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Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
His friends don't know, and they'll tell you so,
Where he in truth resides.
He's off to-day for the Saguenay,
Or where the cowboy rides !
Sunshine or rain, he takes a train.
Wherever his fancy guides.
And he's happy now as the day is long,
And Care seems under the ban ;
For he now commutes on a dozen routes
'Twixt here and Michigan,
And he never is glum, for he has become
Again a traveling man.
LOOKING
BACKWARD.
WITH THE
TRAVELERS.
DEAR MUSIC TRADE REVIEW :
I read with much interest your weekly tussles
•'With the Travelers." How would it strike
you to publish a little poetry ?
ahead, and here you are :
If it strikes go
McTockey was a traveling man
Of prowess and renown ;
From Kalamazoo to Kickapoo
He'd been in every town ;
JPfc , -.
And no rebuff could dampen his bluff
Nor keep his courage down.
He journeyed far, he journeyed wide,
This chipper traveling man.
And well he knew each " local's " crew
And where the branches ran ;
And he connected with trains expected
As often as any one can.
The landlord smiled as he saw his face
For he ordered much and well,
And the fat barkeeper awoke from sleep
And listened for the bell ;
And the yarns were great which he sat up late
By the fire at night to tell.
He got up at the earliest dawn
To catch the early worm,
Of bustle and hustle and general rustle
He seemed to have the germ,
And he won such a name he soon became
A member of the firm.
And soon he bought his partners out.
So rich had he become,
And he held in blocks of gilt-edged stocks
A comfortable sum,
With a house near the Park—I may remark
That it cost a pretty plum.
And yet McTockey, merchant prince,
By Fate so richly blest,
Appeared not pleased, but was ever seized
With the spirit of unrest,
And he spoke with praise of his traveling days,
When life had such a zest.
So he telephoned his wife one day
With a cheery hallo, hallo,
And a brisk good-by and a ready lie:
" On business I must go,
. And I'll be back, on the Central track,
In about a week or so."
And it worked so well, I've heard him tell,
The habit now he's got,
When matters drag, and his spirits sag,
And he doesn't know what is what,
He seizes his grip and takes a trip
To some secluded spot.
THE
Prominent Men Who Have Passed Away
In 1894.
March 16.—Mr. Charles Blasius, founder of the
firm of Blasius & Sons, Philadelphia,
Pa.
April 17.—Mr. Ernest Knabe, senior member of
the firm of Knabe & Co., Baltimore,
Md.
May 30.—Mr. Benj. Curtaz, founder of the house
of Benj. Curtaz & Son, San Fran-
cisco, Cal.
June 3.—Mr. Louis Geilfuss, for over quarter of a
century connected with the house of
Steinway & Sons, this city.
July 19.—Mr. William Hooper, president of the
John Church Co., Cincinnati, O.
Aug. 28.—Mr. Wade H. Jewett, founder of the
Jewett Piano Company, Leominster,
Mass.
Sept. 30.—Mr. John A. Newman, vice-president
and one of the founders of the New-
man Bros. Company, Chicago.
Oct. 24.—Mr. Henry Wegman, president and
founder of the Wegman Piano Com-
pany, Auburn, N. Y.
Oct. 29.—Mr. Jacques Bach, one of the founders
of the firm of Kranich & Bach, New
York.
Nov. 5.—Mr. John C. Warren, secretary of the
A. M. McPhail Piano Company,
Boston, Mass.
Dec. 7.—Mr. John Jacob Decker, founder of the
firm of Decker Brothers, this city.
Some of the Things Talked About
in 1894.
The wonderful success of the Dolge blue felt.
The Specials of THE; MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
John Boyd Thacher and the World's Fair
" Medals that never came."
The piano trust bugaboo that has faded and
gone.
The autoharp, and the fact that it has become
a standard musical instrument, for home and
concert purposes, in this country and abroad.
The " right to use a firm name, " as illustrated
in the case of Hardman, Peck & Co., versus
Hardman & La Grassa.
The demand for improved case structure in
pianos and organs.
The use of aluminium by musical instrument
CELEBRATED
STEGER
ti
manufocturers for violins, lrotv,b jnes, t} tupani
and other band and orchestral instruments, and
for covering piano wire, etc.
The presence of so many members of the
music trade and music trade editors in Europe
during the summer, notwithstanding the cry of
" hard times."
The growth of direct representation in cities,
as illustrated in the business policy advocated
by such houses as the W. W. Kimball Com-
pany, the Chicago Cottage Organ Company, the
Manufacturers' Company, and other firms in
Chicago; Smith & Nixon, and D. H. Baldwin
& Co., of Cincinnati; the Hallett & Davis Co.,
Mason &,Hanilin Co., and other firms of Boston ;
the Sterling Company, Derby, Conn., and the
marked tendency to the same general policy by
some New York manufacturers.
The Plectrophone used in the Everett piano,
for which the John Church Company hold the
patent rights.
The increasing demand for American string
instruments in the South American republics,
and the growing popularity of string instru-
ments such as violins, guitars, etc., of native
manufacture with our purchasing public, and
the belief that they are better than the im-
ported.
The great success of the new scale pianos
placed upon the market, such as the " 1894 "
Chickering instruments, the Steck upright, the
"popular Pease" grand, the Bradbury baby •
grand, the Wissner concert grand, the Weber in-
struments, the Hazelton instruments, the Hard-
man baby grand, and many others in the West
and East.
The Sohmer versus Sommer litigation.
The marked success attained by Strauch Bros.
in their new venture—the key-making business.
Musical instruments made of glass, such as
mandolins, violins, etc.
The absence of anything star'tllngly new in the
construction of the pianoforte.
The political landslide last November, and the
scarcity of democrats nowadays.
Geo. P. Bent and his multum hi parvo—the
" Crown " Orchestral Attachment and Practice
Clavier, which has met with such success
wherever exhibited.
The suit of the John Church Company versus
Geo. P. Bent, bearing on the foregoing attach-
ment.
The cheap piano question, where will it end
and what will it lead to.
The up-hill fight for trade the first six months
of this year, and the clearing horizon for
brighter days at its close.
The famous dinners given by the Chicago
Music Trades' Association and the able speeches
delivered by Alfred Dolge, Wm. E. Wheelock,
and, more recently, those by Hon. Levi K. Fuller
and Geo. W. Armstrong.
The stencil, which, like everything poor, is
always with us.
That " graded list " so long in contemplation
by a contemporary.
The unanimous feeling at the present time
that the business world has left the period of un-
certainty behind, and that the year 1895 will
see brighter conditions and good times for the
piano trade.
THERE is no truth in the report that Mrs. S.
J. Jones has withdrawn from the firm of Messrs.
Jones Bros., Altoona, Pa.
PIANOS
PATENTED 1893.
are noietl lor their fine singing quality of
tone
and great
durability.
The most
profitable Piano for dealers to handle,
STEG-ER & CO., Manufacturers,
Factory, Columbia Heights,
236 WABASH AYft, CHICAGO.