THE COFFEE TRADE. 185 



chappy, a monopoly formed in 1824: for the collection, shipment 

 to Holland, and sale of all the coffee that the government pro- 

 duced, was compelled in 1843 to fix 20 cents (8 cents, U. S.) as a 

 minimum price for good ordinary Java, below which it advertised 

 it would permit no sales. The measures devised by the company 

 worked only temporary good. The minimum was raised to 22f 

 cents (9 cents, U. 8.) in 1844, and, under a speculative combination 

 formed by the Dutch merchants, prices advanced to 26 @ 27 cents 

 for a while (lOy*^ @ 10^^ cents, U. S.), only to collapse in 1845, 

 with disastrous effect to those concerned. In 1846 the adoption 

 of a minimum of 20 cents was again resorted to, which, in 1848,' 

 the Maatschappy was obliged to lower to 18 cents (Y^ cents, IT. S.), 

 while forced sales out of private hands were made at 16 @ 17 

 cents (6f @ 6f cents, U. S.). This was far below the cost of pro- 

 duction and handling. By this time the decline of the coffee 

 industry in the West Indies became clearly visible. The neglected 

 plantations went out of bearing, and coffee-production ceased al- 

 most entirely in that part of the world. A fitful reaction advanced 

 prices one hundred per cent, from 1849 to 1850, but in subsequent 

 years we find the appreciation of the staple struggling up through 

 such quotations as 25J cents (10-^ cents, U. S.) in 1851 ; 23 cents 

 (9^ cents, U. S.) in 1852 ; 33^ cents (13f cents, TJ. S.) in 1853 ; 

 29^ cents (llf cents, U. S.) in 1854; 34 cents (13f cents, U. S.) 

 in 1855 and 1856 (notwithstanding the importation in 1856 by the 

 Maatschappy of 1,278,873 bags — the largest quantity ever im- 

 ported, exceeding the average yearly supply by 300,000 bags) ; 40 

 cents (16 cents, U. S.) in the spring of 1857 ; 20 cents (8 cents, 

 U. S.) and 22 cents {8f cents, U. S.) at the end of that critical 

 year ; 34 cents (13-§ cents, U. S.) in 1858 ; 38^ cents (15f cents, 

 IJ. S.) in 1859 and 1860 ; to 44 cents (17| cents, U. S.) and 46J 

 cents (18^ cents, U. S.) in 1861. 



Then occurrred the great civil war in the United States, which, 

 it is calculated, " diminished the consumption about two hundred 

 thousand tons." A well-informed authority in coffee matters, 

 writing about ten years ago, observes that but for that important 

 event "the equilibrium between production and consumption 

 would have been disturbed." It is urged that the continual en- 

 couragement afforded to consumption by low prices during so 



