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Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
February 5th, ti
THE MUSICAL CRITIC AND TRADE REVIEW.
to investigate. Legitimate houses would organ. I received D. F. Beatty's circulars,
never condescend to use such questionable means bought a draft for $135, and ordered what he
of disposing of organs; and because they will not, called one of his best organs. After waiting
COMPLAINTS POURING IN FROM ALL QUARTERS. and because Beatty has and mny hereafter do so, we several weeks the organ finally came. Having
consider it incumbent upon ourselves to go a step spent twenty years at work in the car shops in
further, and look into other matters connected Erie, I knew t could not be deceived in regard to
INTERESTING FACTS BROUGHT TO LIGHT THROUGH with Beatty and his instruments.
mechanical work.
THE INVESTIGATIONS OP THE MUSICAL CRITIC
Beatty's factory was destroyed by fire on Sep- ' 'I gave the organ a fair trial, and, on examina-
AND TRADE REVIEW — INJURY IN-
tember 18, 1881. It is now nearly completed,— tion, concluded it was not what I wanted, boxed
FLICTED UPON LEGITIMATE TRADE.
that is to say, the exterior is done and painted, and returned it, and bought another make.
"Beatty acknowledged receiving the organ, but
with the words "Beatty's Organs and Pianos" on
' I "'HE following dispatch appeared in the New the front and sides, and the machinery, etc., put off returning the money with different offers
X York Times January 28:
is now in place, but organs are not yet made there. and excuses, until, after trying for months to get
Completed instruments cannot be turned out for my money, I finally complained to the American
AN ORGAN FACTORY BURNED.
Agriculturist (from which paper I took the adver-
some weeks, nay, a month or so.
Pianos are not and never have been made by tisement), asking them to assist me to get my
LOSS OF LIFE AND SIX HUNDRED PERSONS THROWN
Beatty. He buys pianos, and has his name sten- money, which they kindly did, or I never should
OUT OF EMPLOYMENT.
have got it.
ciled on them.
WASHINGTON, Warren County, N. J.—Great ex- Ever since the destruction of the factory, Beatty
"Then Beatty sent his own check, with an im-
citement and consternation prevails in this place has been advertising extensively all over the coun- pudent letter, saying that I had never intended to
to-night in consequence of the destruction of Mayor try that he will sell organs at reduced prices, cash buy an organ, but had ordered it only to satisfy an
Daniel F. Beatty's large organ factory by fire. The with the order, or certificate of deposit put in some idle curiosity. No freight was returned, as prom-
building was completely consumed, and 600 hands bank,—after the notice of which he will ship. He ised; in fact, I was too well pleased to get my money
have thus been thrown out of employment. The knew, and he knows, that he has no organs to ship, again to even ask for it. Twenty-five dollars
fire is said to have caught in the engine-roT>m about unless he means such as are returned as unsatis would not have paid me for the trouble and ex-
8 o'clock, and it spread with great rapidity through- factory, and which he repairs and ships again, or pense I was at."
out the factory. The fire company did all that was such as he might occasionally purchase.
The Rev. E. Whiton, of Springfield, Pa., says:
possible under the circumstances, but the flames This method is illegitimate. It is a well-known "My daughter ordered a Beatty organ, which came
had obtained such headway that they could not be "game" by persons who carry on business in such so effectually nailed up that the box had to be well
stayed in the main building. The south wing, how- a way that they always ship the goods ordered by nigh broke to pieces to get the organ out, and the
ever, was saved by the persistent efforts of the fire- certificate of deposit, and let the cash party wait. instrument was very unsatisfactory both in tone
men. In it were about 100 organs ready for ship- In this manner they get more cash in. But Beatty and case, while the book, that was represented in
ment, and none of them were damaged. A man is not able to do that at present, as he has no or- the picture as a large volume, was a small paper-
named James Ball was instantly killed by the fall- gans, and has not been making any since the fire. covered pamphlet. I bought an organ of an agent.
ing of tlie south wall. This is the second time But worse than all this, let it be known that As part of the bargain, he was to box the Beatty
within the past three months that this factory has Beatty has not shipped organs the cash for which organ, and I was to board him while he was doing
been burned. It was only recently rebuilt, and
received long before the fire. He is constantly it, or I guess I never could have got the organ
resumed operations not more than two weeks ago. he
money for organs, knowing that he can- back into the box to return it.
Mr. Beatty, the owner of the factory, is out of town receiving
"The agent told me Beatty would not pay back
not even send organs that were paid for many
to-night.
any freight. I made up my mind I would compel
months ago.
On January 30 the New York Herald printed We append an extract from a letter from a gen- him to, as I considered the whole thing an imposi-
the following:
tleman residing near Topeka, Mason county, 111. tion. But I did not succeed in getting any freight
In the course of his letter, dated December 19,1881, returned."
AN UNFOUNDED REPORT.
I notice that E. G. Waring, of Linesville, Craw-
he says:
"I sent by express to D. F. Beatty $60 on ford Co., Pa., publicly states that he had "tried"
Mayor Daniel F. Beatty, of Washington, Warren
county, N. J., denies the report, published yester- the 28th of May, and he, Beatty, received the a Beatty organ, and returned it condemned.
day, that his extensive organ and piano factory at money, but has failed to send the organ, style
* * *
that place, had been burned to the ground on Fri- 9,000. Is there any such firm or not, and are they
Such are a few instances which we present to
reliable,
or
what
is
the
matter?
I
think
this
&
day, and that a man named James Hall, an em-
the trade and public about Beatty.
ploye, had lost his life during the alleged confla- great way to do, for a firm that make 500 organs a A lawyer in Washington. N. J., has received
day,
and
can't
fill
a
cash
May
order.
I
think
gration. Mr. Beatty says that the factory was
many letters, asking him how to get the money
burned on September 18 last, and was immediately there is fraud somewhere. Please answer and sent in advance to Beatty, which he has had in his
* * * possession for a long time now.
rebuilt, and is now running night and day. He oblige."
adds that he never had in his employ a man by the A postscript adds:
This lawyer went to see Beatty, and after talk-
name of James Ball or James Hall. He proposes "I have written to-day to D. F. Beatty, the ing with him, he answered his clients that in his
to make a thorough investigation as to how the re- Mayor."
judgment the organs would be shipped.
port that the factory was destroyed by fire on the
This lawyer assumed that responsibility, but he
27 inst., which was sent from New Jersey, origi- Here is a healthy jase. We have the letter in admits
he knows nothing about Beatty's con-
nated, as he believes it was started by some per- our possession. A man out in Illinois sends D. F. dition, that
and also admits that his methods are
son or persons with a view of injuring his busi- Beatty $60 in May, 1881, and after waiting seven dangerous
and wrong. We fully agree with him.
months, he inquires of D. F. Beatty, the Mayor,
ness.
It is wrong and illegitimate for any man to collect
all about Beatty, the organ man. This is rich.
from $25,000 to $50,000 of other people's money,
Here is another case:
A representative of THE MUSICAL CRITIC AND Mrs. Thomas Long, corner Gough and Chester and continue doing so, knowing all the time that
TRADE REVIEW immediately started for Washing- streets, Baltimore, Md., ordered a Beatty organ he cannot ship.
ton, N. J., to investigate the matter.
and enclosed postal order of $65. She wanted the No legitimate manufacturers can compete with
Other things in regard to Beatty and his busi- organ without paying in advance, but he wrote such a man, and it is our duty as the Representa-
ness having come to our knowledge lately, we de- that he wanted the money, and she sent it. He tive Trade Paper of the Piano and Organ Trades
termined to make a thorough examination of also stated that he would fill the order at once. of this country to expose the shameful methods
Beatty's methods.
This was about August 1, 1881, six weeks before of Beatty.
Let us state here, that it is not our purpose to the fire. Of course, she has no organ and no He calls the "other firms monopolists. What
examine into the nature of private enterprises.
money. She wants to know how to save the greater monopoly is there than one who monopol-
izes the funds of other people?
Any manufacturer is entitled to pursue his own money that she sent to Beatty.
system of disposing of the goods he makes, pro- Letters of complaint having reached THE MU- After the destruction of the factory, Beatty
vided he does not injure the morale of business in SICAL. CRITIC AND TRADE EEVIEW, we print the fol- asked some of his creditors for an extension.
general.
After receiving his insurance, which was $62,-
lowing:
000, he paid off. He now states that the new
An organ manufacturer is undoubtedly entitled
A FEW CASES IN POINT.
factory cost over $90,000. This we believe to be
to make instruments containing 27 stops; but if that
ERIE, January 16.
false.
manufacturer advertises the 27-stop organ at a
price only a small figure in advance of most any
In his dispatch to the New York Herald, he
While at Erie, I chanced to hear a Beatty
kind of organ containing 2 3-5 sets of reeds, it is a piano condemned in unstinted terms by a tuner, says that the "factory is running night and day."
matter of general interest to see how he does it. and thought I would inquire about Beatty's instru- This also we believe to be false. The factory is in
Organs containing 2 3-5 sets of reeds are generally ments at this end of his line.
course of completion in the interior, but no work
made with from 7 to 12 stops, and not 27 stops.
I have found that parties who have bought and is done of any importance, because the factory is
All the stops above 12 are complete dummy paid for his instruments are not at all disposed to not ready. At night it is closed, and organs can-
stops. The world at large knows nothing of this. publicly condemn their own business wisdom or not be made in the dark. There is no light to be
seen there.
A purchaser asks an agent of a legitimate organ their own property.
house how much he charges for a 10-stop organ. I found two parties who, months ago, sent Beatty We will continue to watch the methods of
The agent tells him say $75, or $85, or $100, ac- cash for organs on his promise of immediate ship- Beatty, and our columns are open to statements
cording to the case. The purchaser has received ment, but have not yet received the organs, though in reference to Beatty and his methods.
a Beatty circular, from which he notices that Beatty wishing the money back in their own hands again,
As to the dispatch sent to the New York Times
offers a 20-stop organ at the same figure.
January 28, no one can say who sent it. A local
and feeling very uneasy.
This purchaser does not know that the Beatty
Knowing that they are wholly at the mercy of preacher in the neighborhood of Washington, N.
20-stop organ has less reeds in it than the 10-stop the man who holds both the money and the or- J., by the name of Gerard, was accused, but he
organ made by legitimate manufacturers. What- gans, they refuse to make any statement for publi- stoutly denied knowing anything about it. Who
sent it, or how it was sent, remains a mystery.
ever the agent may tell him has no weight with cation.
him, because it is simply a competitor's talk. He Next, I find two parties who have had and re- Superintendent O'Brian, whose office is at Scran-
buys the 20-stop Beatty, and pays more for that turned Beatty's organs. They willingly make ton, does not permit the operators along the line
organ, containing a certain number of reeds, than their experience public. I asked for a statement to divulge matters of that kind, and it is unknown
he would pay for any other organ made in this of facts, and received the following, with the priv- who sent that remarkable dispatch. The denial
country containing a similar number of reeds.
ilege of publishing with name:
is a representative Beatty advertisement, and con-
This system or method is m itself of sufficient N. E. Teel McKean, of Erie Co., Pa., said: tains the statement already mentioned in regard to
importance for THE MUSICAL CRITIC AND TRADE "You ask about my experience with the Beatty "running night and day."
BEATTY'S METHODS.
EEVIEW