Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
V O L . XXJX. N o . 7.
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 3 East Fourteenth Street. New York, August 12,1899.
. . . . BY T H E I N L A N D
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DASHES HERE AND THERE
IN THE WESTERN METROPOLIS RETAIL
EXCELLENT PEN POINTS OF VIEW.
[Special to The Review.]
Chicago, 111., Aug. 9, 1899.
Strange to relate there are no more enor-
mous Kimball purchases of real estate to
chronicle th.is week, and as far as I am
abie to ascertain there have been no further
consultations with the Kimball architects
relative to the further addition of two or
three acres of floor space.
Few of the Eastern manufacturers have
a comprehensive idea of the magnitude of
the Kimball business—of its enormous
manufacturing plant, and its phenomenal
distributing facilities. I tell you it gives
one a liberal education in the piano busi-
ness to visit the Kimball factory and take
a stroll through the Kimball down-town
offices. I question whether there is an in-
stitution in the world that transacts such
an enormous volume of business annually
with as little friction. Every department
is so well systematized that it moves noise-
lessly along.- Perfect system prevails
everywhere.
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Yes, we have a fire sale on. You know
Chicago would not be Chicago without its
Platt Gibbs and its fire sales. Henry
Detmer is now advertising a fire sale.
I understand that Mr. Detmer has made
a satisfactory adjustment of his affairs
with the insurance companies. Henry
Detmer is an energetic member of the
trade, and he is not at all discouraged
because his piano manufacturing business
was ruined by fire so near its beginning.
He has a magnificent trade in musical in-
struments. He has an active corps of men
on the road throughout the country.
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I heard to-day that young Wamelink of
Cleveland, who was stabbed by a bicyclist,
is much better, and it is thought extreme-
ly likely that he will recover. Possibly
you may have later news.
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I understand that the stencil brochure
issued by the Manufacturers' Association
has created considerable comment here in
Chicago. There are many who believe
that the organization has taken the right
position in this matter to draw out opin^
ions. But what percentage of the entire
TRADE IN CHICAGO
IS
number who have received letters will re-
ply? There is the rub, and I think The
Review was right when it said that a
healthy sentiment against the stencil was
necessary to subdue it.
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A number of well-known members of
the trade are scattered about the country
enjoying vacation days. Chas. N. Post is
down to Mississippi. H. M. Cable is near
his old home in Delaware County, N. Y.
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Clayton F. Summy has returned from his
Eastern trip and is enthusiastic over the
Chickering product. Mr. Summy, as you
know, is a man who is not prone to indulge
in heroics, but what he says he always
means. He is a decidedly warm advocate
of Chickering merits.
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John W. Northrop has returned from his
sojourn in Wyoming, and I am pleased to
state is much improved in health.
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Secretary Van Matre,. of the Smith &
Barnes Piano Co., is one of the hardest
workers in the trade. He is enjoying a
few days' respite from business.
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The Chicago Cottage Organ Co. are do-
ing a surprising business for these summer
days. President Fayette S. Cable has
managed the affairs of this company with
a master hand since the demise of his es-
teemed brother. A great corporation is
the C. C. O. C.
The work on the new Cable building is
proceeding rapidly, and it will be a superb
structure when completed.
!
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fc.oo PER YEAR.
SINGLE COPIES 10 CENTS.
And when you come to think of it the
music trade of Chicago is composed of
wonderful men. Take Mr. Steger. See
what he has accomplished during the past
few years. He is a man of pluck and en-
ergy and has a determination to accom-
plish whatever he sets about. He is one
of the hardest workers of the industry, and
one of the most successful, as the steady
increase of his plant at Steger, 111., proves.
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We may run the entire gamut of the
trade in Chicago and we will find it made
up of men who are hustlers. The name
is not inappropriate when referring to
Chicago piano men.
There is C. A. Smith, of Smith & Barnes;
where will you,find a more logical thinker,
a man who has definite ideas and has car-
ried them to successful issue? Mr. Smith
is one of the best organizers in the indus-
try, and see the enormous business which
he has developed in such a short space of
time, for it was only a few years ago, less
than a decade when the business of C. A.
Smith was an infant compared with the
enterprise which he controls to-day.
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And so I could go on and mention every
member of the industry in Chicago, and
when we put his characteristics under an
analytical microscope we find that there is
a wonderful accumulation of energy and
brains embodied in them.
Take the Cable family. What a family of
workers, of thinkers, of organizers. When
you come to think over the phenomenal
development of the industry in the West,
you find that it did not develop without
plenty of energy, brains and muscle be-
hind it. The factors which have contri-
buted to this growth are wonderful, and a
composite picture of them would make an
interesting study.
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Geo. P. Bent, one of the most active and
virile members of the industry, is always
doing some clever work to further acquaint
the public with the merits of the "Crown."
I question whether there is a manufacturer
in the entire industry who has displayed
more force or originality in his methods
than Mr. Bent. When 1 consider the al-
most phenomenal advance that he has made
during the past few years, and the promi-
nence which his wares have to-day in all
parts of the country] I am frank to say
that Mr. Bent is a wonderful man.
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Retail trade has been surprisingly good
during the past ten days. When I say
that I do not mean that there has been a
holiday rush, or that Wabash avenue has
been thronged with piano purchasers, but
there has been an excellent volume of busi-
ness transacted when we consider that it is
the heart of vacation season, and a few
piano purchasers are supposed to be loiter-
ing about exposing themselves during the
heated term to the persuasive arguments of
the piano salsemen,