Music Trade Review

Issue: 1886 Vol. 9 N. 15

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, THE
arcade-museum.com
digitized with support from namm.org
MUSIC TRADE -- REVIEW.
226
THE SILVER COINAGE QUESTION AND
THE WORKING MEN.
The working men are taking the silver coinage
ever affects the prosperity of the country affects
those whose hands and brains are laboring at daily
toil. If we speak to the so-called "working" men
•concerning the silver coinage question we do it
from the stand-point of working, laboring men ;
for whether we write editorials, or labor at the
bench, we are equally toilers striving for our daily
"bread. But in the common use of the term " work-
ing "men it is sought, by those who advocate an
inflation of the currency, to designate those whose
toil is almost purely manual and whose compensa-
tion does not equal that of those who back brain
power with intellectual training. To the men at the
bench and at the machine, to those who are hewers
of wood and drawers of water, the demagogues of
parties, who labor in behalf of an inflated currency
appeal. The men whose hard and honest hands labor
in factory and field, are the mighty masses of the
millions of this land, and by the stimulating cry of
" higher wages" the demagogues hope to rouse their
sympathy, and add them to the list of their con-
stituents. This clamor for an inllated currency I
consider as ill advised as some of the outcries raised
by other demagogues to excite the passions of labor
against capital; and the working man, who is de-
ceived by the glittering arguments of the inflation-
ist will eventually find that ho has bartered his vote
and his judgment for a sorry mess of pottage.
I cannot believe the argument that the pre-
sent improved condition of labor is due to the
-expansion of coinage through the silver currency.
Indeed this expansion has rather retarded than ad-
vanced the improved condition, for to-day a vast
amount of capital lies idle through the fear of
further expansion.
The condition of labor has
mainly been improved because, during the sudden
and unexpected "boom" of 1879 to 1882, the market
was so overstocked with goods of every description,
that nearly four years were required to dispose of
this surplus, and now that a demand has once more
set in, the working man is reaping the fruits of a
moderate state of prosperity. But if I cared to go
deeply into this part of the subject, I might not
only enquire and explain how the condition of labor
has been improved, within a few months, but I
might draw conclusions and a moral from the ex-
planation. The fear of the popular vengeance that
surely and rightly overtakes the man who moral-
izes, alone deters me from the latter course.
Let me ask the working men of the music trade
in what way is labor improved, in what way have
they individually been affected by the improvement ?
Are their wages higher than during the depression
of from 187!) to 1882 ? Hardly. More workmen
have been engaged, but I am not aware that wages
have been increased to any appreciable extent. We
may rejoice that many a man who has lain idle for
many months, is once more in receipt of steady
wages, but that does not give us the right to assert
that the policy of providing a use for the product
of innumerable silver mines is materially improving
the condition of labor; that comes only with an in-
creased demand on the part of the public, for staples
first and luxuries afterward. The interests of capital
and labor are one and indivisible, and the capital-
ists in the music trade will tell you, and truly, friend
workingman, that, while the condition of business
has Improved it is only in the quantity of goods pro-
duced, not In the advance of the prices obtained for
them. I fear that the old saying that " competition
is the life of trade," will soon have to be changed
to, " competition is the bane of trade," for its cut-
throat policy in prices is bringing many a producer's
nose to the grindstone. There are few large manu-
facturers, publishers, or dealers in the trade, who
will not say that they are having a fair share of
business, but they will hardly claim that the prices
they obtain are what they are entitled to.
A people can only become prosperous by slow and
sure means, and any speculative attempt—and an in
Hated currency, or free coinage are such—to force
prosperity, is certain to work evil and often down-
right disaster.
* »
THE.WORLDS FAIR OF 89.
As we draw near to the time for the proposed
Who shall say that the nation was not materially
advanced by these privileges?
The exhibitions of '84-5 and '85-6 at New Orleans,
in spite of several disagreeable, or worse features,
have, in the main, been productive of good. The
beneficial results have been more nearly local than
national, yet it has made people keenly alive to the
resources of the south, and when business prosperity
is established upon a firm basis, capital Is more than
ever likely to seek to exert its power in that section.
By all means, let us have a WOULD s FAIR in New
York City, in 1881), on these conditions: That there
shall be honest, intelligent, and capable men to di-
rect it; that, if there is to be competition for awards,
the conduct of juries shall be carefully scrutinized;
that the selection of a site shall be determined by its
accessibility, and not by the wishes of a grasping ring
of land speculators; and that every detail be carried
out in the most perfect manner, in which liberality
shall be tempered by a judicious sense of economy.
Such a fair should be the grandest and most com-
plete the world has ever known, or it will be unwor-
thy of our great city. We should have the best or
none at all, and New York herself should be radiant
in holiday garb, and spare no pains for the appropri-
priate entertainment of the strangers within her
gates, for they will come as much to enjoy the won-
ders of the nation's metropolis, as to gaze upon the
myriad wonders of the fair.
Success then to the WORLD'S FAIR of 1889, if its pro-
moters use their best efforts to deserve our good
wishes, and I trust that, at the proper time, the mu-
sic trade, in all its branches, and in every part of the
United States, will be among the first to give it hearty
WORLD'S FAIR, to be held in New York in 1889, the and substantial encouragement.
* *
subject naturally attracts increasing interest, and
BUSINESS PROSPECTS.
the pros and cons are discussed with vigor by busi-
An indication of the feeling in some circles, con-
ness men. I use the words "draw near the time,"
for the reason that three years pass with incredible cerning the revival of business during the pre-
swiftness to those who have in hand the development sent spring, may be gained from the apprehen-
of such an enormous enterprise as the one proposed. sion felt among the builders in New York and
Three years offer little enough scope for the arrange- Brooklyn, which apprehension is so great that some
ment of the vast number of details which are neces- prominent contractors are refusing to negotiate for
sary to the successful carrying out of such a scheme. spring building. All over the country this same
Why there should be objections to it I cannot pos- conservatism exists on the part of builders.
This apprehension is not due to any doubt that busi-
sibly understand ; that is, objections upon legitimate
grounds. A fair of this kind, even where unwisely ness may not revive, it is a fear of labor disturb-
managed, has brought incalculable good. The Cen- ances from the eight hour movement which is likely
tennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876 caused to start about May l,and from the aggressive demands
many exhibitors, disappointed in their efforts to grasp for higher wages which workman are almost sure to
a coveted prize, to hurl maledictions on all great ex- make if business becomes active. Besides this,
hibitions, but I have yet to learn that the public com- material will cost more.
Possibly the same grounds of apprehension are
plained of what th«y saw at Fairmount Park, or that
the thrifty people of Philadelphia grumbled at the felt inother trades besides the builder's. We are on the
torrent of good money suddenly poured into their eve of great prosperty if we rightly use our oppor-
tunities. Prosperity may and in all probability will
city.
Undoubtedly it was a pity that exhibitors should come, if it is not bound hand and foot by the im-
have had cause for complaint, for an exposition perious and unseasonable demands of the workmen
without exhibitors would be like the play of " HAM- just as it is gaining strength to stand alone. Give
LET " with the part of Hamletleft out. In a measure, the manufacturers time to feel the effects of a re-
I must insist that it was their own fault, and while vival of business and tako such advantage of it that
giving a large proportion of them due credit for elab- they can afford to accede to the reasonable demands
orate displays and great enterprise, I must admit of their employes. I should say to manufacturers
that, in their unbounded zeal to obtain the coveted that it is a good time to make their contracts now.
prizes, they did many things which tended to bring There is promise of great activity in railroad con-
struction, which will cause a heavy demand for all
mammoth fairs into disrepute.
The Centennial Exposition was a liberal education kinds of materials, with the natural effect of increas-
%*
to more people than a good many of us may imagine. ing prices.
They came from the remotest corners of the United
LUDDEN & BATES AGAINST SCHREINER
States to see art works, mechanical devices, the pro-
ET AL.
ducts of man's ingenuity, skill and labor, the fruits and
The controverBey between Messrs. LUDDEN &
natural treasures of the earth, and to wonder at the BATES and Mr. H. L. SOHREINEK, of Savannah,
habits, costumes, and peculiarities of every civilized Ga., goes on with unflagging vigor. As nearly
nation of the globe. Their ideas were enlarged by as we can make out, it was a fight that had its origin
travel, and their minds stimulated by a fuller and in a newspaper office, and was the result of an
freer intercourse with their fellow men than they had attempt to set two parties by the ears, in the hope
ever known before.
that journalistic enterprise might be rewarded with
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
some of the spoils of the fray. The latest from the
seat of war is as follows, and is a letter addressed to
us by Messrs. LUDDEN & BATES :
SAVANNAH, March 3, '86.
EDITORS MUSIC TRADK REVIEW :
GENTLEMEN : It would not trouble us in the least
to controvert the statements made in your last by
Mr. H. L. Schreliier, but it's really not worth out-
while. Suffice it to say that his statements some-
times combine fiction with facts, and in rather un-
equal proportions, and as an illustration we will refer
to a case in point, viz.
go-as-you-please system is working a great wrong to
both authors and publishers.
* *
In some places business is afraid to revive for fear
of being hit with a strike.
*
* *
About the most interesting matter in the papers
to some men is their own names.
*
THOSE TWO ORGAN CUSTOMERS SENT US BY H. L.
The country is everywhere agitated by strikes.
SCHREINER.
Workmen are feverish and excitable, and there is no
The Savannah Morning Newsoi Thursday, January
28, states that Mr. H. L. Schreiner made to its re- knowing where trouble will break out, or where it
porter the following statement:
will end when once begun.
" 1 am on good terms with all of the other dealers
in my line of goods in the city, and only yesterday I
* *
sent two customers to Ludden & Bates. The parties
were from the country, and wanted credit. As I do
The wind during the late big blow traveled at the
not do a credit business with people outsideof Savan-
nah, I sent the parties to Ludden & Bates, who, rate of eighty-six miles an hour, but when some
through their agencies, do sell on credit to country parties in the music trade undertake to blow they can
people."
It's too bad to spoil so pretty a story, but we shall beat that record by about seventy-five miles.
have to do it. The facts are that the two parties
*
from the country, alluded to by Mr. Schreiner, were in
*
*
our place on the day mentioned, and told us that
they had seen at Mr. Schreiner's an organ that was
Buffet cars now run on all the main lines from New
offered them at $50, on exactly the long eredit they de-
sired, but, as it looked like a second hand instrument, York to Chicago without change of liquor. Travel-
they did not want it.
ing salesmen please take notice.
This did not tally with Bro. Schroiner's remarks to
*
the reporter, and to make sure of the matter, we
ust wrote to the parties, asking if Mr. Schreiner had
Young men who play the flute or clarinet in Santa
jreally stint them to our store, as he claimed. Their
Barbara, Cal., are ruthlessly fined by the local
reply, just received, we give below verbatim.
authorities.
Serves them right too, and if we could
Feby. 2, '8(!.
LUDDEN & BATES SOUTHERN MUSIC HOUSE :
only have laws that would impose severe penalties
GENTLEMEN : To the best of our recollection, Mr.
Schreiner did not send us to any house, for he did not upon gifted idiots who play the piano, organ, or
tell us of any music house. This is what we will violin after ten o'clock at night, we should work a
both testify to.
Very respectfully,
much needed reformation.
QUERY: If Mr. Sehieiner could be so mistaken
in a plain matter of fact case like the above,
may he not have been laboring under a kindred hal-
lucination in the preparation of his letter of Feb-
ruary 11?
As a writer of fiction who possesses a most vivid
imagination, wewill concede thathe takes high rank,
but it is patent to all in this part of the world, that he
is afflicted with a terribly bad recollection, which
quite unfits him from presenting facts exactly as the}'
are.
L. & B. S. M. H.
Messrs. LUDDKN & BATES came near getting into
hot water, through their agents in Montgomery Ala.
with the flrtn of MATHUSHEK & SON, of New York
city, and Mr. HUGO MATHUSHEK of this firm started
recently for the South, with the serious determination
of raising Sheol with them, he claiming that they
stated that his firm manufactured bogus pianos. In
justice to Messrs. MATHUSHEK & SON I mustsaysuch
a statement is without foundation in fact, for MATHU-
SHEK & SON are, as far as I know, doing a fair and
legitimate business, working hard to build up an
honorable name as manufacturers, and are preparing
to push their enterprise with as much vigor as excel-
lent goods, abundant energy, and a sufficient amount
of capital will permit. Mr. V. HUGO MATHUSHEK
went to New Orieans and other southern cities for
this purpose. Messers Ludden & Bates write me
that they are really not posted in the matter, as
their agents in Montgomery, Ala., acted entirely on
their own responsibility and without giving them the
facts. In another column will be found some inter,
esting letters on this subject.
TID-BITS.
Since WILLIAM TREMAINE, of the MECHANICAL
ORGUINETTE Co., has been to London he has become
an Anglomaniac, and insists that he was borne across
the water. See? It is a great thing to be able to
prevaricate without resorting to falsehood.
* •
It is the " propah capah " nowadays to write on
rough, unruled, Irish linen paper, with a " stub " pen.
*
* *
All the best known writers of the country are
strongly in favor of an international copyright law,
and, indeed, what sensible man is not? Our present
*
* •
We have in many respects an excellent postal
system, but there are sometimes incongruities and
unjust discriminations. A bill lately introduced
into the United States Senate by the Hon. JAMES F.
WILSON, of Iowa, seeks to double the rates of postage
on fourth-class matter, which includes labels, pat-
terns, photographs, playing cards, visiting cards,
address tags, paper sacks, wrapping paper, and blot-
ting pads with or without printed advertisements
thereon, bill-heads, letter heads, envelopes with
printed addresses thereon, ornamented paper, and
all other matter of the same general character, the
printing upon which is not designed to instruct,
amuse, cultivate the mind or taste, or impart general
information. This class also includes merchandise
and sample* of merchandise, samples of ores, metals,
minerals, seeds, etc., and any other matter not included
in the first, second, or third classes, and which is not in
its form or nature liable to destroy, deface, or other-
wise damage the contents of the mail bags, or harm
the person. The rate on such matter is one cent an
ounce, and the limit is four pounds. The proposed
law would raise the rate to two cents an ounce, the
same as letter postage. Such a law would be most un-
just, for the parcel postage of this country is already
much greater than that of any other nation. Every
man, woman, and child would be affected by it, and
merchants would find it exceeding obnoxious. What
is the matter with WILSON of Iowa, anyhow ? Does
he think he has been put in Congress just to make
himself odious.
*
* *
A most unjust discrimination is that which, while
allowing a paper like the Music TRADE REVIEW to be
sent from New York City to another city, where there
is a letter carrier delivery at pound rates, transport-
ation as well as carrier delivery included, mind you,
will not permit it to be delivered in New York city,
without transportation, except at the rate of one cent
for each paper.
* *
I am glad to note that the NEW YORK, NEW HAVEN
AND HARTFORD RAILROAD has at last put its dining
car arrangements into the hands of people capable
of furnishing a first class meal for the first-claes
price of one dollar. These dining care, put on and
taken off at New Haven and Worcester each way
on the 4 :30 P. M. trains between Boston and New
York, should supply travelers with a dinner varied,
of good quality, well cooked and well served. When
they began running they did fairly well, but soon
dropped to such a pitch of inferiority that I for one
never though of entering them. Now, if there is
any place where a man who is in the habit of taking
his hearty meal at night wants a palatable dinner, it
is on these 4:30 P. M. trains. They leave either city
too early and arrive too late, 10 :30,for a regular dinner
except on the cars, and many are the growls I have
heard from hungry passengers who could only stay
their stomachs with a hasty bite at Springfield or
New Haven. Going east with OTTO WESSELL, a few
days ago, I saw on the printed slips distributed in
the drawing-room cars that SETH MOSELEY, of the
NEW HAVEN HOUSE, was supplying the needs of the
hungry in the dining cars. Having faith in MR. MOSE-
LEY, by reason of experience gained at his hotel, and
also at his restaurant in the depot at New Haven, we
decided to patronize the dining car once more, and
were served with a meal which we thoroughly enjoyed
Travelers may now venture into the dining cars with-
out actual risk to their lives.
* *
It may be remembered that in the statement of the
affairs of the HAINES & WHITNEY CO., in Chicago,
recently given by us, the following item appeared :
" Rent, etc., $80,500." The question that now agi-
tates the Chicago music trade i s : After the rent
(about $14,000), is deducted from the above amount,
what about the remainder? I always knew that
" Sundries" was an expensive item, but had no idea
before of the extreme costliness of " Etc.," for which
nearly $70,000 was paid, in something less than two
years. Another question of interest is, How did the
firm of ERNEST GAULER & BROTHER receive the sum
of $3,500 from the HAINES & WHITNEY CO.? M R .
HAINES says that it did, but do ERNEST GAIJLER &
BROTHER admit it. There needs to be a good deal
of light thrown upon this interesting concern, known
as the HAINES & WHITNEY CO., which proposed to
take the City of Chicago by storm, and show the wild
Westerners how the music business should be con-
ducted.
CHARLES AVERY WELLES.
SOMETHING NICE FOR TRAVELLERS.
NEW invention, now being put on the market,
is a head-rest for travellers. It consists of a
plush cushion hung upon strong white wires,
and so made that it fits over the top of the seat back.
Upon this soft, shapely cushion th^ tired traveler
may rest his weary head without getting cramps in
his bones, and stopping the circulation in his veins,
as is invariably the case when a man "Scrooges"
down into a car seat in order to rest the back of his
head upon the upholstering. The contrivance can be-
taken apart in half a minute and packed away in a
grip or a coat pocket. By its use every traveler
may carry his bed with him, and that without paying
two or three good dollars to a sleeping-car company
for the privilege of breathing the bad air of their
coaches, and dreaming of his mother's feather pillows
during a few unhappy hours of the night.
A
TIDINGS FROM THE TRADE.
WM. TONK & BRO., AND PARIS ACTIONS.
NEW YORK, Feb. 27.
MESSRS. WELLES & BILL :
Our Mr. William Tonk met your Mr. Welles In
Boston, who appeared interested to know what we
were doing with the Herrburger-Schwander action iu
the "Hub."

Download Page 4: PDF File | Image

Download Page 5 PDF File | Image

Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).

Pro Tip: You can flip pages on the issue easily by using the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard.