THE KING OF THE COFFEE TRADE. 219 



in 1868, and the book-keeper of 1836 became tlie head of a large 

 firm, with a clear half-million to his credit. 



Ambitious to make his mark in the business world, and to 

 become the peer of his illustrious predecessor, he launched out 

 ■boldly, and in 1869 we find him engineering a great speculation 

 in coffee. Old bankers shook their heads ominously, and doubted 

 his ability to wear the laurels won by the merchant-prince who 

 formerly directed the firm's affairs. The bankers felt that pru- 

 dence dictated a conference with the new man at the helm, espe- 

 cially as he was inclined to enter upon bold speculative operations. 

 To them, in substance, the merchant said : " Whatever else I 

 know, I think I know the coffee trade thoroughly. I shall act 

 upon my own judgment, and by it ' sink or swim.' " 



Those who are familiar with the coffee trade will by this time 

 have recognized the pen-picture we have drawn as that of B. G. 

 wAjnold, the well-known " Iving of the Coffee Trade." For more 

 than ten years he ruled the coffee market of this country as abso- 

 lutely as any hereditary monarch controls his kingdom, and his 

 influence was felt throughout the commercial world. Our tables of 

 prices bear eloquent testimony of his power, and it is known that 

 the operations of a single year succeeding the interview with the 

 bankers above noted yielded his firm a profit of one million two 

 hundred thousand doUars. In the social world he filled a large 

 place. At his palatial residence the President of the United States 

 was a guest, and the periodical receptions were social events. But 

 all things come to an end, and in accordance with this immutable 

 law, the control which Mr. Arnold and his associates exercised over 

 the coffee market finally ceased. For the first five years of the de- 

 cade 1870-1880, the coffee market had been steadily forced up 

 until abnormally high prices were reached ; these stimulated pro- 

 duction, and in 1876, while in Java, the writer, in a letter to 

 the American Grocer, used the following words : " As a conse- 

 quence of these high prices many new coffee-gardens have been 

 planted, and these are just beginning to bear and must inevitably 

 have an effect upon the future market. The quantity of govern- 

 ment coffee raised in Java last year, which was rather a poor year, 

 was 494,000 piculs, while the crop of 1876, which is a good year, 

 is 1,266,000 piculs. It is also said that the production has pro- 



