Music Trade Review

Issue: 1895 Vol. 20 N. 11

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
6
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
^ E D W A R D LYMAN BILL
Editor and Proprietor.
PUBLISHED
EVERY
SATURDAY
3 East 14th St., New York
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage) United States and
Canada, $3.00 per year; Foreign Countries, $4.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per
insertion. On quarterly or yearly contracts a special dis-
count is allowed.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should
be made payable to Edward Lyman Bill.
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second- Class Matter.
"THE BUSINESS MAN'S
PAPER."
will disclose all departments manned by a
full complement of employees filling the
large number of orders on hand. This old
and popular supply house has a wide
clientele of customers which is being add-
ed to every season. Their wares have
given satisfaction to all who have used
them, and this to a iarge extent accounts
for the agreeable condition of things pre-
valent in their factory these days.
T
HE way they move pianos in Mexico
is rather unique. In our Mr. Bill's
letter, which appears elsewhere in this
paper, he describes a scene witnessed by
him in Mexico City. It is certainly inter-
esting as well as amusing. What a novel
sight it would be to see four Indians—not
Union Square Indians, but Simon-pure
Mexican Indians—carrying an upright
piano after the Mexican style, say up Fifth
avenue. And what a great advertising
scheme it would be if this antiquated mode
of conveyance were introduced to fin-dc-
siecle New York.
• • • • • • • • • • • •
OR trie cajsy thai lack
For tlic wroag tbat aesds
For li?e future n the ''^ V
UR Western correspondent sends us
news of the incorporation of the
Story & Clark Piano Co., of Chicago. With
ample capital and a name of international
worth, this concern is bound to be an active
factor in the piano trade field in the West.
O
MONG those who have accepted in-
vitations to speak at the trade din-
ner to be held at the Hotel Waldorf, March 28,
areChauncey M. Depew, Alfred Dolge, Wil-
liam Steinway and H. E. Krehbiehl. Other
names will be announced later.
A
HERE are many beautiful pianos made
nowadays—instruments that would
be a revelation to the members of the trade
ten or fifteen years ago—and among them
the new style Hazelton Brothers' pianos are
worthy of taking first rank. And it is not
alone in case work they are beautiful, but
the tone is of an unusually fine quality. All
who have seen them speak of them in words
of praise.
T
ULLNESS in trade has not inter-
fered to any material extent with
the energetic house of Pratt, Read & Co.,
Deep River, Conn. A visit to their factory
D
GAIN the medals. The Director of
the Mint stated during the past week
that the medals which were awarded exhibi-
tors at the World's Columbian Exposition
would be ready about June 1st, and the
Superintendent of the Bureau of Engrav-
ing says that the diplomas will be finished
about the 1st of April. These statements
must be taken with a "grain of salt. " The
date for the distribution of these medals
and awards has been fixed time and time
again, but they failed to materialize.
Things may be different this time.
A
VERY interesting article upon the
industrial growth of Dolgeville ap-
peared in last Wednesday's Dolgeville
Herald. Among other things, it says: " I t
has been said that Alfred Dolge is respon-
sible for the Americanization of the piano.
It is really true. When he left the bench
as a workman twenty-seven years ago, al-
most every part of a piano was imported
from England, France and Germany. He
was the pioneer in making hammer-felt and
sounding-boards in the United States, and
it was through his influence that the Gieses
started the manufacture of piano wire here.
Now, the only parts imported are the
ivories and pearls for the keys."
A
Yes, and it is a fact that is often over-
looked. The wise policy of fostering
home manufactures in preference to those
of other countries has made this very agree-
able condition of things possible. This is
the policy that has made our country, com-
mercially, what it is to-day. In a quarter
of a century the music trade industry of this
country has become a tremendous power
from every standpoint, and American mu-
sical instruments lead the world. As the
Herald says, Alfred Dolge has done more
than a man's share to bring this about.
T
HE condition of business for the past
week makes the trade outlook encour-
aging- The commercial agencies report
that there has been a decided improvement in
the business of the country. There has been
a marked gain in all sections, and the dis-
tribution of merchandise has shown a dis-
tinct increase. The railways in their traffic
returns also afford evidence of a revival in
trade. Another encouraging sign is the
large number of out-of-town buyers in this
city.
As far as the piano business is concerned,
the wholesale trade during the past week
has shown a slight improvement and the
number of orders received have been suf-
ficiently large to make manufacturers feel
hopeful that spring trade has actually open-
ed up.
As far as we can learn, manufacturers in
this city are not expecting a startlingly large
spring trade, but they are confident that it
will be considerably in excess of last year.
There is no exporting of gold at present,
and money is fairly plentiful. Yet specu-
lation and trading is quiet. The business
world seems to be unusually conservative
just now, but this is bound to disappear,
and one thing that will make it disappear
is the absence of danger from reckless legis-
lation. This bugbear disappeared with the
late Congress. Once the business world
regains a portion of its old-time confidence
and hope, better times should dawn, and we
feel that they are at hand.
OME decisions have lately been made
by the Treasury Department that
will be found of general interest.
According to the Department's view,
stockholders of corporations cannot under
the law deduct from their income, as busi-
ness expenses or otherwise, assessments
paid by them to the corporations to make
good deficiencies in the capital stock for
the reserve funds thereof. Profits realized
from the sale of stocks or other personal
property made prior to the year 1894, and
profits from all business transactions made
prior to that year, are not to be treated as
taxable income without reference to time of
payment. Losses sustained by exchanges
of real estate are in all instances to be esti-
mated, as losses while the property remains
in the hands of the original parties, and are
therefore not deductible from income. No
S
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
deduction is to be allowed for rent paid for
residences where persons live in rented
houses. Regarding the relations between
husband and wife, the Department holds
that when a husband engaged in business
sustains losses in excess of his income, he
cannot, for the purpose of avoiding the in-
come tax, include the separate income of
his wife as a part of such losses, and when
the wife has a separate estate producing an
income above the taxable limit under her
control, she must make a return of the same
and of the profits derived therefrom with-
out regard to the business losses of her hus-
band.
Sale at the Haines Bros.' Factory.
o
WING to the foreclosure of the mort-
gage recently given Mrs. N. J.
Haines, Sr., for $40,000, there was a sheriff's
sale at the Haines Bros.' factory, 133d street
and Alexander avenue, last Saturday.
There were but four or five members of
the trade present, very few having any
knowledge of the occurrence. Everything
was purchased by Wm. P. and Herbert
Haines, although Messrs. Chas. and Albert
Jacob made an effort to secure some of the
materials for sale. The amount realized
was not a large one. There were no finish-
ed pianos scheduled for sale or in view any-
where about the building.
It is said that Wm. P. and Herbert Haines
intend to continue the manufacture of the
Haines Bros.' piano. The creditors of the
concern will have no objection to this.
It is also rumored that a piano bearing
the title Haines & Co., or John Haines, will
be manufactured by another member of the
family backed by ample capital.
R. W. Tanner in Dolgeville.
D
OLGEVILLE is booming right along.
This week the announcement is made
that three new enterprises will shortly be
added to the many successful ones in that
progressive little town. One of the three
is a piano hardware establishment. Mr. R.
W. Tanner, of Albany, is the party who is
going to engage in business in Dolgeville,
and he is now moving his plant from
Albany to his future home, and expects to
have the foundry ready for operation by the
1st of May. The new foundry is being
built on the site of the Dolgeville Woolen
Co.'s factory, which was burned a year or
so ago. When Mr. Tanner's foundry be-
gins operations Dolgeville can boast of be-
ing able to turn out almost every part of a
piano—cases, sounding-boards, hammers,
felts and wire, as well as the complete
piano. Mr. Tanner's foundry will supply
the other parts heretofore not made in
Dolgeville.
ALKRKD Doi.dK was imanimously elected
president of the village of Dolgeville at a
meeting held last Saturday.
THK popular E. W. Furbush, of the Briggs
Piano Co., Boston, honored us with a call
Tuesday.
7
Organs for Steamships.
MAGNIFICENT INSTRUMENTS BEING BU1I.T FOR
THK NEW AMERICAN LINERS.
T
HE Cramps are to make a pleasant in-
novation in the two new steamships
they are now building for the American
Line. This takes the form of a magnificent
pipe organ on each ship, absolutely unique
in construction. Each will have fourteen
stops, with all modern appliances for oper-
ating the registers without touching the
knobs, and is to occupy an elevated space,
arched into the dining saloon. The arch is
to be filled with decorated speaking pipes,
with a fan of trumpets.
To provide against damp, brass will be
substituted for iron, wherever the latter
would ordinarily be employed, and the
woodwork will have a heavy coating of
shellac.
The keyboards of these instruments will
be entirely removed from the organs
proper, and placed thirty feet distant, on the
level of the saloon deck. To operate the
organ from this distance, an electric action
will be used. This has been so perfected
that a single storage cell of two volts tension
is sufficient to operate a large organ with
absolute certainty. Like all other parts of
the vessels, these organs will represent
home industry, the builders being George
Jardine & Son, of this city.
L
AST Sunday's Advertiser published a
list of every citizen in New York who
paid taxes on more than $10,000 under the
assessment or war tax in 1869. The only
members of the music trade found therein
were the Steinway firm, listed as follows: C.
F. T. Steinway, $47,839; H. Steinway,
$62,079; A. Steinway, $47,421; William
Steinway, $63,639: N. J. Haines and
Francis Haines, the former paying a tax on
$15,129, and the latter $14,732. Another
name mentioned was Joseph P. Hale, of
cheap piano fame, who acknowledged an
income of $26,982.
This brings forcibly to mind the large
number of manufacturers who have become
prominent in the trade for the past quarter
of a century—men who have become pillars
of strength in the commercial community.
On the other hand what a number of houses
have dropped in the rear ranks through in-
difference to the fact that this is an ad-
In Town.
vanced age, and who have endeavored to
make progress by methods in vogue half a
MONG members of the trade in town century ago. Take the old house of Haines
during the week were E. A. Potter, Bros., for instance. What a prominent and
of Lyon, Potter & Co., Chicago; H. M. honorable part it has played in the evolu-
Cable, of the Chicago Cottage Organ Co., tion of the music trade industry, and look
Chicago; R. W. Blake, of the Sterling Co., at the situation to-day.
Derby, Conn.; Levin Blasius and H. G.
The modern business institution can suc-
Farnham, of Blasius & Sons, Philadelphia; ceed only by the adoption of advanced and
O. A. Kimball, of the Emerson Piano Co., progressive ideas in the management of its
Boston; E. W. Furbush, of the Briggs business, and the most important essential
Piano Co., Boston; General Estey, of the to secure and hold trade, must be a product
Estey Organ Co., Brattleboro, Vt.; S. of worth. For, while money can be made
Nordheimer, Toronto; W. C. Taylor, for a limited time by the application of ad-
Springfield, Mass.
vanced business methods, good reputation is
more lasting, and when a house combines
the
two, then its success is an assured one—
The Piano Suffered.
worthy of praise and emulation.
HE following item appealed in the daily
# *
*
papers of Thursday:
The number of music trade men in this
"While C. S. Crawford, of Buena Vista,
city whose incomes exceed $10,000, and
Ga., was entertaining a crowd of men yes-
who will become subject to the income tax
terday by citing portions of the Scripture
law of '94, will be much larger than that of
which he did not believe, declaring that the
1869, provided, of course, the law is not
truth within the Bible could be spread on
pronounced unconstitutional by the Su-
ten pages of ordinary size, his house was
preme Court. The war is now on, and the
struck by lightning, and the piano was torn
result is uncertain. If decided against the
to pieces and set on fire. The family were
Government, it means an extra session of
imharmed.''
Congress to provide some other means of
We wonder who made this piano that in-
raising the anticipated revenue of from
curred divine wrath. It must have been a
twenty to thirty millions of dollars. There
pretty "bad" one.
can be no denying that this tax on incomes
is opposed to public opinion, and the
THE residence of Peter Duffy, president methods provided for its enforcement are
of the Schubert Piano Co., at 103d street odious and inquisitorial. It effects all sec-
and West End avenue, was damaged Fri- tions of the country, but more especially a
day of last week by careless blasting in that few Eastern States. New York, especially,
locality. The front of the building was dis- which is virtually the business centre of the
figured and the windows and doors broken. United States, has mofe at stake than any
A
T

Download Page 2: PDF File | Image

Download Page 3 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.