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VOL.
XXVI.
No. 22.
$2.00 PER YEAHslyO,
SINGLE COPIES, io CE&T
Published Ever; Saturday at 3 East Fourteenth Street. New York, May 28,1898.
The Price-Cutting Evil.
John Feld Assigns.
The piano industry is not the only one
in which the price-cutting evil is a ques-
tion of paramount interest. The follow-
ing clipping, which we have taken from
the Dry Goods Economist, could be ap-
plied, with a few minor changes, to the
piano trade. The treatment of this mat-
ter and the conclusions arrived at are cor-
rect, and are in line with the sentiments
so often expressed by The Review. Here
is the excerpt:
" The merchant who has failed to keep
in the van of or in pace with his competi-
tors, and resorts to price cutting as a last
resort, commits mercantile hara-kiri. Price
cutting is a trade evil for which there is
rarely any excuse. Even if your rival
practices it there is no justification in sim-
ilar 'action on your part, merely to get
even. To indulge in it is to ' cut off one's
nose to spite one's face.' There is never any
profit in selling goods at a loss, regardless
of the fact that it may seem wise and jus-
tified by the exigencies of the occasion.
"One of the most pernicious things
about this practice is the effect it produces
upon the customer. If the merchant sells
a line of goods, say at 75 cents a yard,
when it is known that he and all the trade
as well have always sold the same thing at
$1.00 a yard, he has set a price which will
be looked for in the future. If, when the
occasion which he thought warranted his
action has passed, he tries to bolster up
t h e price to a legitimate level, he will find
t mighty difficult to get his customers to
EXECUTES A DEED OF TRUST FOR THE BEN-
EFIT OF HIS CREDITORS.
Pay i t
This isn't strange; it is perfectly nat-
ural.
The customer reasons that if the
merchant sold the goods at one time for 75
cents he can do so to-day. She knows that
he is in the business to make money, and
when he asserts that he sold the goods be-
low cost, she simply doesn't believe him,
and sooner than pay the old price she
makes her purchases elsewhere rather than
L s she looks upon it, be imposed upon."
Paul Behr, a well-known conductor and
vocal teacher died at his home in Indian-
apolis, Ind., May 19. Many of his pupils
have become widely known and famous,
notably Miss Margaret Reid, Miss Daisy
Lemon and Theodora Pfafflin, daughter of
Theodore Pfafflin, manager of the local
Weber-Wheelock warerooms.
Bank Against Receiver.
SUIT TO SET
ASIDE RECEIVERSHIP
DOLGE GASE.- -
IN THE
LSpecial to The Review.]
[Special to The Review.]
St. Louis, Mo., May 23, 1898.
John Feld, a piano dealer at 906 Pine
street, filed a deed of trust for $12,651.40
Saturday, to Edmund A. Rollman and
Hy. F. Kleykamp, trustees, for the Lafay-
ette Bank and thirty-seven other creditors.
The bank's claim, which is preferred first,
is $3,255.53. Sohmer & Co., come next for
$3,250.90. The trustees are given until
July 10th to pay the claims, after which
they are to dispose of the stock in bulk.
Previous to filing the deed of trust, Mr.
Feld placed on record a bill of sale to Hy.
F. Kleykamp, wherein he sold a number
of pianos at 906 Pine street, for $1,050.
Little Falls, N. Y., May 25, 1898.
Papers were served to-day in an action
began by the Garfield National Bank of
New York, against Alfred Dolge and A.
M. Mills, as receiver of the firm of Alfred
Dolge & Son, to set aside the receivership
on several grounds.
A temporary in-
junction has been granted by Justice
Stover, restraining the defendants from
disposing of any of the property. Judge
Hardin, of Little Falls, as trustee under
the $300,000 mortgage upon the Dolge
property, is enjoined from foreclosing it,
and is made a defendant in the suit. The
case will come up in New York on May
31st.
The Phonorium at the Garden.
The Moore Chapel, with its unique vacum
tube lighting, at the Electrical Exhibition
at Madison Square Garden, is a great source
of attraction to visitors. The magnificent
Estey Phonorium therein helps immeasur-
ably in this connection. The recitals given
in the chapel have been well attended. In
tonal quality and sonority the Phonorium
is virtually a pipe organ. It has amazed
those who have not heretofore examined
the instrument.
Favorable Commercial Reports.
The commercial agencies this week re-
port an excellent feeling prevailing in the
business world. The volume of trade
transacted in all industries is growing and
an increased willingness to regard the war
as merely an incident in the country's
business seems to be quite evident. The
volume of bank clearings, reports of rail-*
road earnings, the movement of prices and
the reports received from the iron and
steel trades, all seem to concur in indica-
ting a maximum volume of business for
the period of the year, with even greater
hopefulness manifested than for some time
past as to a continuance of favorable con-
ditions.
Henry B. Fischer, of J. & C. Fischer, is
expected back to-day from a Western trip,
which, we understand, has been most suc-
cessful, considering the times.
Strauch Bros.
At the Strauch factory this week, the
business report is encouraging. Asked to
state his views on trade conditions, Mr.
Albert T. Strauch said: "We are not in a
position to say tha-t our business is as good
as it might be, but it has been good enough,
so far, to justify the retention of our full
working force in every department.
"So long as this lasts, particularly,
under existing commercial conditions, we
have no right to find fault. We are evi-
dently getting our share, and are always
satisfied when such is the case."
Behr Bros. <& Co.
ONE OF THE MANY EXCELLENT FEATURES
WHICH MAKE THEIR PIANOS SO HIGHLY
ESTEEMED.
Numerous stringing devices have been
introduced by piano manufacturers during
the past few years. One of the best is the
Behr system, patented by the firm. In
this plan, the strings of one note are strung
to the right and those of the adjoining
note to the left.
Years of experience—the patent is nearly
nine years in use—have proved to the
firm's satisfaction that by this means the
strain exerted in one direction is neutral-
ized by an equal strain on the other.
This, it has been demonstrated, results in a
great improvement of the tone in the bass
register, rendering it round and sonorous,
and of a beautiful singing quality.