Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE RF.VIEW..
From a Traveler's Note Book.
THK
JSICYCLE CRAZE
SOMK
INTERESTING
FIGURES
THE IS1CYCI.E TRADE
PAPERS VERSUS
THE MUSIC TRADE PAPERS—EXPERT TESTIMONY KROM A WHEEL MANUFACTURER
— WHY
.
NOT LIMIT PIANO MANUFACTURING?
AN ILLUSTRATION
WHY THE PACKARD PIANO IS IN THE FIELD TO WIN.
HAT touch of summer last Sun-
day was the touch which made
the whole of Manhattan akin,
and in spite of the fact that
the mercury was soaring up
in the nineties and everyone
was using cooling drinks wherever obtain-
able, the cyclist was abroad buffeting the
heat.
Apparently the heat of summer or the
cold of winter has but little effect upon
this sport, which seems to be superseding
every other line of enjoyment. According
to an expert, on the Boulevard last Thurs-
day over fourteen thousand bicyclists
passed the given point in sixteen hours;
but this is a daily occurrence, and is proven
by actual count between the hours of seven
in the morning and eleven at night. The
particular Thursday was not an exception
to the daily rule. The following table has
been prepared by an expert, and will give
one a fair idea of how the wheel trade fares
in the United States to-day:
Bicycle riders in the United States.
4,000,000
Riders in this city. . . . .
200,000
Riders spend each year in caring for
their wheels und on excursions. $200,000,000
Reputable wheel manufacturers in
the country.
.
.
.
.
250
Capital invested in these plants. $60,000,000
Persons employed by these factories.
70,000
Persons employed in making bicycle
sundries.
. . . . .
50,000
Wheels turned out this season.
.
1,000,000
Gained by riders in health and in
saving of doctors' fees.
.
Untold Millions
With such enormous figures before one
it is not surprising that the piano trade
along with other lines of manufacture has
suffered by the immense popularity of the
wheel. If the piano business were all, it
might be discouraging; but just ask your
local dry-goods man or clothier or jeweler if
the bicycle craze has affected his trade.
Note his reply. It is also interesting to
note that the capital invested in bicycle
plants to-day closely approximates that in-
vested in the music trade.
I believe I quote Mr. Alfred Dolge—than
whom there is no higher authority—cor-
rectly when I say that that is about the
figure which he named to me as invested in
manufacturing in the piano and allied
industries of this country.
Now as to papers. Here is a trade which
has about the same amount invested as in
our own trade, and the trade papers in the
bicycle line are reckoned by the score
almost.
Aside from that great number the bicycle
manufacturers are enormous advertisers in
the magazines and in the daily papers. In
fact, more liberal patronizers of printers'
ink in a general way than are piano men.
Still bicycle manufacturers do not complain
of too many papers devoted to their par-
ticular line of industry. It may be that
business is tremendously flush with them
just now; it may be that later on when the
summer of their content shall have been
succeeded by times less bubbling over with
life that then they may look around and see
about clipping down the trade papers to ten
or twelve. But just to show the way, how-
ever, that they look upon them to-day,
while chatting with a well-known manufac-
turer of wheels the other day, I brought up
the question of trade papers simply as a
matter of information.
The reply he made was:
"But I don't know how many, perhaps a
dozen, perhaps twenty-five, good, bad and
indifferent. We don't advertise in them
all. We select our own mediums. In other
words, we have the right to spend our
money wheresoever we will. Sometimes
we work a tremendous special ad in some
of the papers, and we find it pays; in fact,
we believe the more we 'are talked, the
better things are for us."
"And how," I queried, "if the majority
of your papers reach nearly the sarre deal-
ers who are engaged in selling wheels?"
His reply came quick and prompt:
"And suppose they do," he said. "They
read them; in fact, a man is pretty sure to
read everything about an individual or firm
with whom he is personally acquainted or
is interested in. Letitgo; the good things
will right themselves."
It is just the same with papers as in busi-
ness. If a man has something to sell that
is worth the money he will find a purchaser;
if not, he will drop out of the race. It is
only a question of time. I believe it is the
same with a paper. If they give the readers,
the advertisers, value to amount to anything,
they will live, if not they will step out of
the race. It is simply a question of the
survival of the fittest.
This is a commercial age,'and one does
not need to spend much time in figuring
on other lines than those which belong to
the legitimate functions of his own trade.
I simply interject this as the wheel sub-
ject is a live matter, that we may have a
little expert testimony on the situation.
Again, a number of new pianos are com-
ing into the arena continually. Is it not
about time that someone should commence
to devise ways and means whereby the
number of piano manufacturers can be
limited? It is true that there are some
magnificent instruments which are of re-
cent inception; but then there were enough
before, and why continue to make competi-
tion harder and more severe for those who
already have their capital invested in manu-
facturing enterprises.
Now, there is the Packard piano. Some
of us might say, using the same line of ar-
gument as some do on the paper question,
that the Ft. Wayne Organ Co. had no moral
right to manufacture a piano; they were
doing well in the organ business, had
worked up a magnificent trade at home and
abroad, and they ought to have been satis-
fied with leaving the piano field to others.
But the Ft. Wayne Co. have thought other-
wise. That institution is composed of
broad-minded, far sighted business men.
They know there is always room in this
trade for a right product at a right price.
They considered this in building the Pack-
ard piano, and the result of their efforts in
piano building must be to them eminently
satisfactory, as they have produced an in-
strument which surely will compete with
some of- the older and better known makes.
To begin with, the Packard piano is built
on sound lines. It is built as an enduring
instrument. In fact, every portion of
cheapness in piano cons.ruction has been
carefully eschewed by its promoters, and
their effort has been to build an instrument
which would withstand the severest test to
which a piano is exposed.
Thus far they have reason for self-con-
gratulation upon the result of their business
efforts and investigations. The Packard
piano has come to stay, and will win many
friends. Have you seen it yet? The firm
have some new surprises which will be
brought forth in a few days.
fleeting of the Briggs Piano Co.'s
Creditors.
T the meeting of the Briggs Piano Co.,
held at the office of Chas. B. South-
ard, the assignee, in Boston, last Tuesday,
about twenty creditors were present. The
condition of affairs was mutually discussed,
and resulted in Messrs. Otto Wessell, Karl
Fink and C. P. Lockey being appointed a
committee of three to examine the books
and get an idea of the amount of assets in
the factory and warerooms, the result to be
reported to the assignee as early as possible.
The committee will then issue a final re-
port, which will be submitted to the credi-
ors through the mails or at another meet-
ing to be held in the near future.
A
Qramm Booms the Steck.
DMUND GRAMM is doing some
splendid advertising for the Steck
grands in Milwaukee. At several recitals
recently at the Atheneum and at private
residences in that city, the Steck grand was
used with signal success, and the advertis-
ing on the programs was really clever. In
a limited space an excellent idea was con-
veyed of the very high esteem placed on
the Steck products by eminent European
musicians and authorities. Such a judici-
ous use of printer's ink cannot fail to bring
satisfactory results.
E
ADDITIONAL judgments have been ob-
tained against the Martin Piano Co., Roch-
ester, N. Y., for $649.50 by the Comstock-
Cheney Co., of Ivory ton, Conn, and for
$770.18 in favor of the Bank of Monroe.