s
was placed at a disadvantage as steamer rates were about twenty cents a
bag higher to New Orleans than to New York, and imports were limited.
The subsequent revival of the business was due largely to Hard & Rand.
Being unable to obtain steamer rates equal to those quoted in New York,
Hard & Rand chartered steamers for New Orleans; and soon the trade began
to offer cost and freight to New Orleans, and the business grew from
about 350,000 bags of green coffee per annum to 2,500,000 bags.

One of the best remembered names in the green coffee trade of New
Orleans is that of Charles Dittman (1848-1920), who for nearly fifty
years was one of the leading coffee commission merchants of the country.
Mr. Dittman entered the coffee business with Napier & Co., representing
E. Johnston & Co., of Rio de Janeiro. In 1875, upon the death of Mr.
Napier, the firm changed to Johnston, Gordon & Co., later to G.O.
Gordon, and in 1886 to the Charles Dittmann Co. Since his death in
1920, the business has been continued by F.V. Allain and Charles
Dittmann, Jr.

[Illustration: A SECTION OF THE GREEN COFFEE DISTRICT OF NEW ORLEANS

Most of the buildings shown here are occupied by green coffee importing
houses. The one on the right with the balconies is the old Board of
Trade Building]

_Green Coffee in San Francisco_

In the early days of the green coffee business in San Francisco these
names stood out as most important among the coffee importers: Hellmann
Bros. & Co., Montealegre & Co., E.L.G.S. Steele & Co., and Urruella &
Urioste.

From their many friends in Central America, they, and others in their
line, obtained small consignments that were bought by the roasters
according to their immediate needs. Often as many as five or six buyers
would share in a parcel of fifty bags, as they were not in the custom of
filling up the larder for days of want. There always seemed to be
sufficient for every one, and bull movements and corners had not then
become the vogue.

Just as today, the mainstays of the early San Francisco trade were
coffees produced in Costa Rica, Salvador, and Guatemala, although some
were brought from the Colima district of Mexico. The broker had a
comparatively easy job in selling his wares. Samples of the lots would
be given to him in carefully sealed glass bottles, and usually the buyer
would trust his discerning eye to judge correctly the quality of the
goods, not even taking the trouble to uncork the bottle. Size