Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
were few in number, and but two or three
made as many as ten or twelve pianos a
week, and they were the nabobs of the
trade. How that has changed! At that
time, gentlemen, the contemptible truck
system was in vogue.
Instead of paying the men in cash as we
do now. and as we have done for many
years, every one of us, the men who were
earning from $8 to $12, $12 being the
greatest wages paid per week, they were
given $2 or $3 in cash, and for part of the
balance they were given orders on grocers,
butchers, tailors, etc.
You can imagine the result. In addition
to that, each manufacturer constituted him-
self, against the will of his workingmen,
their savings bank, retaining part of their
wages without paying interest thereon. I
was one of the unwilling ones, and when
my old boss, William Nunns, failed, al-
though I was only 17 years of age, I lost
of war vessels, achieved many signal victo- between $300 and $400 in wages. How-
ries by the fact that they could cast thirty- ever, I bear him no grudge.
The way
two and forty-eight pounder cannon, while it was, gentlemen, was this: The piano
the English did not exceed eighteen pound- manufacturer would give his note at six or
ers.
This gave the Americans a great ad- eight months to the tailors and butchers.
vantage, notwithstanding the disparity in
the number of vessels.
Now then, gentlemen, many of you have
seen the first piano that Conrad Meyer ex-
hibited at the Franklin Institute in 1832,
showing a square piano with a full iron
frame.
Samuel Babcock gave the iron
frame the form of a harp, which made it
very strong, and Jonas Checkering, starting
in Boston in 1823, brought the iron frame
to perfection during the years from 1830 to
1840, and in the latter year for the first
time an American applied the iron frame
to the grand piano. I therefore say, gentle-
men, that too much honor cannot be given
to Jonas Chickering, the father of piano
making in America.
During the period from 1840 to 1850 a
number of firms existed, and among us to-
day are several of the sons of C. Fischer.
The old gentleman still lives, hale and
hearty, but he is not with vis to-night, but
in the year 1840 he started his business.
At that time, with the exception of Chick-
ering and Butikofer, they were the only
ones who made a grand piano. In the
spring of 1850, forty-five years ago, the
R. C. KAMMKKKR.
Steinway family arrived here, I being a
boy of fourteen years, and worked in the
Nunns & Clark factory.
That was the way business was done in
Of course, at that time a great many of those good old times.
our old pioneers were alive, and it gave me
In 1857 that came to an end, and since
the greatest pleasure to converse with them that time a cash basis both for workmen
and to learn from them the history of the and employers has been the prevailing cus-
piano. My own boss, William Nunns, who tom. The cash basis between the manu-
had been a few years separated from facturer and the dealer has not as yet been
Fischer, gave me an interesting history of reached, although, gentlemen, it was not
the entire business from 1816, when he ar- many weeks ago that a member of the piano
rived in the United States. The old gen- trade testified that no piano manufacturer
tleman died in 1864.
ought to sell for anything but cash, and
The only two men who were in business ought not to renew a dealer's note.
fifty or sixty years ago—I might say seven-
Now then, gentlemen, I told you that up
ty years ago—who are still living, and who to that time, about i860, 98 per cent, of the
were in the piano manufacturing business pianos made in the United States were
at that time, are Thomas H. Chambers, the square. I will also say to the younger
surviving partner of Dnbois, Bacon & members that just about the years 1850 and
Chambers, and an old gentleman, John 1851 mahogony pianos went out of fashion
Luther. Both are ninety years of age, and and rosewood pianos came into fashion.
hale and hearty. They are undoubtedly
History repeats itself. To-day it is the
the oldest piano manufacturers in the world. other way, and fine mahogany is the pre-
Now, then, gentlemen, there were in vailing fashion, as well as other fine natural
piano making in those days many vicissi- colored woods. The first attempt to intro-
tudes; at that time there was little money duce upright pianos was made by an artist
in the country. The piano manufacturers piano player and a piano manufacturer,
Henri Herz, in 1858. He made a tour
through the United States and brought a
number of French upright pianos with him
—several hundred.
In Europe, where they have parquet
floors, no carpets and no heavy curtains,
this little tubby toned instrument would
do; but in our American parlors, heavily
carpeted and curtained, and in our severe
winters, with our hot air furnaces, there
was not a grease spot left of them, and
from that time there had been a deep rooted
prejudice against upright pianos, which it
has taken tiie combined skill of the Amer-
ican piano trade to overcome, and which it
combated for upward of twenty years.
Thank God, we have succeeded! Our
American piano manufacturers, I am glad
to say, every one of them in this city, in
Boston, in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chi-
cago and elsewhere, have set themselves to
work and are now producing upright pianos
which for durability, for fine tone and
touch, cannot be excelled in the wide world.
And, gentleman, I know you will agree
with me that all of us should take much in-
terest in the progress of piano manufact-
ure, for it is a thing we ought to be proud
of. As we have traveled on from year to
year, I cannot help but see how every one
of us has earnestly striven to make the best
and the most durable piano for the money.
Therefore, I say, while in former years
we did not know each other so well, each
piano maunufacturer supposing that the
world centered about him, and that his
neighbor did not know anything and could
not make pianos, let us rejoice and voice
the sentiment, thank God that in our art
industry honest work is not confined to
any one.
Now, gentlemen, J am to talk about our
art industry, and I am making a few brief
remarks. Many of you are young men who
have been in the trade ten or twelve years.
I, who have been an eye and ear witness of
the growth of our American piano trade for
forty-five years, with my retentive memory
and the especial attention I have given to
it, can tell you that when you take the his-
tory and the state of the art in your coun-
try, it really ought to swell the heart of
every American manufacturer with pride.
Do not feel down-hearted because there
has been a period of depression for a year
and a half or two years. We will have
better times, and very soon we will all be
rewarded for our perseverance and our
patience and our work.
Manufacture's cf
FARIBAULT, MINN.
High
Grade §*$
Pianos
SAMUEL HAZELTON.
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