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THE MUSICAL CRITIC AND TRADE REVIEW.
Whether Messrs. Mason & Hamlin paid this
amount or not I cannot say, but as the words were
not stricken out, it is to be presumed they did.
The Hallet & Davis report wa8 materially altered
no less than three times, all that portion relating to
their upright pianos standing in tune being added.
This was done, no doubt, to please Mr. W. W.
Kimball, of Chicago, a well-known dealer in the
trade, and a cousin of the Mr. 0. P. Kimball I have
been talking about.
The above distinctly charges that Mr. George
Cook, of the B. Shoninger Organ Co., and of the
Hallett & Davis Piano Co.. was guilty of the
crime of deliberately blackmailing the Mason &
Hamlin Organ Co. It also charges that Messrs.
C. P. Kimball, W. W. Kimball, and General H. K. "How is trade, Mr. Decker?" was the question
Oliver, were guilty of either directly blackmailing propounded by a representative of THE MUSICAL
CEITIC AND TRADE EEVIEW to Mr. Myron Decker,
piano manufacturers, or were accessories to such sr., member of the firm of Decker
criminal acts. It also charges that Messrs. Mason was seated in the office of his factory, corner
Third avenue and Eighty-seventh street.
«fc Hamlin were guilty of compounding .a felony.
"We cannot supply the demand for instru-
There is no mistaking Fr—d's remarks. He
ments," was the reply. "Especially the parlor
makes his charges blatantly, and we trust that lie grands of the new scale I showed you the last
will be made to answer for them.
time you were here."
"That was a very fine instrument, and you
Concerning Fr—d's character, it may be well in
this connection to quote, as we have done several should be able to do a very large trade with
times before, extracts from two widely read daily them."
"That is just what we are doing. I must also
papers. The remarks were made on the leading tell you that we are going to make all our cases in
editorial page of each of these papers a day or two the future, grand, square, and upright. We have
after Fr—d made his escape from this city about already made the arrangements."
A HEAVY DEALER IN STANDARD MUSIC.
two years ago.
Mr.
G. Schirmer, No. 35 Union Square, does a
FKOM THE NEW YORK TIMES.
large business as a publisher of standard music.
"John C. Freund, late editor and proprietor of the A representative of THE MUSICAL CRITIC AND TRADE
Musical and Dramatic Times, who has taken himself REVIEW called recently on Mr. Schirmer and asked
off, leaving many creditors to mourn their loss, seems him
whether he thought there was much money
to have many of the qualities of a first class adven-
turer. He is one of the men—always numerous in in the sale of the popular operette librettos.
"That is very light stuff," replied Mr. Schirmer;
great oitios—who make large pretensions, have un-
questioned capacity, flourish fora while, inspire con- "but I wouldn't handle it, however much money
fidence by push and audacity, and then decamp heav- there might be in it. I have no doubt that hun-
ily in debt. Although they have no reputation to dreds of thousands of copies have been sold You
warrant trust, they manage to get trusted in a way see the purchasers of that style of musical publi-
that honest men could not, and end by so duping the cations do not need to make a severe mental effort
community where they happened to abide that it to comprehend the music. But that class of music
wonders, after they have disappeared, why it allowed is necessarily ephemeral, and will soon pass away,
itself to be so duped. Freund left England, near
eleven years since, under a cloud, having failed, it and its place will be taken by music that has
was reported, very discreditably as a proprietor of a genuine merit. I could do all the business I
publication called the Dark Blue. He signalized his wanted in that line if I cared to, but I have chosen
arrival here by claiming privileges in one of the city a legitimate field of enterprise, and prefer that I
clubs on the ground of membership of a London club, don't do a mercenary business, but a great deal for
to which, it was afterwards discovered, he had never my own pleasure and gratification, and I would
been, and never would have been, admitted. When rather make leas money and confine myself to le-
his trick had been detected, and he was informed of
it, he assumed that he had not been treated like a gitimate trade. I daily refuse manuscripts of
gentleman, and in the manner of a well-bred dog, as whose popularity I am convinced beforehand; but
Tobin puts it, walked quietly down stairs after see- if I accepted and published them, they would de-
ing preparations for kicking him into the street. tract from the prestige of my business. I have
Like most fellows of his class he was very voluble identified myself with the publication of standard
on the subject of the gentleman; made lofty preten- musical publications."
sions to that distinction and interlarded his speech "I suppose your sales must be very large every
with needless repetition of the word. He has a good year?" suggested our representative.
address, pleasant manners, and, like all clever coun-
"Yes, indeed. They must, be large, as you can
terfeits, was well calculated to deceive. * * *
But he is slippery by nature and very extravagant. imagine, Biinply to cover expenses."
"What school of music brings in the greatest
If he made $1,000 he spent five times the amount,
and, of course, became in time irretrievably in- number of sales?"
volved, causing him to run away as the easiest
"The German school is the favorite, because
method of solving his difficulties. It is thought people who are looking for the best kind of music
that his whole indebtedness may reach from $150,- find that more thorough and severe than that of
000 to $200,000, since new claims are constantly com- any other school. The French school is half way
ing forward. His last experience seems to have been
the frivolous and the severe." *
no novelty to him. He will probably turn up in between
"Do you find Wagner increasing rapidly in popu-
Canada or Australia, and soon or late circumnavi-
larity?"
gate the globe on his cozening mission.'"
"Not rapidly, because he is not understood by
the public at large, and it takes many years for
FROM THE NEW YOBK TBUTH.
them to adapt specially the rhythms and detect
"The troubles of weekly journalism in New York the melody in bis compositions. The melody, as
have a fresh illustration in the case of John C. you know, is so interwoven with modulations that
Freund, the proprietor of the Musical and Dramatic
Times. This man was a common blackmailer, and it takes a first-class musician or very bright ama-
to that quality he has now the distinction of a fraudu- teur to find it out."
lent and fugitive bankrupt. He published a news-
paper which had a circulation of 2,500, but threat-
A MUSICAL PRIMER.
ened the piano trade into supporting him. They not
HO
i«
that big man over yonder swelling
only kept his paper up, but lent him $60,000 in addi-
hia paunch like a bladder-fish?
tion. They did this because they were afraid of
him, and in place of bemoaning their loss they He is a "musical journalist."
should rejoice that he did not remain to bleed them
still further. Did anybody know what had become What is a "musical journalist?"
of Mr. Freund, he could doubtless be arrested crimi- A man who confesses other people's sins and
nally, but he has fled from his creditors and the law,
and though an offer has been made to his creditors modestly forgets his own.
to purchase the paper for $10,000, payable in three Does he rejoice in any ether name?,
years, they are only too glad to get rid of it, preferr- Yes, he is "ONE OF NATURE'S NOBLE-
ing losing their money to supporting something
that is a constant menace to them. If the very men MEN."
who have supported a paper for three years consider What is that?
it better that it should go under, no better indict- It is a man who wins the affections of a friend-
ment could be found of its uselessness."
less girl, and then robs, seduces, and deserts her,
George L. Walker, Philadelphia, pianoforte manfully laying all the blame on her shoulders.
dealer, has been attached by a New York party for
W
Who are those woe-begone fellows over there?
March 20th, 188I
They are the alleged editors of alleged musical
papers, and they want THE MUSICAL CRITIC AND
TRADE REVIEW to protect them from the great,
big, bad man who looks crosswise at them out of
his almond eves.
BOSTON TRADE.
T~\IFFERENCES of opinion must necessarily
I / prevail among the members of a trade which
is so largely extended as that of the piano and
organ manufacturers.
Some opinions among equally intelligent mem-
bers of the trade are diametrically the opposite, as
will be seen below. A general unity of opinion as
to the approaching spring trade prevails, but the
chief differences relate to prices and methods of
business.
There is at present a continuous activity pre-
vailing here, and to all appearances the busy pe-
riod, reaching back from the early fall of 1881, has
had no perceptible break. Prices do not fluctuate
much, and there is no probability of an immediate
advance.
One thing is pretty sure, and that is that the
present prices will not be lowered; in fact, they
cannot well be depressed.
THE NEW ENGLAND PIANO COMPANY.
Mr. Scanlan states that he is making pianos as
rapidly as they can be turned out, consistent with
good workmanship. His instruments, he states,
are giving satisfaction to the trade and to the
public, and that is what he has been aiming at.
He anticipates a bright spring trade, and does
not think that the Mississippi overflow will ma-
terially affect manufacturing activity in this sec-
tion. The inundation is serious, but if it has any
effect, it will only be indirectly, and of little con-
sequence.
C. C. BRIGOS A CO.
have recently established several additional agen-
cies in the West, and are constantly receiving ap-
plications for agencies all over the country.
Calls for their small-sized uprights, they state,
are unprecedented. Mr. Briggs, sr., was busy in
the factory and had to be brought down to talk
trade while the junior was attending to a cus-
tomer. Mr. Woodman, the traveling man, will
be off on a tour to prominent Western points.
Western dealers must be on the lookout, as Wood-
man knows how to talk piano, and dealers know
what that means.
Prices will remain the same as at present, say
the firm, with an upward tendency.
We met A. W. Strauss, of A. W. Strauss & Co.,
the representatives of C. C. Reed & Co., the varn-
ish house. He looks business, and from ocular
evidence, which presented itself, he evidently
does a big business here among the piano houses.
WM. BOURNE & SON.
Mr. Bourne, sr., has recovered sufficiently to be
about again. He has been very seriously ill. Mr.
Browne, jr., expresses himself in unmeasured terms
about business metho'ds, which, according to his
opinion, should not prevail in the piano manufac-
turing business.
"I have no respect for a poorly-made piano,"
said Mr. Bourne. "When men make an article
like that, they should make it good or not at all.
During the past seven or eight years the piano
business has been demoralized by cheap manu-
factures. If we accepted offers made to us by cer-
tain dealers, we would not have a single piano in
stock; but we cannot, and do not care to, accept
them. We prefer to make a good instrument, sell
a few less, and make a living profit. Of course, we
cannot compete in quantity with the firms that
are willing to turn out from twenty-five pianos a
week upwards. We cannot do that unless we in-
crease our facilities, and under present circum-
stances, with prices as they are, we prefer to re-
main in our present position."
Mr. Bourne was thoroughly in earnest, and he
spoke with the air of a man who has definite con-
victions on the subject. Business is firm and
prices ditto.
C. B. HUNT A CO.
This firm is getting out new spring styles. They
complain about low prices and state that prices
will undoubtedly advance. Very busy now, with
no prospect of let up.
Mr. S. W. Tyler, of Clinton, Mass., was in the
office, and said lie liked the Bay State organ, and is
always willing to buy it even for cash. "Put me
down as a subscriber to THE MUSICAL CRITIC AND
TRADE REVEW," said he; "that's the kind of
paper I like. Here's your money; I don't want any
receipt. Be sure to send it along promptly,
because I want to read it as soon as it comes out."