15 MARCH 1851, Page 13

COMMERCIAL MORALS.

Evmc if it had been possible after recent exposures todeny the annihilated

by of coffee, the possibility would have been • ilated by the meeting at the London Tavern. There the adulteration was admitted by the opponents as well as the promoters of the meeting. Mr. Conder, the leader of the opposition, whose firm has " for the last fifteen years roasted one-fiftieth part of all the coffee imported into this country," narrated the rise and progress of adulteration with much naivete— Chicory had gradually crept into the trade ; and in 1832 so much was the Government convinced of this, that they allowed grocers to keep it on their premises. In 1840 they went further, and allowed coffee and chi- cory to be mixed. The public at large began to like the taste of chicory. (Laughter.) Gentlemen might laugh, but it was undeniable. He and his partner had resisted the introduction of chicory until they saw that if they went further they would lose the half of their trade. If the adulteration of chicory could be prevented, a great benefit would be conferred ; for at present it was sold at a price at which he well knew that it could not be produced. (Cheers and uproar.) Some of our readers seem to have doubted the statements as to the extremity to which adulteration is carried : let their doubts be removed by the assurance of Mr. Deane— He produced a sample of stuff for adulterating coffee, which had been brought to him the other day, and which consisted of burnt peas, dog biscuit, powdered earth, and other materials which he would not describe, as they were too horrid to mention. (Cries of "Hear hear !") Any one who wished could obtain this mixture ; for he had been told there were four tons of it ready now. It was a substitute for chicory and snuff. (Great up- roar.) How could an honest man stand the competition of people who were grinding tons and tons of this, every week ?

Thus the chicory with which coffee is adulterated is itself a sub- ject of adulteration. These facts are placed beyond question by the public meeting. Another very important admission was made—the admission that practical dishonesty is undermining the soundness of trade. Mr. Deane follows up his allusion to the competition of the adul- terator, with the significant hint—" they knew what trade was "; meaning that the honest trader must be a martyr or yield to the force of competition. Nor is the adulteration confined to coffee : Mr. Payne, of Regent Street, says—" The present state of the gro- cery trade in coffee, in arrowroot, and in cocoa, is such, that if the grocers of London do not mind the trade will be taken out of their hands "—by the adulterators. In other words, the trade in coffee, arrowroot, and cocoa, will cease—destroyed under the competition of the trade in burnt peas and other stuffs flavoured with coffee, in potato starch, and in coloured flour, &c. flavoured with cocoa. To that extent has the depravity of trade gone ; but in admit- ting the fact, in proclaiming it, the promoters of the meeting have instituted a healthy reaction, and have at once made no small pro- gress in rescuing the retail trade of the Metropolis from its sui- cidal demoralization.