Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1895 Vol. 20 N. 21

Page 4 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
Triumph,
HIS PLAN ADOPTED BY THE REPUBLICAN CLUB.
T
HIS is manifestly an age of insurance.
With people of means, and even those
of moderate salaries, insurance has virtu-
ally become part of a necessary investment.
The idea of extending this method of in-
surance to the laboring classes is taking
definite and marked form.
A few years ago Germany adopted a sys-
tem of pensions for workingmen, and, al-
though clumsy, paternal and meagre, it
was a distinct recognition of this tendency.
This movement is further emphasized by
the recent action of the French Chamber
in voting two million francs for working
men's superannuation pensions, and also
by the report of the Royal Commission in
England on old age pensions.
What has been done in this direction
thus far has been unsatisfactory, because
it has neither been adequate for the sup-
port of workingmen in old age nor free
from the socialistic paternalism that savors
of charity. In England the growth of char-
acter among the working classes has been
such that the prospect of the poorhouse has
been so revolting that they have forced the
question upon Parliament, and it is taking
the shape of a pension. But pensions are
paternal and unwelcome to a free-born
people, except as a reward for military
service. A system of insurance which is
earned by the insured and based on an
economic business principle, is the only
method which will perpetuate itself and
carry no odium with it.
The system adopted at Dolgeville, N.Y.,
now in operation for twenty years, proving
its soundness, comes nearer being the right
thing than any other we know of, says the
Press. Some economists are now formu-
lating a plan on this principle and made ap-
plicable to the nation, and, in our opinion,
when put in operation, it will do much to
stem the socialistic tide that is now en-
gulfing the civilized world, and will serve
admirably to make clear the difference be-
tween the protective principle and paternal-
ism. The Republican clubs of New York
have already taken the subject under con-
sideration, and probably will bring the mat-
ter before the National Convention that
meets at Cleveland June 19th. This would
be a means of giving permanent and defin-
ite protection to wage workers, and is
worth the careful consideration of the con-
vention.
Discussing the fledal Situation.
L
AST Wednesday evening the Mail and
Express published
a long article
about the much discussed medal question,
which was brought to the attention of the
public through a recent correspondence be-
tween Hardman, Peck & Co. and the of-
ficials at Washington, when they were in-
formed that there was no appropriation
available for furnishing electrotypes of
medals, etc. A very interesting interview
with Mr. Dutton, and some very pertinent
comments thereon, appeared in this connec-
tion.
The agitation of this question by the Her-
ald, Mail and Express, and papers in other
cities, will do much to expose the indiffer-
ence or incapacity of the authorities, and
the exhibitors at large are under obliga-
tions to Hardman, Peck & Co. for their ac-
tion in the matter.
Judging from the following letter re-
ceived by Hardman, Peck & Co. last week,
the date of issuance of the medals is as in-
definite to-day as it was a year ago:
WORLD'S COLUMBIAN COMMISSION,
|
WASHINGTON, D. C., May 9, 1895. f
Hardman, Peck &* Co., Fifth avenue and Nine-
teenth street. New York, N. Y.
GENTLEMEN : In reply to your letter of recent date,
I would state that I am unable to advise you as to
just when the medals and diplomas awarded to ex-
hibitors at the World's Columbian Exposition will
be completed and delivered. The same are being
prepared under the direction of the Honorable Sec-
retary of the Treasury, to whom the appropriation
for this purpose was made direct. This committee
has therefore no responsibility in the matter of
their preparation. It is probable that the same
will be completed and delivered some time during
the present year.
Yours very truly,
A. T. BRITTON, Acting Chairman.
Strauch Bros.
I
J. V. STEGER,
of Steger & Co., is ex-
pected in New York every day. He is
making an extended tour of the East.
Such an energetic worker is bound to make
the Steger and Singer pianos better known
in this section of the country before he re-
turns to his home in Chicago.
GEO. C. CRANE, Eastern representative of
the Krell Piano Co., is visiting the West.
When last heard from he was in Chicago.
GEO. NEMBACH, of Steck & Co., left last
Thursday by the "Normannia" for Europe.
His visit is primarily to bring his daughter
back from Switzerland, where she has been
at school. He will return in August.
E. S. CRAGIN, manager of C. H. Ditson
& Co. 's music house, sailed for Europe last
Saturday.
HENRY ZEIGLER, of Steinway & Sons, ac-
companied by his family, left last Thurs-
day by the "Normannia" for Southampton.
His trip is one of pleasure and business.
After a visit to London he will spend the
balance of his vacation in Germany, return-
ing to New York in September.
THE Brambach Piano Co. are erecting a
large addition to their factory.
RUDOLF DOLGE is in Chicago,
AT the meeting of the Balmer & Weber
Music House Co., St. Louis, on May 15th,
the election of officers resulted as follows:
Chas. F. Unger, president; Dr. E. H.
Eyermann, vice-president, and Chas. Bal-
mer, secretary. The following constitute
the Board of Directors: Chas. F. Unger,
Dr. E. H. Eyermann, Chas. Balmer, Mrs.
T. Balmer, and Mrs. T. S. Smith.
N a conversation with Albert D. Strauch
THE New York Piano Case Co., of New
a few days ago, he said that Strauch
Bros, were experiencing a steady improve- York City, has been incorporated to manu-
ment in all branches of their business, facture piano cases, fancy wood work, etc.
more particularly for the past few weeks. The directors are Henry Rogers, Ella L.
In their key-making department especially, Barr and T. M. Barr, of Brooklyn. The
the demand has exceeded expectations. capital stock will be $30,000.
The high reputation of the Strauch action
GEO. W. BOWLING, with the Briggs Piano
has established the products of the key- Co., Boston, is confined to his home in Bos-
making department in the estimation of all ton with an attack of inflammatory rheu-
manufacturers.
matism.
This is most natural. The Strauch ac-
NEXT Saturday the piano houses will in-
tion is not only carefully and honestly made
augurate the summer half holiday for 1895.
from a mechanical standpoint, but the
The "boys" are already making prepara-
numerous improvements that have been
tions for their summer outings.
added to it from time to time enable it to
MR. HARRY E. FREUND has sent us a
claim the title of an art product. With
copy
of his "Representative Members of
that
delicate
mechanism—the
Strauch
ac-
AN imusually handsome and specially
the
Music
Trade of the United States." It
tion—the
hidden
beauties
of
tone
contained
designed piano in San Domingo mahogany
is
a
magnificent
photo-gravure plate of a
in
the
finest
scale
pianos
are
brought
forth
is to be .-seen in Chickering & Sons' ware-
large
number
of
men
who are prominently
to
delight
and
charm
the
ear.
rooms. The case is inlaid and beautifully
identified
with
the
music
trades of this
carved, every part of which was executed
There is a great deal in reputation after
country.
We
cannot
recall
where
we have
in their factory in Boston. There were all, when that reputation is lived up to.
seen
a
more
artistic
grouping
of
photo-
two of this style made, one especially for a
graphs
than
is
evident
in
the
arrangement
wealthy lady in this city, and the one re-
AN ^Eolian pipe organ recital was given
ferred to is an exact duplicate.
Retail at the Mendelssohn Glee Club Hall, For- of this plate.
trade with Chickering & Sons for the past tieth street and Broadway, last evening.
BOOSEY & Co., g E. Seventeenth street,
two months is twenty-five per cent, above This novel event drew a large and appreci- have on sale the libretto of Sir Arthur Sul-
the same period a year ago, and the per- ative audience.
livan's latest success, "The Chieftain,"
centage is on the rise. Several good sales
A NEW store has been opened in Pough- which will be produced in the fall at the
were made the early part of this week.
keepsie, N. Y., by James Rutherford.
Broadway theatre.

Page 5 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
Maud—And, pa, what did Professor
Crochet say of my piano playing?
Pa—He was quite extravagant in his
praise. He said you possessed an original-
ity in execution that was truly remarkable.
He said he had heard some of your pieces
performed by the greatest masters, and
not one of them played them as you did.
* *
*
I
HEARD a new fish story last week, and
it relates to several well-known mem-
bers of the trade, earnest disciples of Izaak
Walton.
The story goes that last summer
or early fall, while the}- were fishing; at a
certain resort, one of the party lost his gold
watch from the boat in which he was sit-
ting. Last week he made his first visit of
the season to the same resort, and during
his first day's sport caught an eight-pound
trout. His astonishment can be imagined
when he found his watch lodged in the
throat of the trout. The watch was run-
ning and the time correct.
It being a
"stem-winder," the supposition is.that in
masticating his food the fish wound up the
watch daily. I wish to say that the man
who lost the watch- was not John Daven-
port. Ask Col. Dan Treacy if it was; he
knows.
This is truly the age of "cheapness" in
printed matter. Books are now turned out
by the million in this city, and sold at a
price that just about pays for the binding,
and sheet music—well, the country is
flooded with multifarious editions that are
as "cheap" as they are unreliable. Exam-
ine them, and what do you find: Poor
paper, which soon wears out; poor print,
which tires the eyesight; misprints, which
hinder right understanding of the composi-
tion, and yet a modest increase in expendi-
ture would enable purchasers to secure
good, reliable editions, that are neatly and
accurately printed.
The 99-cent or bar-
gain store methods often lure people, how-
ever. Investing in so-called cheap music
is false economy. It never paid any one
but the "cheap" publishers, and never will.
Cheap music in the parlor or music room
is a key to the character of its owner—it
invariably tends to lessen his standing as
a musician. Another thought of value to
him who wishes to have a good repertoire
is that none of the latest music is pub-
lished in the cheap editions.
A business man who has to telephone
early every morning to a branch firm, said
the other day that he heard the early morn-
ing gossip of the 'phone girls in the cen-
tral office by holding his ear to the handle
while waiting for the connection. One re-
marked to another, "Do you know, after I
parted from Will last evening I was just so
dead tired that I could nofhave propped my
eyes open. He's got a- regular laudanum
voice, and could put a buzz saw to sleep."
It was at the band concert in the Park
last Sunday afternoon.
Walter Rogers,
the leader, had played "Ben Bolt" as a cor-
net solo by special request. Right behind
me stood two or three lovers of music, two
of whom were septuagenarians, and the
other confessed to be five years older. They
fell into a conversation about "Ben Bolt,"
and the oldest member of the party related
how "he had sung that song over sixty
years ago," while another member of the
party said, "In my childhood days, fully
fifty-five years ago, I remember distinctly
my aunt singing this song, and later in life
sung it myself." He added, " I t is amus-
ing to see a man named English clai niug
this song as his, while Dibden, the English
song-writer,was the composer; at all events,
he wrote a song named 'Ben Bolt,' with
the same words and music as claimed by
English." I listened and marvelled much
at this piece of information.
Thomas
Dunn English says that the song was pub-
lished during the closing days of the year
'43, and that the words were written by
Nelson Kneass.
Thus another claimant
can be recorded for this much-talked-about
and overrated song.
Mr. Bret Harte has just passed his fifty-
fourth year. He was born at Albany, New
York, went to California in 1854, and was
successively a miner, school teacher, ex-
press messenger, printer, and finally editor
of a newspaper. In 1864 he was appointed
secretary of the United States Branch
Mint, at San Francisco, holding the office
until 1870. In 1868 he became the editor
of the "Overland Monthly," and in the
following year published "The Heathen
Chinee," which made him popular. From
1880 to 1885 he was United States Consul
at Glasgow, and has since resided in Lon-
don. He has published thirty volumes,
and generally writes two volumes a year.
There's but one thing left for Bret in
the category, that is to become the editor
of a trade paper.
* *
*
Carlyle w r as one of the most painstaking
of writers, almost every other word he
wrote being erased and another put in its
place. One day he visited the printer to
urge him to push on with the work.
"Why, sir," said the printer, "you are
really so hard upon us with your correc-
tions. They take up so much time, you
see.''
Carlyle replied that he was accustomed to
that sort of thing; that he had had works
printed in Scotland, and—
"Yes,
indeed, sir," interrupted the
printer, "we are aware of that. We have a
man here from Edinburgh, and when he
took up a bit of your copy he dropped it
like a red-hot cinder, and cried out, 'Oh,
preserve us! have you got that man to
print for? Goodness only knows when we
shall be done with all his corrections.' "
The poor tax of ten per cent, on Parisian
theatres shows that the total profits of those
places of amusement reached the large sum
of over twenty-eight million francs—about
$5,628,750—during the past year. And to
think it never occurred to the Administra-
tion to try this means of raising revenue in
this country instead of the lucerne Tax.
What a big hole it would make in the
pocketbooks of Messrs. Abbey, Schceffcl
and Grau, if they had to pay ten per cent,
of their receipts during last season at the
Metropolitan Opera House for the poor or
the struggling finances, of the Government.
* *
Your twentieth century girl is so practi-
cal!
A hand organ had been playirg
"Sweet Marie" under the window of one
of them. You know the verse about the
gentleman not loving Marie because her
face is fair and teeth white, or whatever it
is, but because her soul is so sweet, or some-
thing.
The twentieth century girl says that such
talk is idle. That the body is an exact cor-
respondence of the individual mentality
which governs it. Hence, since Marie's
soul is so satisfactory her personal appear-
ance also must suit. So there is no use in
talking of the subject at all. "Such dis-
tinctions are indicative of a superficial
method of thought," says the girl.
The same young lady objects to "sitting
beside him in his eyes, " in "Oh, Promise
Me. " Our girls are getting finicky.
* *
*
Play-writing seems to be a paying profes-
sion. Some time ago it came oiit publicly
that W. S. Gilbert had made no less than
$300,000 out of his partnership with Sir
Arthur Sullivan and D'Oyly Carte (each of
whom had made a like amount out of comic
opera), and to this sum must be added the
large suras of money he receives in fees for
his several plays that are given by profes-
sional companies and amateurs all the year
round. A. W. Pinero is said to have made
no less that $200,000 by the series of farces
he produced at the Court Theatre only; and
Henry Arthur Jones has been known to say
that he has already made money enough out
of the theatre to keep him in affluence for
the rest of his life.
* *
*
Paderewski had a singular experience in
Clifton, England, quite recently.
No
sooner had the popular pianist arrived at
his hotel than he found a courteously-
worded letter asking him to allow an in-
valid lady to call upon him and hear him
play one piece, promising in return for
"this great treat" a douceur of half a
guinea, which was tendered with much
apology.
The letter was so worded as to
be a courteous and delicate appeal to the
pianist's generosity.
The letter had the

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