220 COFFEE. 



portionately increased in Sumatra and other coffee-bearing islands 

 of the Malay Archipelago, and that the average yield during the 

 next few years must be very large. If the same causes produce 

 like effects in other coffee-producing sections of the globe, we may 

 reasonably look forward to moderate prices for this staple in the 

 future." 



The sequel is known to all : production outran consumption, 

 prices went down, down, down, despite the desperate and more or 

 less successful efforts made at times to rally the market, until the 

 final result came in the disastrous failurieS in 1880, which swept 

 away the leading houses of the coffee trade in the United States, 

 The chief cause of this disaster seems to have been an inability on 

 the part of the leading spirits in the coffee trade to look on both 

 sides of the question, a result which inevitably comes sooner or 

 later in all speculative transactions. 



As usual, since the great failures in the coffee trade, there have 

 been plenty of persons ready to say unkind things of the chief 

 actors in the drama ; but, while there can be but one opinion as to 

 the welfare of the public being subserved by the failure of specu- 

 lative combinations, all who know Mr. B. Gr. Arnold are ready 

 to concede that the failure of such a man is, in one sense, a public 

 misfortune. As an industrious, energetic, and upright merchant, 

 faithfully fulfilling every engagement ; as a charitable and public- 

 spirited citizen, fully performing his duty to society, the character 

 of Mr. Arnold stands out in bold relief and is worthy of all com- 

 mendation. 



He still continues in business with his son, Mr. F. B. Arnold, 



and, with his intimate knowledge of the staple and his long 



business experience, it is riot improbable that there may come 



another phase to this romance of trade, and " the king will have 



■ his own again." 



