Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
September 5th, 1881.
THE MUSICAL CRITIC AND TRADE REVIEW.
31
Sk
DOMESTIC
VOL. V.
.AJSTO EXPORT
TRADE.
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 5TH, 1881.
No. 3.
workman who committed it, and the foreman hall and library, and a store at which can be
who permitted it. • We do not hesitate to say procured all the necessaries of life at the most
that we have never seen more scrupulous care moderate prices. At the club house, no drinking
exercised in the selection and treatment of lum- of any kind is allowed except a German tea, other-
ber, nor in the manner of its construction into wise known as "beer." At the factory not even
URING the past eighteen months the editor sounding boards, neither^have we known more cau- beer is allowed to be'drank during working hours.
of the MUSICAL CRITIC AND TRADE REVIEW tion observed, and more pains taken in the manu-
Mr. Dolge's ability is shown in another way,
has received cordial invitations from Mr. Alfred facture of felt than we found at Brockett's Bridge. independently of the business system, and the
Dolge to visit his sounding board and felt factories Where one machine is commonly thought suffi- regulating of an enjoyable social life. It is in the
at Brockett's Bridge, in the county of Herkimer, cient for the " carding " or "combing " operations, selection of men who are not to be surpassed in the
New York State. It seemed impossible during Mr. Dolge cannot be contented with less than six, positions that they are called upon to fill. Those
this time to find leisure for the trip which ap- and the consequence is that when the wool leaves who are acquainted with the New York store in
peared to combine so many elements of pleasure the last of these machines it is as fine, and white, 13th street, will not need to be informed that
that serious business would be interfered with. and pure as flakes of driven snow. II-, is in cer- Messrs. Karl Fink and L. Cavelli, the salesmen,
That was where we were mistaken, and, as from tain of these carding machines that the peculiar are geniuses in their line. But they are not the
time to time, accounts reach us of the important "taper," so indispensible to hammer-head felts, only ones. At Brockett's Bridge Mr. Dolge has
interests that centered in Brockett's Bridge, and is given in a manner that can be made to suit the equally able assistants in Mr. Paul Grass, who is
the admirable manner in which those interests idiosyncracies of each customer. The " taper " is at the head of the counting room ; Mr. J. Breck-
were managed, we felt that it became a part of our due partly to the ingenious mechanical contrivan- woldt, who has charge of the manufacture of
duty in connection with a trade paper to make an ces devised by Mr. Bruno Dolge, and partly to mouldings ; Mr. T. Sandford, a felt man from
individual examination and report.
the skill and experience of the operators. The Danbury, Conn., who looks after the carding and
About a year ago, there was presented in this ability to produce this " t a p e r " in any propor- combing department of the felt factory ; Mr. F .
paper an elaborate account of the trip to Brockett's tion in various sheets of felt is of immense advan- Engelhardt, who superintends the sounding-board
Bridge, a description of the local scenery, and an tage to Mr. Dolge, for it enables him to vary department, and Mr. Bruno Dolge, of whose
elaborate review of the costly and ingenious his sheets of felt exactly in accordance with the merits we have already spoken.
machinery with which Mr. Dolge's factories are so wishes of each customer without being obliged to
We also met in the sounding-board factory, Mr.
fully equipped. In the present article we shall take the chances of leaving something on hand Edwin Bechstein, son of Mr. C. Bechstein, of
not weary our readers with a repetition of dry that will happen to supply a demand at the time Berlin, and one of the most celebrated piano man-
mechanical details, but shall review the system of making a sale.
ufacturers in Germany. Young Bechstein is a
which, fully as much as men and machines, gives
To return to the question of the general system splendid specimen of the frank, hale and hearty
life and breath to Mr. Dolge's business enter- observed; the foreman of each department has a German. His father has sent him to this country
prises.
direct interest in the business. He does not re- to study Mr. Dolge's methods and machinery, and
It must be remarked, however, that one of the ceive a certain percentage of the proiits, but with this end in view he is going through the fac-
most interesting features of a trip to Brockett's receives each year in addition to his wages a sum tory like an ordinary workman.
Bridge by the manufacturer in the music trades of money in proportion to the ability with which
In conclusion we may say that though we had
will be found in the inspection of the machinery, he has conducted, stimulated, or developed his formed some idea of Mr. Dolge's business we found
for, especially in the manufacture of the felts for department. There are four foremen of depart- that it was impossible to get an idea of its extent,
piano hammers and dampers, the manufacturer, ments in the felt factory, five in the sounding- importance, and admirable system by merely visit-
although well posted in every detail of his business, board factory, and one in each of the two water ing the New York office. From what we saw at
may not have such another opportunity within power saw mills and the steam saw mill. The the Bridge we were convinced that the genial
twenty years. We have piano, organ, action, string three saw mills are situated at a considerable dis- Fink, though often upbraided for tooting his melo-
and other factories conveniently at hand, but not a tance from Brockett's Bridge, deep in the spruce dious horn BO loudly, had in no wise over-estimated
single factory especially arranged for the manufac- forests, and do the heavy sawing for the factory, the quantities of sounding-boards and felts which
ture of felts as used in the music trades.
and for the supplying of lumber to the piano this concern supplies to the leading manufacturers
of the United States, Germany, England, and
Brockett's Bridge we found to be a quiet, strag- trade abroad.
gling little town, eminently rustic in its simplicity,
Outside of the factories, we had abundant op- other countries. For we saw with our own eyes
far removed from the bustle of railway traffic, and portunities, during our three days' stay at Brock- the patterns of these manufacturers for sounding
looking north to where the blue line of the Adiron- ett's Bridge, to study two forms of social life: boards and also for felts, which last cannot be
dack Mountains stretched across the horizon. I t one, that of the workman in his home, or at the made like cloth and cut to suit the order of the
lay simmering in the summer sun, and the east club house, which the liberality and wisdom of customer, but must be made after a special pat-
Canada creek which flowed by its side brawled Mr. Dolge has provided for his entertainment; the tern.
forth its complaint that the long continued drought other, that in which the head of this business and
was laying bare its rugged rocks. Here Mr. Dolge his friends participate. Of the qualities of Mr.
THE PIANO NOT A LUXURY.
has two large buildings, in one of which the man- Alfred Dolge, and his esteemed wife, as host and
ufacture of sounding boards and mouldings is car- hostess, it would seem fulsome and misplaced to SHOULD IT NOT BE CLASSED AMONG THE NECESSAR-
IES OF LIFE ?—ITS PLACE IN THE HOME CIRCLE,
ried on, while the other is devoted to felt making. speak in the terms they deserve in such an article;
—WORK OF ONE OF OUR LEADING FIRMS OF MAN-
It needed but a hasty inspection of either place to but, whoever has made the visit will understand
UFACTURERS.
note the perfection of the machinery, all built, we the feelings of regret experienced by Mr. Nem-
were informed, on the spot by Mr."Bruno Dolge, bach, of Geo. Steck & Co., and the editor of the r T^HE pianoforte is generally classed in trade
brother of the head of the firm, and a true mechan- MUSICAL CRITIC AND TRADE REVIEW on this oc- X circles with articles of luxury ; something
ical and inventive genius, especially in the felt casion, when the genial Fink announced that it that will be bought by a man for himself or some
business, which he has made the study of his life. was time to take the carriage to meet the train at member of his family when the house has been
Many of these machines, both for wood working Little Falls, and, snatching up their little grip well supplied with the necessaries of life ; when
and felt making, were not only constructed at sacks they were obliged to bid farewell to those the furniture, carpets, and the bedding, etc., have
Brockett's Bridge by Mr. Dolge's machinists, but with whom friendship seemed to have ripened been put in, the larder well supplied and gotten
were invented !>v Mr. Bruno Dolge, and cannot be from an acquaintance to be remembered by months into good running order, when the schooling has
found in any other factories in the world. The rather than by days.
been provided for the childern, and when some-
appearance of the factories was [clean and orderly
The social life at Brockett's Bridge is closely thing beyond the money for these necessaries has
in the extreme. Every machine was kept as bright allied with the business life. Mr. Dolge has been laid by in the savings bank.
and worked as smoothly as a pet " steamer " in gathered about him many of his relatives. His
the New York fire department, and upon the in- father, Mr. August Dolge, a venerable but rugged
PIANO BUYERS.
stant we recognize the first effects of that perfect man, an old and experienced piano manufacturer
There
is
another
that enters into the
system which characterizes Mr. Dolge's business in Germany, came to this country about a year consideration of the element
purchase of a piano by the
methods.
ago, and now manages the fine farm which is a part man of modei-ate means. There must be a decid-
The work, as in most other factories, is divided of his son's possessions. There are sisters, ed musical taste, even if of an inferior order, in
into departments, each in charge of an able direc- brothers, and brothers-in-law also. The male his family before he will purchase a piano. The
tor, every department keeping a complete rec- members of tiie families are being engaged in con- wealthy man, who makes the slightest pretention
ord of each sheet of felt and every sounding ducting the business. Out of business hours to live in the world, will of course include a piano
board, or the materials of which they are com- social intercourse is unrestrained and is enjoyed to among his household furniture, though there is not
posed, from the time they are received in the an extent that is seldom known among us Ameri- a soul in his household who can distinguish
crude state until they are delivered into the pur- cans, who never find time by day or by night to "Yankee Doodle" from "Old Hundred." He
chasers' hands, and these concise but truthful his- lay aside our business cares. In the homes of has it partly as a matter of show, for no drawing-
tories are preserved for two or three years after the workmen everything is in the best shape, room is considered complete without a piano, and
the sounding board or felt has gone to the con- houses, fences, surroundings, all look neat, partly because it may afford pleasure to his guests.
sumer, so that should complaints of defects arise comfortable and orderly. There is a park for To such a man a piano is a necessity ; to the man
within that time the matter can be thoroughly in- their use now in process of being laid out, a club of moderate means, such as has been described
vestigated, and the fault brought home to the house, with bowling alley, billiard room, concert above," it seems more of an article of luxury, and
A VISIT TO BROCKETT'S BRIDGE.
LIFE AT A MANUFACTURING SETTLEMENT. CONTENTED
WORKMEN AND HAPPY 'FAMILIES.—A BUSINESS SYS-
TEM WHICH IT WOULD BE WELL TO COPY.
D