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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
THE
MR. WILLIAM STEINWAY INTERVIEWED
BY THE NEW YORK HERALD.
HIS GENEROUS DONATIONS TO
THE EMPLOYEES.
and even temperature of Europe, which renders un-
necessary the storing of lumber for years in the open
air or kiln drying it for many months, a preliminary
process to which all ours are subjected. It is but
just, however, to say that our woods, such as the
hard rock maple of Northern New York, which is
used to hold the tuning pins in the wrest plank of
every piano, and our American spruce for sounding
boards, are superior to the wood of any other part of
the world for the purpose. On this account our
woods are sought for by European manufacturers.
Qul e an export trade in these woods has grown up
within the last ten years."
Beware of manufacturers who promise so much
more than their competitors. They either lack good
judgment or are dishonest. They will either go to
the wall themselves or will desert you when you most
need their help.
STYLES IN VOGUE.
The dealers who mark their first class organs twice
as high in proportion to cost as they do the " cheap"
organs, still write that " in our community there
seems to be no demand for anything but low-priced
organs."
FROM A SMALL FACTORY IN VARICK STREET TO THE
LARGEST PIANO MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY
IN THE WORLD.
Mr. William Steinway, head of the house of Stein-
way & Co., is the only living member of the well
known family by which the firm was established over
a third of a century ago.* Their first venture in
the making of pianos was in a small factory in Varick
street, which has been succeeded by two immense
factories, one at Fifty-second street and Fourth
avenue, and the other at Astoria, in which 1,200 men
are constantly employed. In Astoria Mr. Steinway
haa had a little town of model dwellings erected for
his employees, provided with gas, water, perfect
sewerage and thorough ventilation. In the public
school of the place, which accommodates five hun-
dred pupils, he maintains at his own expense a teacher
who gives free tuition In German and music. In 1881
he erected a public bath, with fifty dressing rooms,
fronting on the East River, for the free use of all
of his men and their families, and also opened, in
connection with the bath, a handsome park with a
fountain of drinking water and lighted by gas.
Mr. Steinway speaks in the most glowing terms of
the extraordinary growth of the piano manufacture
In New York, and predicts for it a still greater suc-
cess in the extent of the trade and in the improve-
ment of the manufacture. In a reminiscent view of
the trade he contrasted its present state with its
condition thirty-five years ago.
OLD TIMES AND NOW.
" At that time," said he, " t h e wages of skilled
workmen averaged $10 a week, or about one half of
tlie present rate, and there has been corresponding
improv •iiieut in oth^r respects. There has been a
very decided improvement in the hours of labor,
which have been reduced from fourteen and twelve
to ten, and much of the unhealthy work formerly
done by the men is now done wholly by machinery.
"In 1850 and for the five following years many of the
piano manufacturers paid their journeymen, not in
cash, but in orders on stores of course making an ar-
rangement with the storekeepers by which they se-
cured a portion of the profits. It was a dishonest and
contemptible system. Connected with it and prompted
by the same selfish motive was the substitution of
the manufacturer's pocket for the savings banks,
thousands of dollers accumulating therein which the
men were compelled to leave In his hands from week
to week. I myself," said Mr. Steinway, "was treated
so. When we commenced business on our own ac-
count in 1853, my employer held $320 of my earnings
in his hands. Just then he failed, and, of course, I
lost every cent of it. On that point there has been a
radical change—such a revolution, in fact, that the
boss who did not pay in cash would find himselt
without men the day after he defaulted."
"When did the change from square to upright
pianos take place, and does the grand hold its own?"
"In Europe the manufacture of the square piano
ceased totally about 1855. In America the new heavi-
ly iron-framed durable overstrung upright has
gradually replaced the square piano, while the popu-
lar appreciation of the grand has grown from year to
year. Twenty years ago the proportion of the three
different styles manufactured was as follows:-Five
per cent, grand, five per cent, upright, and ninety per
cent, square. To-day the proportion stands twenty-
five per cent, grand, sixty per cent, upright, and fif-
teen per cent, square. It is safe to predict that in ten
years the American square piano will be extinct.
There is no question as to the superiority of the up-
right in form, presenting as it does such opportuni-
ties for artistic design and elegance of construction,
and adding its quota to the general beauty of an
apartment."
"What woods are used in the case of the piano?"
"Up to 1850 mahogany was the favorite wood for
the case, but darker colors grew more and more in
fashion and rosewood took its place. Being a tropical
growth, and having many large pores long exposure
to a humid atmosphere affected Rosewood, but the eb-
onized woods used in piano cases for several years
past would stand any climate. And here let me say,"
continued Mr Steinway, "that the American piano
and organ trade is one of the few industries in which
the exported product greatly exceeds the volume of
our imports. The importation of pianos and organs in-
to the United States has practically ceased, while ex-
ports have steadily increased. This is the legitimate
result of their acknowledged and conceded superiori-
ty of tone and marvelous durability, though they are
higher priced than the European article."
VARIATIONS OF WAGES.
" What are the present rates of wages in this
trade?"
"They vary from $12 a week for a so-called coarse
rubber to $30 for the skilled regulator of tone. These
are about the rates paid in Boston, Philadelphia and
Baltimore, as well as here. The journeyman piano
makers, those engaged on the component portions of
the instrument, are the most skilled and expert
workmen of any trade and have the finest tools, a
complete set often costing several hundred dollars.
The business, chiefly through the solid reputation
acquired by prominent New York manufacturers, is
steady, for though business in summer is light and
work is continued only to lay up stock for the fall
trade, yet the months of October, November and
December generally absorb all the stock made, and
by the 1st of January every piano manufacturer in
New York finds himself bare of stock. No matter,
therefore, how bad the times may be in other trades
a really skilled and competent journeyman piano-
maker need not be out of work twenty-four hours."
AMERICA LEADS THE WORLD.
"What about the improvements effected in our pi-
anos as compared with those of Europe ? "
" You can judge from one fact. The patented im-
provements made by first class American manufact-
urers have been imitated and adopted by the leading
manufacturers of Germany, England and France,
without, however, attaining the unequalled dura-
bility and excellence of our instruments. While the
best American piano endures without injury every
climate, the best European, no matter how well
made, are disastrously affected by our hot summers
and cold winters. They are constructed for the moist
• Mr. C. T. F. Steinway, oldest son of the late Henry Stein-
way and brother of William, is still living and actively con-
nected with the firm of Steinway & S >ns, and not Sttinway & Co.
as above, he beinn the inventor of nearly all the patented improve-
ments introduced by Steinway k Sons into their pianos during
the past twenty years.
DEDICATED TO THE DEALERS.
ELOW we give a few proverbs taken from the
catalogue of the Loring & Blake Organ Co.,
Worcester, Mass. It may be of advantage to
the dealers to ponder over them.
B
Cheap organs at low prices In the hands of compet-
itors have no terrors for the dealer who sells first
class goods himself, and has the ability and dispo-
sition to tell his customers WHY they are first class,
and why the competitor's goods are not.
Some dealers would rather sell cheap organs than
take the trouble to explain the difference to a cus-
tomer. These are the dealers who, about the time
they should have established a permanent trade, find
they must either quit the business, or go to a new
town.
A good organ is no better than a poor one in the
hands of a dealer who does not understand his busi-
ness.
If you would find the largest and most successful
dealer in the music trade in any town, find the one
who sells the Palace Organs, and you will, in nine
cases out of ten, find the man you are looking for.
The dealer who confines his trade to one organ gets
all the territory and all the favors, while the one that
" furnishes any make " wonders why the manufac-
turer smiles when he (the dealer) speaks of dropping
the agency.
Styles of goods change frequently, but the laws of
business regulating their sale and purchase are fixed
and immutable. Those who now and then try to de-
monstrate that these laws can be changed excite
only ridicule and contempt among experienced busi-
ness men.
Beware of manufacturers who are chronic thieves;
we mean those who steal the ideas of their competi-
tors and then advertise them as their own. If they
will steal from their competitors they will steal from
you. All they want Is an opportunity.
NEW MUSIC STORE OPENED.
N Saturday evening William H. Keller opened
his new music store, on Third street, in Walt-
man's block. During the evening sweet sounds
were heard issuing from the large wareroom, which
was brilliantly illuminated. Long before 8 o'clock
the place was crowded with admirers of music, and
Mr. Druckenmiller, the manager, was kept busy
playing upon the different instruments to soothe
their feelings. Mr. Keller is also agent in this sec-
tion for the celebrated Steinway & Sons, Kranich &
Bach, Hallet, Davis Co., J. & C. Fischer, New Eng-
land Company, Gilbe & Co., and Grand Central pi-
anos, and the great Estey, Mason & Hamlin, Story &
Clark, and other makes of organs, samples of which
were exhibited and played upon. On one side of the
store the shelves are filled with every imaginable in-
strument used by musicians, while the counters were
stacked with sheet music and music books, new one*
of which are received daily. We understand that an
experienced tuner and repairer of pianos and organs
will attend to that important feature promptly.
During the evening while several selections were
being given on the different instruments, the tele-
phone was used by different parties in Bethlehem
and Easton.who enjoyed the concert equally as much
as those in the establisment. As this is the first at-
tempt at establishing a first class music store in our
midst we hope the firm will meet with deserved suc-
cess.— South Bethlehem Star, Jan. 31.
O
YICK'S FLORAL GUIDE.
W
E are in receipt of Viok's Floral Guide for the
year 1887, which is by far the handsomest
seed catalogue published in America.
The title illustration, a bunch of Pansies, and the
page in colors of " Border and Bedding Plants," are
triumphs of chromo-lithography which have proba-
bly never been excelled, while the hundreds of small-
er illustrations are true to nature and thoroughly
described.
The volume opens with a series of practical ar-
ticles of great service to both amateur and profess-
ional gardeners, is followed by faithful illustrations
showing the interior of the immense Seed House, and
then by engravings of all the leading and rare varie-
ties of flowers and vegetables, with directions for
their culture.
No pains or expense have been spared in the pro-
duction of this volume, and every effort has been
made to render it worthy the reputation of its pub-
lisher, James Vlck, Seedsman, Rochester, N. Y.