All about coffee by William H. Ukers

trade organization in the United States is told in the next chapter. In 1912, the United States government, after having examined into the valorization enterprise, brought suit against Hermann Sielcken, _et al._, to force the sale of valorized coffee stocks held in this country under the valorization agreement. In October, 1914, the first national coffee week to advertise coffee was promoted by the National Coffee Roasters Association. _Merchants Coffee House Memorial_ On May 23, 1914, the Lower Wall Street Business Men's Association unveiled a bronze memorial tablet set in the wall of the nine-story office building occupied by the Federal Refining Company on the southeast corner of Wall and Water Streets, the former site of the Merchants' coffee house. This is the building where _The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal_ had its offices for nine years before moving to 79 Wall Street. [Illustration: MERCHANTS COFFEE HOUSE TABLET Bronze marker, placed May 23, 1914, on the building occupying the site of the old coffee house] Seth Low, introduced by William Bayne, Jr., president of the Lower Wall Street Business Men's Association, gave an interesting sketch of the history of the coffee house. Abram Wakeman, secretary of the association, spoke, followed by Wilberforce Eames, of the American history division of the New York Public Library. After the flag that veiled the memorial tablet had been drawn aside, attention was called to a bronze chest which was hermetically sealed, and in which had been placed papers and other documents reflecting the life of New York today. The chest was given over to the keeping of the New York Historical Society, with the understanding that it was not to be opened until 1974, which will be the two-hundredth anniversary of the union of the Colonies. It was from the Merchants' coffee house that the letter of May 23, 1774, was written in reply to the Committee of Correspondence in Boston. The letter suggested a "Congress of Deputies" from the Colonies, and called for a "virtuous and spirited Union." The coffee house is consequently regarded as the birthplace of the Union. _Recent Activities_ A second national coffee week was held in October, 1915, under the auspices of the National Coffee Roasters' Association. In 1916, the Coffee Exchange of the City of New York changed its name to the New York Coffee and Sugar Exchange, to admit of sugar trading. In 1916, the National Paper Can Company of Milwaukee first introduced to the trade its new hermetically sealed all-paper can for coffee. In 1916, Jules Le Page, Darlington, Ind., was granted two United States patents on cutting rolls to cut and not grind or crush corn, wheat, or coffee. This idea was incorporated in the Ideal steel cut coffee mill subsequently marketed by the B.F. Gump Company, Chicago. In 1918, the World War caused the United States government to place coffee importers, brokers, jobbers, roasters, and wholesalers under a war-time licensing system to control imports and prices. In 1918, John E. King, of Detroit, was granted a United States patent on an irregular grind of coffee consisting of coarsely grinding ten percent of the product and finely grinding ninety percent. The most notable event of the year 1919 was the inauguration by the Brazil planters, in co-operation with an American joint coffee trade publicity committee, of the million-dollar campaign to advertise coffee in the United States. In 1919, as a result of frost damage, and of an orgy of speculation in Brazil, prices for green coffee on the New York Exchange were forced to the highest levels since 1870; and a new high record was established for futures, twenty-four and sixty-five hundredths cents for July contracts. In 1919, Floyd W. Robison, of Detroit, was granted a United States patent on a process for aging green coffee by treating it with micro-organisms, the product being known as Cultured coffee. In the spring of 1920, there was held the third national coffee week, this time under the auspices of the Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee. [Illustration]