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HE PRGAN
o
VOL.
XVI. No. 4.
published Every Saturday.
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Yor^, September 3, 1892.
was conducted into a shop filled with busy
workmen, and all the familiar attributes of a
factory running at high pressure. There is, of
course, much to be done still in the way of com-
OUR REPRESENTATIVE
pleting and enlarging facilities to an extent
capable of meeting all future emergencies in the
l/isits 5l?eir Extensive Factory.
shape of increased business, but on the whole
Mr. Wagener has accomplished wonders in the
PERMANENTLY SETTLED IN THEIR NEW BUILD- time.
ING—C. H. WAGENER—AN ABLE MANAGER
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—JUST RETURNED FROM A CONTINENTAL
The fine building at 62 and 64 Tabernacle
TRIP—HE SECURED A FLOOD OF
street, which is to be the permanent factory for
ORDERS IN VARIOUS CAPITALS
the production of the Story & Clark organ, is
ABROAD —A SPLENDIDLY
100 x 150, and contains about 3,000 square feet
EQUIPPED SHOP—THE
of working space.
STORY & CLARK A
On descending to the basement I was shown
SUCCESS.
the boxing and shipping department. Mr.
Wagener pointed out the improvements which
^3? HE large wholesale piano and organ estab- are to be made in the position of the new eleva-
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activity when I paid a formal call as your repre- around, filled with the small work of organ cases,
sentative last Tuesday. Presenting my card at sent over to give the place a first start prepara-
the general office, Mr. Hirsch promptly emerged tory to the erection of the engine and necessary
from his private sanctum and ushered me into wood working plant, which, when completed,
the presence of his partner, Mr. Heiden-Heimar, will consist of planing, graining, carving, scrap-
and a second individual who on introduction ing and jig sawing machines. Every depart-
turned out to be Mr. Charles Wagener, of Chi- ment in the factory will be fitted out in the most
cago, the representative and directing manager perfect manner possible, the whole to have a
of Story & Clark's new organ factory in London. capacity of 3,000 instruments per year.
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'' I have a countryman of yours here,'' re-
I have been informed that Mr. Wagener had
marked Mr. Hirsch, smilingly, as he led the
way into the private office, and in a few seconds some difficulty in securing a factory of suitable
I was engaged in a friendly chat with the popu- extent in that central part of the great metropo-
lar Chicagoan, Wagener, as though our ac- lis. Nothing, however, seems to be impossible
to a Chicagoan, and the building, 62 and 64
quaintance was a matter of years.
In the Star of the previous Saturday I read a Tabernacle street, was at last secured. It is a
personal paragraph about the cosmopolitan ex- fine, roomy and well-lighted structure, right in
perience of the manager of Story & Clark's Lon- the heart of London, and easily reached from
don factory, and was, therefore, not unprepared every direction. It is within a short distance
to find him possessed of all the frank and ap- of the railway stations and the docks, and is
proachable characteristics of a man of the altogether a most desirable factory.
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world.
When everything is in ship-shape in this Lon-
'' You would like to take a look through our
new factory ? All right, my boy. We will run don edition of the splendidly equipped factory
down there in a jiffy. I was just going down possessed by Story & Clark in Chicago, the
when you dropped in. It is always a pleasure handsome offices of Mr. Wagener and his staff
to meet some one from Uncle Sam's territory." will be on the first floor. At present he has tem-
Thus spoke Mr. Wagener, with the fluency of a porary quarters, but he finds them equal to the
Chicagoan on the hustle, and yet with an easy emergency.
He informed your representative that he had
air of self-possession that bespoke the "globe
trotter, " for the subject of these remarks speaks only just arrived from what I would describe as
eight or nine languages, and is acquainted with a miniature globe trotting business expedition.
every city in the world where Caucasians pre- In other words, he had spent a couple of weeks
running up and down through the European
dominate.
continent, booking orders for Story & Clark or-
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Presently, in company with Mr. Wagener, I gans. A trip to the continent is regarded as a
found myself in a tram-car going in the direction most important event by the average London
of the factory, which is situated at 62 and 64 business man, but Mr. Wagener runs over that
Tabernacle street, E. C. I expected to find part of the hemisphere with the unconscious
things in a crude working condition, owing to ease of a New York hustler on the commercial
the obvious difficulty of transplanting the opera- rampage throughout the States.
H=
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tions of a factory capable of an extensive output
of first class organs from Chicago to London.
He showed me orders for over 300 instruments
My surprise, however, may be imagined when I to be shipped as soon as possible, I doubt if
Story 2$ Glarl^ in London.
$3.00 PER YEAR.
SINGLE COPIES, io CENTS.
there is another man connected with the London
music trade who could run over to the different
European cities and be at home in all of them,
as the subject of these remarks always is. Story
& Clark, therefore, enjoy a most important ad-
vantage over present and future competitors,
through Mr. Wagener's knowledge of languages,
and of the members of the music trades of the
different countries of Europe. He took orders
for the Story & Clark organ in Copenhagen,
Antwerp, Hamburg, Berlin, Odessa, Moscow,
St. Petersburgh, Constantinople, Buda Pesth,
Vienna, Florence, Milan and numerous other
cities during the trip to which I refer, and he in-
tends to penetrate into other regions when the
capacity of the London factory is equal to all
possible demands.
Everything points to a brilliant future for the
Story & Clark organ in Europe. Though it has
hitherto been extensively sold by Hirsch & Co.,
and handled to great advantage as a first-class
musical product, the situation of the main fac-
tory in Chicago and the various inconveniencies
attendant upon the importing and keeping of
these instruments in stock, made it impossible
for Hirsch & Co. to push them to the extent
possible at present, and this is conceded.
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The establishment of a London branch of the
Story & Clark organ has been watched with as-
tonishment by the members of the trade over
here, and it is no wonder. It required consider-
able courage on the part of Story & Clark to
make such a radical move, for it involved risk
of capital and the assumption of large responsi-
bilities away from home. Thorough confidence
in the musical character of their instruments
and in their popularity abroad—which success-
ful European experience has already justified—
operated in the new departure of that firm, and
with such a genius as Mr. Wagener at the helm
in London, the present outlook is most en-
couraging.
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The various technical departments of the Lon-
don branch are under the supervision of compe-
tent men brought over from Chicago, but a great
many Englishmen are employed. The difficul-
ty of procuring voicers and tuners of American
organs in London is obviated by the importa-
tion of the reeds already prepared. The actions
are also partly imported, together with small
work of different kinds, but practically the
Story & Clark organs produced in the London
shop are made there.
The operations of drying, and " cutting up
and milling out,'' not to speak of the stocking
and seasoning of lumber, are largely dispensed
with, thanks to the ample facilities possessed
by the Chicago factory in these directions. The
London branch thus enjoys an advantage.
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Mr. Wagener took me through the case-mak-
ing, action, varnishing, and fly-finishing de-
(Con tin ued on page 92.)