azil, the 1888-89 crop
being estimated at 6,827,000 bags.

Following a rally to nineteen and six-tenths cents during the next month
(July, 1887), the pendulum again swung downward. The climax came with
the culmination of the "European fiasco" of the spring of 1888. Reports
were received that various European coffee firms had failed; and future
contracts in the American market sold as low as nine cents in March.

_A Famous European Bull Campaign_

The next campaign of interest lasted more than two and a half years. In
September, 1891, there was a corner in the local market which forced the
September price up to seventeen and one-quarter cents. George
Kaltenbach, a wealthy speculator living in Paris, combining with three
operators in Havre, Hamburg, and Antwerp, succeeded in breaking the
corner, forcing the price down to ten and eight-tenths cents. They then
changed to the bull side, buying heavily in all markets of the world.
This was continued until early in 1893, bringing the price back to
fifteen cents. Although his associates then returned to the bear side,
Kaltenbach kept on buying; and aided by bad crop reports from Brazil, he
worked the price up as high as seventeen and seven-tenths cents. At one
time it was said that his profits were more than one million dollars.
The collapse of this deal occurred in May, 1893, involving thirty firms
in Hamburg, Havre, and Rotterdam. As Kaltenbach could not keep his large
New York holdings margined, they were thrown on the market, bringing
about a sharp break, and causing the failure of his New York agents,
T.M. Barr & Co.

The present era of large crops began in 1894, Brazil's production for
1894-95 being placed at 6,695,000 bags. Nevertheless, Guzman Blanco, a
former president of Venezuela, then living in Paris, and said to be
worth about $20,000,000, attempted to run a corner in April, 1895. He
bought 200,000 bags of spot coffee in Havre warehouses and accumulated a
big line of futures in various markets. Assisted by reports of cholera
in Rio and some reduction in Brazilian crops, he enjoyed temporary
success, the price of Rio 7s in New York rising to fifteen and one-half
cents in October, 1895. Thereafter, there was an almost continuous
decline. In the spring of 1898, a vigorous bear campaign was conducted,
largely in the form of market letters; and by November, Rio 7s here had
dropped to four and one-half cents.

_The Bubonic Plague Boom_

The so-called "bubonic