As the Boston Fruit Company continued to power through, during the early 1890s, it became clear there was a growing demand for the banana. This was the start of the banana becoming a staple piece of the American diet and the BFC was ready to compensate. Understanding that there was a higher opportunity for increased profit the more hands on the bunch was revolutionary for the banana-producing company. Bunches with six or fewer hands were considered to be less valuable, the new standard of banana production had reached eight or nine hands. This move for more hands actually worked in favor of a new variety of bananas called the Gros Michel. Gros Michels were known for producing more hands on a bunch and thus took the banana production world by storm, later dominating the banana market well into the 1900s.1
In response to the change towards Gros Michels, by 1892, banana imports began their steady increase and infiltration into the international fruit market. In the United States alone, 12 million stems were reported to have been imported during this time.2 This would continue to grow well into the mid-20th century.
It is also important to note that 1892 was the year Samuel Zemurray “the Banana Man” immigrated to Selma, Alabama from Kishinev, Besserabia, Russia. During this time, he worked low-salary jobs in order to support his family as they also immigrated to the United States. It was in 1895, when Zemurray launched his own banana company in Mobile, Alabama.3 Zemurray saw a massive opportunity to cheaply buy up ripened bananas from United Fruit (a large banana importerer at the time) that would otherwise be discarded and sell them to the public. Setting up “banana agents” along the most popular railway stops, he was able to make a considerable profit by selling these discounted, otherwise useless, bananas.4
In the same year, it is noted that the Boston Fruit Company was in ownership of 40,000 acres in Jamaica that consisted of: 35 plantations and deep water frontages in Port Morant and Port Antonio. This further showed the strength and prowess of the fruit company and its growing expansion in monopolizing the banana-production market.5
During the 1890s, while the “banana men” were focused solely on the production of their golden fruit, a more dangerous threat loomed nearby. Its name was the Panama Disease that jumped from Panama to Costa Rica during this time, destroying acres and acres of banana plantations.6 This could have ended the entire banana production industry early on. However, access to virgin, arable land presented the opportunity for companies like the Boston Fruit Company to stay ahead of the disease.7
During the last five years of the 19th century, a number of key events occurred that would pave the way for the creation of the United Fruit Company. In 1897, Minor Keith purchased 50% of the Snyder Banana Company. This time period also saw a number of new fruit importation/exportation companies arise. This was in part due to the attraction to the money-making industry and the success stories of others such as the Boston Fruit Company. None of these newcomers, however, were able to challenge the BFC, and on March 30, 1899 Minor Keith, an American businessman who owned and managed Costa Rican railways as well as dipped his own hand into the banana production world merged with Andrew Preston’s Boston Fruit Company, as well as a several other smaller fruit companies, to create the United Fruit Company.8 This all would have not been possible if Minor Keith had not lost $1.5 million dollars to a New York broker corporation and declared bankruptcy, which was the final straw that forced Keith into his decision to merge with Preston’s company.9
Despite the creation of the United Fruit Company in 1899, there were multiple small rival fruit companies such as the Southern Banana Exchange and the Fruit Dispatch Company that failed to see the same longevity and level of success as the UFC due to a number of different factors. These include: internal company conflicts, UFC use of monopolies to control the banana supply, and unstable profits/losses which were hard to stand against the hard stability of the UFC’s steady stream of profits.10
It was also during 1899, that the fleet of ships initially purchased by the Boston Fruit Company to export bananas to the United States were painted white and named the Great White Fleet.11 This was done in an attempt to reflect sunlight off the ships in order to keep bananas cooler for longer, therefore enhancing their shelf-life. These ships were also crucial in creating a demand for Caribbean tourism. Initially, these ships were used only for the transportation of bananas, however they were later renovated to comfortably fit more passengers and encourage the travel between the tropics and the United States.12
At the beginning of the 20th century in the year 1900, the Costa Rican government announced its intention to sign a new trade agreement with the newly formed United Fruit Company. Minor Keith, partly in charge of the UFC, found himself to be a very influential man in Costa Rican society. This was majorly thanks to his wife, Cristina Castro, who was the daughter of a Costa Rican president. He was a highly respected and trusted man, which meant he was able to easily negotiate on behalf of his own company.13 This was quite a significant and early sign as to how the UFC would perform its business measures in the future, through means of nepotism, deception and bribery.
References
1Chapman, P. (2007). Bananas. Edinburgh: Grove Atlantic, p.51.
2Fraser, E., 2020. Where Our Bananas Come From. The National Geographic, [online] (8), pp.718-719.
3Whitfield, Stephen J. “Strange Fruit: The Career of Samuel Zemurray.” American Jewish History 73, no. 3 (1984): 307-23.
4Cohen, R., 2012. The Birth Of America’S Banana King. [online] Slate Magazine.
5King, M. (1895). How to see Boston. Boston: Macullar, Park and Company, p.202.
6The banana knowledge platform of the ProMusa network. 2020. Fusarium Wilt | The Banana Knowledge Platform Of The Promusa Network. [online]
7Soluri, John. “Accounting for Taste: Export Bananas, Mass Markets, and Panama Disease.” Environmental History 7, no. 3 (2002): 386-410.
8Unitedfruit.org. (2001). United Fruit Historical Society. [online]
9Unitedfruit.org. 2001. United Fruit Company – Minor Cooper Keith.
10Countryhouseessays.com. (2019). Birth of United Fruit Company « Country House Essays. [online]
11Chapman, P. (2007). Bananas. Edinburgh: Grove Atlantic
12United Fruit Company, “Great White Fleet, United Fruit Company Steamship Service, T.E.S. Talamanca, Dinner Menu, March 30, 1940” (1940). Cruise Ship & Shipping Line Menus. 37.
https://scholarsarchive.jwu.edu/shipping_lines_menus/37
13Harpelle, Ronald N. “Racism and Nationalism in the Creation of Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast Banana Enclave.” The Americas 56, no. 3 (2000): 29-51.
