s for ships of the Pacific Mail, or
associated lines, carrying merchandise for the Central American
countries.

While in Guatemala, Mr. Rosseter outlined a future policy in regard to
Central American coffees; the basis being his firm determination that
coffees grown in Central America, and logically and geographically
tributary to San Francisco distribution, should come to San Francisco in
largely increasing quantities.

Up to that time San Francisco had received, on an average, only 200,000
bags of Central American coffee annually for the ten preceding years;
while Europe had received about 1,500,000 bags a year. The quantity
necessary to make San Francisco a factor would call for an importation,
on an average, of 750,000 bags--a quantity almost four times as large as
then established.

This was an extremely ambitious undertaking, considering the conditions
then prevailing in Central America. European countries were firmly
entrenched in the coffee business in Central America, with Germany
leading in Guatemala, France in Salvador and Nicaragua, England and
France contending for superiority in Costa Rica, and the United States
getting only the leavings.

The European countries held their position in the Central American
Coffee trade by liberal financing, and a thorough knowledge of the
varying qualities of coffee produced on the different plantations. San
Francisco, the only important port in the United States dealing in
Central American coffees, had neither strong financial entrenchment in
Central America nor expert knowledge of coffee quality. Year after year,
San Francisco merchants had depended on consignments chosen by the
consignors. This rendered quality selection of coffees by the importers
impossible.

Rosseter, being primarily a steamship man, tackled the proposition from
the standpoint of transportation, figuring that if he could establish
and maintain preferential steamer service to San Francisco, and steady
freight rates, a great step would be accomplished toward the desired
end. This led to his interest in the Pacific Mail Company, of which the
final outcome was his present position as vice-president of the
reorganized Pacific Mail Company. In that capacity he maintained,
practically throughout the entire period of the World War, freight rates
on coffee from Central America to San Francisco that gave that Pacific
port an immediate and definite advantage.

This gave merchants in San Francisco the cha