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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
The Frick Piano Case Co. Assign.
The Frick Piano Case Co., of Farley,
Mass., made an assignment on Wednesday
last. The company was chartered in 1893
with a capital stock of $12,000. An authen-
tic statement of assets and liabilities is not
to hand at time of writing.
The /Eolian in Cincinnati.
Active preparations are in progress for
developing the Western trade for ^Eo-
lian products. Mr. Perkins, as the firm's
representative, has left town for Cincin-
nati with Mr. Baldwin, of D. H. Baldwin
& Co. The present plan is to have a spe-
cial ,/Eolian department with a complete ex-
hibit and expert attendants, in connection
with the Baldwin establishment. Mr. H.
B. Tremaine intimated recently through
The Review that Western territory was to
be more largely cultivated.
The present plan of co-operation will
admit of a thorough test being made. If
it produces favorable results as predicted,
it will encourage the ^olian firm to still
further extend operations in this promis-
ing section of the country.
H. M. Brainard Injured.
The home [of Mr. H. M. Brainard in
East Cleveland, O., was completely des-
troyed by fire last Saturday afternoon.
Mr. Brainard, who is president of the H.
M. Brainard Co., was seriously burned
as the result of a gas explosion in the base-
ment of the house and was taken to the
Huron street hospital.
Members of the family detected the odor
of gas and concluded that there must be a
leak in the pipes in the basement. Mr.
Brainard went into the basement to find the
leak. As it was rather dark he lighted a
match near the meter and an explosion im-
mediately followed. Mr. Brainard's cloth-
ing was ignited by the flames and he was
badly burned. The flames spread through
the upper part of the house and the entire
structure was destroyed. The loss is esti-
mated at $15,000.
A Strong Music Firm.
There is probabty no better array of
business men associated with any music es-
tablishment in the country than that pro-
duced by the Wiley B. Allen Company, of
Portland, Ore. Mr. J. E. Whitney, George
A. Heidinger, Rudolph Wangeman and
Mr. Frank Anrys have been associated with
the company for years past, and among the
recent acquisitions is Mr. O. E. Pettis,
Professor E. Stebinger and Mr. L. M.
Stanley, formerly of St. Joseph, Mo. Pro-
fessor Stebinger will be associated with
Mr. Pettis in the management of theirnew
up-town Washington-street store.
Some Recent Music.
Among the latest publications which
have reached us from the Oliver Ditson
Co., are "First Sight" and "Thy Realm,"
two high class compositions for medium
voice by Marquis de Leuville; "Sad Are
They Who Know Not Love," Thomas
Bailey Aldrich's beautiful poem, which is
given two admirable musical settings by
M. A. Fisher. Two other songs which
are very meritorious are "This Would I Do"
by Wm. R. Chapman, and "I Cannot Leave
the Old Folks" by J. W. Wheeler.
Among the instrumental numbers are a
series of piano pieces for teaching purposes
by Leander Fisher and three catchy two
steps, possessing the essential swing and
melody to win their way into popularity—
"Commencement," Herman Babson; "The
Victors," Henry R. Bailey, and "Class Day,"
Mattie H. Ailman.
"Debezies" is the title of a grand valse
de concert by Lucius Lescale which has
been sent us by Thomas Goggan & Bro. of
Galveston, Tex. The melody is unusually
pretty, the arrangement effective; it is
having a big sale throughout the country.
The Hatch Music Co., Eighth and Locust
streets, Philadelphia, Pa., have just pub-
lished a patriotic song and chorus by Dr.
Henry Cook, entitled "The Fourth of July."
Songs of this character are the surest
means of inculcating patriotic sentiments.
New Scale Krells.
The Geo. C. Crane Co., 97 Fifth avenue,
have just received a magnificent assort-
ment of new scale Krell uprights, which
are not only handsome in design and well
finished, but acoustically they are maivel-
ously satisfying instruments. The scale is
certainly a perfect and creditable specimen
of the drawers' skill, not a semblance of a
break being evident. When The Review
called at the warerooms on Wednesday,
Albert Krell, Jr., who by the way possesses
the rare knack of being able to " show off"
a piano like an artist, discoursed on the
merits of these instruments modestly but
confidently. The line of instruments now
in the warerooms is well worthy the inspec-
tion of musicians and the trade.
Unwise to Handle Too Many
flakes.
The unwisdom of handling several makes
of pianos of a similar grade is the subject
of a communication to our esteemed Lon-
don contemporary Music. The writer
dwells upon this all important subject as
follows: " Orders are often given toamaker
or his representative merely because he is
a good fellow, and not because the dealer
really needs the class of piano he has given
the order for. The result of this com-
plaisancy on the dealer's part is that his
showrooms get blocked with goods so much
of a muchness as to quality and price that
he is at a loss to know what to do with
them. They clash in price, and there is
so liberal a choice for his money, that the
customer is bewildered and can't make up
his mind which make to select. The
dealer cannot do justice to himself or to
the makers if he stocks the products of all
and sundry, whereas he can do justice to
himself and to those whose goods he deals
in, provided he puts reasonable limits to
his purchases. In my opinion the dealer
is wise who restricts himself to one or at
most two makes of the same class. He
must in these days keep at least four classes
of pianos and two classes of organs. Pianos
are, of course, more graduated in regard to
merit and cost than organs. There is the
maker who especially devotes himself to
instruments of the most perfect type.
Then there are those who claim to make a
really " high class " instrument and others
who frankly call their goods "medium"
class and " cheap " class. I have proved
by experience that it is better to have one
instrument of each class that one can
honestly recommend than to confuse a
customer by praising three or four, and
leaving him to make his own selection.
It is sometimes asserted that the sole
agency system is all in favor of the manu-
facturer and that he has often been known
to act shabbily with the dealer by with-
drawing the agency after the latter has
spjnt much time and money in populariz-
ing the maker's wares. I do not deny that
such unworthy treatment is on record,
but I hold that our best firms may be
relied on to treat their agents in an
honorable manner, and that one or two
good agencies properly worked are far
more remunerative for the dealer than an
ill-managed general business."
William F. Tway of the Tway Piano
Co., local agents for the Hallet & Davis
piano, is quite optimistic about trade con-
ditions. He reports a steady betterment
as far as his house is concerned, and con-
siders the outlook for improved conditions
unusually bright.
The Bendix Music Publishing Co. have
opened up offices at 145 Austin street,
Boston.
The John F. Stratton Co. have removed
from East Ninth street, to the fourth floor
of 52 Grand street this city.
Joseph Allen, for many years salesman
with the Dearborn Co., Philadelphia, is
now with James G. Ramsdell of that city.
The President sent a message to Congress
this week recommending the appropriation
of a large sum for proper participation in
the international exposition to be held in
Paris in 1900.
Daniel F. Treacy was in Boston last
week looking over trade in that section.
Professional and other musical people of
New York city have quickly discovered the
location of the new Wissner warerooms.
The callers are increasing in numbers, and
their visits are of a satisfactory character.
Emil E. Gabler and J. Bareuther, repre-
sentives of the Gabler products, left town
this week on a two-weeks business trip.
Among the callers this week at the Soh-
mer warerooms was Mr. Hugo Worch, of
Washington, D. C.
E. W. Furbush, of the Vose Piano Co.,
was a visitor to this city this week.
Melbourne A. Marks, superintendent of
the Everett Piano Co.'s factory, Boston,
was in town yesterday.