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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
an aider and an abettor of all that which
tends to the promotion of the good and the
dissemination of that which is of manifest
advantage to the industry. It should be a
leader in all that the word implies.
No, the functions of a trade paper do not
end with the mere publication of advertis-
ing and news matter. If all of us viewed
them in precisely that light then the entire
press woiild become as vacuously insipid
as are the papers of to-day which are noto-
rious for stale news and brainless reprints.
There is a distinct line of demarcation
between independent journalism and ser-
vile journalism, between honest journalism
and mercenary journalism, between pro-
gressive journalism and decadent journal-
ism, and that line cannot be too well em-
phasized and too clearly presented for the
intelligent discrimination of the members
of the industry. The trade p^per should
not be an automaton showing the news
and advertising side of the industry, but
it should, in the broadest sense, be a trade
forum.
\ 1 7 E have frequently commented upon
the dignified advertising of John
Wanamaker in connection with his piano
store. It has been of that character which
has been at once attractive and impressive.
Bloomingdale's, however, is of an entirely
different type. This concern is advertis-
ing the "Wilson" piano at $5.00 cash and
$1.00 per week on the piano club plan.
That Dolge Litigation.
(Special to The Review.)
Little Falls, N. Y., May 21, 1900.
The hearing before referee Hadley
Jones in the matter of Dolge claims booked
for Saturday has been adjourned for one
week on application of all of the attorneys.
At the next hearing the claim of Julius
Breckwoldt will come up for consideration,
and this claim is being most vigorously
fought on all sides. The claim of Receiver
Richardson, of the Daniel Green Co.,
amounting to over a half million dollars on
account of accommodation paper given to
Alfred Dolge & Son, has not yet been con-
sidered by the referee.
Hr. Dutton on the Road.
William Dalliba Dutton, with Hardman,
Peck & Co., will leave town next week on
business connected with the firm. He ex-
pects to visit Montreal during his ab-
sence. Mr. Dutton will be on the move
most of the time during the next month or
five weeks, returning occasionally to the
city for a few hours at intervals.
Henderson Arrives.
A cablegram has been received from J.
C. Henderson, manager of the Ann Arbor
Organ Co., that he arrived safely on Euro-
pean shores. Mr. Henderson is one of the
most energetic men of our city, says the
Ann Arbor Democrat, and if reports are
true will probably return with good orders.
Despicable flethods
Benefits of a Bankrupt Law.
USED BY SOME PARTIES IN THEIR EFFORTS TO
SELL PIANOS—THOS. LA M. COUCH ILLUS-
TRATES A CASE IN POINT.
A national bankruptcy system based on
honest lines is indispensable to prevent the
unjust discrimination which is permitted
by some local laws against citizens of other
States. In Illinois and some other States
the law protects resident creditors in their
attempts to reach property or funds of a
non-resident debtor even after the making
of an assignment for the equal benefit of
all creditors valid in the State where it is
made. Such legislation can find no justi-
fication, except on the theory of reciprocal
devastation. State lines are obliterated
for the purposes of trade—why should
they be retained for the purpose of the in-
equitable enforcement of the law in cases
of commercial failure?
In the absence of a bankrupt law, trade
is hampered, not only by discriminating
laws, but by the conflict of numerous and
inconsistent State laws, acquaintance with
which is troublesome and expensive, and
which can be availed of only by the keen-
est activity and perpetual legal warfare,
and even then permitted preferences will
in some States defeat the most vigilant.
The fathers realized the necessity for
the concession to the Federal Government
of authority over this subject in order to
avoid the many wrongs and abuses which
have sprung up and nourished in the ab-
sence of the exercise by Congress of the
power conferred. Madison said in the
Federalist: " T h e power of establishing
uniform laws of bankruptcy is so intimate-
ly connected with the regulation of com-
merce and will prevent so many frauds
when the parties or their property may lie
or be removed into different States, that
the expediency seems not likely to be
drawn in question."
A bankrupt law is needed for the re-
pression of fraudulent and dishonest busi-
ness methods. There is nothing which op-
erates so powerfully upon designing rogues
as the certainty of prompt and exhaustive
investigation.
This the bankrupt law
affords as no other system does or can.
A bankrupt law diminishes losses. It
prevents the waste occasioned by the
scramble of creditors to realize each for
himself. Great concerns who are able to
support law departments and who are per-
petually on the watch to rush in upon the
first alarm and secure themselves at all
hazards, may believe that they are bene-
fited by the rough and tumble of legal
conflicts, but even they in the long run
fare in fact better when the property of a
debtor is protected for the common benefit.
The ordinary merchant who is without an
army of attorneys is ill prepared for war
and finds his safest protection in the shel-
ter of the bankrupt law.
Thos. La M. Couch, of the Kroeger Co.,
in the course of a talk with The Review at
the Kroeger factory on Wednesday, drew
attention to a letter just received from the
owner of a Kroeger piano, now resident in
Leipsic, Ohio. The writer of the letter
said in effect that he had moved to Leip-
sic from Chicago, at which latter place he
had purchased from the Kroeger represen-
tative a Kroeger piano, at a standard Kroe-
ger price, and was well pleased in every
respect, considering, and quite rightly, that
he had received excellent value.
The instrument was purchased on the
partial payment system, the dealer hold-
ing a lien on the instrument. When the
purchaser transferred his place of resi-
dence to Leipsic, the lien of course fol-
lowed him in the shape of a chattel mort-
gage and was duly recorded as such among
the official records of that town. A piano
dealer of Leipsic, in scanning the official
record of mortgages found the one in ques-
tion and thereupon called to see the holder
of the piano.
It is understood that the dealer ex-
pressed surprise at the price paid for
the piano and declared that he would
supply the holder of it with a Kroeger,
identical with the one in his possession
for a much lower figure. This led
to questioning which brought out the
real situation, but at the same time put
the holder of the original instrument in
an unpleasant frame of mind. "The deal-
er's object," said Mr. Couch, after reading
the letter, "was, evidently, to throw such
discredit on our piano as to lead the holder
of it to repudiate his contract 'for cause'
and then to make a sale of some other in-
strument in which he had a lively inter-
est. But the game didn't work because
the holder saw through it before any mis-
chief was done.
"Among small dealers of a certain class
this sort of thing is not at all uncommon,
more's the pity, but it is a dastardly piece
of business, and 'contemptible' is too mild
a word to use with reference to the conduct
of men who are guilty of it. The man
who said he could duplicate the instrument
for a much smaller sum never had the
agency for the Kroeger piano, and could
not have supplied a Kroeger piano at
any price. Hence his object was plainly
apparent. It is too bad that such men
cannot be content to earn an honest living
in a legitimate, straight-forward way.
They take much more pains to carry out
their pernicious, rascally schemes than
would be necessary to earn an honest living
twice over."
Weser Alterations.
Alterations and improvements are now
in progress at the factory of Weser Bros.
The offices are being re-fitted and en-
larged. Pressure of work in the several
factory departments will soon necessitate
the use of additional space.
Fred Lohr Sails.
Fred W. Lohr, Hardman Peck & Co. 's
traveling representative, left for Europe
on Tuesday, where he will spend a short
vacation.
I. L. Stickney is now manager of the
Estey warerooms at Athol, Mass., succeed-
ing A. E. Saxby.