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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
A SCRAP PILE OF MILLIONS.
"F HE absorption of
How a Yankee com-
petitor knocked out
the Bryant & May
an old established Eng-
lish enterprise — The
Match corporation of
American factory sys
England by the Dia-
tern wins in pianos as
in all else.
mond Match Company
of America supplies the strongest argument
in favor of the American factory system
and its dominancy over the antiquated ideas
which prevail in factory quarters in Europe.
Tt furnishes evidence in support of the claim
which we have made that if ever the Amer-
ican piano manufacturer gave his attention
seriously to the development of foreign
trade, he would dominate the world. The
Diamond Match Company will make a scrap
pile of the machinery which the British
factory owners claimed was worth a mil-
lion and a half of dollars. Mr. Barger, who
won a decisive victory over the Englishmen,
said: "We shall be compelled to remodel
their entire establishment, which is filled with
machinery which American factories dis-
carded in 1885. England never afforded
a costlier proof of her lack of inventiveness
and bull-dog refusal to profit by the inven-
tiveness of others. When I explain that the
Diamond Company's competitive ability out-
stripped its late English rival exactly in the
comparison of two to one,"it will give a
fair idea of the whole industrial system of
the country." It was a sorry confession
that the chairman of the English corpora-
tion was forced to make to the shareholders
that a great business of forty years' stand-
ing had been compelled to bend the knee
to a Yankee competitor five years old.
What is true of the English match con-
cern is true, of course, of other English and
Continental industries, which cannot long
continue a contest against the competition
that rests upon mechanical and factory per-
fection. As long as American capital and
American labor maintain harmonious rela-
tions, nothing can stop the commercial su-
premacy of this country. It will not re-
quire a piano trust, or even a combination,
to conquer European trade; for there are
many piano factories in this country which
have acquired such mechanical attainments
and perfect system of organization that they
far outstrip industrial institutions in the
same line in the Old World. Review read-
ers will doubtless recall a statement pub-
lished some time ago to the effect that Ger-
man piano manufacturers suggested, in a
document issued by them, that Americans
should be excluded from their factories, for
fear that factory secrets might be exposed
to their competitors from across the seas.
Factory secrets given away to us, and ma-
chinery valued at a milion and a half sent
to the scrap heap by Americans!
There is humor in that, surelv!
It is American inventiveness which counts,
and it amazed the Englishmen to learn that
the manager of the American Match Com-
pany had made expenditures of a million
dollars for mere ideas in machinery. The
American mechanic really must be credited
largely for the tremendous advance made
by this country in peaceful pursuits. Andrew
Carnegie fully realized this when he estab-
lished a school for higher mechanical edu-
cation among his workmen.
A CATALOGUETIOUSE SCHEME.
T" HE d e p a r t m e n t
Intended to use the
mail-carriers as drum-
stores and mail or-
mers—P o s t m a s t e r
General extinguishes
der houses have concoct-
the scheme—Dealers
ed a fine scheme, whereby
f o r m anti-catalogue
house combination.
they propose to use the
postal department of the United States in
an auxiliary way which would be extremely
beneficial to their interests. They proposed
to employ the mail carriers in the rural
delivery service to solicit business, and they
made extensive plans for utilizing this
special branch of our government, by which
they were intending to increase their busi-
ness at the crossroads retailers' expense.
The scheme was a bold one, but it has been
checked by the Postmaster-General. The
mail order houses will have to seek other
means to cut into the trade of the small deal-
er. It is well that the unfair advantages,
which the mail order people would have
reaped had they been permitted to employ
Uncle Sam's messengers as drummers, are
removed.
We are daily in receipt of complaints from
dealers throughout localities which have been
seriously affected by catalogue house competi-
tion—a competition which to-day is a direct
menace to the interest of the legitimate
dealer in every small town—and it is a cow-
ardly evasion of facts by attempting to dis-
pose of this problem, for the reason that pos-
sible arguments which would be brought out
might be used by the catalogue houses as
an argument in favor of exploiting their
wares.
This is nonsense. The agitation of this
matter should continue in a logical, forci-
ble and argumentative way. There is no
argument which The Review has made that
could be possibly used by the department
houses as an aid in their campaign. We
believe the time is coming—not far distant,
either—when the piano manufacturer who
is catering to the catalogue house trade will
find that he cannot ride two horses—in other
words, the regular dealer and the catalogue
house man. Quietly and without threats,
educational work has I n 1 carried along
these lines, until to-day, we understand, that
there is a fixed understanding already es-
tablished between a number of regular deal-
ers that they will not purchase instruments
of men who supply the catalogue house
trade. It is the intention not to exploit
these agreements, and the catalogue house
man will be wondering why his regular
trade has dropped off to such an alarming
degree. The regular dealer does not pro-
pose to have his business undermined by
the catalogue house man, who is supplying
only the cheapest pianos manufactured.
Catalogue competition alive—well, rather!
DEMAND FOR WALNUT.
A CALL among the
W a l n u t much in
vogue—Furniture men
best class of fur-
say that it will be
niture men in our city,
more p o p u l a r than
ever—Piano manufac-
who cater to furnishing
turers interested in the
subject.
the homes of the
wealthy, will elicit the information that wal-
nut is rapidly superseding mahogany in arti-
cles of home furnishings. The new walnut
is finished a trifle lighter than the old, and
with a little hand carving and a touch of
gold it makes the very latest thing in furni-
ture. This is a matter which piano manu-
facturers should bear in mind when placing
their orders for veneers. According to the
opinion of one of the leading furniture men
in the country, more walnut furnishings will
be sold this fall than ever before since wal-
nut came into use. If this be the case—-
and there appears to be no reason to doubt
it—then it would pay piano manufacturers
to increase their walnut orders a trifle, be-
cause history tells us that when there is
an increased demand for any special woods
in the furniture trade, it is immediately felt
in the piano industry, for it follows that
people desire harmony in their home fittings.
If walnut is to dominate in furniture, why,
it is but a logical sequence that pianos in
walnut casings will become immediately more
popular. If piano manufacturers would finish
their walnut cases a trifle lighter, have
carved panels and a little touch of gold,
they would then find that they would be
in line with the leading artistic furniture
manufacturers of America. It would pay
to bear this matter in mind. Every man-
ufacturer has his ear to the ground listen-
ing eagerly for news which is of special
value to his own enterprise. We believe this
little pointer will be worth investigating.
THE NEED OF A LEADER.
A N Y a manufac-
Manufacturers full
of anxiety these days
turer in the vari-
—How far will the la-
bor troubles extend ?
ous industries is re-
—The position of or-
peating the question
ganized labor not con-
sistent.
to himself over and
over again, Will the labor troubles affect
my business?
Will, through sympathetic strikes, the
whole of industrial America be drawn in?
The fear of this demonstrates the close
relations which exist between the various
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