ighest point, each individual man, woman, and child
having more than 12 pounds a year, enough for almost 500 cups, allotted
to him as his portion. This is four times as much as it was a hundred
years ago; and more than twice as much as it was in the years
immediately following the Civil War. In general it is fifty percent more
than the average in the twenty years preceding 1897, in which year a new
high level of coffee consumption was apparently established, the per
capita figure for that year being 10.12 pounds, which has been
approximately the average since then.

[Illustration: No. 6--WORLD'S CONSUMPTION OF TEA AND COFFEE

Diagram showing their relationship, 1860-1920]

Since the advent of country-wide prohibition in the United States on
July 1, 1919, about two pounds more coffee per person, or 80 to 100
cups, have been consumed than before. Part of this increase is doubtless
to be charged to prohibition; but it is yet too early to judge fairly as
to the exact effect of "bone-dry" legislation on coffee drinking. The
continued growth in the use of coffee in the United States has been in
decided contrast to the per capita consumption of tea, which is less now
than half a century ago.

In the United Kingdom, the reverse condition prevails. Tea drinking
there steadily maintains a popularity which it has enjoyed for
centuries; while coffee apparently makes no advance in favor. In this
respect, the country is sharply distinguished from its neighbors of
western Europe, in many of which coffee drinking has been much heavier,
considering the population, even than in the United States. The contrast
between the tastes of the two countries in beverages is shown clearly by
the per capita figures of tea and coffee consumption for half a century,
as they appear in the table, next column.

TEA AND COFFEE CONSUMPTION PER CAPITA

_Year United States United Kingdom_
Coffee Tea Coffee Tea
pounds pounds pounds pounds
1866 4.96 1.17 1.02 3.42
1867 5.01 1.09 1.04 3.68
1868 6.52 .96 1.00 3.52
1869 6.45 1.08 .94 3.63
1870 6.00 1.10 .98 3.81
1871 7.91 1.14 .97 3.92
1872 7.28 1.46 .98 4.01
1873 6.87 1.53 .99 4.11
1874 6.59 1.27 .96 4.23
1875 7.08 1.44 .98 4.44
1876 7.33 1.35 .99 4.50
1877 6.94 1.23 .96 4.52
1878 6.24 1.33 .97 4.66
1879