"Acting on behalf of the Agricultural Department, I have secured a collection of the seeds of the more important crops peculiar to Ethiopia, a number of which may be found valuable in the exploitation of the uncultivated Western lands of the United States, now being made available by the extension of our irrigation system. I have also in hand material for a report upon the agricultural resources of the empire.
"The Agricultural Department was particularly desirous of securing a collection of wild coffee seeds for experimental purposes. These could not be obtained during my visit, but have been ordered, and will be ultimately forwarded. Such a collection could only be found in Kaffa, a remote province of the country, access to which involves a long and expensive journey.
SKINNER AND THE NEGUS
Consul General Couldn't Get Coffee Seeds and Zebras.
HE LEFT ORDERS FOR BOTH
His Mission Was a Great Success in Other Respects - Report to State Department.
Feb. 22, 1904
WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 - Robert P. Skinner, United States Consul general at Marseilles, who was sent by this Government on a special mission to Abyssinia last November for the purposes of negotiating a tread treaty with the Negus Menelik, and gathering information respecting the commercial resources of that country, has made a brief report of his highly successful mission to the Department of State. As a result of Mr. Skinner's efforts direct trade may now be profitably opened up with the region which contains a population of something like 10,000,000; a population, too, which is daily increasing its purchasing power and its wants. In his report to Mr. Loomis, the Assistant Secretary of State, Mr. Skinner says:
"The results of the mission confided to me of safeguarding a valuable existing market in Ethiopia and increasing it by all legitimate means may be summarized as follows:
"A treaty has been negotiated with the Emperor's Government which, if acceptable, will secure to the United States for all time the privileges of the most favored nation in Ethiopia, and at the same time guarantee to our citizens and to our merchandise immunity from discrimination in rate upon all public roads and lines of communication whatsoever.
"The invitation to participate in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition has been accepted, and the preliminary orders were given during my visit in Addis-Ababa for the collection of material necessary for a proper exhibit. The Emperor also expressed his intention of sending to the United States during the coming Summer a commission of distinguished and representative men to take charge of the exhibit at St. Louis, and to expand the commercial relations of the empire, if possible.
"I have collected a vast amount of trade information, which will be collated and duly forwarded to the department as a separate commercial report.
"Acting on behalf of the Agricultural Department, I have secured a collection of the seeds of the more important crops peculiar to Ethiopia, a number of which may be found valuable in the exploitation of the uncultivated Western lands of the United States, now being made available by the extension of our irrigation system. I have also in hand material for a report upon the agricultural resources of the empire.
"The Agricultural Department was particularly desirous of securing a collection of wild coffee seeds for experimental purposes. These could not be obtained during my visit, but have been ordered, and will be ultimately forwarded. Such a collection could only be found in Kaffa, a remote province of the country, access to which involves a long and expensive journey.
"The experts of the Agricultural Department have a theory that the degeneration of the modern plantations is due to the fact that, coffee culture has been based upon seed originally imported from Arabia, and that by getting back to the wild coffee plant, the habitat of which is the Province of Kaffa, a new variety may be created, the value of which will be incalculable.
"My endeavor to obtain a pair of large zebras for cross-breeding purposes was also in vain. These animals are exceedingly rare and difficult to capture alive. I have left instructions, however, in regard to this matter, and trust to be able to supply tow of these animals some time in the future.
"In addition to these definite results, the presence of the mission in Ethiopia has had the effect of turning the attention of the business classes of the empire toward the United States as a probable source of supply for many manufactured articles for which an expanding market is certain to result upon the completion of the railway, and as a probable consuming market for such products as may be available for export."
In describing the military honors paid to him on his arrival at Addis-Ababa, Mr. Skinner says:
"Although our reception at Harrar had not been devoid of military pomp, we were all astonished and our appreciation of the picturesque gratified by this first glimpse of Ethiopian troops upon a ceremonial occasion. Arrayed in gorgeous silks and satins, with lion and leopard skin mantles, gold and silver plated bucklers, carrying lances from which floated the national colors mounted upon spirited horses, they galloped into formation, the very order of which was an apparent disorder, shifting like kaleidoscope and constituting a scene as indescribable as it was memorable.
A band of shawm [sic] players heralded our coming with weird music which has not changed since the fall of Jericho."
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Ed's Note: Coffee in Retrospect is a weekly column prepared by Coffee Monitor and Poor Farmer blog to provide context for the current global coffee trade by republishing news articles from the past. In this column, we intend to reprint archived prints by converting images into electronic file formats with careful conformity to originals and, whenever applicable and possible, we provide links to the sources of the information. Meanwhile, responsibility for the contents lies solely with the authors and the views expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect our opinions.