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VOL. XXV.
N o . 5.
Published Every Saturday, at 3 East Fourteenth Street. New York, July 31,1897.
From the City by the Lake.
[Special to The Review.]
P. A. Starck, retail manager of Story &
Clark, said: "We have had more orders
for pianos and organs in the farming dis-
tricts during the last three months than we
had during the previous three years. The
farmers are paying cash, and our country
agents are sending in most encouraging
reports. During the hard times every-
thing was sold on time. Now there is a
brisk trade, not only in the country but in
the city, the demand for pianos in Chicago
being very much improved. Our country
agents are calculating on doing a big busi-
ness in the fall among the farmers owing
to the good crops. The demand for organs
among the farmers at the present time is
good harbinger of what will come."
C. H. MacDonald's connection with the
new Estey branch, although not unexpect-
ed to those on "the inside," has created
some talk.
Lyon & Healy had quite an invoice of
goods on board "LaTouraine," which failed
to arrive in port before the Tariff bill was
signed.
Louis Dederick is calling on the trade in
Missouri and Nebraska in the interest of the
Manufacturers' Co.
F. S. Cable, of the C. C. O. C, is in the
East, visiting his mother and sister.
The members of the music trade whose
business houses are located on Wabash
avenue are taking a lively interest in the
association formed for the purpose of im-
proving that thoroughfare.
George Grass has been touring the West
with considerable success in behalf of the
Steck wares. The latest production of the
house, style H, photographs of which Mr.
Grass has shown agents, has been much
admired.
Will L. Bush returned recently from a
highly satisfactory business tour. He re-
ports improving times, good orders and an
encouraging outlook all along the line.
Bush & Gerts are at work on a number of
new styles for the fall trade.
Lyon, Potter & Co. have made large
sales of Steinway pianos during the past
week.
J. K. M. Gill, who recently underwent an
operation in a local hospital, is fully recov-
ered and is again on the road.
Chicago, July 28, 1897.
The Times-Herald published a number
of interviews last Sunday, going to show
that the farmers are becoming more liberal
in their purchases now that things are
going their way. Referring to the music
trade it says: Organs are the last things
farmers buy, and they usually must have
money ahead before they decide to get a
little music in the house. During the last
three months, however, the pianoand organ
business among the farmers of the West
has picked up wonderfully, and manu-
facturers believe there will be a fall trade
which will equal the banner year of 1892.
In that year the organ business was at
its height. Cash was paid for every pur-
chase, and the farmers indulged in all the
luxuries the good times allowed them to
get. That the good times are coming
again is evidenced in the demand for
pianos and organs. The farmers are not
asking for long time. They are paying
cash with the orders. The trade is so brisk
that one Chicago firm is increasing its plant
at a cost of $107,000.
E. S. Con way, of the W. W. Kim ball Co.,
said: "Our business has been getting better
every month since the istof January. Our
trade is especially good among the farmers.
Many of our most active dealers are finding
their greatest increase in the agricultural
districts. In Nebraska we have done more
business during the last six months than
we were able to do in the previous twenty-
four. The trade in Kansas has greatly in-
creased. Mr. Seals, our agent from Bir-
mingham, Ala., was in to-day, and he said
that he would have to put several wagons
on the road, as his best trade was in the
agricultural districts.
"We have been turning out thirty pianos
and thirty organs a day, but notwithstand-
ing this we have found it necessary to in-
crease our plant at a cost of $107,000. At
present the orders have come in so thick
and fast that we are between 500 and 600
orders behind on organs. The cash receipts
are far in excess of our requirements, and
the increase in the business seems to be
universal. For the last three years cus-
tomers have been giving paper and asking
for long time. They are now asking for
the best cash discounts. Our business be-
Among the callers this week at the Wiss-
ing one of luxuries, we calculate from our ner warerooms, New York city, was
experience that the present impetus in George D. Meares, a well-known citizen of
trade will help us immensely. I do not
expect any boom, but I am thoroughly Raleigh, N. C. Mr. Meares is lessee and
convinced that the general commercial and manager of the Metropolitan Opera House
agricultural interests have struck the up in that city, also a music publisher and
grade."
dealer.
$3.00 PER YEAR.
SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS
Accused of Many Larcenies.
PROMINENT HOUSES IN THE MUSIC TRADE THE
VICTIMS.
Charles Gabler, Jr., twenty-three years
old, 318 West Forty-fourth street this city,
has been held in $1,000 bail on the charge
of swindling a number of musical firms.
Among the complainants were William
Pond & Co., the Meloharp Co., Alfred
Dolge & Son, and the American Auto-
harp Co. Gabler is an accomplished musi-
cian. He carried with him references,
purported to be signed by some rather
well-known New York men. According to
the complaint he bought on memorandum
some $2,700 worth of musical instruments,
which were found pawned at less than one-
fifth their value. On June 6 he called upon
Pond & Co., and on the strength of a letter
of recommendation signed with the name of
Alfred Dolge & Son, got five inlaid banjos,
valued at $125, which were found pawned
the next day. Complaints came to the
police about Gabler. While searching for
him Detective Sweet heard complaints
from little girls that their gold rings had
been stolen from them by a man whose
appearance was like that of the musician.
Gabler had sixty-eight pawn tickets in his
possession when arrested, and they not only
represented musical instruments, but also
gold rings. Besides all these suspicions,
the police think their prisoner robbed the
house of a Mrs. Brown, Forty-fourth street
and Eighth avenue, and the director of the
Volks Garden orchestra.
Looschen & Meinberg.
THE LATEST ADDITION TO THE LIST OF LOCAL
MANUFACTURERS.
Alfred Meinberg .recently connected with
the firm of Weber-Wheelock & Co., and
formerly with William Knabe & Co., has
formed a partnership with George Loo-
schen, a brother of J. J. Looschen, the pi-
ano case manufacturer, and formerly con-
nected with a manufacturing department
of the Weber factory, under the title "Loo-
schen & Meinberg."
The object of the firm will be the manu-
facture of first-class pianos, with factory,
warerooms and offices at the premises re-
cently occupied by Gildemeester & Kroeg-
er, 356-360 Second avenue. Active business
will begin in September, when Mr. Mein-
berg will start on the road in the interest of
the firm.