Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
It is well enough at all times to move
just a trifle cautiously before entering a
conflict of any nature. Looking backward,
lessons in history teach us that as a result
the side precipitating a conflict fails in
many ways to appreciate the strength of
- ^ . E D W A R D LVMAN
its opponent.
Editor and Proprietor.
In 1861 the South, bitter and sore over
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY
its steadily decreasing political strength in
3 East 14th St.. New York
the councils of the nation, precipitated, in
a moment of rage and impetuousness, a
SUBSCRIPTION (including- postage) United States and
Canada, $3-00 per year; Foreign Countries, $4.00.
civil war which devastated its own fair
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Insertion. On quarterly or yearly contracts a special dis»
fields, and cost the nation millions of lives
count 15 allowed.
REMITTANCES, In other than currency form, should
and billions of treasure. Had its leaders
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clearly weighed the financial and numerical
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strength of the North, they would never
NEW YORK, APRIL 10, 1897.
have precipitated, that fratricidal conflict,
because their own sober judgment must
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have surely told them the inevitable result
THE KEYNOTE.
of
such a contest.
The first week of each month, The Review
It is the same in business life. Often-
will contain a supplement embodying the liter-
ary and musical features which have heretofore times a commercial war is begun without
appeared in The Keynote. This amalgamation
will be effected without in any way trespassing a fair analysis on the part of those who
on our regular news service. The Review will precipitate the war of the resources of their
continue to remain, as before, essentially atrade
opponents. Then, after all, what comes
paper.
of it?
THE TRADE DIRECTORY.
Simply exhaustion, business paralysis,
The Trade Directory, which is a feature of
The Review each month, is complete. In it ap- and at the end both sides are in-
pears the names and addressee of all firms en-
gaged in the manufacture of musical instruments finitely worse off than they were at the Be-
and the allied trades. The Review is sent to ginning.
the United States Consulates throughout the
It is true revenge is sweet, in fact it is
world, and is on file in the reading rooms of the
oftentimes delicious; but is it not well be-
principal hotels in America.
fore we stuff ourselves with revenge to
IS A PIANO WAR IMMINENT?
ascertain at least a fractional part of its
S a piano war imminent?
cost? There are many of us who at times
There are indications which would have the inclination to dance, and we do
seem to warrant the belief that such is the dance, but we would never enter into the
case. On the trade horizon hang heavy, whirl did we previously learn at least an
sombre, sulphurous clouds, and occasional approximate idea of the fiddler's charge.
flashes of lightning athwart the darkness It pays best never to be blinded by passion
followed by low mutterings indicate clear- or revenge, but to first ascertain the pos-
ly that the signs are threatening to say the sibilities of winning, next just what the
least.
cost will be to acquire that victory. Some-
If the storm strikes us there will be a times an enemy develops prodigious unseen
jingling of chords and discords in this trade strength—a strength which is cumulative,
that will set things tingling from the rock overpowering, crushing.
bound coast of Maine to where the Colum-
A long bank account may be a strong
bia pours her golden sands on the shores of factor in prolonging a commercial war
California; from the zone where the cyclone but it does not give indisputable assurance
rages with unabated fervor in the far North- of success.
west to where the painted savage jingfes
Brains too are to be considered but again
the empty tomato cans across the cactus the possibility of misdirected effort.
dotted Mohave desert which borders on the
There is strength in numbers, likewise
domains of President Diaz. Even the weakness as well, because there are some
crested billows as they beat upon the East- whose influence will undermine the earnest
ern shores will be luminous with fire if the work of others.
storm clouds once break upon us; while the
Again, while a warfare of a few months
green savannahs of the billowy West will might result in a serious paralysis of trade
swell the maddened cry.
and the annihilation of individuals, it
There is no mistaking the fact that pre- could not succeed in seriously changing
parations are being made for the impend- public opinion, encrusted as it is with the
ing storm. Cyclone proof cellars are being barnacles of time.
dug; watch towers are being planted on the
Have a care, gentlemen, count well the
highest points of vantage.
cost, for if the blades are once unsheathed,
I
there will be a shedding of trade blood
never equaled before in this industry.
It will flow in rivulets and streams, for
there are men to-day panting for the fray,
in whose cuirass there is many a vulner-
able spot, and it will require strong armor
to stand the blows dealt with stout swords.
Think it over before unfurling the war
standards.
The able and scholarly lecture deliv-
ered last Tuesday evening by Mr. Alfred
Dolge at the University Club, Little Falls,
N. Y., a full report of which will be found
elsewhere in this paper, is interesting and
instructive reading.
The labor question is one of those ills of
the body politic and industrial which manu-
facturers have heretofore left almost en-
tirely to the treatment of economic doctors
—theorists,professors—well-meaning men,
it is true, but generally lacking in that es-
sential experience which enables their
schemes of reform being effective or prac-
tical.
Hence when such a topic as "How to
avoid a conflict between capital and labor"
is dwelt upon by a man of Mr. Dolge's
wide experience and ripe judgment, con-
clusions are apt to be arrived at which are
of direct application and benefit.
And we are not disappointed, for Mr.
Dolge suggests an admirable panacea in
the formation of a labor senate where the
rights of organized labor and organized
capital would be equally recognized, and
the causes of the present-day conflicts dis-
cussed and eradicated partially if not en-
tirely.
Judge and analyze it as you will, Mr.
Dolge's treatment of his difficult subject is
profound, exhaustive and erudite.
He emphasizes the grand truth that "civ-
ilization progresses step by step in the
ratio as the condition of labor is improved,"
and illustrates his remarks by reference to
the condition of labor in the past, tracing
the progress of events up to the complex
industrial and commercial problems that
confront us in the United States to-day.
In his conclusions therefrom he displays
such originality in ideas, thorough mastery
of his subject, and an ease and happy choice
of language, that we fear Mr. Dolge has
too long been allowed to hide his oratorical
light "under a bushel."
In this address we recognize the student,
the thinker, the philosopher—and yet the
common sense business man. For it seems
to us that the great strength of Mr. Dolge's
arguments lies in their practical applica-
tion—here he has the advantage over the
ordinary "book man."
Mr. Dolge has attained an unsought for