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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
From a Traveler's Note Book.
TRADE IS SPORADIC — NOT EVENLY DISTRIBUTED THERE ARE SOME BRIGHT SPOTS - BUSINESS
WILL ONLY COME TO THOSE WHO WORK FOR IT—OUR CONSERVATISM WILL NOT WIN — THE
BUSINESS PERSIMMONS ARE UP .HIGH TALKS WITH MANUFACTURERS WHAT W. C.
BURGESS SAYS
AN EXCELLENT JANUARY
TRADE — A VISIT TO WATER-
LOO— PIANOS THAT WIN ; —THE "CAPEN" PIANO BIDS FAIR TO WIN A
PRIZE—AT ERIE TRADE CONDITIONS WITH THE SHAW PIANO CO. RAY-
MORE WEST THE GREAT VARIETY OF COLBY PIANOS—BUFFALO AS A
MUSICAL CENTER—RUSH AT D., C. & D.'s STRAY SHOTS HERE
AND THERE — GILDEMEESTER
KURTZMAN
HOUGHTON.
RADE conditions do not im-
prove materially the further
o n e advances Westward.
There is no special reason why
highly rose colored picLures
of trade affairs should be
given when the indigo hue predominates.
To sum up the situation I should say
that trade for '96 is and has been sporadic.
There are many bright colored spots upon
the trade body, but as a whole they seem
peculiarly distributed. In certain cities I
have visited I have noted evidences of busi-
ness conditions which were well calculated
to gladden alike the heart of manufacturer
and merchant. Again I have met men who
felt compelled to admit, however reluctant-
ly, that business was to them bitterly disap-
pointing. And so the wheel revolves, some
draw prizes and for some the mystic figures
produce symptoms which are directly op-
posed to business exhilaration.
Of course, it is indeed difficult to vatici-
nate with any degree of certainty just how
the year will develop in a business sense,
but one thing is mighty certain, the ones
who achieve business success this year will
be the ones who remove their outer gar-
ments, metaphorically, and hustle for trade.
It will be more than ever the survival of the
fittest, and the fittest is this case will be the
firms who infuse into their operations a
live spirit of progressiveness—their actions
must be characterized by a certain restless
energy. Some firms whose past operations
have not been specially distinguished for
the amount of energy which they have in-
fused in their business arteries must sepa-
rate themselves from that over-conserva-
tiveness for which they have been noted in
the past—or they will have no future, save
a future of forgetfulness where they will
have lapsed into a business desuetude, there-
by rendering themselves innocuous to trade
competition.
This is not the time when the rust should
be allowed to accumulate on the business
armor. It should be removed by the sa-
polio of action until it reflects the bright
rays of the sun of prosperity. The breast-
plate should be burnished, or it may become
Weberized by the dampness arising from
inability or indifference to live business en-
gagements. This is not the time to lay
aside lance or plume or helmet. This is a
fighting year. If there be weak points in
your armor see to it they are mended. Let
the rays of Roentgen disclose the existence
of a trade backbone of n- mean proportions.
The longest pole of progressiveness will
knock the business persimmons from off the
tree.
Talking with a well-known manufacturer
in an inland city this week, he said: "I
thought February the dullest month I ever
saw; there was no life to business, it seemed
to me some weeks that we hardly received
an order. I felt blue; I thought that
trade had gone to the dogs. I was half a
mind to call in my travelers; I felt almost
afraid to look over our business for the
month. I mustered up sufficient courage; I
never was more disappointed in my life.
It was good medicine for me. We had
really closed an excellent month's work.
The orders had come straggling along
some days not an order, then after awhile
they would come in a bunch. I was never
more surprised in my life, agreeably so,
and now do you know what I propose to do?
I am going to put on a little more steam;
I am going to work harder. There is trade,
but it is going to be wavy. I shall try and
turn some of the waves this way. " That
is the keynote—hustle with a big H.
# *
W. C. Burgess, who, by the way, has
made a splendid success in his management
of the Wegman business, takes a philo-
sophical view of the business situation.
He said: "While February was not up to
my expectations, yet I must not overlook
the fact that January was for some reasons
a particularly good month with us. Again,
the result of my brother's recent trip South
was the securing of a goodly number of ad-
vance orders. We can count on a good
many pianos for later shipments."
It should be understood that last year
was the banner year in a business sense for
the Wegman Piano Co., a fact which tells in
unmistakable terms of the business acumen
which characterizes Mr. Burgess' move-
ments. Henry Wegman is growing more
and more to resemble his late lamented
father.
Warren Crocker is away on a visit to the
California home of his son, who has a ranch
near Fresno.
*
Accompanied by Malcolm Love, I toured
the organ and piano factories of the Water-
loo Organ Co. In the organ line the com-
pany are receiving a goodly number of or-
ders for foreign as well as home shipment.
Some of their organs are very effective
in an architectural way. There seems to be
a stead}' demand for them; they have been
before the trade for a number of years and
have been steadily augmenting in fa-
vor. The sister product—the Malcolm Love
piano—is a product in which Mr. Love
has always taken great pride. He has the
added satisfaction too of having his name
associated with a high grade instrument,
for one who tests the musical qualkies or
examines the nicety of detail work embodied
in the Malcolm Love pianos cannot fail to
be favorably impressed by the excellence
of those instruments. From the piano fac-
tory are being made goodly weekly ship-
ments.
The Brockport Piano Manufacturing Co.,
makers of the Capen piano, propose to be
"in it" in a piano way, as the enlargement
of the capital stock of the company would
indicate. They have a factory specially
built for piano making, and they propose
to utilize every inch of it for that purpose.
Mr. Robert C. Hull, the general mana-
ger, will henceforth devote his entire ener-
gies to the upbuilding of the "Capen" piano.
He is a carefully trained business man,
who sees no good reason why the applica-
tion of correct business principles will not
win for the Capen piano a goodly patron-
age. Mr. Hull's sincerity impresses one
favorably as to his success in the piano field.
The Capen piano is built on fin de stick
lines, made in a variety of woods, in attrac-
tive cases. Mr. Hull believes in the inter-
mediate—eschewing the very cheap and
coming under the high priced. As an in-
strument which appeals closely to a large
purchasing class, the Capen will be in de-
mand.
At Erie I enjoyed a pleasant business
chat with Marvin Griswold, of the Shaw
Piano Co. Mr. Griswold has some very clear
and pronounced views upon the questions
of the day, which show that he is a careful
student of the trend of affairs in the politico-
economic field. He reasons, rightly, I think,
that before the business affairs of the coun-
try can attain a satisfactory condition, we
must have a change in our governmental
affairs so that the receipts of the National
Treasury must exceed its disbursements.
As Mr. Griswold expresses it: "Until our
national affairs are on a common sense
business basis."
H. J. Raymore is on a trip W T est. On
the day of my call the company were in
receipt of a telegram from him containing
an order for a car load of pianos, which em-
phasizes two points—Mr. Raymore's ability
as a salesman, and the popularity of the
Shaw pianos.
* *
In what an endless variety of woods the
Colby pianos are manufactured! Indeed,
a customer would be difficult to please who
could not find a particular style to please in
the Colby warerooms. Mr. W. J. MacCar-
ter said that while orders were not exactly
snowing them under, yet, times considered,
the "Colby" was moving all right. The
Colb)' piano has a strong following in many
sections of the country, and its popularity
moves on apace.
* *
If any one entertains doubts as to Buffalo
being a music loving city, those doubts