Through half a century and three wars United Fruit Co. has grown to a $192 million empire. Before the war it raised and merchandised about 65% of the world's banana crop, operated a banana fleet of 80-odd trim white ships, had 126,000 acres of banana land under cultivation. Today all but a dozen of the oldest and slowest of these ships have gone to war (some of the best refrigerated ships have ignobly hauled steel ingots across the Atlantic), and the old hulks still in the Caribbean service must load high priority coffee, sugar, cocoa before hoisting one banana into...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
