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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Check Collection Charges.
NEW YORK STATE BANKERS EXPRESS THEIR
VIEWS ON THE SUBJECT.
The recently initiated system of charges
for the collection of out-of-town checks
formed the principal subject of discussion at
a meeting of Group VI. of the New York
State Bankers' Association, held in this city
last Saturday. It was apparent that the
country bankers were not in sympathy
with the new method of charging, but, as
one of the speakers expressed it, if the
country bankers cannot educate New York
bankers to the point of giving up their
new regulation the country bankers will
have to educate themselves to get fond
of it.
Some new points on the New York
bankers' side were presented by one speak-
er, who dwelt at some length on the
trouble which is caused by business men
who make checks which they have not the
money in the bank to meet, but for which
they hope to raise funds by the time the
check gets back in six, eight or ten days.
Three-fifths of the checks that come to
New York, according to this speaker, are
not good when they start and frequently
the country banker is asked to help such
customers out.
Another matter to which this speaker
called attention was the large money-order
business done by the post office and the
express companies, such orders costing
seven or eight cents apiece. More than
78,000,000 post-office money orders were
issued payable in New York in 1898, and
the express companies did nearly as much
business. Thus, said the speaker, while
your customer is pestering you with checks
that are not good, the man whose check is
good pays eight cents to the express com-
pany.
From all that can be learned, bankers in
this city are not disturbed by the reports
which have been in circulation to the effect
that business which would otherwise have
come to this city has been driven to Bos-
ton, Philadelphia and elsewhere by the
collection charge.
Wilcox & White Co.
This has been an active week at the
Wilcox & White warerooms. An Angelus
-Orchestral has been shipped this week to
Hon. Mr. Primrose, Queen Island, Aus-
tralia. Several special orders—one in white
and gold—have also been completed,
ready for shipment.
Knabe Opportunity.
The New York daily papers of yesterday
contained some excellent Knabe advertis-
ing, admirably placed, announcing " a n
exceptional opportunity sale" of slightly
used pianos.
This move has been rendered necessary
in order to prevent wareroom overcrowd-
ing as the contractors will soon commence
transforming the basement into a sales-
room of rare convenience and beauty.
No banjo of this time is known to be in
existence, but from descriptions handed
The United States Music Publishers' down they must have been very rude in-
Association held their annual meeting on struments. As the years passed improve-
Tuesday at the Broadway Central Hotel. ments were made. Throughout the South-
The meeting opened at 10 A. M., J. F. ern States of America banjos became as
Bowers, of Lyon & Healy, President of the plentiful as pickaninnies and negroes might
Association in the chair. The sessions be found on any plantation who could
were executive. A report of the proceed- "make the banjo talk."
ings is in course of preparation and will
About ten years afterward the banjo
appear in the next issue of The Review.
made its debut in London, where it was
enthusiastically received.
Men forgot
Ben. F. Owen the Host.
cares of business or State while listening
Last Sunday, Ben. F. Owen, manager to the tum-tum of the banjo. As the in-
of the piano department of Gimbel Bros., strument is now made, it is pretty enough
Philadelphia, entertained a party consist- to have a satin ribbon on it, and be sus-
ing of Ferdinard Mayer, William Knabe pended from the neck like a guitar.
In a clever performer's hands the banjo
and two friends from Baltimore with a
seems
capable of doing everything—bells
twenty-five mile drive through the suburbs
chime,
waters ripple, winds blow, birds
of Philadelphia, which was followed by a
sing
and
many other pleasant ideas are
dinner at the Hotel Lafayette. The en-
evoked;
but
it will never do for romance.
tire affair was informal and most enjoyable.
Its very name is against it; whether from
association or not, we cannot connect
Real Humor.
romance and the banjo. --Pearson's Weekly.
There must be a vein of humor hidden
somewhere in the Annex editor or he would
Business of To-Day.
not have issued a circular to the trade ask-
ing their opinion of the stencil which he
Commerce has become a far more com-
has claimed with bombastic insolence to plex affair in our time than it was ever be-
know all about for sixteen years.
fore, and can, less than ever before, be
successfully prosecuted upon any routine
or rule of thumb system. The conditions
To Sell Talking Machines.
of trade change from day to day. New
Among the companies granted certi- scientific discoveries, new financial com-
ficates of incorporation by the Secretary of plications, new political situations, enter
State at Albany, N. Y., on Thursday was more and more as factors into many
the Leeds & Catlin Company of New York branches of commerce. A man's mind
City, to manufacture and sell talking ma- needs now to have not only a watchful
chines; capital, $10,000. Directors, E. F. alertness in noting such changes, but a
Leeds, L. R. Catlin and James E. Thursby, capacity for appreciating the consequences
of Brooklyn; Louis C. Wegefuth, of New which a change may have upon matters which
York.
seem to lie out of the immediate sphere of
its influence. In short, since the problems
Chickering Publicity.
a business man has to deal with are now
more intricate and delicate than in older
Large attractive posters on each side of and simpler days, the business man needs
the entrance to Chickering Hall, call atten- always more and more to accustom himself
tion of the passers-by to "Chickering & to think about those problems, approach-
Sons wonderful improved scales, grand ing them from every side and not merely
and upright, artistic and unique styles, also adopting the view which he finds among
little used pianos, as good as new, on exhi- his friends, says a writer in the North
bition in the warerooms inside. " The an- American Review. He has to beware of
nouncements catch the eye of almost trusting to fixed ideas and positive rules.
everyone, and not a few visitors to the He must watch the commercial and politi-
warerooms during the past few days have cal sky as the captain of a sailing ship
been induced to examine, and in many watches the carry of the clouds and the
cases purchase, Chickering pianos through movement of the barometer and the fresh-
the instrumentality of this clever utiliza- ening of the wind and the direction of the
tion of idle space.
swell. And his observation must be a re-
flective observation leading him on to a
forecast. All this is obvious when one
Origin of the Banjo.
comes to think of it; and I dwell upon it
Over half a century ago, in the town of only because the old idea that business was
Banjoemas, on the island of Java, a negro an easier sort of occupation than the
native of the place, desiring an instrument learned profession, needing a less active
to accompany his voice, conceived the fol- intellect, still half survives in many quar-
lowing plan: Taking a cheese box and ters, and disposes men to underestimate
crossing it w T ith goat or sheepskin, he ran the worth for commercial life of a stimu-
a handle through it; then, using violin lative intellectual training.
strings, which were tuned to the first, third,
fifth and eighth notes of an octave, he
gave it the name of "banjo," from the
Comstock, Cheney & Co., of Ivoryton,
first two syllables in the name of his native Ct, are shipping ivory goods, to Flesheim
town.
Hess, Frankfort, Germany.
flusic Publishers in Convention.