Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
270
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
Mr. Schwab was formerly connected as dramatic critic. vertiser, the New York Herald, the New York Tribune,
A majestic smile lighted up the mobile features of Mr. the Newark (N. J.) Sunday Call, the Girls' Own Paper,
Loewy as he addressed himself to the venerable witness- the American Musician, the London and Provincial
" Here," the lawyer seemed to think, " is a man who Music Trades Review, Freund's Music and Drama, and
The Skibberreen Eagle; with a few more columns of
will crush this Schwab as an eggshell would be crushed
beneath a Nasmyth hammer." Mr. Jones was not on concert programmes, which come as a godsend to the
the stand five minutes, but before he got away from it aid of the editor of the Indicator in his wondrous com-
Benno's smile had vanished, being replaced by an ex- pilation of 1,578 square inches of reading matter, and
pression of unexpected discomfiture. Did Mr. Jones re- which are read by perhaps a score of people; and with
member Mr. Schwab ? Yes, perfectly well. Mr. Schwab certain gratuitous correspondence of no particular value
had been employed on the Times during at least two except to the musical friends of the local scribblers and
periods. He had not discharged Mr. Schwab. It was dribblers.
] !
the business of the managing editor to discharge em-
It is passing strange that so experienced and observ-
ployes. Had professonal persons ever complained to ant a man as the editor of the Indicator should not have
Mr. Jones of Schwab's criticisms of them ? Oh, yes, learned, long ago, that the merit and success of a paper
certainly;such
people were always complaining. Had are not to be judged by the amount of rubbish that is
jCR tfa cause tl}.
charges of blackmail been made against Schwab? No, cer- crowded into it. On the contrary, the standing of a
For the wrofl^ that ceais' rfv«tii,c« }
tainly not, (to witness's knowledge,) either by word or paper must be gauged by the quantity of matter con-
Hor tfee future IQ t
implication. The fact was that those professional peo- tained in its columns that is of real interest and value
ple were never satisfied. And much more to the same to its readers.
effect. Whoever influenced Mr. Loewy to put the ven-
One very practical way of ascertaining the relative
erated Jones on the stand must have been actuated by value of a journal is by making an accurate computa-
a spirit of mischief or of malice, for the old gentleman tion of its paid advertisements, and according to this
proved to be a boomerang witness of the first order. test the Indicator is, by its own showing, not even
Every word uttered by him was in favor of the plain- second on the list, and, moreover, not very much ahead
A BOOMERANG W I T N E S S .
tiff,
and exactly opposite to what the defense expected of the best of the smaller publications above alluded
THE great libel case has proceeded another stage
and
desired. It was clear that dismay had taken pos- to. Vide the following table, copied from the Indi-
Judge Gorman in person presided at the hearing held
session
of the three men who sat near the south wall* cator .'—
in the Tombs police court on Thursday last. Previous
and
their
bright and gifted counsel was sore vexed and
to his arrival the court-room presented a singular spec-
TOTAL SQ. INCHES OF ADVERTISEMENTS.
perplexed.
Little Abe chuckled and shook with savage
tacle.
Music Trade Review, .
• 1,381
Against the south wall sat, all in a row, Marc A. glee.
American Musician, .
1,128
Mr. Jones having departed, the examination of Mr
Indicator,
. 1,116
Blumenberg and Otto Floersheim, " Editors and Pro-
1,033
Musical Courier,
prietors " of The Musical Courier, and their doughty Schwab was proceeded with and quickly finished, some-
Music
and
Drama,
.
.
.
.
1,008
what to the amazement of that gentleman, who clearly
Western representative, John E. Hall.
Art Journal,
.
.
.
.
.
79,0
Little Abe Hummel surveyed the trio with a mis- anticipated another week of questioning at the very
chievous kind of air, as of an old fox slyly making his least. The defense then fell back upon some technical- And yet in T H E MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, again assuming
way through the roof of a hen-roost. By his side sat ities, which were overruled. Mr. Loewy next moved to the Indicators figures to be correct, there are but 743
Mr. Schwab, the aggrieved one. wearing an expression dismiss the case. Motion denied, and hearing adjourn- square inches of reading matter, as against 1,578 square
of unutterable scorn. Mr. Loewy chatted familiarly ed until Thursday next (to-morrow) at 3 p. m., at the inches of reading matter in the tin-trumpet flourishing
western publication! These 743 inches, however, con-
with Daniel Bandmann, the actor, who donned his best Fifty-seventh street Police Court.
Before adjournment, Mr. Loewy called attention to an tain good, solid, fresh reading matter, of real and vital
Jekyllian manner for the occasion, though as to whether
he is concerned in the cause celebre or not we have no article published in The American Musician of the 9th interest to the music trade. Now, how much T R A D E
information. Loewy was full of the electrical nervous inst., headed "Arrested Again," and contain ing the state- reading matter has the tin-trumpeter ? Taking up the
excitement which characterized him at former hearings- ment that the editors were informed of a second arrest of copy in which his celebrated " tabulated statement" ap-
Still, Benno keeps a very level head. Eventually the Messrs. Blumenberg and Floersheim in a civil suit by Mr. pears, we find therein four and a half pages of reading
venerable Judge Gorman appeared, his jovial counten- Schwab, damages being assessed at $20,000. The Musi- matter appertaining to the music trade. Four and a
ance beaming with benevolence. He was clearly pre- cians information was somewhat premature. Mr. Hum- half pages, measuring 11 in. by 7 in. per page, contain
pared to throw the sweetest of oil on the troubled waters mel explained that he had filed the order of arrest altogether 3 4 6 ^ square inches, or considerably less than
which he saw rising before him. On his entrance the "within the last two days" whereupon Mr. Loewy re- half the amount of trade reading matter admitted by the
trio against the south wall pulled themselves together, marked that he had an offer of bail in his pocket. This Indicator to be contained in T H E MUSIC TRADE REVIEW!
put on their best behavior, and looked very anxious, is another instance of misrepresentation on the part of Why, even the Indicator s enterprising little neighbor,
Hall giving a moral support to Blumenberg, and Otto the Musician, whose editors had better look to their Presto, which the "statement" tabulator coolly (and un-
fairly) ignores, has as much trade reading matter as ap-
reputation for accuracy.
taking care of himself.
Thus endeth another chapter of the great Courier pears in the columns of the tin trumpeter!
After some sharp skirmishing between the legal lumin-
We have sufficiently demonstrated the utterly mis-
aries as to the admissibility of certain questions left over libel case.
leading character of the Indicator's figures, and will not
* *
from the former hearing, Mr. Loewy again applied his
occupy further space by exploding the fallacies and
torturing-irons to Mr. Schwab, asking him many ques-
FOX'S " T A B U L A T E D S T A T E M E N T . "
misrepresentations embodied in the "editorial" com-
tions as to his relations with Mme. Nevada and matters
IN his issue of the 2d inst., the proprietor of the ments which follow them, which comments only denote
arising therefrom. An insinuation that Schwab had at-
tempted to blackmail the noted cantatrice was met by Indicator, a paper published in Chicago, 111., presents editorial decay. The point of the whole matter is that the
the statement that he had " sued the lady for libel, and what he calls a "tabulated statement of the comparative compiler of the Indicator's " tabulated statement" has
that on the witness-stand the latter had denied having sizes of the music trade journals of the United States." (in its preparation) either been grossly careless, densely
made the allegations complained of, whereupon Schwab Mr. Fox has been at considerable pains to ascertain the stupid, or willfully unfair.
Concerning that part of the Indicator that does not
was satisfied. This, however, by no means exhausted number of square inches of reading matter and of ad-
the arsenal of the fiery Lbewy, who again and again vertisements contained in THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, relate to the music trade, we have nothing to add to
wanted to know why Schwab had not sued certain news- the American Musician, the Indicator, the Musical our observations in the beginning of this article. Some
papers which had reflected seriously upon his profes- Courier, the Art Journal, and Music and Drama ; and, other editor, interested in professional musical matters,
sional character. Then little Abe brought his mitrail- having laboriously plied his measuring line, he trium- may find such portion of the Indicator open to criti-
leuse to bear, pouring into his enemy volley after volley phantly exclaims that " The Indicator contains a greater cism.
As to the other so-called trade editors, they are prob-
of objections, most of which were sustained by the number of square inches than any musical paper in
Judge, to whose every adverse ruling Loewy, of course, America excepting the American Musician." Of course ably well able to take care of themselves. If any of
it does; but why knuckle down to the American Mu- them should desire to compare the extent, quality and
took exception.
sician
? All that the Indicator has to do, in order to be value of their trade columns, whether as regards news
But the most amusing part of the comedy occurred
the
cock-a-doodle-doo
of the entire field, is to furnish or advertisements, with those of THE MUSIC TRADE
when Mr. Schwab's examination was suspended owing
its
printer
with
a
few
more
columns of reprint from the REVIEW, we shall be glad to have the comparison
to the arrival in court of Mr. Jones, the proprietor and
Muscatine
Daily
News,
the
New York Commercial Ad- made, but we have an idea that the other " trade
publisher of the New York Times, with which journal
J P