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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
.
. . A MILLION DOLLAR DEAL! . . .
Peculiar Piano Suit.
PLAINTIFF'S HOUSE
COLOSSAL CAPITAL PLACED IN THE CHICAGO COTTAGE ORGAN CO.—ONE OF THE NOTED
BUSINESS MEN OF THE WEST INVESTS A COLD MILLION IN THAT CONCERN.
This is from the Chicago Chronicle of Dec. 12:—Frank H. Peavey, the Minneapolis
grain man, has purchased a controlling interest in the Chicago Cottage Organ Company.
The vendor is the estate of the late H. D. Cable. The Chicago Cottage Organ Com-
pany is capitalized at $2,000,000, $1,000,000 of which is 6 per cent, preferred stock and
$1,000,000 common stock. Mr. Peavey secures a majority each of the preferred and
common stock. The price paid for the stock is $1,000,000. The property is a success-
ful one and pays 6 per cent, on the preferred stock, though no disbursement has as yet
been made on the common shares. Mr. Peavey is well known in Chicago, being the
owner of the grain elevator at South Chicago which bears his name.
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The above event marks a new era in musico-industrial affairs in that it is the
inceptive move of vast capital being introduced by outside parties in the music trade
industry. Frank H. Peavey is one of the foremost business men of the Central West,
himself being at the head of the Peavey elevator system which drains a vast amount of
territory on the principal railway systems of the West. It is understood that he pro"
poses to give personal attention to the piano business, believing with his enormous
capital that the trade and influence of the Chicago Cottage Organ Co. can be augmented
to colossal proportions.
That he is a man of vitalizing energy is best demonstrated by the success which he
has achieved in the business world. His friends rate him as a perfect dynamo of
energy, yet tempered sufficiently with conservatism to always weigh carefully the pos-
sibilities of an enterprise before entering.
There will undoubtedly be no change in the directorate of the company. Fayette
S. Cable will maintain the presidency of the corporation, a position where he has given
evidence of the possession of rare ability and executive skill.
Million dollar deals, while common with the steel and iron industries, are somewhat
of a rarity in the music trade, and the one which we have chronicled will be viewed in
every part of the country with the deepest interest.
The Packard in the East.
general, wages good—not only that, but
the first of the year will see a wage in-
The celebrated Packard piano continues crease of ten per cent, to 200,000 em-
to augment its conquests in the East. The ployees. This agreeable condition of
Virgil Piano School, under the directorship things furnishes the key to the increased
of Mrs. A. K. Virgil, in this city, which demand for pianos, and gives every assur-
has been using five Packard uprights for ance of a continuation of busy days in the
the past eighteen months, this week gave industry right through the new year. The
Mr. Lane, the Packard Co. 's eastern trav- working people are not only making
eling representative, an order for several money, but saving money, and part of this
more. Mrs. Virgil has expressed herself spare cash is finding its way into the piano
in the most enthusiastic and commendatory field.
terms regarding the musical merits of these
Tacoma, Wash., News.
instruments. She is using them in good
[Special to The Review.]
company, viz: in conjunction with a Stein-
Tacoma, Wash., Dec. 9, 1899.
way grand, and finds them agreeable com-
The D. S. Johnson piano store which
panions.
Mr. Lane has been most successful re- was recently damaged by fire, is out of
cently in placing the Packard agency with the hands of the decorators, carpenters
quite a number of " l i v e " dealers in the and plasterers. There were two car loads
New England States, who speak very of new pianos and organs in the basement
flatteringly of the first shipment of Pack- store uninjured, and on the way from fac-
tories is a car of Chickerings, two cars of
ards received.
Jacob
Doll and two cars of Milton pianos.
It is the best compliment to the merits of
By
the
14th more new pianos will be here.
the Packard pianos that they are finding
an abiding place in the affections of the
dealers and purchasing public in the East. The HcArthur Silver Wedding.
The silver wedding anniversary of Mr.
and
Mrs. F. E. McArthur, which was cele-
Why we are Prosperous.
brated at their home in Knoxville, Tenn.,
It is stated that Pennsylvania's indus- on the evening of Dec. 8, brought together
tries are using 300,000 more persons than more than two hundred guests comprising
they did at this time a year ago. While some of the leading people of the city.
the percentage of increase in employment The presents in gold and silver were num-
of labor is not as large in other States as in erous. Among the interesting messages
Pennsylvania, yet in the cotton and wool- of congratulation received was one from
len mill sections any manor woman willing Admiral and Mrs. Dewey accompanied by
to work need not be idle. Employment is their card.
WAS
NOT BUILT
TO AC-
COMMODATE PIANOS.
[Special to The Review.]
Providence, R. I., Dec. 12, 1899.
When Helen Slavin bought a piano
from Goff & Darling she had failed to
measure the doors and windows of her
house, and because of that failure it was
impossible to deliver the piano. The
piano was sent up to the house, but it
wouldn't go in the door. Then the win-
dows were taken out, but the size of the
opening still lacked a few inches of admit-
ting the piano.
It was decided that the only thing that
could be done was to remove the window
frame. The piano dealers were not will-
ing to bear the expense of this. Neither
was the purchaser of the piano. The re-
sult was that the instrument was trotted
back to the piano rooms, and there it
remains.
This might have been the end of the
trouble had it not been that the purchaser
paid $10 down at the time of buying.
She was refused the return of this money
and sued Goff & Darling for it. The case
was tried yesterday before Judge Rueckert
in Sixth District Court, and Goff and Dar-
ling offered as their defence that the sale
had been made and that the piano was
ready for delivery. Decision was for the
defendants for costs by non-suit.
Wessell, Nickel & Gross.
The great factory of Wessell, Nickel &
Gross, Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth streets,
and Tenth avenue, this city, is teeming
with business life and activity. The de-
mand for this famous product compels the
running of the great plant to its fullest
capacity, and even then the company have
not been able to keep pace with their or-
ders.
Adam Nickel who has been the mechani-
cal expert of the Wessell, Nickel & Gross
house since its establishment, has demon-
strated by the files at the Patent Office at
Washington that he is an inventor of
marked ability. He is never satisfied with
the present, but is always striving for
further accomplishments which shall sim-
plify and perfect the modern pianoforte
action. Mr. Nickel, too, has given evi-
dence of the possession of business ability
of a high order, for he has practically been
at the head of not only the mechanical but
business department of this great estab-
lishment for a long period and under his
management new customers have been
steadily added to his list and the business
gradually broadened and extended.
Bush, the Versatile.
Will L. Bush, the ever versatile, dropped
in to have a chat last week. His portrayal
of his experiences during the protracted
strike at his factory makes very entertain-
ing matter. Mr. Bush knows all about it.
He has had his experience and says it has
cost him a cool twenty-five thousand with-
in a few weeks to learn it. Happily, he
says, he is free from the manufacturing
department.