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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
An infinite vista of possible taxation was
also opened up recently by a man who was ob-
served to alight from a railway carriage full
of ladies, and to mutter as he shut the door,
"Those abominable shoulders that women
wear ought to be taxed out of existence."
* *
*
Novelty in advertising
is the thing nowa-
M. STEINWAY is the author of a very
interesting article in a recent issue of
the Independent, describing the Daimler in-
vention of the horseless carriage. He gives
a general resume" of the development of
horseless carriages right up to date. It is
his opinion that horseless carriages and all
kinds of motor wagons, for omnibus, van
and truck purposes, have come to stay, and
he is certain that within a few years their
manufacture will be one of the most prom-
inent industries of this and other countries.
Mr. Steinway is actively interested in
the Daimler Motor Co., and the time will
come, we suppose, when Steinway grands
and uprights will be delivered around town
in this new mode of conveyance.
W
When one thinks of the fortunes that
have been made on songs that have become
popular, one ventures into a land of fable
and of mystery. "Tarara," from its negro
dive in St. Louis, made Lottie Collins
world-known; CyWarman's"Sweet Marie"
enabled him to write cheques on something
better than sand banks, to mention merely
a couple of modern instances.
But these are only a few that fortune
impresses on the masses' mind. Against
these there is the multitude of songs,
verses, etc., used, stolen, uncredited.
Ben King's famous "Pessimist" verses,
for instance. All of one season were they
used as a recitation by a popular burlesquer,
and applauded heartily.
"What did King ever get out of them?
Was he ever given credit by way of intro-
duction? Not an iota!
But the average members of the profes-
sion which rants itself with a Capital P are
such adepts in wearing the clothes of others
that I suppose one should view with charity
their efforts to use other men's brains as
plastering for their own wind-gutted skulls.
days. Men of brains are paid handsome sal-
aries to devise new and ingenious schemes.
One of the latest and most humorous was
told me by a friend a few days ago. It
happened in a theatre in a Western city.
The modus operandi was a gentleman in-
clined to a surplus of adipose tissue with a
wide expanse of bald head. On his shining
pate was painted in neat lettering in indigo
blue the following:
"Do you want a good cheap piano cheap?
"If so, buy the
Rented on easy terms."
This "gentleman" sat in the front row,
and conducted himself with propriety,
while people behind him were convulsed
with laughter; each observer supposed that
here was a practical joke some one had
played on an unsuspecting friend.
This, the latest phase of the advertising
mania, was not taken kindly to by the
managers, but it succeeded in escaping
their attention for three or four nights, and
amused the patrons of the house as much as
the bill on the program.
* * *
Newspapers have been making numerous
comments on the controversy between
Prof. Rehm and Prof. D'Ernesti, which
was aired in the Yorkville Police Court last
Saturday.
The trouble originated in Atlanta during
the closing days of the Exposition. The
two artists tried to outrival Paderewski as
virtuosi. Money was, as it always is, the
root of the trouble. The Sun makes the
following humorous comment on the affair:
Two excited pianists appeared in York-
ville Police Court yesterday morning.
After successive outbursts of mutual re-
crimination, Prof. Rehm, pointing at his
former partner and colleague, Prof. D'Er-
nesti, said: "This man is a scoundrel. He
poses as a young man and a great piano
player. He is old enough to be my grand-
father. Why, in Atlanta the ladies went
simply wild over his hair; but it was a wig,
a young man's wig, sir; a young man's
wig on an old head."
Although Magistrate Kudlich did not
pass
On the matter of wig ethics, the ques-
* *
Speaking of the practieabilit)' of a tax on tion is an interesting one. True, it furnishes
* says: It is obvious the means for misrepresentation. Yet
pianos, a London paper
that a small impost on pianos would bring many great men, partly owing to the influ-
in a large return, and it is unlikely that ence of their wives, have placed artificial
such a tax would prove a hindrance to the roofs on their heads when the natural gave
cultivation of amateur music, since a piano out. One person of prominence, in refer-
is now so firmly established as a badge of ring to his own polished dome, said: "I
respectability that it would hardly be sac- prefer death to dishonor," meaning that he
rificed for the sake of a few shillings per would rather go bare than gray. But this
annum. The chief objection to this sug- was an exceptional case. Von Moltke wore
gestion lies in the fact that its working a wig, and everybody knew it. Bismarck
would necessitate a system of inquisitorial wore a wig once, but it was not because of
house-to-house visitation, unless we could vanity, but because it was some protection
rely on neighbors to give the requisite in- against a Russian winter day. When the
formation to the inland revenue officers.
wig slipped down over one ear, he pulled it
off and threw it into his carriage before the
Emperor and his own King, to the great
scandal of all the court functionaries. He
used to say afterward that if he ever took
to wearing a wig, he would have thick ones
for winter and thin ones for summer, and
long ones, and short ones, just like our own
Gov. Morton. Now, if these great states-
men thought that there was nothing wrong
about wigs, why should simple musicians?
The answer is simple. The general
public has come to measure the artist's
genius by the length of his hair. The
enthusiastic young women who sit en-
tranced under the spell .of Paderewski's
playing will admit that half the de-
light comes from the spectacle of his
resplendent hair. Imagine the great Pole
bald? It is impossible. The mind is in-
capable of it. If the mass of upstanding
and outstanding locks were gone, he would
have to resort to art to make good the de-
ficiency. There is a close relationship
between the locks and the melod}'. So-
Prof. Rehm was wrong in one respect.
Prcf. D'Ernesti did quite right in putting
on a fine wig for the maidens of Atlanta to
delight in. Why should he handicap his
art? He was following good precedent and
good sense.
* *
"It is rather early to talk politics," said
a well-known piano man a few days ago,
"but it is safe to bet that the next Admin-
istration will be Republican, and one of the
first acts will be an attempt to extend our
trade with Central and South America on
the reciprocal lines laid down by Blaine."
I acquiesced. Trade in. the South!
Why not, with 50,000,000 people in the
sixteen Republics south of our own who
are no longer a shiftless, but a progressive
and united people.
* * *
The magnitude of the trade that practi-
cally lies undeveloped at our doors is ap-
pealing nowadays with some force to the
members of the music trade industry. Since
April 20th, 1895, when the "Southern Spe-
cial" of THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW appeared,
there has been a steady development in the
export trade of musical instruments to the
South American Continent.
Through the energy of Geo. P. Bent, of
"Crown" fame, and his able lieutenant,
Fred. W. Primer, a substantial and grow-
ing trade has been developed in Mexico for
the "Crown" instruments. The same may
be said of several other manufacturers who
are wide-awake enough to realize that we
have more than an equal chance with our
European friends in disposing of musical
instruments.
* •
*
The Fourth Estate beautifully roasts
"Hon. Daniel F. Beatty," who has once
more bobbed up serenely as an organ and
piano manufacturer and "worker" of the
press, who offers to give a $1,000 piano for
$145 in cash and $130 in advertising. Mr.
Beatty is a splendid man—to let alone.
No publisher with any regard for the wel-
fare of his readers will accept Mr. B.'s ads
on those terms.