Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1896 Vol. 22 N. 5

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
VOL XXII.
N o . 5.
Published Every Saturday at 3 East Fourteenth Street. New York, February 22,1896.
In The^West.
THE MASON & HAMLIN CLOSE THEIR RETAIL
DEPARTMENT — WILL PUSH
WHOLESALE
TRADE — THE MANUFACTURERS* SALE A
SUCCESS
H. D. CABLE IN THE SOUTH.
WHAT THE PAPERS SAY ABOUT HIM.
CHAS. H. MACDONALD SPREADING
OUT RUMORS ON ICE THE GEO.
F. ROOT STATUE THE STORY
& CLARK CO. MAKING MIGHTY
FINE PIANOS — NEWMAN
BROS.' ORGANS—STEGER
"SETTING A PACE."
THEO. PFAFFLIN AND A. J. BROOKS IN TOWN.
MR. HOUSE TO INVADE CANADA.
OTHER NEWS.
T
HE most important item of trade news
this week is the decision come to by
the Mason & Hatnlin Co. to close their
retail warerooms in this city, and confine
their efforts to pushing their wholesale
trade. The first floor and basement will be
sublet, and the upper floor will be retained
as offices and show rooms for the wholesale
trade, with C. B. Detrick in charge. This
new move, which was decided at the recent
meeting in Boston, was made public by
Mr. Hollyer, of the New York house, who
arrived in town Monday. The matter has
caused some little comment, owing to the
fact that the retail business transacted by
Manager Gill for the past year has been
very satisfactory and up to the general
average. This move will place two good
men —Mr. Gill and Mr. Cross—at liberty.
• The Manufacturers' Co. 's sale is proving
a success. Receiver Dederick is doing
splendid work, and will undoubtedly make
an excellent showing when he is called upon
to do so. The dragging down of the Manu-
facturers' Co. in connection with the
Weber-Wheelock affairs, was a most regret-
table occurrence, but it is hoped that a
resumption will only be a matter of a short
time.
Referring to the Southern visit of H. D.
Cable to Florida, I clip the following from
the Jacksonville Times-Union of the 16th:
Mr. H. D. Cable, vice-president of the
Freyer & Bradley Music Co ., was in the
city Friday and Saturday, and departed last
night for Jacksonville, Fla., and after a
short stay there will visit Pensacola,
Mobile, and then New Orleans and Mont-
gomery. Mr. Cable is president of the
Chicago Cottage Organ Co., the largest
manufacturers of reed organs in the world,
and also of the Conover Piano Co. The
companies of which Mr. Cable is president
are largely interested in the enterprises of
the Freyer & Bradley Music Co., and it is
to look over the Southern field with a view
to still further extensions of the business of
the company, that he is taking his present
trip. Mr. Cable has great faith in the
future of the South, and the companies of
which he is president are investing large
sums in developing the music trade in this
section, and it will be but a short time
before the branches of the Freyer & Brad
ley Music Co. will be found in all the large
cities of the South, and each of these houses
will report directly to the Atlanta house.
Chas. H. MacDonald, of the Pease Piano
Co., is going to make things "hum" in this
city during 1896, and he proposes to get
his share of whatever business is going.
He is making extensive alterations in the
warerooms, increasing floor space and put-
ting in a passenger elevator. He will thus
be enabled to carry a large stock and, as a
matter of course, sell more of the popular
Pease pianos than ever before. Mose power
to him!
There is a big budget of rumors flying
around out here about the Decker Bros]
sale. They lack authenticity, and will hold
in this cold weather.
It is proposed to erect the Geo. F. Root
statue on the lake front or one of our pub-
lic parks, provided, of course, the requisite
$10,000 is forthcoming. A concert in the
Auditorium to raise funds is one of the
schemes outlined, and while members of
the music trade in this city are actively
interested in this matter, it is expected that
the Grand Army of the Republic will do
their share toward honoring the memory
of the man who inspired them with his
songs to victory.
The Story & Clark Co. are making some
mighty fine pianos, which are evidently
catching on in all sections of the country.
Their output is already quite large, but it
is destined to be increased 50 per cent,
later in the year. The Story & Clark piano
is handsomely cased, neatly finished, and
the tone is of a singing and truly musical
quality.
Nowadays the "poor" reed organ is
looked down upon, and justly, but it is a
I3.00 PER YEAR-
SIN GLE COPIES, 10 CENTS
mistake to think that the high-grade instru-
ments, such as Newman Bros, turn out, are
unpopular, or that such trade is on the de-
cline. The Newman Bros, organs are
attractive in appearance and finish, and
possess a splendid tone and a number of
very effective stops. Good business is the
order of the day with Newman Bros.
John V. Steger is on the road. Look out
for him! He will Teach your city next
week, I expect. Judging from the lively
condition oE things at the Steger and Singer
factories Mr. Steger is doing some mighty
effective "hustling." When he "sets a
pace" be sure it is a lively one.
Theodore Pfafflin, who will soon assume
charge of the Chickering warerooms in New
York, has been spending a few days in
town visiting his old friends. From here
he is bound for Boston, thence to New
York around the first of the month.
P. J. Healy returned this week from a
trip out your way. It was more of a social
than a business visit.
S. L. House, of the House & Davis
Piano Co., is about to invade Texas and
Mexico.
The W. W. Kim ball Co. have secured a
contract for a large pipe organ for the new
church in Owasso, Mich. A recent addi-
tion to this house is J. M. Zimmermann.
He is now traveling through this State in
the interest of the house.
The Music Trade Association are sleeping
on the question as to whether they are to
have a big "blow out" or a "small lunch"
at their next meeting, March 7th.
Mr. Waldo, of Foster & Waldo, tarried in
town for a few days last week on his way
to New Orleans, where he will spend a
short vacation.
A. J. Brooks, of the Huntington Piano
Co., is in town.
Pianos and Organs Water-Soaked
HROUGH the bursting of a water pipe
last Tuesday, in the building occupied
by the Hockett Bros.-Puntenny Co.,
Washington C. H., O., the first floor and
basement were flooded. On the first floor
and in the basement twenty-seven instru-
ments were more or less badly damaged.
They consisted of pianos and organs. The
insides of a number of the instruments
were soaked, while on the exterior the
varnish is peeling off.
T
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
- ^ . E D W A R D L.YMAN
Editor and Proprietor.
PUBLISHED
EVERY
SATURDAY
3 East 14th St., New York
SUBSCRIPTION (including: postage) United States and
Canada, $3-00 per year; Foreign Countries, $4.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per
Insertion. On quarterly or yearly contracts... special dis-
count is allowed.
REMITTANCES, In other than currency forui, should
be made payable to Edward Lyman BilL
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Cla >s Matter.
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 22, 1896
'•THE BUSINESS MAN'S PAPER."
NEW MEN AND NEW METHODS
NEEDED.
N another part of this paper we give the
general outlines of the bill introduced
in the House of Representatives last week
by Congressman Treloar, relative to bring-
ing order out of chaos in the copyright
department at Washington, as well as revis-
ing the present copyright laws.
Any measure that will place the affairs
of this important Government office on a
sound, substantial and business-like footing
and do away with the shameful misman-
agement and irregularities which have been
brought to light from time to time, will be
welcomed by all who have the interest of
good government at heart.
For years publishers have been afforded
innumerable proofs of the gross inefficiency
and repeated indifference to their best
interests which have prevailed in the copy-
right office. . The inquiry set on foot some
time ago, revealed the Librarian to be a
defaulter to the Government for a large
sum of money, and lacking in every essen-
tial necessary to the proper conduct of that
I
office; nevertheless, these officials, instead
of putting an erid to this disgraceful con-
dition of affairs, temporized, and in the end
accepted a compromise by the payment of
a certain sum of money.
Thus the old methods and the old style
of "running things" still obtain. The
legend "whitewashed"—so familiar to poli-
ticians—is inscribed on the flag which flies
over the copyright office.
To allow apparently dishonest and inca-
pable officials to control this important
public office in the face of the facts which
were brought to light, is a grave public
scandal, and we are pleased to note that
steps are at last being taken to inaugurate
a new order of things.
Congressman Treloar's bill, at least that
part of it relative to the appointment of a
new Commissioner of Copyrights, deserves
to become a law. It would place this office
on a business basis, and thereby help to
restore that confidence in the department
which has been lacking for some time. As
the matter stands to-day, hundreds of
thousands of dollars have been paid for
copyrights, and there is no guarantee that
the protection sought for by publishers has
been accorded.
The copyright office has been in the past
a regular gold mine. Every modest inquiry
necessitated the payment of a fee, and re-
plies, if they were received at all, were
only forthcoming after persistent inquiries.
Moneys paid were not acknowledged, and
no system of government supervision of the
accounts seemed to prevail. It is a well-
known fact that for twenty years up to the
recent inquiry, no investigation of the
accounts had been made.
This system of conducting a public office
is certainly unique.
The smallest country store is conducted
on business methods a century ahead of
those in vogue in the copyright office.
In a public matter like this there is no
room for sentiment. The present head of
the copyright bureau is personally a charm-
ing man, but as a public servant he is
a huge failure.
Mark you, in this matter we discriminate
between men and methods. Here the
methods are bad that will allow such a
condition of affairs to exist.
We maintain that the'trade paper and the
newspaper have a duty that is absolutely
compulsory when the interests of their
constituents are being injured; hence these
remarks.
The copyright office should not be subject
to political or personal influence, at least
when it is injurious. It should be con-
ducted in the interests of the people—of
the business men who look to it for pro :
tection and support.
Now to another phase of this bill. In
framing sections 13, 14 and 15, Congress-
man Treloar has been inspired no doubt by
the failure of the international copyright
law of '91 to compel foreign publishers to
"set up" or engrave their musical public-
ations in this country, as illustrated in the
celebrated test case of Novello, Ewer & Co.
versus the Oliver Ditson Co., decided last
year.
We fail to see, however, where he makes
his point. It affects "the citizen of the-
United States," but not the alien. Con-
gressman Treloar, who, by the way, is in
the music publishing business himself,
evidently overlooked this. Meanwhile the
bill will undergo many changes before it
takes on feathers and wings and flies—if it
ever will—as a full fledged law.
In writing on this subject, we cannot re-
frain from remarking that legislators gen-
erally make a great mistake in framing
bills, particularly such as the copyright bill,
without a general conference with the busi-
ness men vitally interested. An expression
of their views procured beforehand would
furnish material enough to construct a
good, impartial and flawless measure,
which would be of more value to the pub-
lishers than the lawyers.
Speaking of this matter a few days ago
to a member of the music publishing fra-
ternity, he said: "This country badly needs
a new copyright law that will be unambig-
uous; a law that will be fair to the domestic
and foreign publishers alike. The only
way it can be secured, in my opinion, is to
have book, music and other publishers
meet in session and agree upon the details
of a measure, and then hand it over to a
Congressman or Senator for introduction.
This would insure freedom from the usual
opposition and changes in and after its stay
in the committee rooms."
This sounds well, but is it possible to get
publishers to agree on such a measure?
That's the rub!
As we said before, many changes will
undoubtedly be made in Congressman
Treloar's bill. As it stands it has many
good points; many more are missing.
When they are supplied we may have
something further to say.
ENRY DREHER, president of the
B. Dreher's Son's Co., Cleveland,
O., has been in town this week on the im-
portant mission of making a selection of
Steinway pianos for immediate shipment.
When we saw Mr. Dreher he had just
completed his selection, and was in a buoy-
H

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