e
southeast corner of Wall and Water Streets, the former site of the
Merchants' coffee house. This is the building where _The Tea and Coffee
Trade Journal_ had its offices for nine years before moving to 79 Wall
Street.

[Illustration: MERCHANTS COFFEE HOUSE TABLET

Bronze marker, placed May 23, 1914, on the building occupying the site
of the old coffee house]

Seth Low, introduced by William Bayne, Jr., president of the Lower Wall
Street Business Men's Association, gave an interesting sketch of the
history of the coffee house. Abram Wakeman, secretary of the
association, spoke, followed by Wilberforce Eames, of the American
history division of the New York Public Library.

After the flag that veiled the memorial tablet had been drawn aside,
attention was called to a bronze chest which was hermetically sealed,
and in which had been placed papers and other documents reflecting the
life of New York today. The chest was given over to the keeping of the
New York Historical Society, with the understanding that it was not to
be opened until 1974, which will be the two-hundredth anniversary of the
union of the Colonies.

It was from the Merchants' coffee house that the letter of May 23, 1774,
was written in reply to the Committee of Correspondence in Boston. The
letter suggested a "Congress of Deputies" from the Colonies, and called
for a "virtuous and spirited Union." The coffee house is consequently
regarded as the birthplace of the Union.

_Recent Activities_

A second national coffee week was held in October, 1915, under the
auspices of the National Coffee Roasters' Association.

In 1916, the Coffee Exchange of the City of New York changed its name to
the New York Coffee and Sugar Exchange, to admit of sugar trading.

In 1916, the National Paper Can Company of Milwaukee first introduced to
the trade its new hermetically sealed all-paper can for coffee.

In 1916, Jules Le Page, Darlington, Ind., was granted two United States
patents on cutting rolls to cut and not grind or crush corn, wheat, or
coffee. This idea was incorporated in the Ideal steel cut coffee mill
subsequently marketed by the B.F. Gump Company, Chicago.

In 1918, the World War caused the United States government to place
coffee importers, brokers, jobbers, roasters, and wholesalers under a
war-time licensing system to control imports and prices.

In 1918, John E. King, of Detroit, was granted a United States patent on
an irregular grind of c