Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1894 Vol. 18 N. 48

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
she holds a pen ready to inscribe the award as
proclaimed. On either side of the shield are
flaming torches representing light or intelli-
gence. Beneath the shield and partially hidden
by it is the caravel, which is used to make a
unity or completeness of idea between the two
sides of the medal, the whole to commemorate
the four hundredth anniversary of the landing
of Columbus and the World's Exposition held
1892-1893.
.JgZHE WESTERN NUMBER of THE MUSIC TRADE
fft» REVIEW has been received in a manner
which is decidedly gratifying to us. The
Specials which we have published and propose
to publish until the series shall have been com-
pleted have been entirely different from anything
heretofore issued by the trade press. Those who
are engaged in selling musical instruments in
each section of the country will be dealt with in
turn. On these numbers neither pains nor ex-
pense will be spared to make them as nearly per-
fect as it is possible for a newspaper to become.
We have been in receipt of scores of compli-
mentary letters relative to our work of last week ;
also visiting representatives of this paper have
received personal words of the highest endorse-
ment regarding our publication. It is indeed
gratifying and shows that our humble efforts
are appreciated.
It is impossible for us to publish all of the
letters which we have received regarding the
Western number ; but among the entire corre-
spondence there is none which expresses a kinder
feeling than Mr. Daniel F. Treacy utters in a
recent communication, in which he says : " I
think really you are deserving of great credit,
and if you are not successful it certainly is not
for the want of attention, but there is no doubt
that such application to business and such en-
terprise is bound to succeed."
The Musical Courier pays us a graceful com-
pliment on our work when it says : '' Again
we are pleased to offer our congratulations to
Mr. Edward Lyman Bill on the production of
No. 2 of the special series of his paper, the
"Western Edition," which is another visible,
tangible proof that those who are willing to
work hard can produce a paper which reflects
credit upon themselves and their patrons."
H. Paul Mehlen writes: " I think you de-
serve credit for the way you have gotten up the
whole paper.''
Boardman & Gray say : " Your special num-
ber is received and makes an exceedingly
handsome paper.''
From all over the West we are receiving con-
gratulatory messages. Messrs. Steger & Co.
write: '' Your WESTERN NUMBER of THE MUSIC
TRADE REVIEW at hand. Allow us to compli-
ment you upon this splendid issue. The print-
ing and makeup of the whole is artistic. You
certainly deserve great credit for your enter-
prise. ''
The Chicago Musical Times prints the follow-
ing :
' ' The WESTERN NUMBER of T H E MUSIC
TRADE REVIEW is a very creditable publication,
and Mr. Bill is to be congratulated upon the
success which his idea met."
growth of profit-sharing throughout
this country and Europe is undoubtedly a
marked tribute to the ideas advanced years ago
and put in practice by our friend Mr. Dolge.
When he inaugurated his system of profit-
sharing it was deemed socialistic, etc., but aftej
the French Exposition—where Mr. Dolge's
theories and practical results were shown forth
in the very able book which he had specially
prepared on that subject—a marked change ot
sentiment in its favor took place and it has ever
since been on the increase. To-day profit-
sharing is being seriously considered by some
of the most eminent social economists in this
country, and, as can be judged from the quota-
tion below, public opinion is changing in this
favor in England and other European countries.
In a recent article apropos of strikes and other
troubles in the industrial world a leading London
newspaper comes out pretty boldly in favor of
profit-sharing as a solution of the industrial
enigma, and says : " The most important of the
suggestions put forward for the better drawing
together of capital and labor is that of profit-
sharing. Where it has been tried the results
have been most satisfactory. A man holding a
share in the business which employs him will
work with spirit and energy. If every work-
man were given an interest in the property he is
helping to build up—a share that he was en-
couraged and helped to increase—we should hear
little of dissatisfactions, strikes and discontent.
Such would undoubtedly prove the beginning of
the end of trade unionism, but it would replace
these one-sided organizations by a system con-
ferring infinitely greater benefits. The worker
would be not only an employee but an employer,
not only a laborer but somewhat of a capitalist
himself. Every property holder is a source of
strength to the community; the man with de-
sires and wants only, and no rights, a danger.
Once establish profit-sharing as a fixed prin-
ciple and the very words capital and labor would
cease to have any practical meaning."
SHOULD BE KNOWN BY ITS TRUE NAME.
HERE is only one way for a manufacturer
to do business successfully for any length
of time, that is by maintaining a clean record as
well as by making a good article and selling it
at a reasonable price. We do not desire to say
unpleasant things of the firm of Hardman &
LaGrassa. On the contrary, we are always glad
to assist in any way a legitimate enterprise in
the field which T H E MUSIC TRADE REVIEW tries
to cover in its editorial work. We think, how-
ever, one of the duties devolving upon the
editors of music-trade journals is to point out,
when opportunity presents itself, what seems
the proper course to be followed in certain cases.
We have abstained from remarking upon the
course of Hardman & LaGrassa since the decis-
ions of the Supreme Court of this State in the
recent suit in which they were defendants, be-
cause we thought that time would show Mr. La-
Grassa the unwisdom of maintaining the name
'' Hardman '' on his piano. When we say '' his
piano,'' we mean that the Hardman & LaGrassa
piano is made by Mr. LaGrassa, and that, as far
S
as we have been able to ascertain, Mr. Hugh
Hardman brings nothing to it in reputation or
skill, he being an old man and practically out of
the field of contemporary business. Mr. La-
Grassa, therefore, uses the name "Hardman"
for some reason which does not appear to be
sufficient. A careful analysis of the case neces-
sarily develops the belief that either Mr. La-
Grassa is forced to use this name by contract or
circumstances, or he does so to obtain a certain
amount of recognition which belongs honestly to
the Hardrnan piano alone, the Hardman piano
being exclusively manufactured by the old firm
of Hardman, Peck & Co. This, we think, is a
plain statement of the case, and without desir-
ing in any way to do injustice to Mr. LaGrassa,
our advice to him is to go before the trade of the
United States in his own character and with hifl
own piano, offering it for sale on its merits 01
its price, as he sees fit. Men who have been
brought up in business and who have money and
reputation to lose, are more sensitive than even
capital itself, and Mr. LaGrassa will find that it
is difficult to try to make experienced dealers in
the piano trade in this country buy a piano for
which excuses have to be made and injunction
suits have to be explained before a fair basis of
competitive argument is reached.
A persistent attempt to employ the name
" Hardman, " although legally used in conjunc-
tion with LaGrassa's at present, will, in our
opinion result in permanent disadvantage to Mr.
LaGrassa's instrument. The general sentiment
of the trade is entirely opposed to the method
adopted by Hardman & LaGrassa and persisted
in up to this time and, although manufacturers
generally might express no opinion, every one
of them in his imagination at least, puts himself
In the place of the makers of the Hardman piano
and opposes in spirit the efforts of Hardman &
LaGrassa. The dealers are outspoken, however,
and we mistake their intelligence as well as
sense of justice, it many of them who have any-
thing to lose, would care to occupy a false posi-
tion before the trade and public in their repre-
sentation of wares. The truth of this is shown
in the fact that two or three large dealers to
whom Hardman & LaGrassa pianos have been
sent, have asked for and had effected on the in-
struments a change in name from " Hardman &
LaGrassa " to " LaGrassa.'' These dealers
stated that they were unwilling to mix in any
way in a business which could only hamper
them in their work and possibly bring difficulty
and litigation to them. We feel that the entire
trade is in sympathy with us in the views we
have expressed, and we, therefore, in the most
friendly way, advise Mr. LiGrassa and Mr.
Hardman to do the only proper thing at present,
namely, give up a name which in spirit and in
fact is recognized by the trade, the press and the
public, as attaching only to the Hardman piano
itself.
MR. C. J. WHITNEY of the Whitney-Marvin
Co., Detroit, Mich., has sold the Whitney Opera
House block in that city to Stephen Baldwin
for $300,000. It is said that Mr. Whitney who
has some twenty theatres on his hands is going
to put more capital into the music business and
narrow down the number of his theatrical enter-
prises.
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
MR. ERNEST URCHS, of Steinway & Sons,
who was chairman of the music committee of the
great National Saengerfest which was held in
this city the early part of the week, contributed
in a great measure to the success of that im-
portant event.
MR. S. MENNIG has been engaged as factory
superintendent of the McCammon Piano Co.,
Oneonta N. Y. Mr. Mennig has made a life
long study of piano making, and is thoroughly
competent to fill his new position with much
credit to himself and the concern who engaged
his services.
THE Hotel Grunewald, which has become the
favorite rendezvous for musicians visiting New
Orleans, can now boast of a roof garden cover-
ing an area of 25,000 square feet. On the open-
ing night a large number of the prominent
people of the city were present and a splendid
band, composed of selected musicians, inaugu-
rated what is proving and will prove to be a
successful and profitable piece of enterprise.
Three elevators and two large stairways lead to
the roof. Visiting music trade men can enjoy
an excellent cuisine accompanied by refreshing
breezes at this excellent hostelry.
WE have received a very neatly printed cata-
logue of the different styles of pianos turned out
by the Lindeman & Sons Piano Company, 727-737
East 147th street. The many instruments shown
in this catalogue are certainly very beautiful,
and they cannot fail to attract considerable at-
tention throughout the trade. The Linde-
man piano has an old and worthy reputation
and, as they say in their catalogue, "consider-
ing the actual cost of the material and labor em-
ployed in the construction of the Lindeman
pianos the prices are lower than those of any
other first-class house.''
THE Henry F. Miller artists' grand piano won
a new success, so to speak, at the Connecticut
State Music Teachers' Convention, which was
held in New Haven last week. Mrs. Rosabelle
Fraushour-Lines, the distinguished pianist, dis-
played its beautiful tone to the best possible ad-
vantage. The musicians present spoke highly
in praise of its musical qualities.
IN Tioga county, Pa., there is a farmer with
such a love for melody that he has rigged up a
music box on the order of a hand organ, which
he has attached to his wheel plow. The gear-
ing is so fixed that by moving a lever the organ
is played automatically, and the farmer regales
himself with all the popular operatic airs while
in the field.
MR.
S. ELLIOTT KRAMER, principal of
the
Smallwood School, Washington, D. C , is the
winner of the prize offertd by Mr. W. P. Van
Wickle, the Washington representative of the
Bradbury pianos, for the most popular school
teacher. It embraces a thirty-days' trip to Europe
with all expenses paid. The ticket covers round
trip ocean passage, all railway fares, hotel
charges, carriage drives, etc., from Washington
to Europe and back, visiting all the principal
cities on the continent. The number of votes
cast for Mr. Kramer reached nearly a hundred
thousand.
MR. J. M. HAWXHURST, manager of the Chi-
cago branch of the F. G. Smith house, is taking
a trip through Northern Michigan.
THE Marshall & Wendell Piano Co., of Albany,
N. Y., have favored us with a clever engraving
representing an octave of puppies accompanied
by these lines:
An octave full of puppies here we see,
All members of one happy family ;
As uniform as they, but sweeter far,
Marshall & Wendell's famous OCTAVES are.
For their melodious, liquid, soothing notes
Have hushed the angry growl in savage throats!
The poet's truthfulness is here confessed;
1
' Music hath charms to soothe the savage
breast."
THE Lebanon (Ind.) Herald of June 16th gives
the following account of another one of these
swindles which are becoming so very common
throughout the country and which might be
avoided if farmers had more intelligence and
more faith in the wares of the local dealers :
Ernest Dukes, a wealthy old farmer who re-
sides ten miles west of here, has been swindled
by representatives of a Chicago piano company
out of $500. Recently D. S. Latimer called
on Mr. Dukes and opened the way for his
confederates, G. Vanderhool and a Mr. Long,
by placing a piano in the Dukes domicile.
The condition of the agreement was that Dukes
became an agent in the neighborhood and was
to receive $100 on each piano sold up to four,
which would pay for his piano ; should there
be no sales the piano in Mr. Dukes' house was to
be taken back without any loss to him.
Vanderhool obtained Dukes' notes for $180
and $390 on a very different contract, as it simply
promised a commission of $180 on each of four
piano sales, with no provisions for taking the
piano back or giving up the notes should there
be no sales. Dukes found his notes in a Frank-
fort bank and will have to pay them. The piano
is worth about $60.
FREEBORN G. SMITH, it is stated has aband-
oned his protracted European trip.
MR. OTTO SUTRO, the well known representa-
tive of the Steinway piano in Baltimore, left for
Europe last week. Mr. Sutro has taken into
partnership Mr. R. C. Gibson, his head book-
keeper, and Mr. Chas. Glaser, manager of the
sheet music department. These gentlemen have
been actively associated with the house of Otto
Sutro & Co. for many years.
THE Colby piano still continues to make a
record. Mr. Julius N. Brown succeeded in dis-
posing of four of these instruments recently to a
new conservatory of mvisic which is to be estab-
lished in Chicago.
MR. A. J. HOLDEN, salesman for Checkering
& Sons, has resigned his position with that
house.
an execution for $8,315
against John J. Swick and George W. Weser,
piano manufacturers, formerly of i32d street and
Lincoln avenue, in favor of Louis Haas, on June
27th.
THE
SHERIFF received
RAPID progress is being made on the Com-
mercial Block, corner of Genesee avenue and
Clinton street, Saginaw, Mich., which is to be
occupied as a factory for the manufacture of the
Erd piano. The building is a large and capa-
cious one, well supplied with elevators and other
conveniences which render every part of the
building easy of access. The building is three
stories in height and comprises four stores.
When completed it will be one of the finest fac-
tories in the West.
IN compliance with a resolution adopted by
the Southern Industrial Congress held recently
at Augusta, Ga., Senator Walsh, of Georgia, has
introduced a bill in the Senate which provides
for the establishment of a national hall for the
exhibit of the products of States and Territories
at Washington. Provision is made for the ap-
pointment of a commission to consist of the
Postmaster-General, the Secretary of the Interior
and the Secretary of Agriculture, to report to
Congress as early as practicable a plan for
the establishment and maintenance of the expo-
sition and the erection of a suitable building.
The committee is directed to advertise for plans
for the building, and they are to be reported to
Congress with a recommendation as to the site.
Seven thousand dollars is to be appropriated for
the expenses of the commission.
THE Sterling Co., Derby, Conn., report a
marked improvement in their foreign trade for
the past month. Shipments to England and
Germany, particularly, show a marked inerease.
HARRY RICHARDS, who, by the way, is a rela-
tive of the piano manufacturing concern of Lon-
don, of the same name, has recently retired from
the superintendency of the McCammon Piano
factory at Oneonta.
About Mason & Hamlin.
letter was received by Mason
§ HE & following
Hamlin from the manager of Mr.
Keith's new theatre in Boston:
BOSTON, June 13th, 1894.
MESSRS. MASON & HAMLIN,
Boston.
: Since the opening of my new
theatre we have had, and used several hours
daily, one of your big concert grand pianos. In
fact, in my theatre the piano takes the place of
the oichestra. It gives me great pleasure to
state to you that your piano has not only proved
itself entirely worthy the confidence I put in it,
but that it has stood remarkably the great test,
and has answer* d every artistic desire of the
several pianists who have used the same. You
are to be congratulated on such a magnificent
product from your manufactory.
I am yours very truly,
GENTLEMEN
E. F. ALBEE,
Gen. Manager for Mr. Keith.
This theatre was recently opened and it is a
magnificent structure, being the largest theatre
in America and one of the largest in the world.
There is a complete telephone system in the
theatre, there being fifty-two stations or more,
so that communication may be had from any
one part of the house to another. The whole
building is modeled on a correspondingly broad
space. It is very significent as to the worth
of the instrument and gratifying to the house of
Mason & Hamlin that Mr. Keith should select
one of their pianos for his theatre.
NOTTINGHAM, PA.—A charter has been
granted to the Nottingham Silver Cornet Band :
E. J. Kirk, W. S. Roberts, J. F. Anderson and
others members.
DUQUESNE, PA.— Etnil Haberkorn, well known
musician and leader of Duquesne Theatre since
1890, died at Los Angeles, Cal., where he had
gone for his health, as he was suffering from
consumption. Mr. Haberkorn was married and
subsequently divorced from Margaret Mather,
the actress, whom he married about seven years
ago. He leaves a wife and infant child, being
married to his second wife about a year. He
was 35 years old.
S
O our numerous subscribers who preserve
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW from week to
week, we would commend the binder advertised
in another part of this paper. These binders
are moderate in price and exceedingly conveni-
ent and useful for the purpose intended.

Download Page 3: PDF File | Image

Download Page 4 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.