bride of a
few months, who knows very little about coffee, but wants to find a good
blend that both she and her husband will like. The third is the most
acceptable class, the satisfied people who have found coffee that
delights them, day after day.
[Illustration: HOW COFFEE IS ADVERTISED TO THE TRADE
Left to right, good examples of green coffee publicity--center,
well-arranged package-coffee copy]
W. Harry Longe, a Texas retailer, has prepared the following "ready
made" copy appeals for the three classes. To "Mrs.
Know-it-all-about-Coffee," this style has been found effective:
IMPROVE THE COFFEE AND YOU IMPROVE THE MEAL
The corner of the table that holds the coffee urn is the balancing
point of your dinner. If the coffee is a "little off" for some
reason or other--probably it's the coffee's own fault--things don't
seem as good as they might; but when it is "up to taste" the meal
is a pleasure from start to finish. If the "balancing point" is
giving you trouble, let ANY BLEND Coffee properly regulate it for
you. 35 cents, three pounds for $1.
ANY TEA & COFFEE COMPANY
For the good lady who is anxious to find a suitable blend of coffee, and
who desires information, this is a good appeal:
A SUCCESSFUL SELECTION
Of the coffee that goes into the every-morning cup will arrive on
the day when ANY BLEND is first purchased. Many homes have been
without such a success now for a long time, but, of course, they
didn't know of ANY BLEND--and even now it is hard to really know
ANY BLEND till you try it. That is why we seem to insist that you
ask for an introduction by ordering a pound.
ANY BLEND TEA & COFFEE COMPANY
Taking both classes and dealing with them alike:
"BLENDED TO BALANCE"
Is a good descriptive phrase of ANY BLEND coffee, for care is taken
in the preparation that the strength does not overpower the flavor.
The aim of the blender is to get an acceptable and delightful
drinking quality. He has been more than successful, as you will see
when you try ANY BLEND, 35 cents, three pounds for $1.
ANY TEA & COFFEE COMPANY
The satisfied class, of course, is not averse to making a change, and it
is well, occasionally, for the dealer to let his own satisfied customers
know he still believes in his goods. The argument might take this form:
A SERVICE THAT SAVES
Is the serving of ANY BLEND, when coffee is desired. ANY BLEND
saves many things. It saves worry, for it is always uniform in
flavor and strength. It saves time, for when you order ANY BLEND we
grind it just as fine or just as coarse as your percolator or pot
demands. ANY BLEND also saves expense, because there is no waste,
as you know just how much to use, every time, to make a certain
number of cups. 35 cents, three pounds for $1.
ANY TEA & COFFEE COMPANY
Again, possible new customers may listen to this appeal:
TO PROVE YOUR APPROVAL
Of ANY BLEND coffee, you are asked to try just one pound. We know
you will like it, for it is blended and roasted and ground as an
exceptional coffee should be, with the care that a good coffee
demands. Prove to yourself that you approve of this method of
preparing coffee. 35 cents, three pounds for $1.
ANY TEA & COFFEE COMPANY
In some households the cook is permitted to do the ordering, and usually
the cook does not read the daily papers with an eye for coffee ads. To
reach this individual through her mistress:
CAN YOU NAME YOUR COFFEE?
Or is it one of those many unknown brands that comes from the store
at the order of your cook? Let the cook do the ordering, for you
are lucky if you have one you can rely upon, but tell her you
prefer ANY BLEND to the No-Name Blend you may now be using. ANY
BLEND has one distinct advantage over all others; It Is freshly
roasted. Tell the kitchen-lady, now, to order ANY BLEND.
ANY TEA & COFFEE COMPANY
_Advertising by Government Propaganda_
Advertising coffee by government propaganda has been indulged in with
more or less success by the British government in behalf of certain of
its colonial possessions; by the French and the Dutch; by Porto Rico,
Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Brazil. The markets most cultivated have been
Italy, France, England, Russia, Japan, and the United States.
Great Britain began the development of coffee cultivation in its
colonies in 1730. Parliament first reduced the inland duties. In many
ways it has since sought to encourage British-grown coffee, building up
a favoritism for it that is still reflected in Mincing Lane quotations.
The Netherlands government did the same thing for Java and Sumatra; and
France rendered a similar service to her own colonies.
Since Porto Rico became a part of the United States, several attempts
have been made by the island government and the planters to popularize
Porto Rico coffee in the United States. Scott Truxtun opened a
government agency in New York in 1905. Acting upon the counsel and
advice of the author, he prosecuted for several years a vigorous
campaign in behalf of the Porto Rico Planters' Protective Association.
The method followed for coffee was to appoint official brokers, and to
certify the genuineness of the product. Owing to insufficient funds and
the number of different products for which publicity was sought, the
coffee campaign was only moderately successful.
Mortimer Remington, formerly with the J. Walter Thompson Company, a New
York advertising agency, was appointed in 1912 commercial agent for the
Porto Rico Association, composed of island producers and merchants. Some
effective advertising in behalf of Porto Rico coffee was done in the
metropolitan district, where a number of high-class grocers were
prevailed upon to stock the product, which was packed under seal of the
association. As before, however, the other products handled--including
cigars, grape-fruit, pineapples, etc.--handicapped the work on coffee,
and the enterprise was abandoned. Subsequent efforts by the Washington
government to assist the Porto Ricans in evolving a practical plan to
extend their coffee market in the United States came to naught because
of too much "politics."
Beginning with the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in 1915,
the government of Guatemala started a propaganda for its coffee in the
United States; as the European market, which had up till then absorbed
seventy-five percent of its product, was closed to it, owing to the
World War. E.H. O'Brien, a coffee broker of San Francisco, directed the
publicity. Some full pages were used in newspapers, but the main efforts
were directed at the coffee-roasting trade. The campaign, so far as it
went, was highly successful.
Costa Rica also gave special encouragement to coffee-trade interests
that offered to expand the United States market for Costa Rica coffee
during the World War.
For many years Colombia has been talking of making propaganda here for
its coffee, but thus far nothing of a constructive character has been
done.
São Paulo began in 1908 to make propaganda for its coffee by subsidizing
companies and individuals in consuming countries to promote consumption
of the Brazil product. A contract was entered into between the state of
São Paulo and the coffee firms of E. Johnston & Company and Joseph
Travers & Son, of London, to exploit Brazil coffee in the United
Kingdom. Similar contracts were made with coffee firms in other European
countries, notably in Italy and France. The subsidies were for five
years and took the form of cash and coffee. The English company was
known as the "State of São Paulo (Brazil) Pure Coffee Company, Ltd."
Fifty thousand pounds sterling was granted this enterprise, which
roasted and packed a brand known as "Fazenda;" promoted demonstrations
at grocers' expositions; and advertised in somewhat limited fashion. The
general effect upon the consumption of coffee in England was negligible,
however, although at one time some five thousand grocers were said to
have stocked the Fazenda brand. A feature of this propaganda was the use
of the Tricolator (an American device since better known in the United
States) to insure correct making of the beverage, Brazil also made
propaganda for its coffee in Japan, in 1915, as part of certain
undertakings involving the immigration of Japanese laborers to Brazil.
The Comité Français du Café was formed in Paris in July, 1921, to
co-operate with Brazil in an enterprise designed to increase the
consumption of coffee in France.
The chief fault in most of the coffee propagandas here and abroad has
been the doubtful practise of subsidizing particular coffee concerns
instead of spending the funds in a manner designed to distribute the
benefits among the trade as a whole. This mistake, and local politics in
the producing countries, have made for ultimate failure. A notable
exception is the latest propaganda for Brazil coffee in the United
States, where all the various interests, the the São Paulo government,
the growers, exporters, importers, roasters, jobbers, and dealers, have
co-operated in a plan of campaign to advertise coffee _per se_, and not
to secure special privilege to any individual, house, or group.
_Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Campaign_
Twenty years ago the author began an agitation for co-operative
advertising, by the coffee trade. He suggested as a slogan, "Tell the
truth about coffee;" and it is gratifying to find that many of his
original ideas have been embodied in the present joint coffee trade
publicity campaign, now in its fourth year.
[Illustration: THEODORE LANGGAARD DE MENEZES]
The coffee roasters at first were slow to respond to the co-operative
advertising suggestion, because in those days competition was more
unenlightened than now, and therefore more ruthless. It needed
organization to bring the trade to a better understanding of the
benefits certain to be shared by all when their individual interests
were pooled in a common cause. Leaders of the best thought in the trade,
however, were quick to realize that only by united effort was it
possible to achieve real progress; and when it was suggested that the
first step was to organize the roasting trade, the idea took so firm a
hold that it only needed some one to start it to bring together in one
combination the keenest minds in the business.
The coffee roasters organized their national association in 1911. The
author of this work urged that co-operative advertising based upon
scientific research should be done by the roasters themselves
independently of the growers; but it was found impracticable to unite
diverging interests on such an issue, and so the leaders of the movement
bent all their energies toward promoting a campaign that would be backed
jointly by growers and distributers, since both would receive equal
benefit from any resulting increase in consumption. Brazil, the source
of nearly three-quarters of the world's coffee, was the logical ally;
and an appeal was made to the planters of that country. A party of ten
leading United States roasters and importers visited Brazil in 1912 at
the invitation of the federal government.
In Brazil, as in the United States, progress resulted from organization.
The planters of the state of São Paulo, who produce more than one-half
of all coffee used in the United States, were the first to appreciate
the propaganda idea. After their attempts to interest the national
government failed, the São Paulo coffee men founded the _Sociedade
Promotora da Defesa do café_ (Society to Promote the Defense of Coffee),
and persuaded their state legislature to pass a law taxing every bag of
coffee shipped from the plantations of that state in a period of four
years. This tax, amounting to one hundred reis per bag of 132 pounds, or
about two and one-half cents United States money at even exchange rates,
is collected by the railroads from the shippers, and turned over to the
_Sociedade_.
The Brazilian Society sent to the United States a special envoy,
Theodore Langgaard de Menezes, to conclude arrangements; and on March 4,
1918, in New York, the pact was signed whereby São Paulo was to
contribute to the publicity campaign in the United States approximately
$960,000 at the rate of $240,000 a year for four years; and the members
of the trade in the United States were to contribute altogether
$150,000[346]. The success of the negotiations was due to the skilful
management of Ross W. Weir in the United States, and to the superior
salesmanship of Louis R. Gray, the Arbuckle representative in Brazil.
[Illustration: JOINT COFFEE TRADE PUBLICITY COMMITTEE IN UNITED STATES]
Supervision of the advertising in the United States was delegated to
five men, representing both the importing and roasting branches of the
trade, and designated as the Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee of
the United States. Three of these committeemen, Ross W. Weir, of New
York; F.J. Ach, of Dayton, Ohio; and George S. Wright, of Boston, are
roasters; and two, William Bayne, Jr., and C.H. Stoffregen, both of New
York, are importers and jobbers, or green-coffee men. The committee
organized with Mr. Weir as chairman, Mr. Wright as treasurer, and Mr.
Stoffregen as secretary. At the invitation of the committee, C.W. Brand
of Cleveland, then president of the National Coffee Roasters
Association, attended committee meetings, and assisted in determining
the policies of the campaign. Headquarters were established at 74 Wall
Street, in the heart of the New York coffee district, with Felix Coste
as secretary-manager, and Allan P. Ames as publicity director. N.W. Ayer
& Son, advertising agents of Philadelphia, who had engineered the plan
of campaign from the start of the movement in the National Coffee
Roasters Association, handle the advertising account.
[Illustration: CHART SHOWING PLAN OF ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN]
São Paulo's contribution to the advertising fund is sent in monthly
instalments to the Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee under an
agreement that it shall be expended only for magazine and newspaper
space.
[Illustration: JOINT-COMMITTEE MAGAZINE AND NEWSPAPER COPY, 1919]
[Illustration: COPY THAT STRESSED THE HEALTHFULNESS OF COFFEE,
1919-1920]
Supplementing this Brazilian contribution, is the fund raised by
voluntary subscriptions from the coffee trade of the United States on
the basis of one cent per bag handled annually. This American fund is
used for the expenses of administration, for educational advertising
outside of magazine and newspaper space, and for various kinds of trade
promotion and dealer stimulation.
[Illustration: THE JOINT COMMITTEE'S HOUSE ORGAN]
The first advertising appeared in April, 1919, in 306 leading newspapers
in 182 large cities, with a total circulation of more than 16,000,000.
The cities chosen represented all the centers of wholesale coffee
distribution.
Magazine advertising began in June of the same year, using twenty-one
periodicals, all of national circulation. This list has been changed
from time to time to meet the special needs of the campaign.
More than fifty grocery-trade magazines have carried the committee's
dealer advertising, although not all of these have been used
continuously. Every part of the country was represented on the
trade-paper list.
Full pages have been run each month in nine of the leading national
medical journals. These advertisements were written by a physician of
national reputation. Under the caption, "The Case for Coffee," these
advertisements have discussed the properties of coffee from the
physiological standpoint, and have asked the doctors to judge it fairly.
From the start the committee's advertising has been broadly educational.
The properties of coffee have been discussed; charges against coffee
have been answered. The housekeeper has been told how to get the best
results from the coffee she buys; hotel and restaurant proprietors have
been reminded that many of them owe their prosperity largely to a
reputation for serving good coffee; new uses have been exploited for
coffee, as a flavoring agent for desserts and other sweets; employers
have been taught the important service good coffee may render in
increasing the comfort and efficiency of their working forces.
[Illustration: INTRODUCTORY MEDICAL-JOURNAL COPY]
Magazine and newspaper advertising is only the nucleus of the campaign.
The effect of such "white space" publicity is increased by simultaneous
efforts to "merchandise" the campaign, to stimulate the interest of the
wholesale and retail trade, to encourage private-brand advertising, and
to reach the consumer by other kinds of publicity recognized as
essential factors in a well rounded national advertising effort. These
activities may be summarized as follows:
[Illustration: TELLING THE DOCTORS THE TRUTH ABOUT COFFEE, 1920]
INFORMATION SERVICE. This department answers inquiries and supplies
material for household editors, and for newspaper and magazine writers.
Through a national clipping service, it keeps in touch with all
published matter relating to coffee. Its special duty is to answer
attacks on coffee and the coffee trade. Merchants and dealers make it a
practise, when they find misleading articles or editorials in their
local newspapers, to send clippings to the committee's headquarters to
be handled there as the situation warrants.
SCIENTIFIC COFFEE RESEARCH. Twenty-two thousand, five hundred dollars of
the American fund have been appropriated thus far for scientific coffee
research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The reports of
this research will be distributed to the coffee trade throughout the
country, and should prove valuable in all branches of coffee
merchandising. The findings will be distributed by the committee to
schools and colleges, and to consumers through national advertising.
[Illustration: SOME OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE'S ATTRACTIVE BOOKLETS]
THE COFFEE CLUB. This organization was established for the purpose of
educating the consumer through constructive team work by the roasters'
and jobbers' salesman and the retail dealer. Under this plan, the
committee has distributed 50,000 transparent signs for dealers' windows,
and 5,000 bronze coffee-club buttons for coffee salesmen. By reference
to the Coffee Club in national magazine and newspaper advertising, the
retailer is given a chance to tie up with the campaign. Membership in
the club is limited to those who are contributing to the publicity fund,
and to their salesmen and customers. The club publishes a monthly
bulletin in newspaper form, giving the news of the campaign. This has a
circulation of 27,000 among wholesalers, salesman, and dealers.
[Illustration: MORE MEDICAL JOURNAL COPY, 1920]
BOOKLETS. The committee has published six booklets, which have reached
a total circulation of more than one and a half million copies. These
booklets are sold at cost to the coffee trade. The committee reports
that, on an average, one hundred requests for them are received daily at
its office from consumers in different parts of the country, and that
the booklets are the means of a constant campaign of education in
American homes and schools.
BRAND ADVERTISING. The committee is constantly making efforts to
increase the amount of private advertising by coffee roasters, and it
estimates that brand advertising has increased at least three hundred
percent since the national campaign began. Reproductions of the
committee's advertisements, proofs of advertising electrotypes, and copy
suggestions are circulated in advance to all roasters and to a large
number of retailers, by means of the monthly organ, _The Coffee Club_.
COFFEE WEEK. During the week of March 29 to April 4, 1920, the committee
organized and financed the third national coffee week, which was
observed by retailers throughout the country. The feature of this week
was a window-trimming contest for which prizes of $2,000 were
distributed among several hundred grocers. The contest resulted in
displays of coffee in nearly 10,000 grocery windows, and greatly
increased the sale and consumption of coffee during this period.
MOTION PICTURES. The United States fund financed the production and
distribution of a coffee motion picture, 128 prints of which were sold
to roasters, who exhibited them throughout the country. This picture was
shown during coffee week to more than six hundred theater audiences, and
it remains in the possession of the trade as an active advertising
medium.
[Illustration: SPECIMENS OF THE 1921 MAGAZINE AND NEWSPAPER COPY]
[Illustration: EDUCATING THE DOCTOR IN THE FACTS ABOUT COFFEE, 1922]
NEW USES FOR COFFEE. An important factor in increasing consumption has
been the promotion of new uses for coffee. In winter, this has taken the
form or recipes and suggestions for coffee as a flavoring agent; and in
warm weather, there has been a publicity drive for iced coffee.
_Propaganda Results_
The joint coffee trade publicity campaign is progressive. New features
are being developed, and plans are laid well in advance. It is expected
that the reports of the scientific research will furnish fresh material
for both direct and indirect advertising.
One of the interesting prospects is a school exhibit, demand for which
has been revealed by requests from a large number of teachers,
principals, and school superintendents. Efforts to increase the
popularity of a product as widely used as coffee suggest almost
unlimited opportunities.
The campaign has brought into co-operation producers in one country, and
manufacturers and distributers in another country, several thousand
miles apart. Its international character, and also the fact that it
deals with a product of almost universal use, may account for the
attention this campaign has received, not only in the United States, but
in every country where advertising is a business factor.
This kind of coffee publicity has given the consumer a better knowledge
of coffee, and broken down much of the prejudice against coffee that
rested upon popular misunderstanding of its physiological effects.
As best evidence of its sincere wish to give the public the whole truth
about coffee, the committee points to the fact that a portion of its
funds is being used to finance the scientific investigation at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Felix Coste, the secretary-manager of the campaign, spends much of his
time traveling about the country and addressing gatherings of coffee
wholesalers and dealers. By this means, and by continuous
circularization and correspondence, the trade is kept constantly in
touch with the developments of the campaign.
[Illustration: MAGAZINE AND NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING COPY, SPRING OF 1922]
[Illustration: PRIVATE BRAND COFFEE ADVERTISING IN 1921
Report from 77 Advertisers]
Although Brazil is the only coffee-producing country at present
co-operating, the advertising has treated all coffees alike. Efforts are
being made to have the coffee growers of other countries contribute on a
basis proportionate to the benefit they derive. Support from all the
coffee countries on the same scale as that on which the producers of São
Paulo are contributing would almost double the size of the fund.
[Illustration: SPECIMEN OF EARLY YUBAN COPY]
_Coffee Advertising Efficiency_
Reverting to the original advertisement for coffee in English, when we
compare it with the latest examples of advertising art, it is of the
same order of merit. But Pasqua Rosée had no advertising experts to
advise him and no precedents to follow. Pasqua Rosée was a native of
Smyrna, who was brought to London by a Mr. Edwards, a dealer in Turkish
merchandise, to whom he acted as a sort of personal servant. One of his
principal duties was the preparation of Mr. Edwards' morning drink of
Turkish coffee.
"But the novelty thereof," history tells us, "drawing too much company
to him, he [Mr. Edwards] allowed his said servant, with another of his
son-in-law, to sell it publicly." So it came about that Pasqua Rosée set
up a coffee house in St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill.
And since Pasqua Rosée's idea, naturally, was to acquaint the London
public with the virtues and delectable qualities of the product of which
his prospective customers were naturally uniformed, he put into his
advertisement those facts and arguments which he felt would be most
likely to attract attention, to excite interest, and to convince. If the
reader will glance at Rosée's advertisement, which is reproduced on page
55, he will be struck with the well-nigh irresistible charm of his
unaffected, straightforward bid for patronage. Having no advertising
fetishes to warp his judgment, he told an interesting story in a natural
manner, carrying conviction. It matters not that some of the virtues
attributed to the drink have since been disallowed. He believed them to
be true. Few there were in those days who knew the real "truth about
coffee."
Even his typography, unstudied from the standpoint of modern "display,"
is attractive, appropriate, and exceedingly pleasant to the eye. And
since at that time there was no cereal substitute or other bugaboos to
contend against, and to hinder him from doing the simple, obvious thing
in advertising, he did that very thing--and did it exceedingly well.
[Illustration: HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION IN ADVERTISING]
[Illustration: PACKAGE-COFFEE ADVERTISING IN 1922
Specimens of newspaper copy used by some of the most enterprising
package-coffee advertisers, East and West]
In fact, in the historic advertisement, Pasqua Rosée set an example and
established a copy standard which had a very beneficial effect on all
the coffee advertising of that early date. This will be evident from a
glance at the accompanying exhibits of other early advertisements. It
was not until the days of so-called "modern" advertising that coffee
publicity reached low-water mark in efficiency and value. In these dark
days most coffee advertisers ignored the principles discovered and
applied in other lines of grocery merchandising. Instead of telling
their public how good their product was, they actually followed the
opposite course, and warned the public against the dangers of coffee
drinking! Instead of saying to the public, "Coffee has many virtues, and
our brand is one of the best examples," their text said in effect,
"Coffee has many deleterious properties; some, or most, of which have
been eliminated in our particular brand."
They were, for the most part, apostles of negation.
[Illustration: EMPHASIZING THE SOCIAL-DISTINCTION ARGUMENT]
[Illustration: DRAWING UPON HISTORY FOR SOCIAL-INTERCOURSE ATMOSPHERE]
Hopeful signs, however, are multiplying that this condition of things in
the coffee industry has passed, and that the practise of telling the
coffee story with certitude will soon become general.
We may well applaud the publicity work of all coffee advertisers who
follow where Pasqua Rosée led--those who tell the public how good coffee
is to drink and how much good it does you if you drink it. Considering
the advertising and typographical resources available to the modern
advertiser, it certainly should be possible for this message to be
conveyed to the public with at least some of the charm of the first
coffee message.
One of the most notable examples of how to advertise coffee well is that
set by Yuban coffee. Unquestionably, Yuban is doing in a thoroughly
up-to-date and appropriate fashion what Pasqua Rosée started out to do
in 1652.
The effect on those who give only a superficial glance at a Yuban
advertisement is to arouse a keen desire to enjoy a cup of Yuban coffee.
To induce such a state of mind is, of course, the object of all good
advertising.
[Illustration: AN ELECTRIC SIGN THAT IMPRESSED CHICAGO
There were 4,000 bulbs in this advertisement, which measured 50 x 55
feet. The rental was $3,500 a month]
Yuban advertisements have utilized two vital principles in influencing
the minds of consumers. In the first place, they have made a cup of
coffee seem to be a very delectable drink. In the second place, they
have made the serving of a cup of coffee seem to be of the greatest
social value.
One does not see in a Yuban advertisement any reference to the "removal
of caffein", or to Yuban's "freedom from defects common to other
coffees." There is no reference to the ill effects of drinking ordinary
coffee. Yuban wastes no valuable space in unselling coffee. Instead, the
whole intent, effectively carried out, is to paint an enticing picture
by descriptive phraseology, typographic "manner", and illustrative
treatment.
Until Yuban came, those of us in the coffee trade who had given the
matter thought had often wondered why, with the wealth of material
available to writers of coffee advertisements, so little had been done
to make the product alluring--why so little had been done to give
atmosphere to the product. So many interesting things may be said about
the history of coffee; the spread of the industry through various
countries; how Brazil came to be the coffee-producing country of the
world; how coffee is cultivated, harvested, and shipped; how it is
stored, roasted, handled, delivered--in short, the entire process by
which coffee reaches the breakfast table from the plantations of the
tropics. Yuban made effective use of this material.
Simply to tell these things in an interesting, natural, convincing way
makes coffee appear as a healthful, delicious drink; whereas the
negative, defensive sort of advertising, that plays into the hands of
the substitutes, puts coffee in the wrong light.
[Illustration: HOW THREE WELL KNOWN BRANDS OF COFFEE HAVE BEEN
ADVERTISED OUTDOORS]
[Illustration: ATTENTION-ATTRACTING CAR CARDS, SPRING OF 1922]
[Illustration: EFFECTIVE ICED-COFFEE COPY--ADAPTABLE FOR ANY BRAND]
When one reads Yuban advertisements, they are seen to be an entirely
acceptable and appropriate presentation of coffee merit and thoroughly
in accord with the principles of good advertising, as exemplified in all
other lines of trade. The wonder grows why so many coffee advertisers
have been content to remain in the defensive, controversial position
into which the alarmist coffee-substitute advertising has jockeyed them.
The Yuban advertisements are not without their faults; errors of
historical facts can be found in them; definitions are sometimes mixed;
some of the drawings might be better; but, in the main, the copy is
convincing and praiseworthy.
In Yuban advertisements the things that have been so long left undone
have now been done in a masterful way. If we refer to the accompanying
illustrations, we can see how effectively the public is being led to
realize and believe in:
1. The intrinsic desirability of coffee--the actual pleasure to be
derived from the act of partaking of it.
2. That it is delightful medium for social intercourse--part of the
essential equipment for an intimate chat or more general assemblage of
friends.
3. That its proper service is a badge of social distinction--the mark of
a successful hostess.
These three thoughts, dominant in Yuban advertising, should be woven
into the fabric of all coffee advertising. For with these three
thoughts, Arbuckle Brothers have blazed the trail for the right thing in
coffee advertising.
The Yuban case has been so largely dwelt upon here because it sets so
bright and shining an example. Much that is praiseworthy in it and more
along the same lines is true of White House, Hotel Astor, and Seal
Brand; but the copy shown will illustrate this better than any comment.
[Illustration: EUROPEAN ADVERTISING NOVELTY IN NEW YORK
The absence of visible wheels aroused much curiosity in this slow-moving
vehicle]
[Illustration: COENTIES SLIP, NEW YORK, IN THE DAYS OF SAILING VESSELS
Many coffee ships from the West Indies, Arabia and the Dutch East Indies
unloaded their cargoes here--From a copper-plate etching by F. Lee
Hunter]
CHAPTER XXIX
THE COFFEE TRADE IN THE UNITED STATES
_The coffee business started by Dorothy Jones of Boston--Some early
sales--Taxes imposed by Congress in war and peace--The first coffee
plantation-machine, coffee-roaster, coffee-grinder, and coffee-pot
patents--Early trade marks for coffee--Beginnings of the coffee
urn, the coffee container, and the soluble-coffee
business--Statistics of distribution of coffee-roasting
establishments in the trade from the eighteenth century to the
twentieth_
It appears from the best evidence obtainable that the coffee trade of
the United States was started by a woman, one Dorothy Jones of Boston.
At least, Dorothy Jones was the first person in the colonies to whom a
license was issued, in 1670, to sell coffee. It is not clear whether she
sold the product in the green bean, roasted, "garbled" (ground), or
"ungarbled".
Soon after the introduction of the coffee drink into the New England,
New York, and Pennsylvania colonies, trading began in the raw product.
William Penn bought his green coffee supplies in the New York market in
1683, paying for them at the rate of $4.68 a pound. Benjamin Franklin
engaged in the retail coffee business in Philadelphia, in 1740, as a
kind of side line to his printing business.
"Tea, coffee, indigo, nutmegs, sugar etc." were being advertised for
sale in 1748 at a shop in Boston, "under the vendue-room in
Dock-Square." Coffee was also to be had in that year at the shop of
Ebenezer Lowell in King Street, and at the Sign of the Four Sugar Loaves
near the head of Long Wharf.
During the sway of the coffee houses, coffee fell from $4.68 a pound to
40 cents a pound in 1750, and to 22 cents a pound just before the
Revolution. As the war came on, however, dealers began to force up
prices on a dwindling market. The situation became so serious that in
January, 1776, the Philadelphia Commission of Inspection issued a
fair-price list, setting an arbitrary price of eleven pence per pound on
coffee in bag lots. Persons found violating this price were to be
"exposed to public view as sordid vultures preying on the vitals of the
country."
Despite this threat, J. Peters in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, wrote to a
Philadelphia friend, "I cannot purchase any coffee without taking, too,
one bill a tierce of Claret & Sour, and at £6.8 per gall.... I have been
trying day for day, & never could get a grain of Coffee so as to sell it
at the limited price these six weeks. It may be bought, but at 25/ per
lb."
The important part played by the coffee houses of colonial America,
beginning with the establishment of the London coffee house in Boston,
in 1689, the King's Arms in New York in 1696, and Ye coffee house in
Philadelphia in 1700, has been related.
"Females" of ye olde Boston, staging in 1777 a "coffee party" which
rivaled in a small way the famous Tea Party in 1773, personally
chastised a profiteer hoarder of foodstuffs, and confiscated some of his
stock, according to a letter from Abigail Adams to her distinguished
husband, later second president of the United States.
Writing at Boston, under date of July 31, 1777, Abigail wrote to John,
then attending the Continental Congress at Philadelphia:
There is a great scarcity of sugar and coffee, articles which the
female part of the state is very loath to give up, especially
whilst they consider the great scarcity occasioned by the merchants
having secreted a large quantity. It is rumored that an eminent
stingy merchant, who is a bachelor, had a hogshead of coffee in his
store, which he refused to sell under 6 shillings per pound.
A number of females--some say a hundred, some say more--assembled
with a cart and trunk, marched down to the warehouse, and demanded
the keys.
Upon his finding no quarter, he delivered the keys, and they then
opened the warehouse, hoisted out the coffee themselves, put it
into a trunk, and drove off. A large concourse of men stood amazed,
silent spectators of the whole transaction.
In 1783-84 the Congress of the United States considered the imposition
of a duty on "seven classes of goods consumed by the rich or in general
use; liquors, sugars, teas, coffees, cocoa, molasses and pepper; the tax
to be determined by the yearly imports."
At that time there was being imported twelve times as much Bohea tea as
of all others, but tea consumption was only one-twelfth pound per
capita. Total tea imports were 325,000 pounds. "Low as was the
importation of tea", says John Bach McMaster, "that of coffee was lower
still by a third. Indeed, it was scarcely used outside of the great
cities." The average annual coffee imports at that period were 200.000
pounds.
Governor Bowdoin of Massachusetts introduced chicory into the United
States in 1785.
The first import duty, of two and one-half cents a pound, was levied on
coffee by the United States in 1789. The principal sources of supply up
to that time were the Dutch East Indies, Arabia, Haiti, and Jamaica; and
most of the business was in the hands of Dutch and English traders.
What is thought to be the first wholesale coffee-roasting plant in
America began operations at 4 Great Dock (now Pearl) Street, New York,
early in 1790. In that same year the first American advertisement for
coffee appeared in the _New York Daily Advertiser_. A second "coffee
manufactory" started up at 232 Queen (also Pearl) Street, New York, late
in 1790.
In the same year, 1790, the government increased the import duty on
coffee to four cents a pound. In 1794 the tax was raised to five cents a
pound.
In George Washington's household account book for 1793 appears an entry
showing a purchase of coffee from Benjamin Dorsay, a Philadelphia
grocer, for eight dollars. The quantity is not given.
About 1804 Captain Joseph Ropes in the ship Recovery, of Salem, Mass.,
brought from Mocha the first cargo of coffee and other East Indian
produce in an American bottom.
The first cargo of Brazil coffee, consisting of 1,522 bags, was received
at Salem, Mass., per ship Marquis de Someruelas in 1809. Brazil's total
production that year was less than 30,000 bags; but by 1871 more than
2,000,000 bags were exported.
Java coffee could be bought on the Amsterdam market in 1810 for 42 to 46
cents. By 1812, there had been an advance to $1.08 per pound. Holland,
not Brazil, ruled the world's coffee markets in those days.
When the war of 1812 made necessary more revenue, imports of coffee were
taxed ten cents a pound. A war-time fever of speculation in tea and
coffee followed, and by 1814 prices to the consumer had advanced to such
an extent (coffee was 45 cents a pound) that the citizens of
Philadelphia formed a non-consumption association, each member pledging
himself "not to pay more than 25 cents a pound for coffee and not to
consume tea that wasn't already in the country."
The coffee duty was reduced in 1816 to five cents a pound; in 1830, to
two cents; in 1831, to one cent; and in 1832 coffee was placed on the
free list. It remained there until 1861, when a duty of four cents a
pound was again imposed as a war-revenue measure. This was increased to
five cents in 1862. It was reduced to three cents in 1871; and the duty
was repealed in 1872. Coffee has remained on the free list ever since.
The manufacture of machinery required in the coffee business began in
the eighteenth century. The first coffee-grinder patent in the United
States was issued to Thomas Bruff, Sr., in 1798. The first United States
patent on an improvement on a roaster was issued to Peregrine Williamson
of Baltimore in 1820. The first United States patent on a
coffee-plantation machine, a coffee huller, was granted to Nathan Reed
of Belfast, Me., in 1822. The first United States coffee-maker patent
was issued to Lewis Martelley of New York, in 1825.
[Illustration: FIRST UNITED STATES COFFEE-GRINDER PATENT]
Charles Parker, of Meriden, Conn., began work on the original Parker
coffee mill in 1828.
A complete English coffee roasting and grinding plant was installed in
New York City by James Wild in 1833-34.
About 1840, Central America began making shipments of coffee to the
United States.
James Carter, of Boston, was granted (1846) a United States patent on an
improved form of cylindrical coffee roaster, which subsequently was
largely adopted by the trade in the United States, being popularly known
as the Carter "pull-out".
[Illustration: CARTER'S PULL-OUT ROASTER PATENT]
The Geo. L. Squier Manufacturing Co. of Buffalo began in 1857 the
manufacture of coffee-plantation machinery. Marcus Mason invented his
first pulper in 1860; but the manufacture of coffee-plantation machinery
under the firm name of Marcus Mason & Co. did not begin in the United
States until 1873.
The first paper-bag factory in the United States to make bags for loose
coffee, began operations in Brooklyn in 1862.
The first ground-coffee package was put on the New York market about
1860-63 by Lewis A. Osborn. It was known as Osborn's Celebrated Prepared
Java Coffee and was later exploited by Thomas Reid as Osborn's Old
Government Java.
In 1864, Jabez Burns was granted a patent on the Burns roaster which was
to revolutionize the coffee-roasting business.
In 1865, John Arbuckle brought out in Pittsburgh the first roasted
coffee in individual packages "like peanuts", the forerunner of the
Ariosa package.
In 1869, B.G. Arnold started the first big speculation in coffee and for
ten years thereafter he was absolute dictator of the American coffee
trade.
In 1869, three United States patents on a copper coffee urn lined with
block tin were granted to Élie Moneuse and L. Duparquet of New York.
In 1870, John Gulick Baker, one of the founders of the Enterprise
Manufacturing Company of Pennsylvania, was granted a United States
patent on a coffee grinder which subsequently became one of the most
popular store mills.
The first trade mark registered for coffee or coffee essence bears the
number 425, with date August 22, 1871, first use 1870, and is in the
name of Butler, Earhart & Co., Columbus, Ohio. The words "essence of
coffee" appeared on the label. The next coffee mark was registered by
Butler, Earhart & Co., October 3, 1871, number 455, first use, 1870. It
consists of the word "Buckeye" with a branch of the buckeye
(horse-chestnut) tree.
[Illustration: FIRST REGISTERED TRADE MARK FOR COFFEE, 1871]
The next registration for coffee was in the name of John Ashcroft of
Brooklyn. It is numbered 533, and the date is November 28, 1871. It
consists of an anchor and chain enclosing a star. Ashcroft registered
also a design of a coffee pot with the words "Mocha Steam", January 2,
1872.
Today there are nearly three thousand registered trade-mark names used
for coffee on file in the United States Patent Office in Washington.
In 1873, Ariosa, the first successful national brand of package coffee,
was launched in Pittsburg by John Arbuckle.
In the same year, 1873, the first United States patent on a coffee
substitute was issued to E. Dugdale of Griffin, Ga.
In 1878, Chase & Sanborn, the Boston coffee roasters, were the first to
pack and to ship roasted coffee in sealed cans. A lead seal was used for
the large packages of bulk coffee; the smaller sizes being sealed by the
label, which was made to cover the body of the can and to reach up over
the slip cover, so as to make a sealed package, to open which the label
must be broken.
In 1878, Jabez Burns, the coffee-machinery man, founded the _Spice
Mill_, the first publication in America devoted to the coffee and spice
trades.
In 1879, Charles Halstead brought out the first metal coffee pot with a
china interior.
In 1880, Henry E. Smyser, of Philadelphia, invented a
package-making-and-filling machine for coffee, the forerunner of the
weighing-and-packing machine, the control of which later on by John
Arbuckle led to the coffee-sugar war with the Havemeyers. Smyser was
superintendent at the plant of the Weikel & Smith Spice Company,
Philadelphia. Other patents on weighing and package-making machines were
granted him in 1884, 1888, and 1891. In 1892, he began to assign his
patents to Arbuckle Brothers, some fifteen in all being granted him from
1892 to 1898. He died in 1899.
The year 1880 was notable for the many failures in the American coffee
trade, as a result of syndicate planting and speculative buying of
coffees in Brazil, Mexico, and Central America.
In 1881, Steele & Price, of Chicago, were the first to introduce to the
trade all-paper cans, made of strawboard, for coffee.
In 1881, the New York Coffee Exchange was incorporated, beginning
business the year following at Beaver and Pearl Streets. In 1885, the
property of the Exchange was transferred to the Coffee Exchange of the
City of New York, incorporated by special charter.
In 1884, the Chicago Liquid Sack Company brought out the first
combination paper and tin-end containers for coffee.
The year 1887-88 was marked by a big boom in coffee, the total sales on
the Coffee Exchange amounting to 47,868,750 bags. Between July 1886 and
June 1887 prices advanced 1,485 points.
In 1888, the Engelberg Huller Company of Syracuse, New York, began the
manufacture of coffee-plantation machinery.
[Illustration: THE ORIGINAL ARBUCKLE COFFEE PACKAGES]
In 1891, the New England Automatic Weighing Machine Company, Boston,
Mass. began the manufacture of machines to weigh coffee into cartons and
other packages; and in 1894, installed in the Chase & Sanborn plant at
Boston the first automatic weighing machine in the coffee trade. The New
England concern was subsequently (1901) succeeded by the Automatic
Weighing Machine Company of Newark, N.J.
In 1893, the first direct-flame gas coffee roaster in America
(Tupholme's English machine) was installed by F.T. Holmes at the plant
of the Potter-Parlin Company, New York.
In 1893, Cirilo Mingo, of New Orleans, was granted a United States
patent on a method of aging green coffee to give it the characteristics
of green coffee stored in a confined space for a long period. The
operation consisted in placing layers of green coffee between dry and
wet empty coffee bags, and permitting the beans to absorb eight to ten
percent of the moisture in a period extending from six to sixteen hours.
This was one of the earliest efforts to mature and age green coffee in
the United States.
In 1894, the business of the Pneumatic Scale Corporation, Norfolk Downs,
Mass., had its start in Quincy, Mass. where the first pneumatic weighing
machine was installed by the Purity Dried Fruits Cleansing Company. In
1895, the Electric Scale Company was organized to build the machines,
the subsequent development of this line of packaging machinery for
coffee being directed by the Pneumatic Scale Corporation, Ltd., which
succeeded it.
In 1895, Adolph Kraut introduced the German-made grease-proof lined
paper bags for coffee to the American coffee trade. That same year,
Thomas M. Royal, of Philadelphia, began the manufacture in the United
States of a fancy duplex-lined paper bag for coffee.
In 1896, natural gas was first used in the United States as a fuel for
roasting coffee.
In 1897, Joseph Lambert, Vermont, first introduced to the coffee trade a
self-contained coffee roasting outfit without the brick setting required
until then.
In 1897, the Enterprise Manufacturing Company of Pennsylvania was the
first regularly to employ an electric motor to drive a coffee mill.
The overproduction of coffee began to be so serious a question by 1898,
that J.D. Olavarria, a distinguished Venzuelan, proposed a plan for the
restriction of coffee cultivation and the regulation of coffee exports
from countries suffering from overproduction. In this same year, the
bears forced Rio 7's down to four and one-half cents on the New York
Coffee Exchange.
In 1898, Edward Norton, of New York, was granted a United States patent
on a vacuum process for canning foods, subsequently applied to coffee.
Others followed. Hills Brothers, of San Francisco, were the first to
pack coffee in a vacuum, under the Norton patents, in 1900. M.J.
Brandenstein & Company, of San Francisco, began to pack coffee in vacuum
cans in 1914. Vacuum sealing machines to pack coffee under the Norton
patents are now made by the Perfect Vacuum Canning Company of New York.
About 1899, Dr. Sartori Kato of Tokio, who had invented a soluble tea in
Japan, came to Chicago and produced a soluble coffee (introduced to the
consumer in 1901) on which he was granted a patent in 1903. In 1906, G.
Washington of New York, an American chemist living in Guatemala City,
produced a refined soluble coffee which was put on the United States
market three years later. The full story of soluble coffee in America is
told in chapter XXXI. (See page 538.)
The first gear-driven electric coffee mill was introduced to the trade
by the Enterprise Manufacturing Company of Pennsylvania in 1900.
In 1901, there appeared in New York the first issue of _The Tea and
Coffee Trade Journal_, devoted to the interests of the tea and coffee
trades.
In 1900-01, Santos permanently displaced Rio as the world's largest
source of supply.
In 1901, the American Can Company began the manufacture and sale of tin
coffee cans in the United States. In this year Landers, Frary & Clark's
Universal coffee percolator was granted a United States patent; and
Joseph Lambert, of Marshall, Mich., brought out one of the earliest
machines to employ gas as a fuel for the indirect roasting of coffee. It
was in 1901, also, that F.T. Holmes joined the Huntley Manufacturing
Company, of Silver Creek, N.Y., which began to build the Monitor
gas-fired direct-flame coffee roasters.
In 1902, the Coles Manufacturing Company (Braun Company, successor) and
Henry Troemner, of Philadelphia, began the manufacture and sale of
gear-driven electric coffee grinders.
As a result of the agitation for some way to deal with the
overproduction of coffee, the Pan-American Congress, meeting in Mexico
City in 1902, called an international coffee congress for New York in
the fall of that same year. It met from October 1 to October 30; but at
the close, the problem seemed no nearer solution than at the beginning.
In 1906, Brazil produced its record-breaking crop of 20,000,000 bags,
and the state of São Paulo inaugurated a plan to valorize coffee.
In 1902, the first fancy duplex paper bag made by machinery from a roll
of paper was produced by the Union Bag & Paper Corporation. It was of
sulphite fiber inside, and glassine outside; a style afterward reversed,
so as to have the glassine the inner tube.
In 1902, the Jagenberg Machine Company, Inc. (absorbed by the Pneumatic
Scale Corporation in 1921) began the introduction to the trade of the
United States of a line of German-made automatic packaging-and-labeling
machines for coffee. Subsequently, the Johnson Automatic Sealer Company,
Battle Creek, Mich., became well known as manufacturers of a line of
automatic adjustable carton-sealing, wax-wrapping machines, package
conveyors, and automatic scales. Among other automatic weighers that
have figured in the development of the coffee business, mention should
be made of The National Packaging Machinery Company's Scott machine, of
E.D. Anderson's Triumph, and of Hoepner's Unit System.
In 1903, as a result of overproduction in Brazil, Santos 4's dropped to
three and fifty-five hundredths cents on the New York Coffee Exchange,
the lowest price ever recorded for coffee.
In 1903, also, there was granted the first United States patent on an
electric coffee-roaster, the patentee being George C. Lester of New
York.
In 1904, green coffee prices on the New York Coffee Exchange were forced
up to eleven and eighty-five hundredths cents by a speculative clique
led by D.J. Sully.
In 1905, the A.J. Deer Co., Buffalo, N. Y. (now of Hornell, N.Y.) began
the sale of its Royal electric coffee mills direct to dealers on the
instalment plan, revolutionizing the former practise of selling coffee
mills through hardware jobbers.
In 1905, F.A. Cauchois introduced to the trade his Private Estate coffee
maker, a filtration device employing Japanese filter paper. Finley
Acker, of Philadelphia, obtained a patent the same year on a
side-perforation percolator employing "porous or bibulous paper" as a
filtering medium.
In 1906, H.D. Kelly, of Kansas City, was granted a United States patent
on an urn coffee machine employing a coffee extractor in which the
ground coffee was continually agitated before percolation by a vacuum
process.
In 1907, P.E. Edtbauer (Mrs. E. Edtbauer), of Chicago, was granted a
United States patent on a duplex automatic weighing machine, the first
simple, fast, accurate and moderate-priced machine for weighing coffee.
Eight others followed up to 1920.
In 1907, the new Pure Food and Drugs Act came into force in the United
States, making it obligatory to label all coffees correctly and causing
many trade practises to be altered or thrown into the discard. The most
important rulings that followed are referred to in more detail in
chapter XXIII, telling how green coffees are bought and sold.
In 1908, the Porto Rico coffee planters, presented a memorial to the
Congress asking for a protective tariff of six cents a pound on all
foreign coffees. Hawaii and the Philippines, also were to have
benefited by the protection asked for. The Congress failed to grant the
planters' prayer. This appeal for protection was repeated in 1921, when
the Congress was asked to place a duty of five cents a pound on all
foreign coffees.
In 1908, J.C. Prims, of Battle Creek, Mich. was granted a United States
patent on a corrugated cylinder improvement for a gas and coal coffee
roaster of fifty to one hundred and thirty pounds capacity designed for
retail stores. This machine was acquired the year following by the A.J.
Deer Company, and was re-introduced to the trade as the Royal roaster.
In 1908, Brazil's valorization-of-coffee enterprise was saved from
disaster by a combination of bankers and the Brazil Government. A loan
of $75,000,000 was placed, through Hermann Sielcken of New York, with
banking houses in England, Germany, France, Belgium, and America. The
complete story of this undertaking is told in chapter XXXI.
In 1909, Ludwig Roselius brought to America from Germany the
caffein-free coffee which for several years had been manufactured and
sold in Bremen under the Myer, Roselius, and Wimmer patent. In 1910, the
product was first sold here by Merck & Company under the name of Dekafa,
later Dekofa, and in 1914, by the Kaffee Hag Corporation as Kaffee Hag.
In 1911 all-fiber parchment-lined Damptite cans for coffee were
introduced to the trade by the American Can Company.
As a result of preliminary meetings of Mississippi Valley coffee
roasters held in St. Louis in May and June, 1911, when the Coffee
Roasters Traffic and Pure Food Association was organized, a national
association under the same name was started in Chicago, November 16-17,
1911. The complete story of the growth of this most important coffee
trade organization in the United States is told in the next chapter.
In 1912, the United States government, after having examined into the
valorization enterprise, brought suit against Hermann Sielcken, _et
al._, to force the sale of valorized coffee stocks held in this country
under the valorization agreement.
In October, 1914, the first national coffee week to advertise coffee was
promoted by the National Coffee Roasters Association.
_Merchants Coffee House Memorial_
On May 23, 1914, the Lower Wall Street Business Men's Association
unveiled a bronze memorial tablet set in the wall of the nine-story
office building occupied by the Federal Refining Company on the
southeast corner of Wall and Water Streets, the former site of the
Merchants' coffee house. This is the building where _The Tea and Coffee
Trade Journal_ had its offices for nine years before moving to 79 Wall
Street.
[Illustration: MERCHANTS COFFEE HOUSE TABLET
Bronze marker, placed May 23, 1914, on the building occupying the site
of the old coffee house]
Seth Low, introduced by William Bayne, Jr., president of the Lower Wall
Street Business Men's Association, gave an interesting sketch of the
history of the coffee house. Abram Wakeman, secretary of the
association, spoke, followed by Wilberforce Eames, of the American
history division of the New York Public Library.
After the flag that veiled the memorial tablet had been drawn aside,
attention was called to a bronze chest which was hermetically sealed,
and in which had been placed papers and other documents reflecting the
life of New York today. The chest was given over to the keeping of the
New York Historical Society, with the understanding that it was not to
be opened until 1974, which will be the two-hundredth anniversary of the
union of the Colonies.
It was from the Merchants' coffee house that the letter of May 23, 1774,
was written in reply to the Committee of Correspondence in Boston. The
letter suggested a "Congress of Deputies" from the Colonies, and called
for a "virtuous and spirited Union." The coffee house is consequently
regarded as the birthplace of the Union.
_Recent Activities_
A second national coffee week was held in October, 1915, under the
auspices of the National Coffee Roasters' Association.
In 1916, the Coffee Exchange of the City of New York changed its name to
the New York Coffee and Sugar Exchange, to admit of sugar trading.
In 1916, the National Paper Can Company of Milwaukee first introduced to
the trade its new hermetically sealed all-paper can for coffee.
In 1916, Jules Le Page, Darlington, Ind., was granted two United States
patents on cutting rolls to cut and not grind or crush corn, wheat, or
coffee. This idea was incorporated in the Ideal steel cut coffee mill
subsequently marketed by the B.F. Gump Company, Chicago.
In 1918, the World War caused the United States government to place
coffee importers, brokers, jobbers, roasters, and wholesalers under a
war-time licensing system to control imports and prices.
In 1918, John E. King, of Detroit, was granted a United States patent on
an irregular grind of coffee consisting of coarsely grinding ten percent
of the product and finely grinding ninety percent.
The most notable event of the year 1919 was the inauguration by the
Brazil planters, in co-operation with an American joint coffee trade
publicity committee, of the million-dollar campaign to advertise coffee
in the United States.
In 1919, as a result of frost damage, and of an orgy of speculation in
Brazil, prices for green coffee on the New York Exchange were forced to
the highest levels since 1870; and a new high record was established for
futures, twenty-four and sixty-five hundredths cents for July contracts.
In 1919, Floyd W. Robison, of Detroit, was granted a United States
patent on a process for aging green coffee by treating it with
micro-organisms, the product being known as Cultured coffee.
In the spring of 1920, there was held the third national coffee week,
this time under the auspices of the Joint Coffee Trade Publicity
Committee.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XXX
DEVELOPMENT OF THE GREEN AND ROASTED COFFEE BUSINESS IN THE UNITED
STATES
_A brief history of the growth of coffee trading--Notable firms and
personalities that have played important parts in green coffee in
the principal coffee centers--Green coffee trade
organizations--Growth of the wholesale coffee-roasting trade, and
names of those who have made history in it--The National Coffee
Roasters Association--Statistics of distribution of coffee-roasting
establishments in the United States_
Coffee trading in the American colonies probably had its beginnings
about the middle of the seventeenth century. Tea seems to have preceded
coffee as an article of merchandise. Several merchants in the New
England and New York settlements imported small quantities of coffee
with other foodstuffs toward the close of the seventeenth century.
The early supplies of the green bean were brought from the Dutch East
Indies, Arabia, Haiti, and Jamaica. About 1787, the French opened
Mauritius and Bourbon to American ships, which then began to bring back
coffee and tea to the Atlantic-coast cities. Mocha coffee was being
imported direct in American bottoms about 1804. Coffee from Brazil was
first imported by the United States in 1809. Central America began
shipping coffee to the United States in 1840. The total coffee imports
in 1876 were 339,789,246 pounds, valued at $56,788,997, and received
chiefly from Brazil, Haiti, British and Dutch East Indies, the West
Indies, and Mexico.
New York early became the leading green-coffee market of the country.
There was a number of large importing merchants in New York in 1760,
nearly all of whom brought in coffee. Among them were Isaac and Nicholas
Gouverneur, Robert Murray, Walter and Samuel Franklin, John and Henry
Cruger, the Livingstons, the Beekmans, Lott & Low, Philip Cuyler,
Anthony Van Dam, Hugh and Alexander Wallace, Leonard and Anthony
Lispenard, Theophylact Bache, and William Walton.
Some early green-coffee prices per pound were as follows:
1683--18s. 9d.; 1743--5s.; 1746--5s.; 1774--9s.; 1781[347]--96s. O.T.;
1782--2s. 1d. O.T.; 1783--1s.; 1789--10 cents.
Leading New York coffee importers in 1786 were Henry Sheaff, on the dock
between Burling Slip and the Fly Market; John Rooney, 26 Cherry Street;
William Eccles, 10 Hunters Key; Ludlow & Goold, 47 Wall Street; Scriba,
Schroppel & Starmen, 17 Queen Street; and William Taylor, Crane Wharf.
The wholesale coffee roaster appeared about 1790; and from that time the
separation between the green-coffee trader and the coffee roaster became
more marked. In 1794 the principal green-coffee importers in New York
were: Lawrence & Van Zandt; D. Smith & Co., 323 Pearl Street; Gilchrist
Dickinson, 17 Taylor's Wharf; Armstrong & Barnewall, 129 Water Street;
William Bowne, 265 Pearl Street; Stephen Cole & Son, 26 Ferry Street;
J.S. De Lessert & Co., 123 Front Street; Joseph Thebaud, 262 Pearl
Street; Nathaniel Cooper & Co., 38 Little Dock Street; Coll. M'Gregor,
28 Wall Street; David Wagstaff, 137 Front Street; Conkling & Lloyd, 15
Taylor's Wharf; and S.B. Garrick, Westphal & Co., 43 Cherry Street.
[Illustration: Hermann Sielcken
B.G. Arnold
F.B. Arnold
Joseph Purcell
SOME DEPARTED DOMINANT FIGURES IN THE NEW YORK GREEN COFFEE TRADE]
The leading New York coffee importers in 1848 were Henry and William
Delafield, 108 Front Street; and Des Arts & Henser, 78 Water Street.
There were seven leading New York coffee importers in 1854, as follows:
Aymar & Co., 34 South Street; Henry Coit & Son, 43 South Street; Henry
Delafield, 129 Pearl Street; Howland & Aspinwall, 54 South Street; Mason
& Thompson, 33 Pearl Street; J.L. Phipps & Co., 19 Cliff Street; and
Moses Taylor & Co., 44 South Street.
Following the so-called "consortium" of 1868, the ramifications of which
centered in Frankfort-on-the-Main--its speculations finally ending in
disaster to many--the green-coffee trade was in a precarious condition
until well into the eighties. "Previously," says a contemporary writer,
"it had been the safest and prettiest of all colonial produce."
About 1868, "iron steamers began to be freely availed of as carriers of
coffee; and later on, the telegraph became a factor, rendering the
business more exciting and expensive".
Coffee consumption in the United States had, moreover, increased from
one pound per capita in 1790 to nine pounds per capita in 1882.
1892-93 the biggest figure in the world's coffee trade was George
Kaltenbach, a German living in Paris, whose resources were estimated at
twelve million to fifteen million dollars, and whose holdings at one
time were said to be one million bags. He was reported to have made
$1,500,000 on his coffee corner. In September, 1892, he bested a bull
clique and forced prices down to twelve cents. Aided by three other
European operators, he then started a bull syndicate, and put the price
up to seventeen cents. The story of this corner, and of other notable
coffee booms and panics, is told in more detail in chapter XXXI.
_Early Days of the Green Coffee Business_.
For a long time New York was the only important entry port for green
coffee. Before the rise of New Orleans and San Francisco, many inland
coffee roasters and grocers had their own buyers in the New York market.
The coffee district that still clings about lower Wall Street is rich in
memories of by-gone merchants who once were big factors in the trade,
and whose names, in many instances, have been handed down from
generation to generation in the businesses that have survived them.
Any reference to the early days of the green-coffee importing, jobbing,
and brokerage business in New York would not be complete without mention
of a few of the pioneers:
P.C. Meehan is eighty-four years old at the time of writing (1922) and
is dean of the New York green-coffee trade. With James H. Briggs he
formed the firm of Briggs & Meehan. This later became Meehan & Schramm,
with Arnold Schramm. The latter withdrew, and the firm became Creighton,
Morrison & Meehan. Finally, Mr. Meehan established the present firm of
P.C. Meehan & Co.
[Illustration: James H. Taylor
H. Simmonds
Edwin H. Peck
P.C. Meehan
THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH THE NEW YORK GREEN COFFEE TRADE DATES BACK NEARLY
FIFTY YEARS]
When Mr. Schramm withdrew from the firm of Meehan & Schramm he founded
the house of Arnold Schramm, Inc. Upon his retirement, this was
succeeded by Sprague & Rhodes, the firm being composed of Benjamin
Rhodes and Irvin A. Sprague.
Next oldest to P.C. Meehan in the New York green-coffee trade is
Clarence Creighton, who started with Youngs & Amman, later C. Amman &
Co., then Waite, Creighton & Morrison, then Creighton, Morrison &
Meehan. Upon the breaking up of this firm, Mr. Creighton formed a
partnership with James Ashland, under the name of Creighton & Ashland.
He later operated alone, and died August 15, 1922.
James H. Taylor is another "old-timer" who is still active. He began
with T.T. Barr & Co. Later, with F.T. Sherman, he formed the firm of
Sherman & Taylor. When Mr. Sherman withdrew, the firm became James H.
Taylor & Co. Mr. Taylor is now with Minford, Lueder & Co. He has been
five years president, eleven years treasurer, and twenty-six years on
the board of governors of the New York Coffee Exchange.
One of the most honored names in the green coffee trade of New York is
that of Peck. Edwin H. Peck began, at the age of seventeen years, with
Hart & Howell, butter and cheese merchants. He then went in the same
business for himself. Four years later, he abandoned this to go into the
coffee brokerage business with his brother, Walter J. Peck. In about
five years, the brothers branched into the coffee importing and jobbing
business under the firm name of Edwin H. Peck & Co. Later it was changed
to the present style of E.H. & W. J. Peck. Since the death of Walter J.
Peck in 1909, Edwin H. has conducted the business. The latter was a
member of the board of governors of the New York Coffee Exchange for
twelve years, and has been an important factor in the upbuilding of that
institution.
William D. Mackey began with Small Bros. & Co. He then went into
partnership with C.K. Small as Mackey & Small. Later, he formed the firm
of Arnold, Mackey & Co. with Francis B. Arnold. The latter dropped out,
and the firm became Mackey & Co. He is now operating alone. Mr. Mackey
was another of the incorporators of the New York Coffee Exchange.
Alexander H. Purcell, a brother of Joseph Purcell, entered the employ of
Bowie Dash & Co. as a boy. From there he went to Williams, Russell &
Co., then to the Union Coffee Co., and later to Hard & Rand. He is now
head of the firm of Alex. H. Purcell & Co.
Robert C. Stewart first became known with Booth & Linsley. He later went
with Joseph J. O'Donohue & Sons, leaving there to establish the present
firm of R.C. Stewart & Co.
Another old-timer, Joseph D. Pickslay, may be seen at his desk in
Williams, Russell & Co.'s office every day, although Frank Williams, who
began with Winthrop G. Ray & Co., and Frank C. Russell, both of
Williams, Chapin & Russell, and then of Williams, Russell & Co., have
passed on. Fred P. Gordon, now head of Fred P. Gordon & Co., was
formerly with Williams, Russell & Co.
The Mitchell brothers, William L. and George, forming the firm of
Mitchell Bros., have been familiar Front Street figures for many years.
A. Wakeman, "the historian of the coffee trade," as he is often called,
began with Olendorf, Case & Gillespie. Later he went with Thompson &
Bowers, and then became a member of the firm of Baiz & Wakeman. He is
now in business alone. For thirty-eight years Mr. Wakeman has been
secretary of the Lower Wall Street Business Men's Association. He is the
author of _History and Reminiscences of Lower Wall Street and Vicinity_.
H. Simmonds, of Simmonds & Bayne; later, of Simmonds & Newton; then, of
the Brazil Coffee Co.; and finally, of H. Simmonds & Co., is at the time
of writing one of the oldest coffee merchants on Front Street, having
been in business in Baltimore and New York for more than fifty years. He
has a desk in the office of his son, W. Lee Simmonds, of W. Lee Simmonds
& Co.
Bayne is another well known Front Street name. The firm of William Bayne
& Co. was established by William Bayne, Sr., in Baltimore. The business
was moved to New York about 1885. The founder's three sons, William,
Jr., Daniel K., and L. P., entered the employ of the firm in Baltimore,
and moved with it to New York.
Daniel K. Bayne became associated with Henry Sheldon & Co., and later
was a member of Simmonds & Bayne. He then returned to William Bayne &
Co. and was senior partner at the time of his death in 1915. William
Bayne, Jr., for many years one of the governors and a past-president and
vice-president of the New York Coffee Exchange, and his brother, L.P.
Bayne, now conduct the business.
John T. Foley, now of the Commercial Coffee Co., began with Kirkland
Bros. From there he went to Ezra Wheeler & Co., then to H.W. Banks &
Co., Thompson, Shortridge & Co., and William Hosmer Bennett & Son.
Joshua Walker formed a partnership with James Stewart as Stewart &
Walker. Since the retirement of Mr. Stewart some years ago, Mr. Walker
has been in business alone.
Three other veterans of the trade are still in the harness: Louis
Seligsberg, formerly of Wolf & Seligsberg, is now alone; Henry Schaefer
has been at the head of S. Gruner & Co. since the death of Siegfried
Gruner; Col. William P. Roome, who operated for some time as Wm. P.
Roome & Co., is now head of the coffee department of Acker, Merrall &
Condit Co.
[Illustration: O.G. Kimball Boston
James C. Russell New York
James W. Phyfe New York
C.E. Bickford San Francisco
GREEN COFFEE TRADE BUILDERS WHO HAVE PASSED ON]
Gregory B. Livierato, who founded the business of Livierato Bros. at
Port Said, with branches at Aden and Marseilles, and later at Hodeida
and Harar, entered the green coffee trade of New York in 1855, although
his L F Mocha marks had been introduced here many years before. He
remained here for eighteen years, returned to his home in Cephalonia,
Greece, in 1904, and died there in 1905. His nephew, B.A. Livierato,
then assumed charge of the New York coffee business, which in 1913
became the Livierato-Kidde Co., with B.A. Livierato and Frank Kidde.
Benjamin Green Arnold, one-time "coffee king," first became well known
as a member of Arnold, Sturgess & Co., afterward B.G. Arnold & Co. Mr.
Arnold was one of the incorporators, and the first president, of the New
York Coffee Exchange. Francis B. Arnold, with Arnold, Sturgess & Co.,
later of Arnold, Mackey & Co., afterward Arnold, Dorr & Co., was a son
of Benjamin Greene Arnold; and to him and to Major John R. McNulty
belongs a great part of the credit for the organization of the New York
Coffee Exchange. Major McNulty was with Minford, Thompson & Co., and
then formed the firm of J.R. McNulty & Co.
Bowie Dash, a member of the famous Arnold-Kimball-Dash triumvirate,
began with Scott & Meiser, later Scott, Meiser & Co., then Scott & Dash,
afterward Scott, Dash & Co., and finally Bowie Dash & Co. Other well
known men with this last company were L.F. Mason, A.C. Foster, S.L.
Swazey, L.J. Purdy, and John B. Overton.
Then there were: Rufus G. Story; Thomas Minford, Francis Skiddy, and
George J. Nevers, of Skiddy, Minford & Co.; W.D. Thompson, of Minford,
Thompson & Co., later L.W. Minford & Co., afterward Minford, Lueder &
Co., Thompson, Shortridge & Co., later Thompson Bros., then Thompson &
Davis; John Randall, with L.W. Minford & Co., later, with J.C. Runkle &
Co.; Eugene and James O'Sullivan of Eugene O 'Sullivan & Co.
The following names figured prominently in the trade's early history:
Charles Maguire, of James H. Taylor & Co.; George F. Gilman, organizer
of the Great American Tea Co. and of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea
Co.; H.W. Banks, of Reeve, Case & Banks, afterward of Stanton, Sheldon &
Co., later Sheldon, Banks & Co., and then of H.W. Banks & Co.; Henry
Sheldon, of Stanton, Sheldon & Co., later Sheldon, Banks & Co.; and then
Henry Sheldon & Co.; William McCready, with Small Bros. & Co., later
with H.W. Banks & Co., and then with B.H. Howell, Son & Co., C.R.
Blakeman, with Gross, March & Co., afterward with Wm. Scott's Sons &
Co.; William Scott, of William Scott & Sons, later Wm. Scott's Sons &
Co., including George W. Vanderhoef, who later succeeded to the business
under the name of George W. Vanderhoef & Co.; Christopher and Leander S.
Risley, of C. Risley & Co.; and Charles Naphew, with C. Risley & Co.,
later with Edwin H. Peck & Co.
[Illustration: William Bayne New York
George W. Crossman New York
George Westfeldt New Orleans
Wm. H. Bennett New York
THEIR RACE IS RUN, THEIR COURSE IS DONE]
Another group of old-timers includes: William Newbold, with Ezra Wheeler
& Co., later alone; Augustus Ireland, with Ezra Wheeler & Co.; J.M.
Edwards, of Edwards & Maddux, later of J.M. Edwards & Co.; Frank M.
Anthony, of J.M. Edwards & Co.; H. Clay Maddux, one of the incorporators
of the New York Coffee Exchange, of Edwards & Maddux; Baron Thomsen, of
Thomsen & Co.; Gustave Amsinck, of G. Amsinck & Co.; James N. Jarvie,
with Small Bros. & Co., later of Arbuckle Bros.; John C. Lloyd, of John
C. Lloyd & Co., afterward with Arbuckle Bros.; John Small, of Smalls &
Bacon, later Small Bros. & Co.; Williamson Bacon, of Smalls & Bacon,
afterward of Williamson Bacon & Co.; C.K. Small, of Mackey & Small,
Anson Wales Hard and George Rand, of Hard & Rand; Joseph Purcell, first
of W.J. Porter & Co., and then of Hard & Rand; Henry F. McCreery, with
O'Shaughnessy & Sorley, later of Hard & Rand; William Sorley and John W.
O'Shaughnessy, of O'Shaughnessy & Sorley, Mr. O'Shaughnessy later
forming John W. O'Shaughnessy & Co., and Mr. Sorley going to Hard &
Rand. Mr. Sorley was one of the incorporators of the New York Coffee
Exchange.
[Illustration: 112 FRONT STREET, NEW YORK, IN 1879
A group of old-time green coffee men, including R. C. Stewart, J.D.
Pickslay, Frank Williams, Charles P. Chapin, and Fred P. Gordon]
Special mention should be made of: Kirkland & von Sacks; A. Kirkland,
one of the incorporators of the New York Coffee Exchange, with Small
Bros. & Co., then with W.J. Kirkland as Kirkland Bros., and, upon the
dissolution of that firm, with F.H. Leggett & Co.; Thomas Rutter & Co.;
Teacle Wallace Lewis, with Rowland, Humphreys & Co., later head of the
coffee department of Carter, Macy & Co., and still later, head of T.W.
Lewis & Co.; Abraham Sanger, of Sanger, Beers & Fisher, later Sanger &
Wells; J.W. Wilson & Co.; Dykes & Wilson; Peter, John, and Joseph J.
O'Donohue, of John O'Donohue's Sons; Joseph J. O'Donohue & Sons; Otis W.
Booth, of Booth & Linsley; A.G. Hildreth; James H. Kirby, of B.G. Arnold
& Co., later of Kirby, Halstead & Chapin, afterward Kirby & Halstead;
Major Henry D. Tyler; Thomas H. Messenger & Co.; Harvey H. Palmer, of
H.H. Palmer & Co.; B. O. Bowers, of Wilson & Bowers, later Thompson &
Bowers; and August Haeussler, first with C. Risley & Co., then with J.
H. Labaree & Co., and finally with the green coffee department of Geo.
H. McFadden & Brother.
John Hanley, with Carey & Co., later of Hanley & Kinsella, St. Louis;
Robert C. Hewitt, Jr., who wrote one of the early books on coffee
(_Coffee, its History, Cultivation, and Uses_, 1872), of Hewitt & Phyfe,
later Jas. W. Phyfe & Co.; James W. Phyfe of Hewitt & Phyfe, later Jas.
W. Phyfe & Co.; Daniel A. Shaw, of Jas. W. Phyfe & Co.; B. Lahey, of
Jas. W. Phyfe & Co.; and Winthrop G. Ray & Co.
These names, too, will live long in green coffee history: Reid, Murdock
& Fischer, New York and Chicago; Charles A. and Watts Miller, and David
Palmer, of D.J. Ely & Co., formerly D.J. & Z.S. Ely Co., New York and
Baltimore; Harry Miller, with D.J. Ely & Co., later of Miller &
Walbridge; Augustus Walbridge, of Smith & Walbridge, afterward Augustus
M. Walbridge, Inc.; Clarence Smith, of M.V.R. Smith's Sons, later of
Smith & Walbridge; Stevens, Armstrong & Hartshorn, later Stevens &
Armstrong, then Stevens Bros. & Co., and finally Reamer, Turner & Co.,
including Abraham Reamer, Sr., and William F. Turner.
[Illustration: AT 87 WALL STREET, N.Y., YEARS AGO
Among the green coffee men in this picture are Clarence Creighton, John
Enright, Chris Arndt, W. Lee Simmonds, John Ashlin, F. Loderose, Julius
Steinwender, and Clinton Whiting]
[Illustration: WALL AND FRONT STREETS, NEW YORK, SPRING OF 1922
Looking up Wall Street from the East River. The first cross street is
Front; beyond are to be seen the Munson, Stock Exchange, and Bankers'
Trust Company's buildings, with Trinity Church marking the Broadway
gateway]
Other familiar old-time names were: George W. Pritchard, of George W.
Pritchard & Sons; Dayton & Co.; Dimond & Lally, later Dimond & Gardes;
Arthur W. Brown; Robert Russell, of Russell & Co.; J. F. Pupke and
Thomas Reid, of Pupke & Reid, later Eppens, Smith & Wiemann, afterward
Eppens, Smith & Co., with William H. and Frederick P. Eppens; Joseph A.
O'Brien, with Pupke & Reid, and later in business for himself; R.P.
McBride, of the Union Pacific Tea Co.; Ripley Ropes; Saportas Bros.;
Mayer Bros. & Co. of Hamburg, with Moses G. Hanauer, manager, and D.K.
Young and Herman Hanauer, salesmen; H.M. Humphreys, with J.W. Doane &
Co., later with Arbuckle Bros.; Henry Nordlinger, of Henry Nordlinger &
Co.; Charles Campbell, of W.R. Grace & Co.; D.A. DeLima, of D.A. & J.
DeLima, later D.A. DeLima & Co.; Henry Kunhardt and George F. Kuhlke, of
Kunhardt & Co.; Boulton, Bliss & Dallett, later Bliss, Dallett & Co.,
general managers of the Red D line of steamships; Prendergast Bros.;
W.H. and George W. Crossman, of W.H. Crossman & Bros., later Crossman &
Sielcken, with Hermann Sielcken, afterward Sorenson & Nielson; F. Probst
& Co.; H. H. Swift & Co.; J.L. Phipps & Co.; James Bennett and Joseph
Becker, of Bennett & Becker; and Arnold, Hines & Co. (Diamond A Mocha),
later Arnold, Cheney & Company.
Honorable mention should be accorded: Samuel Wilde (Old Dutch Mills);
John Phoenix, with Husted, Ferguson & Titus, later of J.W. Phoenix &
Co.; H.K. Thurber, of H.K. & F.B. Thurber & Co.; Michael Barnicle, with
Walter Storm, later Storm, Smith & Co., then Abbey, Freeman & Co., then
with Husted, Wetmore & Titus, and finally alone; August Stumpp, of
August Stumpp & Co.; J.K. and E.B. Place; Beards & Cummings, later
Beards & Cottrell, then S.S. Beard & Co.; Philip and Henry Dater, of
Philip Dater & Co.; Hugh Edwards, of Edwards & Raworth; William Bennett,
of Wm. Hosmer Bennett & Son; Kalman Haas, of Haas Bros.; J.C. Runkle &
Co.; Thomas T. Barr and Fred T. Sherman, of Barr, Lally & Co., later
T.T. Barr & Co.; Henry Hentz & Co.; Elmenhorst & Co.; A.S. Lascelles &
Co.; D. Henderson (Harry) and John Wells, of Wells Bros.; G. Weyl & Co.,
later Norton, Weyl & Beven, and then Weyl & Norton; Warren & Co.; J.H.
Labaree & Co.; Schultz & Ruckgaber; Henry Eyre; Rowland, Terry &
Humphreys, later Rowland & Humphreys; Bentley, Benton & Co.; Winter &
Smilie; Weston & Gray; John S. Wright, one of the incorporators of the
New York Coffee Exchange, of Wright, Hard & Co.; Watjen, Toel & Co.; A.
Behrens & Co.; "Steve" Matheson, of S. Matheson, Jr. & Co.; C. Wessels &
Bros., later Wessels, Kulenkampff & Co., and finally Fromm & Co.; Julius
Steinwender, of Steinwender, Stoffregen & Co.; Leon Israel, of Leon
Israel & Bros.; Herklotz, Corn & Co.; Ponfold, Schuyler & Co.; Maitland,
Phelps & Co., later Maitland, Coppell & Co.; F.H. Leggett, of F.H.
Leggett & Co.; Carhart & Brother; George W. Flanders, of George W.
Flanders & Co.; Jonas P. O'Brien; George S. Wallen, of George S. Wallen
& Co.; Charles F. Blake, of Blake & Bullard; and Martin J. Glynn, of
McDonald & Glynn, later Martin J. Glynn & Co., who had their office at
Front Street and Old Slip for twenty-five years.
Three other names closely associated with the early days of the New York
green-coffee trade were: Glover, Force & Co., later Waterbury & Force,
then W.H. Force & Co., and finally W.S. Force & Co., weighers and
forwarders; Daniel Reeve, of Reeve & Van Riper, mixers and hullers; and
John H. Draper & Co., auctioneers.
_Growth of the Leading Coffee Ports_
Twenty-two years ago, when the century opened, New York passed over her
docks a total of 676,000,000 pounds of coffee, which represented
eighty-six percent of the total for the country. In 1920, juggling the
figures a little, she imported 767,000,000 pounds, which was fifty-nine
percent of the total. While she was thus practically marking time, she
watched New Orleans run wild with an increase from 44,000,000 pounds to
380,000,000 pounds, or 763 percent gain; this meaning also the supplying
of twenty-nine percent of the country's demands instead of five percent,
while San Francisco in the same time jumped from 24,000,000 pounds to
137,000,000 pounds, or 470 percent gain, her share of the total trade
now being ten percent instead of three percent in 1900. These gains,
however, have not all been made at the expense of the city on the
Hudson. In 1900, Baltimore was a close rival of New Orleans and was far
ahead of all other ports except New York; but a decline in her imports
began about 1903, and was so swift, that five years later her imports
were almost negligible.
[Illustration: LOOKING SOUTH FROM WALL STREET INTO THE HEART OF THE
GREEN COFFEE DISTRICT
On the left-hand corner is Hard & Rand's, opposite Leon Israel & Bros.'
building, and beyond are many other leading green coffee firms.]
[Illustration: LOOKING NORTH FROM WALL STREET. HERE A FEW WELL KNOWN
COFFEE FIRMS ARE LOCATED
The trend of the trade is south from Wall St. rather than north]
[Illustration: FRONT STREET, NEW YORK'S GREEN COFFEE DISTRICT, IN 1922]
IMPORTS OF COFFEE AT LEADING PORTS OF ENTRY IN THE UNITED STATES
New York New Orleans San Francisco Total Imports
_Pounds_ _Pounds_ _Pounds_ _Pounds_
1900 676,227,269 44,335,717 24,562,578 787,991,911
1913 554,571,449 263,382,962 36,067,073 863,130,757
1914 633,400,209 308,008,145 46,721,824 1,001,528,317
1915 758,160,133 307,868,932 45,844,060 1,118,690,524
1916 814,394,074 308,513,290 71,346,788 1,201,104,485
1917 932,098,113 274,989,692 97,821,069 1,319,870,802
1918 779,025,781 219,330,461 134,729,019 1,143,890,889
1918[K] 757,710,001 146,621,857 130,178,288 1,052,201,501
1919[K] 804,177,446 356,608,477 160,426,467 1,333,564,067
1920[K] 767,242,636 380,293,701 137,043,281 1,297,439,310
1921[K] 790,559,919 331,036,770 139,069,286 1,340,979,776
[K] Calendar years. All others fiscal years.
New Orleans began her advance at about the same time that Baltimore
began to fall off, so that her rise to a place of importance as a coffee
port has been practically coincident with the twentieth century. Her
first big step upward was in 1901, from 44,000,000 to 72,000,000 pounds,
and was followed by another the next year to 115,000,000. Thereafter
there was a steady gain to 213,000,000 pounds in 1906 and to 301,000,000
pounds in 1910, and after that wide fluctuations, especially during the
war. In 1918, doubtless because of the draining of shipping to the North
Atlantic service, there was a heavy slump; but immediately after the
war, in the calendar year 1919, there was a big jump to a record mark,
up to that time, of 356,000,000 pounds. This was followed by the record
of 380,000,000 pounds in the calendar year 1920, although the 1921
figure of 331,036,770 shows a falling off of nearly 50,000,000 pounds.
San Francisco's growth, on the other hand, is of recent occurrence. The
story is told farther along in this chapter, how the city was definitely
placed on the coffee map by the provision of adequate shipping
facilities to Central America. The outbreak of the war in Europe,
however, which loosened the grip of European nations on the coffee crops
of Central America, was the prime cause of San Francisco's rise in the
coffee world, affording her an opportunity of which she had the
enterprise to take full advantage. In 1913, her imports were only about
36,000,000 pounds, at which mark they had stood for many years. There
was only a slight gain until 1916, when 71,000,000 pounds were recorded;
but this increased to 97,000,000 pounds in 1917, to 134,000,000 pounds
in 1918 (fiscal year), and to 160,000,000 pounds in the calendar year
1919. In 1920, there was a falling off to 137,000,000 pounds, and it may
be that the high figure reached the year before represents about the
maximum that her natural market, the Pacific-coast region, can well
absorb.
For the benefit of those who like to do their own interpreting of
figures, we present in the table at the top of this page the official
record for recent years.
The leading importers of Brazil coffee direct to New York and Baltimore
in 1894, as compiled by William H. Force & Co., were as follows.
Included in this list are a number of names well known in the green and
roasted coffee trades of other cities:
DIRECT IMPORTERS OF BRAZIL COFFEE
_New York, 1894_
_Bags_
Arbuckle Bros. 688,726
W.H. Crossman & Bro. 355,864
Hard & Rand. 345,541
W.F. McLaughlin & Co. 227,935
J.W. Doane & Co. 207,170
Steinwender, Stoffregen Co. 132,482
J.L. Phipps & Co. 54,617
Dannemillers & Co. 49,449
E. Levering & Co. 47,322
Aug. Stumpp. 44,959
Thomson & Taylor Spice Co. 44,017
G. Amsinck & Co. 38,350
E.H. & W.J. Peck. 33,278
J.H. Labaree & Co. 32,071
Fitch & Howland. 31,515
Shinkle, Wilson & Kreis Co. 25,951
C.D. Lathrop & Co. 23,263
Taylor & Levering. 21,501
Heinrich Haase. 18,976
William T. Levering. 18,796
T.G. Lurman & Co. 18,017
Elmenhorst & Co. 16,221
Sprague, Warner & Co. 14,856
Sorver, Damon & Co. 14,675
Sutton & Vansant 13,957
John O'Donohue's Sons 13,681
Hoffman, Lee & Co. 13,598
S.R. Alexander 12,805
Eppens, Smith & Wiemann Co. 12,719
Baker & Young 11,906
Hanley & Kinsella C. & S. Co. 11,318
Durand & Kasper Co. 11,124
Wm. Schotten & Co. 11,005
C.G. Bullard & Co. 10,653
H.W. Banks & Co. 10,351
Ellis Bros. 10,282
Jacob Baiz 9,146
A. Lueder & Co. 8,492
C.F. Pitt & Sons 8,262
G.F. Gillman 7,927
Bell, Conrad & Co. 6,528
N. Martin & Co. 6,507
J.B. O'Donohue & Co. 6,102
Steele, Wedeles Co. 5,700
G.O. Gordon 5,550
Sherman Bros. & Co. 4,998
F. MacVeagh & Co. 4,763
Benedict & Co. 4,717
Chase & Sanborn 4,505
West & Melchers 4,500
Mokaska Mfg. Co. 4,013
Haebler & Co. 4,000
Robt. Crooks & Co. 3,509
M.M. Levy & Co. 3,037
J.A. Tolman Co. 3,004
Tracy & Avery Co. 3,000
Wells Bros. 2,800
Kirby, Halsted & Chapin Co. 2,754
W.M. Hoyt Co. 2,252
Gt. A. & P. Tea Co. 2,250
Foote & Knevals 2,000
L.W. Minford & Co. 1,800
Wm. Bayne & Co. 1,755
Indiana Coffee Co. 1,650
W.K. Carson & Co. 1,501
Miller, Smith & Co. 1,500
Rufus Woods 1,498
J.G. Flint 1,345
Davenport & Morris 1,250
Canada 1,140
Westfeldt Bros. 1,000
Edw. Westen T. & S. Co. 800
Corbin, May & Co. 750
F. Cannon & Co. 618
Adam Roth Gro. Co. 500
Scudder, Gale Gro. Co. 500
J.H. Taylor & Co. 500
Wm. B. Willson 500
Dwinell, Wright & Co. 500
Swift, Billings & Co. 500
New Orleans Coffee Co. 500
B. Fischer & Co. 401
Smith & Schipper 300
Ulman, Lewis & Co. 281
Ridenour, Baker Gro. Co. 250
W.H. Minor 250
Nave & McCord Merc. Co. 202
Skiddy, Minford & Co. 196
Rossbach & Bro. 184
L. Wolff 149
Reimers & Meyer 50
W.F. Jackson 5
---------
Total 2,791,642
DIRECT IMPORTERS OF BRAZIL COFFEE
_Baltimore, 1894_
_Bags_
E. Levering & Co. 40,965
T.G. Lurman & Co. 29,325
C.M. Stewart & Co. 25,499
Thornton Rollins 21,436
William T. Levering 15,884
Steinwender, Stoffregen 12,852
W.B. Willson 11,540
Hoffman, Lee & Co. 8,953
Rufus Woods 8,020
P.T. George & Co. 7,463
Taylor & Levering 6,440
Benedict & Co. 5,434
Brazil Trading Co. 2,666
C.F. Pitt & Sons 2,505
J.W. Doane & Co. 2,500
Enterprise Coffee Co. 1,811
H.M. Wagner & Co. 504
C.D. Lathrop & Co. 503
Mokaska Manufacturing Co. 500
Hanley & Kinsella C. & S. Co. 500
Shinkle, Wilson & Kreis Co. 404
G. Amsinck & Co. 400
Indiana Coffee Co. 251
-------
Total 206,355
_Early Days of Green Coffee in New Orleans_
The history of New Orleans as a coffee port may be considered as
beginning with the transfer of Louisiana by Napoleon Bonaparte to the
United States in 1803. In this year, according to Martin's _History of
Louisiana_, New Orleans imported 1438 bags of coffee of 132 pounds each.
In the latter part of the eighteenth century, settlers in large numbers
had crossed the Allegheny Mountains from the Atlantic states into the
valley of the Ohio River; and their crops of grain and provisions were
exported by means of cheaply constructed rafts and boats, which were
floated down the river to New Orleans, where they were generally broken
up and sold for use as lumber and firewood--there being, at that time,
no power available for propelling them back against the current of the
river.
From 1803 until 1820, on account of the difficulty of navigating
upstream, New Orleans imports did not increase as rapidly as exports. In
1814, however, the first crude steamboat had begun to carry freight on
the river; and by 1820, the supremacy of New Orleans as the gateway of
the Mississippi Valley had been for the time established by this new
means of transportation. The coffee-importing business flourished; and,
from its modest beginning in 1803, grew to 531,236 bags in 1857.
By this time, however, New Orleans had begun to feel the competition of
the Erie Canal, and of the systems of east and west railroad lines which
had been in the course of active construction during the preceding
fifteen years. The railroad systems which had as their ports Boston, New
York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, entered upon a desperate war of
freight rates, each in the endeavor to establish the supremacy of its
own port. As the building of railroads had been entirely east and west,
and no large amount of capital had been invested in north and south
lines, much of the business of the valley was diverted to the Atlantic
ports, apparently never to return to New Orleans.
In 1862, on account of the blockade of the port, not a bag of coffee was
imported through New Orleans, and practically none came in until the
year 1866, when the small amount of 55,000 bags was the total for the
year. At about this time, Boston and Philadelphia became negligible
importing quantities; the business of Baltimore continued to be quite
prosperous; and New York rapidly increased her imports and took the
commanding position.
[Illustration: IN THE NEW ORLEANS COFFEE DISTRICT]
New Orleans had increased her coffee imports to 250,000 bags in 1871,
and the yearly imports continued at about this figure until the last
decade of the century, when the business began to expand. The imports
had reached a total of 337,000 bags in 1893-1894; and of 373,000 in
1896-97. This was the beginning of a new era, and the coffee business of
New Orleans entered upon the period of its greatest growth. Imports were
514,000 bags in 1900-01, and were slightly more than twice that by
1903-04. In 1909-10 the imports had again doubled, and had reached a
total for the twelve months ending July 1, 1909, of slightly more than
2,000,000 bags; while the figures for the calendar year 1909 totaled
2,500,000 bags.
Borino & Bro., 77 Gravier Street, were the largest importers of coffee
in New Orleans in 1869. The principal importers in 1880 were P. Poursine
& Co., Westfeldt Bros., Dymond & Gardes, Schmidt & Ziegler, J.L. Phipps
& Co., Geo. O. Gordon & Co., and Smith Bros.
Shipments were by sailing vessels, a full cargo being about 5000 bags.
Fancy grades, like Golden Rios, washed and peaberries, were shipped in
double bags. Musty coffees were common, and every bag in a cargo was
sampled for must. S. Jackson was first to issue regular manifests. With
the entry of steamers into the coffee transport business, New Orleans
was placed at a disadvantage as steamer rates were about twenty cents a
bag higher to New Orleans than to New York, and imports were limited.
The subsequent revival of the business was due largely to Hard & Rand.
Being unable to obtain steamer rates equal to those quoted in New York,
Hard & Rand chartered steamers for New Orleans; and soon the trade began
to offer cost and freight to New Orleans, and the business grew from
about 350,000 bags of green coffee per annum to 2,500,000 bags.
One of the best remembered names in the green coffee trade of New
Orleans is that of Charles Dittman (1848-1920), who for nearly fifty
years was one of the leading coffee commission merchants of the country.
Mr. Dittman entered the coffee business with Napier & Co., representing
E. Johnston & Co., of Rio de Janeiro. In 1875, upon the death of Mr.
Napier, the firm changed to Johnston, Gordon & Co., later to G.O.
Gordon, and in 1886 to the Charles Dittmann Co. Since his death in
1920, the business has been continued by F.V. Allain and Charles
Dittmann, Jr.
[Illustration: A SECTION OF THE GREEN COFFEE DISTRICT OF NEW ORLEANS
Most of the buildings shown here are occupied by green coffee importing
houses. The one on the right with the balconies is the old Board of
Trade Building]
_Green Coffee in San Francisco_
In the early days of the green coffee business in San Francisco these
names stood out as most important among the coffee importers: Hellmann
Bros. & Co., Montealegre & Co., E.L.G.S. Steele & Co., and Urruella &
Urioste.
From their many friends in Central America, they, and others in their
line, obtained small consignments that were bought by the roasters
according to their immediate needs. Often as many as five or six buyers
would share in a parcel of fifty bags, as they were not in the custom of
filling up the larder for days of want. There always seemed to be
sufficient for every one, and bull movements and corners had not then
become the vogue.
Just as today, the mainstays of the early San Francisco trade were
coffees produced in Costa Rica, Salvador, and Guatemala, although some
were brought from the Colima district of Mexico. The broker had a
comparatively easy job in selling his wares. Samples of the lots would
be given to him in carefully sealed glass bottles, and usually the buyer
would trust his discerning eye to judge correctly the quality of the
goods, not even taking the trouble to uncork the bottle. Size, color,
and imperfections would be his criterion.
The leading coffee importers at San Francisco in 1875 were B.E. Auger &
Co., 409 Battery; S.A. Carit & Co., 405 Front Street; Hellmann Bros. &
Co., 525 Front Street; Adolphe Low & Co., 208 California Street; S.C.
Merrill & Co., 204 California Street; Parrott & Co., 306 California
Street; and Urruella & Urioste, 405 Front Street.
The annual consumption of green coffee in San Francisco in the early
eighties was estimated at 100,000 bags.
A marked change in the coffee business of San Francisco was brought
about by the discovery that the differences in the taste of coffees
could not be accurately detected from their color or from the size of
bean. To Clarence E. Bickford belongs the credit of having discovered
the cup qualities of high-grown Central American coffees. He was
employed at the time by a broker named Hockhofler, and probably did not
realize what far-reaching effect his discovery would have on the future
of San Francisco's coffee trade; but no other factor has contributed so
much to its growth. When the roasters began to examine coffees for their
taste, values were of course revolutionized. Antiguas, and other
high-grown coffees, that had theretofore been penalized for the small
size of bean, soon brought a premium, and have ever since been in great
demand. It goes without saying that the new classification was of
material assistance to the roasters in bettering their output, as
blending was then put on a scientific basis.
About the middle of the nineties San Francisco began to function as a
distributing center, and shipments were made from there to St. Louis and
Cincinnati. The selection of coffees on their cup merit was undoubtedly
a factor of considerable importance in creating new outlets; although it
is generally conceded that the winning personality of C.E. Bickford
helped considerably. Mr. Bickford, by this time, had succeeded his
former employer. He served the trade by living up to the best standards
of business practise until his death in 1908; when the institution he
founded was continued by E.H. O'Brien under the name of C.E. Bickford &
Co.
[Illustration: CALIFORNIA STREET, THE COFFEE-TRADING CENTER OF SAN
FRANCISCO]
San Francisco imported 175,293 bags of coffee in 1900. Imports had grown
to 256,183 bags by 1906; and the following were the leading importers,
as taken from a compilation by C.E. Bickford & Co.:
IMPORTERS OF COFFEE BY SEA
_San Francisco, 1906_
_Bags_
Haas Bros. 38,947
Otis, McAllister & Co. 34,342
Jno. T. Wright 21,741
Geo. A. Moore & Co. 17,851
Castle Bros. 17,397
Lastreto & Co. 15,609
Bloom Bros. 14,372
W.R. Grace & Co. 14,143
Baruch & Co. 9,400
Schwartz Bros. 7,310
Dieckmann & Co. 6,981
H. Hackfeld & Co., Ltd. 4,466
M.J. Brandenstein & Co. 4,281
Urioste & Co. 4,081
Goldtree, Liebes & Co. 3,962
J.Z. Posadas. 3,950
Mohns-Frese Com. Co. 3,714
Welch & Co. 3,385
Thannhauser & Co. 3,328
E. Mejia 2,965
Hind, Rolph & Co. 2,814
Hellmann Bros. & Co. 2,170
Parrott & Co. 2,137
J.A. Folger & Co. 2,094
S.L. Jones & Co. 2,042
Ariza & Lombard 1,133
Hamberger-Polhemus Co. 1,096
Theo. H. Davies & Co., Ltd. 955
Livierato Frères 927
J.D. Spreckels & Bros. Co. 828
McCarthy Bros. 795
W. Loaiza & Co. 642
Wm. Halla 591
H.W. Burmester 582
Williams, Dimond & Co. 399
M. Phillips & Co. 381
Alexander & Baldwin 358
London, Paris & Am. Bank, Ltd. 333
P.J. Knudsen Co. 309
Ballou & Cosgrove 300
M. Schweitzer & Co. 300
Johnson-Locke Merc. Co. 270
The Lewin-Meyer Co. 250
Sperry Flour Co. 231
Canadian Bank of Commerce 200
Porto Rico Coffee Co. 148
McChesney & Sons 145
Bowring & Co. 145
China & Java Export Co. 140
John Weissman 126
Montealegre & Co. 120
W.H. Miller 109
Maldonado & Co. 105
De Fremery & Co. 100
Sundries 683
-------
Total 256,183
[Illustration: BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF SAN FRANCISCO'S COFFEE DISTRICT]
The imports of green coffee at San Francisco in 1914-15 amounted to
about 400,000 bags. The beginning of the World War was almost
coincidental with an energetic campaign waged by San Francisco coffee
interests to popularize Central American coffees, and particularly
Guatemalas, in this country. The time was well chosen, as the world's
exposition at San Francisco offered a good opportunity to acquaint the
public with the fine qualities of Guatemala growths. Furthermore, it was
necessary to create new markets for these coffees, which in former years
had been very extensively used in Europe. Figures show that San
Francisco's efforts were crowned with success. In 1916, the importation
increased by fifty percent; and in 1917, importations were double those
of 1915. In 1918, a total of nearly 1,000,000 bags was reached; and this
mark was passed by almost 200,000 in 1919. In 1920, 971,567 bags were
imported.