th interest from Saturday to
Monday.

_The Great Boom_

What is generally described as "the great boom" of the coffee trade
occurred in 1886-87, and had its inception in unsatisfactory crop news
from Brazil. The crop of 1887-1888, it was estimated, would be extremely
small; and it turned out to be only 3,033,000 bags. These advices and
low estimates led to the formation of a "bull" clique, comprising
operators in New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Brazil, and Europe, who set
a price of twenty-five cents for December contracts as their goal.
Toward the end of June, 1886, when this campaign started, No. 7 Rio in
New York was worth about seven and one-half cents, with June contracts
on the Exchange quoted at seven and sixty-five hundredths cents. With
Brazilian crop news still more discouraging, the advance thereafter was
almost continuous, and on June 1, 1887, December contracts sold at
twenty-two and one-quarter cents--a new high price record, that was not
exceeded for thirty-two years, when twenty-four and sixty-five
hundredths cents were paid for July contracts in June, 1919. After
reaching twenty-two and one-quarter cents, prices suffered an abrupt
reversal. Ten days later the closing price for December was twenty-one
and four-tenth cents. Then the real crash began. On Saturday, June 11,
the panic started with another claim of cable trouble; and in the short
session, December coffee broke from twenty and fifteen-hundredths to
eighteen and sixty-five hundredths cents, closing at a loss for the day
of 275 points. The first sale of December on Monday was at seventeen and
four-tenths cents, or 125 points lower; and after numerous erratic
variations, the price broke to sixteen cents, a drop of six and
one-quarter cents in less than two weeks. Business on that day was of
enormous volume, in round numbers 412,000 bags; and approximately
$1,500,000 was put up in margins. For the next three days the decline
was temporarily halted, and December, at one time, was up three and
one-quarter cents from the bottom (nineteen and one-quarter cents). On
June 17, another battle commenced, December dropping back to seventeen
cents. Then came a rally to eighteen and one-tenth cents, a drop to
sixteen and one-half cents; another rally to eighteen and one-tenth,
and, on June 24, another break to the previous low level of sixteen
cents for December. This sharp reversal in less than a month was
traceable largely to more favorable news from Br