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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
21
THE "SMALL GOODS" TRADE
Hamilton S. Gordon.
" Trade with us is decidedly hopeful," said
W. H. Freeland,* of Hamilton S. Gordon's
" sma^l goods " department, to The Review
on Wednesday last; " there is a steadily in-
creasing demand for our goods, and after the
inauguration we look for a return of the good
old times.
" Our arrangements for the year 1897 are
fairly completed; we are working four men
on the road; our Mr. D. Behrend left on the
20th inst. for an extended trip; 'Mr. Al-
bert Repp, formerly with Herman Sonntag,
leaves on Thursday evening next for an ex-
tended trip; Mr. E. H. Kaufmann is due to
leave on the 30th inst., and Mr. Geo. DeVoe
will get away about February 10th.
GORDON MANDOLIN, STYLE IV.
" Our new style B^ mandolin promises to
be a big seller; style G holds favor; in fact,
we cannot manufacture the latter quick
enough to fill orders.
" We are having an excellent run on the
famous 'Gordon' mandolins and guitars;
they were never more popular or greater in
demand.
" We have a full line of meloharps, and are
working up a fine trade with those instru-
ments. Our new style accordeons will, I am
sure, be well received by the trade, and we are
well supplied for a heavy demand for same.
" Our road men carry a full line of sam-
ples; their route embraces all the Eastern
States, the Southeast, Middle States, and a
good portion of the West.
" You might mention," continued Mr.
Freeland, " that we are having an especial de-
mand for the Gordon, Style IV. mandolin,
familiarly known as ' The Butterfly,' the in-
laid portion on the guard plate representing
the same; it is.our standard seller, and the de-
mand for same is only equalled by the sup-
ply."
W. R. Gratz Discursive.
Judging by the cordial reception given The
Review on Tuesday last by Mr. W. R. Gratz,
the well-known importer of this city, business
is undoubtedly in a highly satisfactory con-
dition.
" Our travelling men are sending in good
orders," stated Mr. Gratz; "we are really
quite busy. The year 1896 closed up much
better than I expected; in fact, our balance
sheet showed up wonderfully well, inasmuch
as competition forced us to sell at lower
prices, our business has increased so much
in volume that the past year was absolutely
the best of my eleven years' experience.
" Indications for 1897 are decidedly bright;
we look for a large business. Our lines of
goods cannot fail to please," continued Mr.
Gratz; "we are handling the best goods of
their kind. We fully expect to double our
business this year with symphonion music-
boxes; we also look for a large business with
symphonion zithers.
" Our line of brass instruments, manufact-
ured by Bohland & Fuchs, is, in my opinion,
superior to any line made in Germany. The
firm are constantly making efforts to improve
their instruments from year to year, and they
are now, to my way of thinking, perfect; ama-
teurs find them easy to play, and bandmasters
are buying and using them for solo playing.
" Our string instruments and violin strings
have a world-wide reputation, and our
' Grand Solo ' harmonicas and ' Empress '
accordeons are acknowledged by our compet-
itors as being of the best.
" We are getting in a supply of new sym-
phonion Duplex Music Boxes, which will cre-
ate talk in the trade; the latest style contains
318 teeth in the comb and has a disc of 27
inches."
The conversation at this point merged into
the all-important question of tariff and poli-
tics generally, and from the nature of Mr.
Gratz's conversation The Review learned that
this worthy gentleman is not only well-versed
on current day topics, but is a broad and lib-
eral thinker.
Mr. Gratz very plainly intimated that his
sympathies lay with the working-classes in the
live social problems of the day, and that, if
there were less political ferment and more of
the European stability in this country, Amer-
ica would be considerably the gainer.
The "Brass Band " Harmonica.
We herewith produce the " counterfeit pre-
sentment " of Ch. Weiss, of Trossingen, Ger-
many, manufacturer of the famous " Brass
Band " harmonicas. To paraphrase a familiar
aphorism, there are " harmonicas " and there
are "harmonicas"; no expert, however, fa-
miliar with the peculiarities and special attri-
butes of the various makes of these extremely
popular musical instruments ever denied the
splendid qualities of the " Brass Band," and
they are universally admitted to be as good
as the best, and in many cases conceded to
absolutely lead all similar products in point
of tone, mechanism, and finish. While every
acknowledgment should be conceded to Mr.
Weiss for (having placed on the market so ex-
CH. WEISS.
celleut a product, it is but common justice to
make mention of the persistent zeal displayed
by Mr. Frank Scribner, of 419 Broadway,
this city, in placing these instruments upon
the American market and creating so exten-
sive a demand for the goods in question.
Mr. Scribner, as is well known, is the sole
agent for the United States and Canada, for
these goods, and he has not only effectively
distributed them throughout this wide area,
but has utilized his inventive genius in the
improvement of the instrument in many ways.
Mr. Scribner is an expert harmonica soloist;
he might, with considerable justice, be des-
ignated the " Paderewski " of the harmonica
school; he is constantly experimenting with
the instrument, plays it like an artist, knows
what the public wants, furnishes his ideas to
the manufacturer, and the united efforts of
the agent and producer combined, result in
the manufacture of what is possibly—as pre-
viously intimated—the mos't perfect harmon-
ica in the market.
The harmonica factory at Trossingen is, of
its kind, one of the largest and most complete
in Europe, and tlje large force of men em-
ployed is constantly being increased.
Mr. Scribner is about to place on the mar-
ket a new style of " Brass Band " harmonica,
especially adapted for professional purposes,
which is said to be, in " ring" parlance, a
" knock-out " for all competitors.