Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
TIDINGS FROM THE TRADE.
CLEVELAND, Jan. 28, 1886.
MESSRS. WELLES & BILL :
GENTLEMEN : Business is improving since the 15th.
The first two weeks of this month business was pain-
fully quiet; of late we have had several days of two
and three piano sales and a fair organ trade; have
sold four pianos and a concert grand piano this week,
also three organs. Our buyers are of the better class,
as few others can meet the terms that we require,
unless they take a second-hand piano or organ. The
outlook is very hopeful, and I think I have reason to
expect a very healthy trade for the year before us.
Yours truly,
B. S. BARRETT.
TOLEDO, Jan. 29, 1886.
MESSRS. WELLES & BILL :
GENTLEMEN : I have just returned from visiting
the different factories we are interested in, and find
that the year's business just closed has been a very
satisfactory one. At Albany, the Boardman & Gray
business is increasing at a rapid rate; the house
stands well at home and pianos of their manufacture
rank as high as any sold in that market; they are
now prepared to do about double the business of
former years, and had not the misfortune of loosing
their factory by fire occurred, would have scored a
very successful year. At Worcester I found our or-
gan business in splendid shape, with abundance of
new orders to keep running full time 4 and unable to
accumulate any finished stock for spring trade, ow-
ing to present demands ; and when you consider that
the Palace Organ Company make only high grade,
first-class organs, which sell at an average price,
nearly or quite double that of a majority of the West-
ern manufacturers, if reckoned numerically, would
make a good showing in the number of organs sold.
The dealers are showing their appreciation of the su-
perior work of our company byincreasing their orders
and so far as I can learn use the Palace organ to estab-
lish their position as dealers in first-class goods. I
also visited the different manufacturers of piano
makers'supplies, for as you know we are "piano
compilers," as one house terms us, for we have our
cases made in a different shop from that of our ac-
tion; strings, plate, etc., same as a majority of piano
manufaciurers do, and this majority embraces some
of the most reputable ones. On the whole my visit
among the manufacturers will prove a beneficial one
to those interested in our house, and the sale of our
goods. I heard good words for your paper from those
whom I visited. Trade in Ohio is generally dull, ow-
ing to the open winter, which makes bad roads. The
fiscal year of our Toledo house ends February 14,
and business for the year just drawing to a close has
been quite satisfactory, and the outlook is good.
Wishing you success I remain
Very truly yours,
W. H. CCKRIEK.
ITHACA, N. Y., Jan. 30, 1886.
J E F F . DAVIS BILL, ESQ., Ne*w York City :
DEAR SIR : We have no reason to complain in regard
to business. We have our share. Our men are work,
ing 12 to 14 hours every day, in order to enable us to
fill the orders coming in daily. To the long list of
our agents we have added lately Messrs. Friedrich
Bros., of Grand llapids, and Charles Tuttle, fiamo.
Wishing you all the success you deserve in your
enterprise, We remain,
Yours truly,
WEOMAN & HBNNINO.
BRANDON, WIS., Feb. 1, 1886.
MESSRS. WELLES & BILL :
GENTLEMEN : Enclosed I hand you $3 for Music
TRADE EEVIEW the coming year.
I hardly see how any dealer can afford to get along
without a first-class trade journal.
During December I sold (14) fourteen pianos and
organs, atid as I buy only for prompt cash and sell on
short credit, was not bad for a small man. Wishing
you prosperity, etc., I am
Yours respectfully,
H. D. WHITB.
THE LUMBER BUSINESS OF MICHIGAN.
E HAVE just received the annual report of the
lumber business of Michigan, and as it may
interest our re.iders we give it below :
The annual review of the lumber business of Michi-
gan for 1885, but not including anything in the upper
peninsular, or the Lake Superior region, as it is often
called, shows that the lumbering industry of this
state exceeds that of any other state in the Union.
The census of 1880 shows that there were 1,649 estab-
lishments in the state engaged in the manufacture of
pine products, giving employment to 30,886 persons,
who received in wages that year $6,697,905. The
capital invested amounted to $39,260,428, and the
value of the product amounted to $52,443,928. In
rank, according to capital and value of products,
Michigan stood at the head in the United States in
1880, as she does to-day. The manufacture of lum-
her products of the state, while carried on to a large
extent in the upper peninsula for some years, has
attained greater proportions in the northern half of
the lower peninsula, along the lake points of Huron
and Michigan, and the lines of railroad that reach out
into the western and northern sections of the state,
along which are scattered hundreds of mills, the pro-
ducts of which is moved to market by rail. During
the past ten years logging railroads have branched
out from the main arteries of traffic and, extending
into the forest, have touched vast tracts of pine,
which, being remote from streams sufficiently large
for rafting purposes, were hitherto considered inac-
cessible, and to this, as well as to the diminishing
supply, owing to the vast extent of the production, is
due the enormous increase in the value of pine lum-
ber. The detailed reports from every section of the
lower peninsula show the following consolidated ag-
gregates :
W
Lumber Cut.
Saginaw river mills
725,998/221
Eastern or Lake Huron shore mills
503.03S.773
Western or Lake Michigan shore mills.1,030,627,88a
Interior, N o r t h h S o u t h railroad mills. 655,314,249
Scattering mills
37,782,333
Total
2,952.761,459
On Hand.
330,013,030
167,77H,OOO
203,975,636
431.959,731
18,800,000
1,152,526,397
Of the Western store cut a little »ver one-half was
manufactured at Muskegon. The cut of shingles in
the same sections for the same period footed up to
2,390,156,500. Lumbering operations have not been
as brisk as usual this winter owing to the lack of
snow. It is hardly poSsibly the log product by the
opening of spring will be as large as on the corres-
yonding period last year by several hundred million
feet.
FACTORY SUGGESTIONS.
{Scientific American.)
P. H. desires a stain to imitate cherry. A. Rain
water, 3 quarts; annatto, 4 ounces ; boil in a copper
kettle till the annato is dissolved, then put in a piece
of potash the size of a walnut; keep it on the fire about
half an hour longer, and it is ready to bottle for use.
A subscriber asks how to make spirit varnish suita-
ble for varnishing carved wood. A. Take 1 ounce
copal and | ounce shellac; powder them well, and
put them into a bottle or jar containing one quart al-
cohol. Place the mixture in a warm place, and
shake it occasionally until the gums are completely
dissolved; and when strained, the varnish will be
ready for use.
J. J. W. asks : 1^ The ingredients fora good water
stain to imitate walnut? A. Burnt umber, 2 parts ;
rose pink, 1 part; glue, 1 part; water, sufficient;
heat all together and dissolve completely; apply to
the work first with a sponge, then go over it with a
brush, and varnish over with shellac. 2. A good jet
black water stain. A. Pour 2 quarts boiling water
over 1 ounce of powdered extract of logwood, and
when the solution is effected, 1 drachm of yellow
chromate of potash is added, and the whole well
stirred. When rubb'ed on wood, it produces a pure
black. 3. A good size for gilding with gold leaf, one
to be ready for gilding in an hour. A. Good drying
oil, 1 pound; pure gum anime, powdered, 4 ounces.
Bring the oil almost to the boiling point in a covered
metal pot, add your gum gradually and cautiously
to the oil, stirring all the time to dissolve complete-
ly. Boil [,to a tarry consistency and strain, while
warm, through silk, into a warm bottle with a wide
mouth. Keep it well corked ; use as required, thin-
ning with turpentine. 4. The composition of the so-
203
called oil finish? A. Boiled linseed oil, 1 pint;
yellow wax, 4 ounces; melt and color with alkanet
root.
J. A. asks how to make the best spirit varnish suit-
able for varnishing carved wood. A. A shellac var-
nish will answer, made by dissolving shellac in 95 per
cent, alcohol. The color of the wood will influence
the selection of the gum. Spons' Workshop Receipts,
first series, which we can send for $2, will give you a
number of valuable formulas that may be used.
BUSINESS FAILURES.
There were 337 in the United States reported to
BHADSTREET'S during the week, ending Jan. 29th,
against 394 in the preceding week, and 349, 365, 27<>
and 205 in the corresponding weeks of 1885, 1884,
1883 and 1882 respectfully. Additional compaiisons
are given in the following table:
THE W E E K ' S FAILCRHB, UNITED STATES AND CANADA.
Week Pre-
endiry vious
Weeks corregponitiny to
Jan. 29, week, .
Januat y 2'.)
,
States and Territories.
1886. 18H6. 1885. 1K84. I"KH3. 1882.
Middle Slates
6:t
61
71
70
44
38
Nt>w England
44
48
40
58
4(i
26
Southern
7H VH
98
63
72
(51
Western
122 136 114 125
84
68
Pacific States & Territories 30
45
26
49
:»0
12
Total, United States...
Canada
337
30
394
30
349
41
3<>5
37
27(>
16
205
8
K1VK YKARS' FAir.URKH, UNITED STATES AND CANADA.
States and Territories.
Middle States
New Kngland
South.ru....*.
Wcste n
Pacific States and Territories.
Total, Uuited States
Canada
Failures for the year to date,
,
with comparisons
.
1886. 1H85. 18H4. Ic83. 1882.
284 321 200 268 157
Ifi3
1H6 191 161 112
36.-) 421 324 330 237
434 580 433 381 227
128 120 133 104
37
1.364 1,628 1,341 1,224
100 130 146 116
770
23
About 83 per cent, were those of small traders
whose capital was less than $5,000. Six out of the
337 failures were in the music and musical instru-
ment trade.
SAMUEL JOSEPHS 1 IDEA OF JOURNALISM.
rAMUEL JOSEPHS, when asked how he liked
journalism, said: "Why, it's a pretty good
business in some respects, but my, its hard
work. I'd have stayed in politics if I had supposed
a newspaper man had to be around all the time. He
can't go to bed till after daylight and has got to get
up before breakfast. Everybody you know wants
you to write something nice about him and print it
in the paper, and you get into a good deal of hot
water with your best friends if you undertake to tell
the truth. That's the most discouraging thing about
journalism. And there are a lot of people who wont
stand it. I never knew how sensatlve people were
until I got into this business. Why, there are men
In this city who would hunt you with a shot-gun
if you undertook to say anything about them."—
Philadelphia Times.
We agree with Mr. Josephs when he says that
journalism is hard work, yet a journalist should never
be afraid to tell the truth let it strike where it will.
There are already too many papers run on the milk
and water plan, and controlled by some corporation
or leading party in the trade which they represent.
What is the good of a paper when its readers can no
longer place confidence in what it says. Our motto
has always been to give the poor (if honest) firm the
same advantages as the rich ones, and try to fight
fraud whenever discovered. We have had trouble,
yet we live and continue our same policy.
THEY ARE ALL LIKE IT IN THE SOUTH.
OME of the railways down this way are still a
little shaky. The old Jerkwarter line is espe.
cially loose in the joints. A commercial traveler
who came in yesterday relates a little experience
while bounding over the road. "We were whooping
along," he said, "at the rate of about seven miles an
hour, and the old train was weaving terribly. Pas-
sengers were rolling from one end of the car to the
other. I held on like grim death to the arms of my
seat. Presently we settled down to the quiet run-
ning—at least I could keep my hat on and my teeth
didn't chatter. The conductor was in haiiing dis-
tance ; I looked up with a ghastly smile, wishing to
look cheerful, and said: "We are going a little
smoother, I see." "Yes," said the conductor, "we're
off the track now."—Lexington, Ga., Castanet.
S