COFPEE-CONSTIMPTION OF THE WORLD 205 



estimated that one pound of tea will go as far in supplying a 

 family, as four pounds of coffee. 



"When tea and coffee were subject to duty, the imports for 

 consumption, i.e., the imports on which duties were paid each 

 year, represented. approximately the actual consumption of these 

 articles ; but, since the duty has been removed, all imports of tea 

 and coffee are entered for immediate consumption on their arrival 

 from a foreign country, and go immediately into the hands of the 

 importer, the entry for consumption being merely a technical 

 name of the means by which the goods are delivered directly from 

 the custody of the government to that of the importer. 



Of the tea and coffee entered for consumption on arrival a 

 considerable amount is afterward exported. 



All the exports shown in the table are of foreign tea and 

 coffee previously imported, and, therefore, the imports less the 

 exports (or the net imports) form the nearest approximation which 

 can be given to the consumption of these articles in the United 

 States. 



It is interesting to note, in studying the table upon the next 

 page, the fluctuations in the per capita consumption of tea and 

 coffee. Thus we iind that the minimum distribution of tea and 

 coffee was in 1863-65, that of tea falling to one-half pound per 

 capita, or just one-third of the quantity used in 1881. "We also 

 find that the quantity of coffee used per head was about the same 

 in 1881 as in 1859. Thus, it would appear that it took from the 

 year 1863, when the consumption was only 2.2 pounds per head, 

 until 1880, for the country to reach the same ratio of distribution 

 as existed prior to the war. From 1873 to 1879 all the business 

 industries of the country were depressed, labor was largely unem- 

 ployed and immigration light, and very naturally a heavy reduc- 

 tion in the use of tea and coffee was anticipated. 



The decline, however, was small, that of tea varying from 

 one-quarter to one-half pound per capita, and coffee fluctuating 

 between 6.2 pounds and 7.3 pounds, a fact the more remark- 

 able, as wages were low and the financial condition of the country 

 poor. 



