uld be stacked. Trained
checkers read the marks on the bags as the laborers carry them past, and
tell the carrier where the bag should be placed. To the illiterate
laborers the checker's cries of "blue check," "green ball," "red heart,"
"black hand," and the like, are more understandable than such
indications as letters or numbers.

[Illustration: SHOWING HOW COFFEE IS STORED UNDER STEEL-COVERED SHEDS AT
NEW ORLEANS]

_Handling Coffee at San Francisco_

San Francisco ranks third in the list of United States coffee ports,
having received its greatest development in the four years of the World
War, when the flow of Central American coffees was largely diverted from
Hamburg to the Californian port. In the course of these four years, the
annual volume of coffee imports increased from some 380,000 bags to more
than 1,000,000 bags in 1918. The bulk of these importations came from
Central America, though some came from Hawaii, India, and Brazil and
other South American countries. Because of its improved unloading and
distributing facilities, San Francisco claims to be able to handle a
cargo of coffee more rapidly than either New York or New Orleans.

Handling Central American coffees in San Francisco is distinctly
different from the business in Brazil. In order to secure the Central
American planter's crops, the importers find it necessary to finance his
operations to a large extent. Consequently, the Central American trade
is not a simple matter of buying and selling, but an intricate financial
operation on the part of the San Francisco importers. Practically all
the coffee coming in is either on consignment, or is already sold to
established coffee-importing houses. Brokers do not deal direct with the
exporters; and practically none of the roasters now import direct.

[Illustration: DISCHARGING COFFEE FROM A STEAMER JUST ARRIVED FROM
CENTRAL AMERICA]

[Illustration: HOW A LARGE CARGO OF COFFEE IS HANDLED ON THE PIER AS IT
IS UNLOADED FROM THE SHIP]

[Illustration: UNLOADING AND STORING COFFEE AT SAN FRANCISCO]

In recent years San Francisco has adopted the practise of buying a
large part of her coffee on the "to arrive" basis; that is the purchase
has been made before the coffee is shipped from the producing country,
or while in transit. This practise applies, of course, only to well
known marks and standard grades. Coffee that has not been sold before
arrival in San Francisco is generally sampled on the docks d