Feb.  I,  1897.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
545 
HOW  TO  PUSH  CEYLON  TEA  IN 
AMERICA. 
MR.  WM.  MACKENZIK  OK  THE  CEYLON  TEA 
A.S.SOCIATION 
has  but  just  .arrived  back  in  this  country,  having 
only  landed  last  Saturday  (Dec.  18),  and  looks 
well  and  hearty  after  his  recent  American  visit. 
I found  him  conning  over  the  editorial  in  the 
Overland  Observer  of  the  25th  November  last, 
and  not,  as  I j)resently  discovered,  at  all  agree- 
ing with  many  of  the  sentiments  therein  expre.ssed. 
“ It’s  an  entire  mistake  in  my  opinion,”  he 
ob.served,  “to  suppose  as  this  article  has  it,  that 
adverti.sement  by  ordinarj^  methods  will  be  suffi- 
cient by  itself  to  push  our  teas  in  America. 
Assisting  agencies  already  on  the  spot  must  be 
united  with  newspaper  advertisement.  In  America 
every  kind  of  industry  is  put  on  the  market 
by  some  such  means  as  I have  indicated.  Agents 
having  Ceylon  and  Indian  teas  to  push,  go  to 
the  large  grocery  shops,  or  stores  as  they  are 
called  over  there,  and  they  get  the  permission 
of  the  heads  of  sucli  firms  to  establish  demon- 
stration stalls  on  the  i)remises,  the  expenses 
being  p.aid  by  the  .agents  themselves.  Girls  are 
put  in  charge,  whose  business  it  is  to  ofl'er 
customers  coining  to  buy  other  goods  a cup 
of  tea.  Such  an  offer  you  will  easily  see  is 
welcome  to  most  people  ; they  accept  the  in- 
vitation, and  listen  to  what  the  teamaker  has 
to  tell  them  as  to  the  good  qualities  of  the  tea,  how 
best  to  make  it  for  themselves  and  so  on.  Then 
they  probably  buy  a pound  to  take  home  with 
them,  and  on  that  pound  there  is  a profit  to  the 
store  proprietor.  The  people  come  back  for  more 
and  by  and  bye  in  that  store  Ceylon  and  Indian 
tea  are  kept,  .and  given  a good  pbace  on  the 
counter — not  stuH’ed  into  any  odil  corner  where 
no  one  will  ever  see  it  or  think  of  buying 
it,  but  put  in  .a  prominent  position  so 
that  the  public  get  to  know  that  tea  is 
certainly  to  be  had  in  the  particular  store  in 
that  particular  street. 
“ In  the  lOOmillons  lb.  of  teadrunk  in  America,” 
continued  Mr.  Mackenzie,  “not  more  than  one- 
fifth  is  black  tea— a'l  the  rest  is  green,  etc., 
imported  from  Japan  and  otlier  places.  It  is  to 
secure  for  ourselves  that  one-fifth  we  have  to 
aim.  At  churcfi  fetes  which  are  extremely 
popular  over  in  America,  large  firms  put  up 
stalls  for  the  sale  of  tea,  where  demonstrations 
are  given,  and  the  same  sort  of  thing  is  done 
in  theatres  and  many  other  jmblic  places, 
even  when  they  only  pay  half  or  a quar- 
ter of  the  expense  it  p.ays  us  to  do  this. 
As  for  jealousy,  if  any  such  exists  among  the 
Colombo  merchants,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  they  do  no  missionary  work  themselves. 
After  all  we  do  not,  as  an  association,  exist  for 
the  tea  merchants,  but  for  the  tea  growers  ; and 
in  a case  of  this  kind,  though  it  might  bo  very 
pleas.ant  to  indulge  in  sentiment,  we  have  to 
consider  the  question  on  the'  main  issue.  The 
method  of  .advertising  which  gains  most  custom- 
ers for  Ceylon  and  Indi.an  teas,  will  be  the  one 
wliich  will  eventually  benefit  all  most,  l^aper 
advertising  alone  is  perfectly  useless.  You  may 
talk  to  people  as  long  as  you  like  about  the 
merits  of  your  tea,  but  as  long  as  they  do  not 
see  ifc,  don’t  know  where  it  is  to  be  got,  or  how 
69 
to  u.se  it  when  they  do  get  it,  you  will  do 
practically  no  busine.ss  with  them  in  America* 
What  competition  we  meet  with  there  is  he.althj' ? 
Let  people  pu.sh  their  own  blends,  and  they  will 
push  Ceylon  tea  along  with  them.  Ceylon  tea  is 
largely  in  most  of  the  blends  offered  to  the  pub- 
lic, and  the  more  blends  the  better.” 
“ Yes,”  said  I,  “ one  of  the  great  tea  blend 
people  told  me  the  other  day  they  did  not  care 
for  Lipton.”  “ If  there  were  twenty  Liptoiis  in 
the  imaiket,”  said  he,  “ the  better  for  us.” 
“Exactly,”  said  Mr.  Mackenzie,  “that’s  pre* 
sisely  the  iilea,  .and  only  agents  already  actively 
engaged  in  pushing  tea  on  the  spot  will  do 
for  us.  The  more  trade  the  better  for  all. 
We  must  use  the  methods  most  expedient, 
and  that  shortsighted  policy  of  keeping 
one  another  out  lest  one  gets  a slight  advantage 
over  his  neighbour  is  injurious  altogether.” 
“ In  Philadelphi.a  now,”  resumed  Mr.  Mackenzie, 
“the  firm  which  ranks  seconder  third  highest 
among  tea  liomses  in  America,  are  working  in 
conjunction  with  us.  At  the  Annual  Food  Show 
there,  for  example,  a fortnight  ago,  there  was  a 
lady — an  old  Ceylon  resident  by  the  way  who, 
consequently,  has  some  practical  knowledge  of  tea 
growing — who  was  working  away  busily  all  day 
long  with  fourteen  girl  assistants,  at  the  making 
and  giving  away  of  cups  of  Ceylon  tea.  That’s 
what  I c.all  a good  adverti-sement.  Another  firm 
in  Boston,  which  claims  to  stand  equal  with  the 
one  just  mentioned,  has  recently  sent  out  a circular 
of  an  apologetic  character  to  its  16,000  grocer 
customers  to  the  effect  that  they  had  never 
hitherto  pushed  Ceylon  or  Indian  teas,  but  noAV 
having  discovered  others  were  doing  .so,  they 
intemled  an  alteration  of  their  previous  policy. 
Again  Siegel  Cooper  had  six  of  these  demon* 
strations  of  Ceylon  and  Indian  teas  going  on 
at  one  time  in  New  York  and  four  others  in 
their  Chicago  branches  while  an  English  firm  gave 
no  less  th.an  eighty  of  these  object  lessons  lately. 
In  short,”  summed  up  the  Ceylon  Commis- 
sioner, as  I bade  him  good-bye,  “ if  the  Observer 
wants  my  opinion  you  have  now  got  it  on  this 
question.  Advertising  by  the  press  alone  is  per- 
fectly useless.  The  main  point  to  be  arrived  at 
is  the  .selling  of  Ceylon  tea.  On  that,  I suppose 
we  are  all  agrceil.  Then  that  can  only  be  done 
on  the  lines  I have  mentioned.  At  present  the 
American  market  is  well,  perhaps,  overstocked 
with  tea,  .and  iirobably  less  this  year  will  be 
taken  into  the  country  than  has  been  the  case 
for  a short  time  previous  to  the  Chinese  and 
Japanese  war.  We  can  make  little  impression 
on  the  market  .as  regards  green  tea,  but  we  m.ay 
secure  the  trade  in  black  teas  if  we  go  the 
right  way  to  M'ork.” 
BROWN-PATEHSON. 
— 
THE  TEA  SITUATION  IN  AMERICA. 
The  American  Grocer  of  Dec.  9th,  considers  the 
tea  situation  a strong  one,  for  the  following  re.a- 
The  season  at  most  of  the  China  and  J.apan  tea 
ports  is  over,  and  we  now  are  enabled,  through  a 
compilation  made  by  a prominent  firm  of  tea  broker.--, 
Messrs.  James  and  John  ]i.  Moutgomerv,  to  present 
the  statistical  position  of  tea  on  December  1.  At 
that  date  there  ivere  afloat  eight  vessels  cariying 
9,14(1,33:-!  pounds  of  tea,  due  here  from  now  forward 
until  March  15,  1897.  The  shipments  include  3,4(12,385 
pounds  of  green  tea,  2,(178,723  pounds  of  Japan, 
2,115,825  pounds  of  Formosa,  27s, 280  pounds  of  Foo- 
chow, and  614j400  pounds  of  Congou.  The  situation 
