Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Some men in this trade speak, of it as an
expense and some even as a loss.
This is not regarding it in its proper
light. Advertising is nothing more or
less than an investment, and thousands of
firms manage it so that it brings them
royal returns.
to put in a small amount of overtime on
that day. This sort of thing is conspicu-
ous by its absence in the wholesale dry
goods houses in this country, in fact one
well-known retail house now announces
that it will close all day Saturday during
the summer.
SHORTER HOURS.
f_TOW the closing hours have changed in
New York during the past few years.
In 1888, and for three years thereafter The
Review regularly circulated for the signa-
tures of the members of the local trade a
document which was an agreement to close
piano warerooms during the months of July
and August at one o'clock on Saturday. It
has now become almost universal to close at
twelve, and there is hardly a piano ware-
room in our city which is not closed, and
the curtains drawn promptly at noon.
Then, too, during the summer week days
nearly all the warerooms close at five
o'clock.
This is as it should be. There is no
trade lost, and the recreation which is af-
forded by the early closing hours gives to
both proprietor and attache, renewed vigor
for the working hours.
Without doubt the shortening of the
business hours in this country is of incal-
culable benefit to the people in that it re-
laxes the business attention and affords an
opportunity for indulging in athletic
sports and outdoor exercises, thereby mak-
ing the race stronger physically and men-
tally as well, for the mental part is always
in too close harmony with the physical not
to be immediately affected by deterioration
in the former.
The Americans are generally regarded
in Europe as a nation of hustlers and are
supposed to devote all of their energies in the
pursuit of the elusive dollar, and devote
little or no time to recreation.
As a matter of fact if we look into the
the question closely we will find that the
hours of labor in Europe in most lines of
business are very much longer and the
work more arduous than is the case in
this country. Contrast for example, the
condition of the junior employees of the
wholesale drygoods houses of New York,
Boston and Philadelphia with those of
London. Attention to the conditions pre-
vailing in the wholesale houses of England
has just been called by a strike.
It appears that these men are compelled
to work every night from two to six hours
overtime without extra pay, 9.30 appearing
to be most often the hour at which their
work is completed, while nominally these
London houses close for half holiday on
Saturday, they actually compel their men
SAVE MONEY.
pvEALERS who visit New York from
the South and Southwest and east
of the Mississippi, can secure, through the
Merchants' Association of New York, sub-
stantial reduction in railroad fares. This
organization has done much to stimulate
New York trade, and it intends to spare
no effort or expense to make this summer
and fall trade the largest ever experienced
in New York. It has arranged, or is
now negotiating with the Southern Pacific
Railway Co. and the Mallory line of steam-
ers from Galveston, and other railways
which cover nearly all of that section of
the country which lies east of the Missis-
sippi.
Merchants can easily avail themselves of
these concessions. A full explanation is
given in another part of The Review un-
der the caption of " T o Visiting Dealers."
THE ANTIQUE.
T H E R E is in the furniture world to-day
a strong demand for the antique, and
there is a probability that this may cause
somewhat of a revolution in piano case
architecture. The demands for antique
furniture have become so strong that
Europe is becoming scoured for the choicest
and most beautiful examples of antique
furniture to satisfy the demands of Amer-
icans. The call has been so large that
our factories have been turning out imita-
tions of carved furniture of the periods of
Louis XIV, XV and XVI. The business
of reproduction of antiques to-day is an
important one in the furniture world, and
these imitations are so cleverly constructed
as to defy an expert.
The growing demand for the antique
must be felt more largely in the piano world.
RECEIVERSHIPS.
Y\7HAT a difference in receivers! There
was Colonel Treacy who accepted
the receivership of the Braumuller busi-
ness and went to work with intelligence
and vim in the interests of the creditors
and distributed among them nearly thirty-
six cents on the dollar of the corporation's
indebtedness. It was rated as a bad fail-
ure, and much of the stock had to be made
up and a market found for it.
In contrast: the Haines failure which oc-
curred more than a year ago and John A.
Jarvis was appointed receiver. There was
an auction sale on the 24th of August of the
entire factory assets. In other words, the
whole thing was cleaned out for $11,594.-
15. This Mr. Jarvis received in a lump
sum, and he has not as yet distributed one
farthing of the proceeds of that sale among
the creditors. It is true that there were
some dealers'accounts unsettled, but at one
stroke Mr. Jarvis relieved himself of all
worry incident to completing and selling
stock, and it would seem as if a portion at
least of the money received could have
been pro-rated among the creditors.
There is a difference in receivers, you
know. Some of the Haines Bros, creditors
are naturally much interested in the dis-
tribution of the proceeds of that corpora-
tion. They have been figuring just what
percentage will be eaten up in expenses.
At the time of the failure it was estimated
by a number who went carefully over the
assets of the corporation that Haines Bros,
could pay fifty cents on the dollar.
T H E editor of The Review finds it a
physical impossibility to reply person-
ally to all of the kindly messages sent upon
The Review gaining its twentieth birth-
day. It is certainly gratifying to know
that our work is so widely appreciated, and
it furnishes renewed inspiration to cut a
few more notches in the stick before the
chapter is closed.
T H E dealers of this country are now be-
ginning to realize that in the near
future they must pay more for their in-
struments; as intelligent, sound reasoning
men they know that the enormous rise in
materials of almost every kind means a
marked advance in the cost of the finished
instrument to the manufacturer. Then, too,
there is the labor item to be considered,
which is an important one.
present indications the twenty-
first year of The Review will be a
banner one. If the special advertising
demands upon the paper continue, we will
shortly be called upon to increase the size.
We are now producing from thirty-six to
forty-eight pages weekly—a fact in itself
which shows more eloquently than words
the important position of this newspaper
institution.
\ 1 7 H E N we consider that there is nearly
$100,000,000 more money in circula-
tion in this country to-day than there was
a year ago, it is not surprising that the
piano business has materially improved.
Yet despite this enormous increase in cap-
ital there is not enough money in the coun-
try to supply the demand made on account
of new enterprises under development.