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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
1
It was only last week that some of the
greatest financial men in this trade predict-
ed that we would pass unscathed through
the troublous times which have existed for
. a long time past, and which have been
strongly accentuated during the past few
weeks.
LVMAN
Editor and Proprietor.
-'I ;•
This was not to be.
The Weber Piano Co. has succumbed,
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY
and is now in the hands of a receiver.
3 East 14th St.. New York
Dragged down with it in the ruins are the
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage) United States and
music trade firms, which are closely allied
Canada, $300 per year; Foreign Countries, $4.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.00 per inch, single* column, per
with its interests—Win. E. Wheelock &
insertion.
ertion. On quarterly
q
or yearly contracts . special dis-
count is allowec
ed.
Co., the Stuyvesant Piano Co., the Manu-
REMITTANCES, to other than currency form, should
be made payable to Edward Lyman Bill.
facturers' Piano Co., H. D. Smith Music
Bntered at tfu New York Post Office as Second Cla»s Matter. Co., Denver, Col. and Henricks Music Co.,
Pittsburg.
In another part of the paper we give an
••THE BUSINESS MAN'S PAPER."
itemized statement of the condition of the
Weber Piano Co. at the time of its appli-
cation for a receivership. There is no use
to attempt to pass lightly over the serious
result of this condition of affairs upon the
trade at large. No matter how much we
may deplore the unfortunate position in
which the corporations enumerated above
are placed, yet we also have to consider the
result of their action upon the trade at large.
We have to face matters precisely as they
are, and at such times the editorial utter-
ances of a paper should be truthful and
unprejudiced.
Looking at these conditions fairly, we
are convinced that it is hardly the time for
optimistic utterances, although we hope
that future developments may not result in
precipitating the downfall of other firms
caused indirectly by the crash of the
Wheelock combination.
Casting a retrospective glance over the
THE COLLAPSE OF THE WHEELOCK
causes which led up to pecuniary difficulties
COMBINATIONS.
of the different companies involved, we, of
HE piano trade in common with all course, have to recognize that during the
other industries for the past few past year there has been a great curtailment
months, has been subjected to trying con- of trade among the producers of certain
ditions. Depressed surroundings have grades of pianos. Calamitous times have
been prevalent. This state of affairs has been encountered in business circles for
been largely due to the financial policy of the past three years, beginning at the time
the Government, and the fact that the of Mr. Wheelock's reorganization of the
banks have not been giving commercial Weber business.
paper the discount which is necessary for
It has been also known that the manufac-
the easy conduct of.business. A contraction turing department of the Weber Co. has
of commercial paper means a contraction severely suffered for the past twelve
of business.
months. Still, the notification that the
It was hoped that this trade would pass companj'- had passed into the hands of a
through the crucial period without the receiver came in the nature of a shock to
encountering of any financial crashes of the trade, and many think that the action
serious importance.
taken in applying for a receiver was not
To its honor and to its glory it must be justified by the condition of the assets of
recorded that during the stringency of the company, and the resources within
the past two years the piano trade of reach, as made by the showing of the differ-
America has maintained a degree of solidity ent concerns involved, whose solvency is
and endurance which many did not believe nndisputed.
it possessed.
It is true, these assets were not immedi-
T
ately available, yet it is believed by many
that matters could have been arranged so
as not to have precipitated a crisis just at
this inopportune time.
We have in mind an illustration. During
the Franco-Prussian war a well known Mar-
shal, who stood high in the estimation of
the French people, surrendered to the Ger-
mans, without the discharge of a gun, an
army numbering a quarter of a million men,
well equipped and disciplined. After that
he was under the odious charge of treason.
The French thought that he owed his coun
try a duty which he failed to perform.
Mr. Wheelock, with superb resources—
with well-organized companies — with a
strength never tested—capitulated—lower-
ed the gonfalon of Weber without the firing
of a gun—the banner hangs drooping over
the walls. Did he not owe the trade a
duty ?
The Weber name, although having been
subjected to much mud bespattering, has
at all times shown a vitality which has been
simply amazing. Had young Albert Weber
devoted the energy of his youth to the
development of the business founded by
his father, on lines recognized in the ethics
of trade, he would have had no reason to
have sought gold mines in the wilds of
Colorado.
A mine of untold wealth lay in the Weber
name properly managed. Now all that is
changed.
The failure of the Weber Piano Co. has
done more to discredit piano paper in the
estimation of financial institutions than
any event which has hitherto occurred in
the music trade.
Wm. E. Wheelock has been recently
president of the Piano Manufacturers'
Association of New York; his position has
been an high and honored one in financial
circles. The Weber Co., of which he was
president, was rated in the mercantile
agencies in the hundreds of thousands, and
with a credit practically unlimited, and yet
when we analyze the statement made in its
application for receivership, what do we
find?
What is the inference to be drawn? Why
such a rating, when the cold figures tell a
story of an entirely different character?
When that name and business passed into
th3 management of the corporation of which
Wm. E. Wheelock was president, there
were many who predicted that the name of
Weber would henceforth be on a downward
scale in the piano annals of America.
That the very association of Mr. Wheelock's
name with a high-grade piano, would be
detrimental to its advancement as long as
he remained in control of factories whose
products were of a much cheaper grade.