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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
"Sayaurevoir but not farewell private
Tommy Atkinsldon'twanttoplayinyouryard
I'll betrueto myHoney Boy Strolling Home
in theMorningThere'sOnlyOneGirlforme."
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A
SHORT time ago the Attorney Gen-
eral of the United States made pub-
lic an opinion that books or music pub-
lished before 1891 can be re-published in
foreign countries and brought into the
United States without reference to the
copyright law. It appears to us that this
decision practically nullifies the real value
of the copyright law, as all books copy-
righted before the Act of 1891 became a
law can be reprinted in Canada or else-
where and imported by the payment of a
25 per cent, duty on the wholesale value of
the books in the foreign country. In this
way the copyright of booko is killed ex-
cepting those copyrighted within the last
four years and a half. The Attorney Gen-
eral's opinion is a tremendous blow to
many authors and publishers in the United
States. The Canadian publishers have for
years been carrying on a piratical business
of making cheap reprints of American
copyrighted music and books, many of
which reprints have been smuggled across
the line. The opinion of the Attorney
General now practically opens the door to an
enormous business in that line to the
Canadian pirates.
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A new dialect has just been discovered.
It is that of the balladmonger, he who
stands upon street corners and howls forth
his wares at the risk of permanently injur-
ing the tympanums of passers-by. Thanks
to his extraordinary vocal force, it was for
a long time supposed that the balladmonger
had no articulate cry—that his efforts
merely resulted in noise pure and simple.
The thoughtful students of language fre-
quenting Fourteenth and Twenty-third
streets, have recently discovered the error
of this notion. Their untiring researches
prove that the balladmonger has, indeed, a
language; one not widely different in
some respects from the English, but so
wholly different from it in others as to
make the possible kinship almost unrecog-
nizable.
The most marked distinctions
concern accents and elisions. The ballad-
monger's dialect has no accent at all, while
French itself isn't equal to it in elisions.
Sometimes the balladmonger indiscrimin-
ately lumps together as many as a dozen
song titles, and all without stopping to take
breath, which gives the feat a physiologic,
as well as a linguistic value. It thus re-
sembles the railway officials' dialect, that
an eminent scientist analyzed and classified
some time since. The following is a choice
specimen of the balladmonger's dialect:
According to the assessment tables for
the city of Chicago, just published, it is
found that 11,679 pianos have been listed
in the sub-totals of personal property,
valued at $338,023. As a matter of course,
there must be a number of instruments not
reported.
This percentage of pianos to
the population is very small. It is notice-
able that the instruments average quite a
substantial sum—about $300 each. If this
report is correct there are few "cheap"
pianos in Chicago.
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There has been considerable talk around
the trade during the past week about the
wonderful combination pneumatic piano or
organ with automatic perforating or stencil-
ing machine, which has taken up so much
space in the daily papers. The device en-
ables the performer to have his work—be it
an orignal composition or improvization—
reproduced note for note exactly as played
on another instrument without a minute's
delay. The invention is simply wonderful
in the way of possibilities, and if properly
handled will bring fame and money to its
inventors.
I had a chat with Mr. F. M. Hill, who is
interested in the scheme, at the office of
vSteele & Dickson, 40 Wall street, a few
days ago, and he informed me that the new
invention has been taken up by quite a
number of wealthy'people, and that letters
of incorporation will be applied for next
week. The name has not been definitely
decided upon, but it will probably be the
Automatic Musical Stenciling and Com-
bination Piano Co. It is also probable that
they will manufacture their own instru-
ments containing the stenciling attachment.
Immediately after the incorporation, promi-
nent quarters will be secured in this city
where the instruments will be exhibited to
the public.
departments were explained in detail. The
system in vogue is indeed well nigh per-
fect.
The National Shoe and Leather Bank
ranks among the oldest institutions in the
city, and since it passed into the hands
of the present management has assumed
practically a new era of activity and suc-
cess. New methods have been adopted look-
ing to the safety of deposits and the invest-
ment of funds, and it may well be said that
defalcations are absolutely impossible.
The healthy reputation of the bank to-
day is in a measure due to the new officers,
who are men of wide experience and high
standing in the mercantile world. John A.'
Hiltner, vice-president and manager, was
formerly connected with the Fourth Na-
tional Bank, where he displayed such
marked ability as a careful and conscien-
tious official that he was selected for and
unanimously elected to his present position.
The cashier of the institution, John I.
Cole, is thoroughly posted in the practical
and theoretical departments of banking,
having been for eleven years with the Fifth
Avenue Bank, and some time prior to his
present appointment acted as chief assist-
ant to the National Bank Examiner.
Another valuable acquisition is Frederick
W. Flottwell, who was formerly in charge
of the credit department of the Fourth Na-
tional Bank.
The directorate, under the presidency of
John M. Crane, is composed of some of the
leading business men in down-town busi-
ness circles.
Over three million dollars in deposits
are carried by the National Shoe and
Leather Bank, and among its customers
may be numbered merchants noted for
their high standing in the business world
and shrewdness in financial matters. It is
clearly evident that under the present com-
petent and progressive administration this
institution will build up a splendid busi-
ness in due time. The old methods which
were in vogue a few years ago have been
utterly routed, and new men and new ideas
dominate all departments.
• *
Judging from the trade which Sohmer &
Co. are experiencing these days, it looks as
if fall orders had actually commenced to
come their way. During a recent call, Geo.
W. Reichmann, of this house, said:
"Trade is undoubtedly brightening up.
We have no reason to complain of retail or
wholesale business—in fact,we are gratified
at the present outlook for the Sohmer
pianos.
It seems to me that we are going
to have a fine fall trade."
Among the many banking institutions
which cater to the interests of the mercan-
tile community of the metropolis, there are
few so handsomely appointed, so centrally
located, or better fitted to. serve the inter-
ests of its customers than the National
Shoe and Leather Bank, Broadway and
Chambers street. I had the pleasure of
being' conducted through this institution
recently, and the workings of the various
The time to advertise is all the time,
says a well-known authority. In business
there is no such thing as standing still. A
business man must go forward or he will
fall back. Even if yon do just as much
business this year as you did last, some
other fellow is doing more business, and
he is getting ahead of you.
Each year s effort should be to exceed
last year's sales. The only sure way to do
it is to advertise. Advertise in busy times
because the iron must be struck while it is
hot, and advertise in dull times to heat the
iron. It can be done.
Jacob J. Seeds, a member of the City
Council of Philadelphia, is framing an or-
dinance looking to the establishment of a
"Municipal Band of Philadelphia."
Mr.
Seeds, who is a musical enthusiast, thinks
that if there is a field for the Marine Band