Music Trade Review

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VOL XXIV.
N o . 6.
Published Every Saturday, at 3 East Fourteenth Street. New York, February 6,1897.
$3.00 PER YEAR
SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENT:
or less familiar. An action, in fine, is the
lungs of the piano, the strings are the
voice.
PIANO MAKING—ACTION MAKING—CASE MAKING—SMALL GOODS AND MUSI
New York is the center of the industry
REVIEWED BY A WRITER IN THE INDUSTRIAL EDITION OF
and Boston comes next. Chicago, though
" T R I B U N E " VIEWS ON THE GENERAL OUTLOOK.
she makes pianos, has to import actions.
There are in this city ten action factories,
Musical merchandise, such as banjos, employing about 1,000 men, who receive
In no branch of trade of which New York
is the center does competition clash on guitars, mandolins, flutes, harmonicas, big wages. There is only one importing
closer lines than in the manufacture and violins, are also principally bought by house, and although the duty is only 25
sale of pianos.
wage-earners, and as the wage-earners have per cent, not much business is done in that
However the men engaged in the piano, been hamstrung so has this part of the line. It is not easy to give even a rough
estimate of the volume of trade or the cap-
organ, music and musical industries may musical business suffered.
Pianos, organs, musical goods and music ital invested, but there are many millions.
disagree politically, however wide may be
the divergence of opinion as to tariffs, are a luxury in a country where a low wage The firm which imports (it manufactures
financial policies or foreign policies, there standard prevails, but in this country they as well) is satisfied with presert conditions
is just one fact on which they all agree, have become more and more a necessity, as regards tariff rates.
"Two or three years ago, " said one of
and that is that the greatest prosperity as our ever-rising wage level permitted an
they ever knew was during the years 1889, ever-rising level of intelligence and cul- its representatives, "this branch of the
piano trade employed 2,000 men where it
1890, 1891 and the first part of 1892, but in ture.
1897 a repetition of prosperity is expected.
People say that the iron industry is the now only employs half that number. The
During the last period, not only were great barometer of trade. This may be so falling off I ascribe to the general depress-
more pianos, organs and musical instm- of trade, but of prosperity and welfare the ion in business throughout the country.
ments manufactured than during any cor- musical industries are emphatically the We do a little exporting as well as import-
ing, but not much. It is limited to the
responding time, but the majority of the best test and gauge.
output was of the better and higher grades.
When the piano and organ makers and South and the Central American republics.
Good prices were obtained and collections dealers suffer, when the musical merchan- I am afraid the business will not pick up
were easy. Beginning with the fall trade dise men suffer, when the sheet-music men very soon, if indeed it does at all, though
of 1893 the slump began, and from that suffer, then it may be safe to say not only of late there has come somewhat of a
time till the present moment things have that the well-to-do have no money to spend, change for the better, very small, however."
been getting harder and harder.
Piano Cases.
but that the great mass of wage-earners
The falling off in the number of instru- have no purchasing power, that is, they
In 1895 more than 35,000 pianos were
ments produced was considerable, but the have no surplus over and above the actual manufactured in New York and sold in
main difference has been in the quality of necessities of life.
this city or exported to various parts of the
the goods manufactured. Whereas from
" T h e point that I desire to make," said country. A few of them were sent to
1889 to 1892 the majority of instruments a piano man, " is that the great market for South and Central America, but they were
made were of the better grade, from 1892 musical instruments of all kinds is fur- very few. Last year only 20,000 were
to 1897 the majority have been of the nished by the middle and not the upper manufactured, and as cases run in the same
cheaper grade.
class. It is the middle class which spends groove as pianos, for the reason that there
In fact, it may be said that whereas in its income freely, and to this middle class cannot be a piano without a case, the
former years the whole tendency of the music has become a necessit)'.
causes for the decline furnished by an
piano, organ and musical industries was
" I t is a fact that this demand by the expert may be of interest. He said: ^Chi-
upward in quality, since 1892 and 1893 it average middle class American for a musi- cago is pushing this city of New York
has been downward.
cal instrument teaches us that our musical hard. New York a few years ago stood
The great development of the piano in- industries are only as yet in their infancy first in the piano and piano-case industry,
dustry took place in the decade between and that the day is not far off when instead Boston second and Chicago third. Now
1880 and 1890, through the introduction of of selling 70,000 and 80,000 pianos a year Chicago is a close second. A third cause is,
the installment plan of sales. When this we shall dispose of 200,000."
of course, the general stagnation in trade.
plan was introduced, the great middle
Folks who find difficulty in procuring
Piano Actions.
class, the mechanics, small tradesmen,
Although the majority of the big piano bread can easily dispense with music and
people of limited means, came into the manufacturers of New York make nearly aesthetic things generally."
market as purchasers.
Piano cases are all of domestic manufac-
all the component parts of their instru-
The conditions prevailing since 1892 ments, piano actions are excepted by a few ture, excepting a few imported
from
have prevented these people from pur- of them. Piano actions are the motive France for New Orleans. Most of them
chasing at all, and have forced many to power that-acts upon the strings and en- are made in this city and cost from $30 to
surrender the instruments they had partly ables them to send forth those sweet sounds $50 each, though some reach as high -as
paid, for.
with which every one's ears are now more
(Continued on page 9.)
The flusic Trade Industry in