Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1901 Vol. 32 N. 26

Page 9 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
U
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
because the piano trust idea is not receiving
its support from the men whose interests are
involved, but simply from those who desire
rich pickings from the industry and which
once secured they can toss the trade remorse-
lessly aside like a sucked orange.
Beware of the kiss of the trade Judas!
TT HAT section of the'trade press that has
dishonestly attempted to distort a suit
overadisputed bill intoa total annihilation for
one of the trade papers is most contemptible,
and demonstrates more clearly than any
power of argument to what absurdly ridicu-
lous depths a paper may descend in order to
prejudice its constituency against a contem-
porary. The publicity of this matter, even if
true, would not be creditable to the fairness
of the trade press, but when libelously dis-
torted it at once becomes offensive to all fair-
minded men.
ARRESTED ON A SERIOUS CHARGE.
[Special to The Review.]
Indianapolis, Ind., June 24, 1901.
A dispatch from Frankfort, Ind., says that
John H. Tilton, of Indianapolis, has been
arrested and placed in jail there on the
charge of forgery. He denies the charge,
but is unable to give the police satisfactory
explanation in regard to certain spurious
checks which he has passed. He waived
preliminary hearing.
Tilton went to Frankfort last Monday,
bearing credentials as a representative of the
Joiner-Kennedy Music Co., of Indianapolis.
He engaged room and board at William
Burns' European Hotel. In a day or two
he ran out of money and borrowed $10 from
Mr. Burns, giving as security a check for
$37:50. The check was drawn on the La-
fayette State Bank and was signed "Bus-
kirk & Co." Mr. Burns became suspicious
and took the check to the First National
Bank here, which inquired of Lafayette and
found that there was no such firm in La-
fayette as Buskirk & Co.
In the meantime Tilton had borrowed $5
of Valentine Burns, a saloon keeper, and
gave as security a check for $100. The check
was made payable to John H. Tilton, and
was drawn on the American National Bank,
of Indianapolis. It was signed by the Joiner-
Kennedy Music Co. Mr. Burns took this
check to the First National Bank here and
cashed it, placing the $95 in his safe for
Tilton, after deducting the $5 he had loaned
him. The local bank sent the check to
Indianapolis and yesterday it was returned
with the information that the Joiner-Ken-
nedy Co. had pronounced it a forgery. This
information was received about the same
time that word was received from Lafayette
and the police were at once notified. Tilton
was soon found and arrested. He put on
a bold front, but told conflicting stories.
He is married and claims to live at 415 North
Alabama street.
Robert Proddow, of the Estey Piano Co.,
made a brief trip this week in the firm's in-
terests.
DELAY IN BUILDING ANNOYING.
KRELL IN SPRINGFIELD.
[Special to The Review.]
[Special to The Review.]
Baltimore, Md., June 25, 1901.
Geo. W. Sanders, who represents Chas.
W. Segrave and Stephen P. Harwood, own-
ers of the building on East Baltimore street
occupied by Messrs. William Knabe & Co.,
the well-known piano manufacturers, said
yesterday that he was much disappointed
at the set-back given his clients by the Hunt
injunction, who contemplated erecting a new
structure on the site of the present building.
Mr. Sanders said it was hoped that work on
the new building would have been begun
several weeks ago, but it would now have
to be postponed for a little time until the
court had disposed of the matter. The case
has been set for a hearing on Sept. 26th,
but the owners of the property do not en-
tertain the opinion that the injunction will
be maintained, and the improvements will
ultimately be made notwithstanding the pro-
test on the part of Mr. Hunt.
Springfield, O., June 26, 1901.
Albert Krell, piano manufacturer, of Cin-
cinnati, has conferred with the Board of
Trade concerning the organization of a com-
pany here, with a capital of $250,000, to
manufacture instruments. He offers to take
$50,000 in stock.
DEATH OF J. L. CARTWRIGHT.
[Special to The Review.]
Boston, Mass., June 27, 1901.
The funeral of the late John L. Cart-
wright, who was manager of the Maiden
pianoforte warerooms, and one of the best-
liked and most popular young business men
in the community, was held yesterday morn-
ing from his house, 11 Irving street, Mai-
den.
It was attended by a large number of
friends of the family. Mr. Cartwright died
after an illness of eight days. He leaves
a wife and two children.
JOHN L STIEFF CRITICALLY ILL
[Special to The Review.]
Baltimore, Md., June 25, 1901.
John L. Stieff, who was one of the origin-
al members of the firm which has been in
the piano business in Baltimore for over a
half century, is very ill at the home of his
son, Mr. Charles C. Stieff, 722 West Fay-
ette street. Mr. Stieff is vice-president of
the Maryland Society of California Pioneers,
or Forty-niners. The society will not hold
its annual reunion this year, owing to the ill-
ness of Mr. Stieff.
Mr. Stieff has been suffering from a com-
plication of diseases, the principal of which
is stomach trouble, for some time, and during
the last two weeks has been confined to his
room. His death is now momentarily ex-
pected.
Mr. Stieff went to the Pacific Coast in
1848, but returned in 1853, and took charge
of the piano business of his father, who was
then engaged in buying" and selling pianos,
and who was established at 7 North Eutaw
street. In 1856 Mr. John L. Stieff associa-
ted with his brother, Mr. Charles Stieff, and
began the manufacture of pianos at 9 North
Sharp street, starting, as Mr. Stieff himself
expresses it, "with six."
From this the present business has grown.
In 1876 he retired from active business, and
the business of the firm has since been con-
ducted by Messrs. Charles and Frederick
P. Stieff, the firm's name never having been
changed.
SULLIVAN ASTTlSMNVENTOR.
Here is an amusing anecdote in which
the late Sir Arthur Sullivan figures:
One of Stainer's boy friends in London
was Arthur Sullivan, two years his junior,
and a chorister of the Chapel Royal. The
two young gentlemen used to spend their
half-holidays in trips together on the steam-
boats on the Thames, their enjoyment of
those penny voyages being considerably en-
hanced by a copious consumption of nuts
and oranges.
Sullivan visited Stainer at
Tenbury, at a time when Ouseley was erect-
ing a large organ in the chapel, and indulg-
ing in all sorts of experiments—pipes, tu-
bular actions, etc. Stainer and Sullivan
conceived the idea that gutta-percha would
make cheap and resonant organ pipes. Gut-
ta-percha was scarce at Tenbury, and the
young innovators' financial resources were
limited; but, nothing daunted, they procured
a few old gutta-percha soles and set to work
with ardent enthusiasm, to carry out their
designs. The process, however, appealed
so strongly, not to say disagreeably, to Sir
Frederick's olfactory nerves, that he at once
stopped further operations, for obvious rea-
sons. Sullivan always declared that there
was a bit of jealousy on Ouseley's part in
stopping the development of that important
invention.
STRIKER ARRESTED FOR ASSAULT.
[Special to The Review.]
Baltimore, Md., June 26, 1901.
Harry McGee and Peter Kyne, two of the
striking varnishers and polishers who were
''locked out" at the Knabe piano works more
than a month ago, were yesterday morning
arrested on a warrant issued by Justice
Fowler, of the Southern Police Station,
charged by Christian Christian with disturb-
ing the peace at the corner of York and
Hamburg streets, on Saturday evening last.
When taken before the Justice the accused
men prayed a jury trial, and they were held
in the sum of $250 bail each for court.
Christian, who caused the arrest, declares
that the men called him names and threat-
ened him when he was on his way home
from work at the factory, for the reason that
he is one of four men who left the ranks ot
the strikers and returned to work in the
Knabe factory some weeks ago.
C. B. Lawson, vice-president of the Weber-
Wheelock Co., and Mr. Schnabel, of the fac-
tory, have returned from a short Western
trip.
EXPERFTUNER
desires position as expert piano tuner in
factory. Seven years outside experience.
References furnished. Address,
RAY L. VAN CAJ1P,
2 Sherman St.,
Auburn. N. Y.

Page 10 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
12
THE DEALERS ASSOCIATION.
A Local Organization For New York Names of
the Officers of This National Organization.
Already booklets of convenient size have
been issued containing the constitution and
by-laws of the National Association of piano
dealers. The issuance of this matter only a
little over a month since the first meeting
shows that a spirit of enterprise is being
manifested by the men who have this matter
in charge.
The executive board have exhibited good
taste in not entering into any long-winded
declaration of the object of the Association.
The only reference made to this is the fol-
lowing :
The object of this Association shall be
the mutual elevation of trade interests.
This constitution may be altered or amend-
ed by a two-thirds vote of the^ members of
the Association present at any stated or
special meeting in the call for which twenty
days' notice shall have been given of a pro-
posed amendment or alteration of the consti-
tution, or by the written consent of two-
thirds of the members at any time and twen-
ty days' notice having been given.
ARTICLE
II.
The election of officers shall take place
each year at the annual meeting to be held
at such time and place as may be agreed
upon and shall immediately precede the an-
nual meeting. The President, Vice-Presi-
dents, Secretary and Treasurer shall be re-
spectively elected and the members of the
Executive Committee and Nominating Com-
mittee shall be elected on respectively com-
mon ballots and all shall hold office until the
adjournment of the regular annual meeting
of the following year and until their suc-
cessors are elected and have qualified.
Next week the dealers of New York and
Brooklyn propose to hold a meeting at Man-
hattan Beach at which time they will or-
ganize a local Association.
To help the
move along a dinner will be given at 6.30
on July 2nd at the Manhattan Beach Hotel.
Invitations have been extended to members
of the trade to be present.
Already we have reported a number of
local associations which have been formed
in various cities. This move is bound to
continue all alone the line, until local asso-
ciations exist in all of the principal cities.
In our own opinion the National organiza-
tion will, after awhile, become the upper
house or senate of the retail department of
the industry. In other words, matters of
vital interest will be threshed out by the local
organization and finally settled by the na-
tional.
There is no question that the organization
idea is growing constantly, and D. G.
Pfeiffer, secretary, is receiving a good deal of
correspondence in relation to this matter.
The complete list of the officers of the
National Dealers Organization up to date
is as follows:
President, Chandler W. Smith, Boston,
Mass.
1st Vice-President, P. J. Healy,
Chicago, 111. 2<\ Vice-President, F. B. T.
Hollenberg, Little Rock, Ark.
3rd Vice-
President, H. Dreher, Cleveland, Ohio. 4th
Vice-President, Philip Werlein, New Or-
leans, La. Secretary, D. G. Pfeiffer, 929
F street, Washington, D. C.
Treasurer,
F. P. Anderson, 470 Fulton street, Brook-
lyn, N. Y. Executive Committee, Jas. C.
Miller, Philadelphia, Pa., F. A. Leland,
Worcester, Mass., G. Wright Nicols, Balti-
more, Md., Robert L. Loud, Buffalo, N. Y.
Nominating and Membership Committee:
W. H. Currier, Toledo, Ohio, Theodore
Pfafflin, New York, Geo. H. Campbell, Den-
ver, Colo.
Advisory Committee: A. C. Grinnell,
Detroit, Mich., F. E. Me Arthur, Chattanoo-
ga, Tenn., C. H. Lichty, Reading, Pa., Carl
Hoffman, Kansas City, Mo., Will A. Wat-
kin, Dallas, Texas.
Press Committee: C. A. Elmendorf, Min-
neapolis, Minn., Harry Curtaz, San Fran-
cisco, Cal., Geo. E. Bradnack, New York.
LEGAL TROUBLES
Between Roth & Engelhardt and the American
Piano Manufacturing Co.—Mr. Boothe States
the Position of Roth & Engelhardt is Unjus-
tified—Mr. Roth Replies.
Deputy Sheriff Strauss received an at-
tachment Monday which was granted by
Judge Nisbet, of Montgomery County, N.
Y., against the American Piano Manufactur-
ing Co., Fifth avenue and Forty-second
street, for $18,365, in favor of Roth & En-
gelhardt, manufacturers of piano actions,
for balance due on goods delivered and for
alleged breach of contract for non-acceptance
of a quantity of "Harmonists," manufac-
tured under contract. The attachment was
granted on the ground that the company
is a New Jersey corporation. It is said to
he a disputed matter.
When The Review saw Wm. F. Boothe
general manager of the American Piano
Manufacturing Co., in reference to this legal
quarrel, he said : "This matter will be thor-
oughly explained in the court later on. We
expect on Tuesday to have the attachment
vacated; therefore, it will cause no serious
interruption to our shipments. We have
pushed the 'Harmonist' intelligently and
persistently, have paid this concern thou-
sands of dollars per month, and feel that
this action on their part is uncalled for, and
is not justified by the existing conditions.
This in no way affects the financial standing
of our concern. We stand ready to pay all
obligations, but we do not propose to do
more than we agreed to. The attachment
could not have been obtained only upon the
grounds that we were a foreign corporation.
We should have given bond immediately,
but that might be construed into a semi-
acknowledgment of the claim, which we do
not for one moment propose to admit."
Alfred Roth, of Roth & Engelhardt, said:
"We desire to obtain what we believe to be
our rights and have endeavored to secure
them amicably but failed, and now we have
appealed to the courts."
A BUSH SOUVENIR.
A very handsome souvenir of the laying
of the cornerstone of the Bush Temple of
Music has just been issued. It contains a
beautiful frontispiece in colors of the
completed Bush Temple of Music, with
a portrait of the founder, William H.
H. Bush, and an interesting story of the
man, his achievements and his bequests.
The book is further illustrated with portraits
of the present members of the Bush & Gerts
Co., as well as interior views of the new
Temple, with much interesting data.
CAUSES OF WESTERN ACTIVITY.
The Growing Demand for Musical Instruments in
the West Continues Unabated—This Must Be
Ascribed to the Satisfactory Agricultural Out-
look—A Review of the Situation.
The Western music trade owes much of
its recent activity to the encouraging agri-
cultural prospects for the coming crop sea-
son. The spring and early summer have
been remarkably free from crop scares, and
few alarming reports have been sent out.
Nature has been kind to the agriculturist in
bestowing upon him a long period of favor-
able weather for the season, free from va-
garies. Consequently, farmers are looking
forward to good crops and are free buyers
not only of all kinds of merchandise, such
luxuries, or we may call necessities, as pi-
anos, organs and other musical instru-
ments. In fact, the sales made by dealers
have been much larger than anticipated.
Manufacturers and dealers are being stim-
ulated by the excellent prospect for crops to
make much more extensive preparations for
supplying fall demands. And in this they
are wise. There are many reasons why it
will pay to place orders ahead.
Farmers are free buyers of miscellaneous
luxuries when good crop prospects free
them from the necessity of pinching econ-
omy, and their liberal purchases are shown
in the great activity now prevailing in the
West. The movement of manufactured prod-
ucts Westward is on a big scale, and rail-
roads are crowded with traffic in both direc-
tions, instead of Eastward only, as is often
the case at this time of the year. Prospects
for the railroads are consequently of the most
encouraging character. Their earnings will
be kept up to the high plane of the recent
past, and they will be enabled to continue
making improvements as well as paying bet-
ter dividends to their stockholders. From
present appearances nothing short of some
very great calamity can seriously impair the
business outlook, from a Western viewpoint.
NEWELL-HIGEL ADVANCE.
[Special to The Review.]
Toronto, Can., June 24, 1901.
The history of the music trade industry
of Canada does not afford a better illustra-
tion of the splendid business success only in
a few years than is evidenced in the pres-
ent position of the Newell-Higel Co. This
company, as has already been announced in
The Review, manufacture actions, keys and
hammers, and the Higel action to-day is
being used by the most representative con-
cerns of the Dominion. The new factory,
which they will shortly occupy, is one of the
most imposing to be found in any city on
the Continent. It is splendidly located and
easy of access to the visiting trade. In a
later issue, The Review will be afforded an
opportunity to present late illustrations of
the Newell-Higel plant up to date.
THE DETROIT BI-CENTENARY.
Business men are showing great interest
in the celebration of the bi-centennial anni-
versary of the founding of Detroit. Among
the fifty-one business houses and organiza-
tions which have applied for space in the
Bi-centenary parade, the names of a num-
ber of music dealers figure.

Download Page 9: PDF File | Image

Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).

Pro Tip: You can flip pages on the issue easily by using the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard.