COFFEE

during the post-war period, brazil and british east africa commanded most attention as coffee- producing countries: brazil because of her control policy and its effects in the united states, and british east africa because of the rapid growth of coffee planting in that area. brazil.—the importance of brazil in coffee production is shown by her production in 1924-5, which was about two-thirds of the world’s supply. in that crop year over 5,000,000 ac. were planted with coffee; 13,721,000 bags of 130 lb. net were produced and 13,682,000 bags exported. all other countries produced 6,762,000 bags and exported 6,824,000 bags. the pro- tection of the crop is under the control of the sao paulo institute for the permanent defence of coffee, the federal govt. having relinquished in its favour all rights conferred by law. the law of the state of sdo paulo provides that the chairman and the vice-chairman of this body shall be its ministers of finance and of agriculture respectively, the three remaining members of the govern- ing body being elected by the two associations of planters and the commercial association of santos, subject to the approval of the crits of the state. the powers of the institute include the regu- ation of the amount of coffee to be retained in the official ware- houses through which all coffee produced in the interior must pass; 10 of these had been erected throughout the coffee-growing districts of sao paulo and one in the state of rio, their total capacity being 11,500,000 bags per annum. other powers of the institute extend to the amount of coffee to be exported, the making of agreements with other producing countries for the protection of coffee, the concluding of financial arrangements, the levying of an export tax on coffce, and the establishment of an agricultural loan bank. to obtain funds for the institute {4,000,000 of 73 °%> bonds were issued in london and £1,000,000 in holland and switzerland in jan. 1926. interest on this capital is to be raised by a transport tax of one gold milreis (2s, 3d.) levied on each bag of coffee grown in and transported through the state of sao paulo. : the effects of the “ permanent defence of coffee’ in the united states, brazil’s greatest customer, were higher prices and reduced consumption. in june and july 1925, a mission from the united states, consisting of three representatives of the trade in coffee, visited the institute and the producing centres in [razil. after conference, the following measures were agreed: the daily regulated entry into santos of coffee for export in accordance with the crops and the needs of consumption; the maintenance of a stock in santos of never less than 1,200,000 bags, to facilitate the buyers finding the qualities required; the constant attendance of amcrican buyers on the santos market; full publication of statistics and of data relative to crops, stocks, etc.; and the resumption of coffee-propaganda in the united states. it was also arranged that similar conferences should be held in 1926 and annually thereafter. (see braziv.) colombia.— next in importance to brazil as a coffee-growing country, colombia showed signs of following her example. a law providing for the establishment of coffee bonded warehouses and the oflicial classification of coffee, with the issue of nego- tiable bonds, was passed, but the declared policy of the govern- ment was to help the industry without interfering with prices. 671 east afrtca.—coffee growing under british auspices in kenya colony and protectorate has rapidly developed. in 1920 there were 27,813 ac. under coffee; on june 30 1924 there were 60,054 ac. an increase of 7,805 ac. over 1923. the production in 1923-4 was 144,952 cwt. the exports from mombasa in the same year were 186,081 cwt. valued at £636,744. the colony also had 27,883 ac. planted with trees less than three years old, which had not come into full bearing. on the london market nairobi and uganda coffees now appear as kenya. the annual british consumption of coffee remained stationary at 7 lb. per capita. british taste in coffee is satished largely with the produce of the central american republic of costa rica; the demand for the produce of kenya colony is increasing. in sept. 1915 the import duty on raw coffee was increased from 14s. to 21s. per cwt. and again to 42s. in 1916. on sept. 1 1919 the dutics became 42s. on foreign grown, and 35s. on that from british possessions. later changes were: in 1922, 28s. and 23s. 4d.; and in 1924, 14s. and iis, 8d. annual consumption in the united states rose from 11 ib, per capita before the war to 12-4 ib. in 1923: in 1925 it had fallen to 11-09 lb. about two thirds of the imports in 1925 came from brazil and the greater part of the remainder from colombia. the following table shows the exports of coffee from the principal producing countries from july 1 1924 to june 30 1925:—- lb. brazil : 1,778,660,000 colombia . ; : 273,984,139 dutch east indies! . 145,850,108 venezuela?. ; 102,366,000 salvador 72,007,584 haiti . 67,687,620 british india 32,280,640 costa rica 31,617,040 nicaragua ; 21,729,185 kenya colony . : 20,841,072 british west indies 12,973,389 guatemala 75275,247 11925 estimated. 2 1923-4. (co be ba cohan, george michael (1878- ), american actor, author and producer, was born at providence, r.i., july 4 1878. his parents were of the theatrical profession, and at an early age he appeared with them in juvenile parts, subsequently taking comedy reles in vaudeville and on the legitimate stage. ilis first appearance in new york was at keith’s union square theatre in 1893. since that date he has been continuously en- gaged in writing and producing plays and musical revues, in the majority of which he also acted. among his productions may be mentioned the governor’s son (1901); forty-five minutes from broadway (1905); the talk of new york (1907); get-rich-ouick wallingford (1910); broadway jones (1912); seven keys to bald pate (1913); afusical revues in 1914, 1915 and 10916; the tavern (1920); the song and dance man (1923); american born (1924). in addition he wrote numerous musical numbers and songs, one of which, over there, acquired an international vogue during the world war. ie wrote also an autobiography, twenty years on broadway (1924). cohn, gustav (1840-1918), german economist (see 6.652), died at gittingen sept. 20 1918. coinage.—the world war of 1914-8 placed an unprece- dented strain upon the monetary system of both the belligerent and neutral nations. how the various systems endured the strain is discussed fully in the article on currency; the following article deals with one aspect of the problem, namely, the ques- tion of coinage and the provision of small change in the various countries concerned. great britaina—the sudden change of circumstances produced less confusion in great britain than in any other country in- volved. to provide for the quick production of small change, before the mint could get to work on a large scale with the coin- age of silver, postal orders were made legal tender for all amounts during the early months of the war. but by the beginning of 1915 the subsidiary currency was being coined freely, and the circulating power of the postal order was abolished. the treasury notes issued in 1914 did not at first supersede the use of gold. the royal mint coined £15,000,000 worth of sov- ereigns and half-sovereigns in 1914 and over {21,000,000 in 672 rors. it was not till 1916 that the public was asked to pay in gold to the banks, while the banks were prohibited from paying it over the counter to those who demanded it. in 1916 and 1017, only something over {1,000,000 of gold money was struck in each year, and this was ear-marked for regions such as arabia, where subsidies to the rulers of the ilejaz and nejd continued to be paid in gold. stringent legislation was framed against those who tried to take gold money out of the realm, or offered to pay a larger sum than £1 in treasury notes for the sovereign. meanwhile the issue of silver money for small transactions was portentous and unprecedented. the mint in the years immediately preceding the war had been putting out silver to the net value of uider £1,090,000 on the average. but in 1914 over £5,009,099 in silver was minted in the last six months, after the declaration of war, and in 1916, 1917 and 1918 over £7,000,000 in each twelve-month. by the end of the war there was twice as much british silver circulating within and without the realm as there had been in 1913. silver bullion for a few months in 1920 rose to the unprecedented price of 82 pence an ounce, a fizure which so terrified the then chancellor of the exchequer, mr. austen chamberlain, that he insisted on the passing of a measure which introduced 50% of base alloy into the silver currency. the bill was wholly unnecessary, as silver fell to 40 pence per ounce before the end of 1920, and to 32 or 33 pence by 1921, so that coinage on the old scale of alloy could have been continued at a good profit. the new base money was so unskil- fully compounded that its first issue turned brown or green after a little wear, or even came to pieces from inadequate mixing of the good and bad metal. | germany.—at the outbreak of the war the imperial govt. did not have to improvise everything as the british govt. was bound to do. it had collected much treasure by means of the forced loan of 1913, and it had ready for war emergency the long-hoard- ed military chest stored in the castle of spandau, where a large provortion of the gold paid in the french war indemnity of 1871 had been kept intact for more than 4o years. this was used freely in the autumn of 1914 for german purchases abroad. but gold money, despite all preparation, disappeared more quickly in germany than in great britain, and from the first days of the war the internal currency was paper. silver, which never failed the british public, disappeared in germany at an early date in the struggle. by 191g of the old currency only the minute copper i- and 2-pfennig pieces remained in circulation, and these too disappeared later. | to replace the nickel 5-, ro- and 20-pfennig pieces, withdrawn for military purposes, the german govt. issued from 1916 on- ward immense quantities of iron and zinc coins, reproducing the old types: but both these metals proved unsatisfactory substi- tutes, being prone to rust and decay. the government issues proving insufficient for trade necessities, many municipalities and kreises followed the imperial lead and produced in 1917 and 1918 not only paper money but zinc and iron ro-pfennig, 5-pfennig and occasionally 20-pfennig pieces. they generally bore the town coat-of-arms or badge on the obverse, and a large fizure of value on the reverse. it was apparently only after the armistice of nov. 1918 that a few towns put out small change of more unusual material—porcelain in some cases, wood in others. but these were very exceptional freaks. the year 1922 found republican germany issuing metallic subsidiary coins from its mint, but now made of aluminium and bearing on one side the accepted republican eagle, on the other a strongly conventionalised sheaf of grain. coins of 1, 2 and 5 marks denomination were added by the end of the year. the sime year saw some transitory private issues of banknotes printed on aluminium foil. with the introduction of the ren- tenmark standard in 1924-8 came an issue of more durable sub- sidiiry coins of that standard and by the close of 1925 the coinage of silver 1-mark pieces had been resumed. france and belgitm.—the history of the french war coinage presents many similarities to that of the german, but the chaos at the beginning of hostilities was rather worse. all gold disap- peared at once into the proverbial “ stocking ”’ of the thrifty coinage peasant or bourgeois, and much silver also. but for some little time there was an endeavour to keep up a silver currency: the dies and presses of the paris mint were moved in aug. to the remote town of castelsarrasin, close under the pyrenees, and there remained to the end of the war, striking in 1914 5-franc and 2-franc pieces. they are only to be distinguished from paris- struck money by a small capital ‘‘ c’’ under the value on the reverse. as the french exchange grew worse, there was a steady migration of silver 5-franc pieces to switzerland. as they were, and had been for many years, legal tender in switzerland, the berne govt. had scruples about demonetising them, and they were only denied currency after the war had ended, when a vast quantity of them were recoined into swiss 5-franc pieces. since the french govt. had made no preparation to face a dearth of small change, its provision fell, far more than in ger- many, into non-governmental hands. at first the situation was quite chaotic; not only municipalities but chambers of com- merce, associations of merchants and shopkeepers, companies of all sorts, private firms and even individuals not engaged in trade, put out paper or metallic token-money of the most varied shapes, sizes and materials. the most characteristic pieces of the time were the carton (cardboard) sou and two-sou tokens. they were simply pieces of thick cardboard printed on both sides, generally with the name of the issuing town, firm or person on one side, and the value in large fizures on the other. they were of all sizes and shapes and all degrees of thickness. some, on very thin cardboard, were provided with a metal rim, to prevent them from creasing or breaking. others were made inordinately thick for the same purpose. a very few municipalities, particu- larly in the south of france, tried countermarking old or foreign copper coins with a superimposed stamp, the name of the town and the value, 5 or ro centimes, obliterating the original type. from 1915 onward local metallic currency began to appear, superseding in most places the fragile and rubbishy cardboard. these sou, two-sou and 25-centime pieces were generally of aluminium or zinc, occasionally of iron or copper. they were in many cases very neatly struck, with simple heraldic types. metallic tokens were issued not only by chambers of commerce and large industrial firms, but by tramway companies, electricity supply companies, military and civil clubs, the union des cafetiers of toulouse, the bakers of nantes in syndicate and thousands of private shopkeepers. late in the war this madden- ing situation led to the creation of both paper money and alu- minium small change for federated towns or districts of the same region. for example, the chambers of commerce of mar- seilles, nice, avignon, arles and toulon, issued zinc sous and 1o-centime pieces which passed current in all five places. in northern france and belgium the invader, after seizing all the legitimate currency on which he could lay hands, organised a new circulating medium. the belgian fractional currency, all nickel, was requisitioned for military purposes. to replace it the intrusive administration at brussels coined zinc 5-, 10- and 20- centime pieces in great profusion. they imitated in general ap- pearance the old national small change, having the lion and the large figure of value, but the inscription royaume de belgique and the king’s monogram were suppressed, and the bilingual inscription was only belgique-belgie. in northern france there was no such metallic substitute for the small change, and the result was the issue of very small-denomination paper money, either in cardboard or in note form on ordinary paper. the round or polygonal cardboard sou, so common all over unin- vaded france, was rare in the region of german occupation, though it existed in the cities of lille and ghent. the town of ghent seems to have been unique in issuing a metallic currency of coins of considerable denomination. it put out a handsome gilt-bronze 5-franc piece, with subsidiary 2-franc, 1-franc and so-centime pieces, in the same metal but of a square form. other countries.—on the other side of europe, in the enormous belt of polish and lithuanian territory which the germans over- ran in 1915-6, a zinc fractional currency in kopeks was issued for small transactions. the austrian war currency was in most respects a mere reflection of the german. there was a com- cokt—collins paratively small amount of metallic (zinc or iron) fractional currency, and one or two examples of strikings in a sort of amal- gam or earthenware material. issues by private firms or individ- uals also existed, but not in such profusion as in france. czecho- slovakia issued a handsome nickel crown in 1922. in italy gold had been almost unknown before the war, though silver was circulating: the bulk of the fractional currency was in bronze, which did not disappear so quickly as the nickel pieces of germany, belgium or austria. but the ventino or 20 centesimi piece of nickel, vanished for military reasons. des- pite the continued existence of the bronze soldo, there was an acute lack of small change, for which evferto crede such odd sub- stitutes as postage stamps, cigarettes and tramway tickets were substituted. even government packets of matches were some- times given as change to the spender of a lira note. in russia, a country already using paper for all purposes dur- ing the first year of the war, the only currency problem which seems to have caused some trouble was the deficiency of small fractional change, which was in some degree met by issuing cardboard money, composed of the dies of postage stamps struck off on very thick paper. the stamps of 1, 2 and 3 kopeks re- placed copper coins; those of 10, 15 and 20 kopeks had printed on their backs a notice that they were equivalent to, and were to be taken for, government fractional silver coins. in 1925 the victorious soviet, throwing over the problem of how to deal with incalculable masses of worthless paper, started striking silver coins equivalent to a rouble, and even gold money, of the so- called chervonetz type. european neutrals were somewhat affected in their currency by the nickel-famine, caused by military demands, which pre- vailed among all combatant powers. finding their own small change surreptitiously departing to the scat of war, denmark, norway and sweden all issued iron pieces of 1, 2 and § ere, ard switzerland brass 5- and ro-centtme pieces. these jast had all disappeared by the end of 1925, and the familiar and handsome swiss nickel currency was once more employed. (c. w. c. o.) coke: sce fuel problems. colajanni, napoleone (1847-1021), italian author and politician, was born at castrogiovanni (sicily) april 28 1847. in his youth he followed garibaldi, and was once deported and once imprisoned for his republican activities. after graduating in medicine, he studied social science, and in 1892 was appointed professor of statistics first at the university of palermo, and sub- sequently at naples. he published many books ancl essays on social and political problems. for many years he edited rivista popolare, by means of which he strove to improve the moral and intellectual standard of the masses and combat all forms of in- tolerance and hypocrisy. he began his public career as a munic- ipal councillor in his native town in 1872, and in 1890 was elected deputy for the same place. in parliament he sat as a republi- can with socialist tendencies. he was a strong opponent of crispi’s somewhat autocratic policy (see 15.79). though he had always opposed militarism, on the outbreak of the world war he became a warm supporter of italian intervention. after the armistice he coriducted a campaign against the bolshevism of the socialist party. he died at castrogiovanni sept. 2 1921. colby, bainbridge (1869- ), american politician, was born at st. louis dec. 22 1869. after graduating from williams college in 1890, he studied at the columbia law school and the new york law school and began to practice in 1892 in new york. he was a member of the new york assembly, rgo1-2. ile sup- ported theodore roosevelt for the republican presidential nomination in 1912. following the split in the republican party he became one of the founders of the national progressive party. he was a member of the american mission to the inter-allied conference at paris in 1917, a commissioner of the united states shipping board, and a member of the united states shipping board emergency flect corp., 1917-9. he was secretary of state in president wilson’s cabinet march 22 1t920-march 4 1921. on leaving office he resumed private practice. colby, frank moore (1865-1925), american editor, was born at washington, d.c., feb. 10 1865. he was educated at to columbian university, washington, and columbia university, n.y. (receiving a degree of a.b. in 1888 and of a.m. in 18§o). he was acting professor of history at amherst college (18c0), instructor in history and cconomics at columbia university (1891), and professor of economics at new york university (1895-1900). in 1893 he joined the editorial staff of john- son's universal cyclopacdia. in 1895 he became ccitor of the international cyclopaedia and the international year bi ok, and from roco he was editor of the new international finey- clopaedia. te was also editor of the bookman, 1904-8. he died in new york city march 3 1925. he wrote, among other works, imaginary obligations (ago4); constrained altitudes (1910); and the margin of hesitation (1922). cold storage: see refrigeration. collings, jesse (:831-1920), british politician, was born at littleham, exmouth, devon, jan. 9 1831. ile was educated at home and at church itouse school, stoke, ncar plymouth. in 1866 he settled in birmingham, where he founded the mer- cantile firm of collings and wallis, and had a highly successful business career. jintering municipal life, he was intimately associated with joseph chamberlain, and in 1878 was elected mayor of birmingham but retired from business in 1879. in 1880 he entered parliament as liberal member for ipswich, and became prominent as an advocate of the radical land policy, associated with the phrase, ‘“ three acres and a cow.” in 1886 he became parliamentary secretary to the local govt. board, but resigned with chamberlain over gladstone’s home rule policy. in 1895 collings became under-secretary to the ifome office, retaining the post till r902. he resigned his seat in parliament in 1918. he was the founder (1872) of the rural labourers’ league, and also of the exminster industrial school. in 1906 he published land reform; in 1914, the colonisation of rural britain (2 vol.); and his autobiography, written in con- junction with sir j. l. green, appeared in 1920. he died at edgbaston, birmingham, nov. 20 1920. collins, michael (1890-1922), irish politician, was born near clonakilty in county cork, the eighth child of john collins, a prosperous farmer who, as an old bachelor of 62, married kate o’brien, his junior by 40 years. michael collins entered the second division of the british civil service and went to london as a junior postal clerk in 1907. after two years he left the civil service to be clerk in an accountant’s office. his life in london was spent mostly «mong irish people interested in the gaclic league and in distinctively irish sports—such as hurling. dur- ing this period he joined the irish republican brotherhood, or fenian society. at the beginning of 1916 collins and several other young irishmen of similar views, being opposed to conscription, returned to ireland and took a hand in the rising which by that time was expected in extremist circles. we joined the irish volunteers in dublin and was one of those who fought under pearse in the general i’ost office during easter week. he es- caped being taken under arms, but later was arrested and sent with the great body of suspects to the detention camp at fron- goch. released with the rest in july 1917, he became conspicu- ous in the movement by his energy, and at the general election in dec. 1918 he was returned as sinn fein member for county cork. out of 73 elected only 29 were present when they met in the mansion house and declared for the irish republic. mr. de valera, their elected president, was in gaol, so was the vice- president, arthur griffith. all effective decisions were taken by the men who were clever enough to avoid arrest. these were collins, cathal brugha and the headquarter staff of the irish volunteers. in actual practice collins was dictator. brugha (charles burgess), as minister of defence in mr. de valera’s republican ministry, was head of the irish volunteers, known later as the i.r.a. (irish republican army}. in this military organisation collins was head of the intelligence de- partment. but, in the administration as a whole, he was minis- ter of finance. in this dual capacity collings controlled the entire correspondence of the movement. all enterprises were con- sidered, financed and many were carried out by him. in march 674 ror1g he and harry boland arranged the escape of mr. de valera from lincoln gaol; and it is claimed that he directed the cam- paign waged at this time against the more active members of the dublin secret service police. how far he was responsible for the spread of the guerilla war cannot now be ascertained. dan breen in afy fight for irish freedom traces its beginning to the spontaneous action of a small group of volunteers in tipperary, which was disapproved of at first by the dublin headquarters. breen says, however, that collins was the man from whom they received most encouragement; and that in one of the projected attacks on lord french, collins was among the men in ambush. by 1920 his name, first gradually, and then universally, had become known as that of the man most wanted by the british authorities. a reward of {10,000 was offered for his arrest, and pictures of him were published. yet letters addressed to him through sinn fein channels were promptly delivered and imme- diately answered. ie used no disguise, went about dublin alone on a bicycle and frequently made appointments for an interview in the public streets. [le succeeded in completely demoralising and dislocating the british secret service and in creating a most effective spy system of his own which ran through the whole british administration. at the close of 1920 important secret negotiations, conducted through the australian archbishop clune, were held with collins, who afterwards maintained that all the concessions obtained six months later could have been secured then but for the action of a county council which called for cessation of hostilities. this, he held, encouraged the british to insist on a surrender of arms, upon which demand the negotiations broke down. in july 1921 when the truce with britain was proclaimed, collins for the first time became directly known to the irish public. no other figure was so popular. when the negotiations between mr. de valera and mr. lloyd george failed to reach any conclusion, griffith, collins and three others were appointed to renew the attempt. collins, by his genial personality, un- doubtedly smoothed over many of the difficulties and though in principle a republican, he had the instinctive sense to know when the utmost possible had been gained. griffith alone could not have forced the dail to accept the treatv against mr. de valera’s opposition; this achievement was mainly due to the magnetic personality of the younger man. when the result of the voting showed the narrow margin of seven for acceptance, collins instantly rose and gravely warned the assembly of the anarchy that might follow dissension. he proposed a joint committee of public order, but the proposal was rejected. in the debate he had declared that he accepted the treaty as a stepping stone to a republic but he was careful both in his speech and his published volume, the path to freedom, to disavow any desire to force a separation which would injure britain or leave her exposed. in his opinion, the dominions were destined to detach themselves naturally and without a wrench, like ripened fruit. the first result of the dail’s decision was confusion. griffith was elected president, not of the free state but of the irish re- public. he met the situation by appointing a provisional gov- ernment to carry on the administration till the free state was legally created; and collins was appointed chairman of this body. but administration in the ordinary sense was impossible. civil life had been destroyed in the guerilla war; the police were now necessarily disbanded since the struggle had left a blood feud between them and the people; the british garrison was evacuating the country, and the irish army, still considered the army of the republic, was deeply disaffected. collins had two main objects. the first was to reach a settle- ment with ulster, where a state bordering on a war of religion existed. to succeed in this would have helped him with his main purpose, the peaceful establishment of the free state. he there- fore entered into personal negotiations with sir james craig, prime minister of northern ireland. but no settlement was reached, largely because of the evident imminence of civil war in the south. mutiny broke out in the army and collins, hoping against hope to avoid civil strife, refrained from drastic action. colloids ile was instrumental in postponing the general election (stipu- lated for under the treaty) and when at last a date for it was fixed in june, he entered at the eleventh hour into a compact with mr. de valera by which he and the republican leader agreed to appeal for the unopposed return of candidates jointly nomi- nated by them. this would have given a very large representa- tion to opponents of the treaty. but when independent candi- dates were put forward, collins at the last moment advised his countrymen to vote as they wished. this he knew would mean the acceptance of the treaty. at the elections the republicans were heavily beaten and the irish govt., challenged by force even in the capital, decided to use force in return. civil war began; and collins, assuming chief command, flung himself into the struggle with all his energy. opposition -was crushed in dublin and all the large towns. suddenly, on aug. 12, grifhith fell dead and collins became at once head of the state and of the army. the newly enrolled forces needed impetus and he went down to give it to them by his presence in munster where the chief resistance lay. on aug. 22 1922, motoring with a strong escort from skibbereen to cork, his party was ambushed, and in the skirmish he was shot through the head. no man since parnell had so caught the imagination of ireland. per- haps the moment of his death was fortunate, for he died when victory was more apparent than real, and he was spared the task of executing those who had been his comrades. but his work stands, and he emerges from the struggle with a reputation less tarnished than some of his contemporaries. (s. g.)