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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
tained until next year, as well as for other
reasons, that a new corporation, bearing
the name of the Mason & Hamlin Co., be
organized under the laws of the State of
Maine with a capital stock of $600,000, of
which $100,000 shall be preferred and
$500,000 common stock. It was also de-
cided that this corporation shall purchase
the assets and assume the liabilities of the
present company, and that the stockhold-
ers of the present company be entitled to
subscribe pro rata for the preferred stock
at par, and also to receive in exchange for
their stock in the present company the
same number of shares of common stock in
the new concern.
The sentiment of the meeting was
unanimous in authorizing the directors to
take such action as may be necessary to
carry the foregoing into effect.
Scharwenka for Chickering
Concerts.
The important announcement is made
that Chickering & Sons have engaged
Xaver Scharwenka, the famous pianist, to
give a series of recitals with Anton Seidl's
orchestra between November and April,
1898. The services of Richard Hoffman and
various other celebrated soloists whose
names will appear later will also be en-
listed, so that these musicales promise to be
an important feature of the coming musical
season. There is also a possibility of ar-
rangements being made for a series of re-
citals in Boston.
fleloharp Co.'s Affairs.
The sheriff received an attachment
Thursday last against the Meloharp Co.,
manufacturers of meloharps, at 33 Union
vSquare, for $569, in favor of Alfred P.
Roth, on a note. When the sheriff went
there to make a levy he was confronted
with a bill of sale of the effects to George
B. Shearer, the president and treasurer,
for $2,000, made on the 15th inst. Mr.
Shearer started the business here a few
years ago, and incorporated the company
on Jan. 22, 1897, with a capital stock of
$125,000.
Ben Starr in Town.
Ben Starr of the Starr Piano Co. was in
town during the week. He reports a busy
factory down in Richmond; orders are com-
ing in actively, with bright prospects
ahead for the Starr piano. He is quite en-
thusiastic about the business outlook. Mr.
Starr left town yesterday morning. He
will make a number of calls on dealers in
Connecticut and Massachusetts before he
returns home.
Some anxiety has been felt during the
past few days concerning the health of W.
B. Tremaine, of the yEolian Co. The
Review was informed yesterday that he
has recovered and is able to resume busi-
ness.
Chas. K. Jones, who conducts a special
department in that indispensable little
magazine, Printer's Ink, makes a point in
the following remarks, which we venture
to say comes home to a good many dealers
in this great industry of ours. For there
are some dealers, and we may say manu-
facturers, who fatuously expect to be " i n
the swim " without making an effort "be
cause times are getting better." And here
is where they make a huge mistake. Lack
of enterprise in advertising, lack of system
in conducting business are two unsur-
mountable obstacles to success.
This is what Mr. Jones says: "Prosper-
ity seems to have been delayed on the
way, but is now surely heading in this
direction. Every merchant can help
on this prosperity if he only makes up his
mind to do it. If you are going to sit still
and wait until prosperity, like the tide of
the sea, lifts you off your feet and carries
you along with it, we are afraid you will
still be waiting next spring. If you want
your business to improve this fall you will
have to get down and hustle for it. Now
is the time to begin. Begin at your front
door, and go straight through the house
and take an inventory of yourself and
everybody and everything in it. Throw
out all things which seem to be in the way
of success. Push and enterprise on your
part are going to have more to do with
your success than anything else. If you
have been doing business in a slipshod
way, waiting for something to turn up, it
is high time you stopped it. Settle down
to business in earnest and prosperity will
begin in your store very soon."
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At last the secret is revealed of how the
scions of some of Great Britain's noble
houses are enabled to make such a great
splurge at wedding festivities and other
ceremonials, that is, if the following which
we clip from a London publication can be
vouched for:
"If we may believe • The Rocket,' and we
don't see why we shouldn't, the grand
pianos which figure in the lists of wedding
presents in the papers are often not pre-
sents at all but are simply hired for the
occasion. The manager of a concern which
makes the letting on hire of wedding
presents a specialty, said to our contem-
porary's representative:— 'We supply
many fashionable folk with wedding pre-
sents on hire. Dwellers in the West-End,
inmates of big Mayfair houses with big
rents, frequently seek our assistance. You
see there is always a desire to make a
greater show than could be done with
legitimate presents. Besides, you know
very well that the custom prevails among
a certain section of feminine society papers
of printing a detailed list of presents, and
it is but natural that a newly-married
couple should desire to cut as good a figure
as they possibly can. Hence another ex-
cellent reason for availing themselves of
our services. Why, this very day a gentle-
man called here and made a selection of
things for a scion of a noble house who is
shortly to be married, and whose affairs he
is managing.' As to thenamesof the donors,
the manager explained, that was easily ar-
ranged, most men about to be married
being able to find a few friends willing to
be credited with having made handsome
presents to the bridal couple."
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The most costly leather now in the mar-
ket is known to the trade as "piano
leather," says the Washington Star. Amer-
ican tanners years ago discovered the
secret of making Russia leather, with its
peculiarly pungent and lasting odor, but
the secret of making piano leather is known
only to a family of tanners in Thuringia,
Germany. This leather has but one use—
the covering of piano keys. A peculiar
thing about it is that the skins from which
it is tanned are prepared almost entirely
in America. It is a particular kind of
buckskin. The skin of the common red
or Virginia deer will not make the leather;
a species of the animal known as the
gray deer, and found only in the vicinity
of the great northern lakes, alone furnish-
ing the material. The German tanners
have an agency in the West, which col-
lects the skins of this deer from the Indians
and the half-breed hunters, who supply the
market. When the skins are returned to
this country as piano leather they cost the
piano manufacturers from $15 to $18 a
pound. The world's supply of this invalu-
able and necessary material is supplied by
the Kutschman family of tanners, who
have six establishments in Germany, the
largest in Thuringia.
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A metal organ-pipe maker and voicer of
London has manufactured machines for
producing organ pipes entirely of zinc.
He claims there is a saving in material, an-
nealing is avoided, and metal tuners can be
dispensed with. Also, that there is an im-
provement in tone, owing to the rigidity
of the pipes, and that the process of manu-
facturing occupies much less time.
The Thompson Music Co. of Chicago
are handling the Kroeger piano in that city.
During the recent visit of Secretary T. M.
La Couch of the Kroeger Co. quite an
important order was placed by Mr.
Thompson.
Mr. Perkins, who has been indisposed
for some days, is at his desk again in the
^Eolian warerooms. He declares himself
to be as well as ever.
Arnold Somlyo, salesman for the Hal-
let & Davis Co., has opened a temporary
salesroom in Aurora, 111.