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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
the advance of prices becomes general, be-
cause as sensible men they realize that the
question of price is " up " to them. They
know that the pace started by the old and
distinguished house of Chickering must be
followed by others. In fact, to-day a num-
ber of others have already swung into
line.
No business institution can long evade a
vital question, and there can be no sound
reason why the prices of all pianos
will not be materially advanced within a
brief time. How can we expect it to be
otherwise when materials are steadily ap-
preciating, and there seems to be no limit to
the advance in sight? There is no stability
to prices. The schedules which are out are
all subject to immediate change, and the
change only shows a still higher advance.
The same condition of affairs prevails in
the labor world, and dealers know that
piano manufacturers are only following
correct business lines when they advance
prices on the finished product in conformity
with the advance made in material and
labor.
GAS FROM GENEVA.
A WAVE of trouble rolled across the
peaceful breast of the Annex editor
sojourning amid the Alpine beauties—a
great cloud of heavy gloom which obscured
the beautiful Swiss scenery—when the
stencil brochure, issued by the Piano Man-
ufacturers' Association, reached him. It
may be believed that the inky darkness
was only lightened after a while by the
lurid flashes of rage which illumined
the entire mountain side and caused the
sturdy burghers to ring in a fire alarm.
These lurid flashes became so frequent
that huge blocks of ice on the Matterhorn
miles away, melted, and with the aid of a
powerful glass could be seen to grow visi-
bly smaller, while tremendous crashes fol-
lowed.
To get right down to serious facts, all
the frothy ebullitions of temper, all the
lurid pronunciamentoes of the man who
once exercised considerable influence in this
trade amount to naught.
His measure
has been carefully taken, and a line of
bombastic and egotistic " I's " and " I's "
stretching from New York across the At-
lantic to the Paris Exposition could not
change the attitude of the men who have
once for all completely thrown off the in-
fluence of this individual who has been
completely dethroned.
No doubt the full realization of his
present position comes slowly and painfully
to him. His sluggish brain has not as yet
reached the position of a clear analysis of
his present environment. We believe that
at the present time he is not aware of the
fact that the ruling forces of this industry
realize, and have for some time, that there
is a material difference between the agita-
tion of the stencil question for private gain
and its impartial analysis for trade good.
They have concluded that the stencil
problem shall no longer be used as a club
by a base intriguer, but that its discussion
shall be on broad and impartial lines.
Small wonder when we consider how times
have changed that there should be exhibi-
tions of bad temper from Geneva.
Yes, there will be warm times, and we
welcome them. Let it be a fight to the
death. The principal opponent to the
honest elimination of the stencil seems to
have lost his head as well as his temper at
the beginning. He will realize later that
his personality, together with his rapidly
declining paper, cuts but little figure in
the industry, not enough even to mention
—at least so thought the compilers of the
stencil brochure—for a minute search
through the volume will not disclose men-
tion of his existence.
Such a slight brings infinite pain to a
vulgar and absurdly egotistic individual.
REVIEWLETS.
STRAW which will indicate that the
trade wind is blowing Chickering-
ward may be found in the fact of the
many seekers for Chickering territory,
formerly controlled by the Jesse French
Co. Leading dealers throughout that sec-
tion know the value which is attached to
the Chickering agency, and the activity
evidenced on their part to secure it shows
that they realize fully what prestige and
worth are embodied in the name of Chicker-
ing when placed upon a pianoforte.
A
. H. RUSSELL, president of the
American Bankers' Association, at the
fifth annual convention of the Association,
held in Cleveland, O., on Tuesday last, and
which was attended by fifteen hundred
bankers, made the following significant
statement in the course of his address:
"The business of the country is being
done on a cash basis. The annual and
semi-annual settling days of the older
States are not upon the calendar. The
jobber finds his profits within the discount
of the manufacturers, and the country
merchant has learned the lesson, buys
more carefully and pays cash, and so we
see business paper surely disappearing."
of a lifetime, and anyone who is not al-
ready a subscriber to The Review should
lose no time in perusing the offer made
in this issue. Not only dealers, but some
of the leading manufacturers of the trade
have forwarded their checks to The Re-
view office to secure the most interesting
souvenir of the times.
\17"HILE the approaching National Ex-
port Exposition in Philadelphia will
be artistic in its presentation and relieved
by many new attractions beside the con-
ventional amusements incidental to exposi-
tions, it has a definite plan and purpose
which distinguishes it above every exposi-
tion held in America, and will eclipse
everything of its kind ever presented by
any nation. It will appeal directly to the
self-interest of every manufacturer in the
United States and to every merchant in
foreign lands. David Harum observes
that the heart of man is much nearer the
trousers' pocket than the coat pocket, and,
that being so, there will be more heartfelt
interest in the great exhibit of exports,
and the bringing together from remote
corners of the earth of buyers and sellers,
than in any public undertaking the world
has ever seen.
'"THOSE opposed to the National Bank-
ruptcy law because they think that
under its provisions debtors of all kinds
can get discharges from former obligations
whether they deserve them or not, should
note the refusal of Referee Brown, of this
city, to grant a petition to the members of
a firm which failed in 1896 without apply-
ing the entire amount of their assets to
the payment of their liabilities.
This is the second in stance of a petition in
bankruptcy having been refused under the
new law, and there is not the slightest
reasQn to doubt that such refusals will be
frequent as time goes on and the courts
are called upon to deal with new cases.
It stands to reason that in the case of
failures which occurred several years ago
considerable difficulty is experienced in
tracing out the record of the petitioners,
and only in the most flagrant cases can the
petition be refused. These conditions will
entirely pass away when all the old cases
have been finally settled.
A DVICES from Albany say that the forth -
coming quarterly bulletin of the New
York State Labor Bureau will make the best
'T'HE premium offer made last week by showing from the standpoint of the em-
The Review has received such a hearty ployment of labor ever issued by the De-
greeting at the hands of the trade that it partment. The percentage of unemployed
now appears only a short time will have labor in the State of New York is less than
elapsed ere the present stock of premiums 1 per cent., and in many trades no unem-
will have become exhausted. It is the chance ployed are reported.