Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
TWENTY-THIRD YEAR.
EDWARD LYMAN BILL,
EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.
J . B. S P I L L A N E , MANAGING EDITOR
THOS. CAMPBELL-COPELAND
WALDO E. LADD
Executive Staff:
GEO. W. QUERIPEL
A. J. NICKLIN
Polished Every Satnrflay at 3 East 14th Street, New Yorfc.
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REfWTTANCES, in other than currency form, should be
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Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class
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NEW YORK, AUGUST 10, 1901.
TELEPHONE NUMBER, 1745-E1QHTEENTH
THE
STREET.
On the first Saturday of each
ARTISTS'
DEPARTMENT
month The Review contains in its
" Artists' Department" all the cur-
rent musical news. This is effected
without in any way trespassing on the size or ser-
vice of the trade section of the paper. It has a
special circulation, and therefore augments mater-
ially the value of The Review to advertisers.
DIRECTORY OF
The directory of piano raanu-
J* IANO
facturing firms and corporations
MANUFACTURERS
f o u n d
Q n p & g e
2 Q w i U b e Q £
value as a reference for dealers and others.
A directory of all advertisers
DIRECTORY OF
in The Review will be found on
ADVERTISERS
page 5.
EDITORIAL
THE FLIMSINESS OF TRUST SCHEMES.
Surprise occasioned
by the Review expose
of t r u s t schemes—
W h a t a n option
amounts to—How fi-
nanciers will treat a
trust scheme—Trust-
mad.
T" H E detailed, up-to-
date plans of the
piano trust schemers
which were outlined in
l a s t week's Review,
caused considerable comment, and came in
the nature of a surprise to those who had
supposed that the particulars were unknown
outside of a small coterie.
The bombastic "official" statement appear-
ing in the trust organ may be materially dis-
counted; for, notwithstanding the boastful
statements made by the promoter, no ap-
preciable progress has been made in the
formation of the combination. The giving
of an option, based on the earning capacity
of a business, does not constitute the slightest
guarantee that a deal is to go through.
To go into a statistical statement and show
a tempting array of figures to certain manu-
facturers, and obtain from them an agree-
ment that under specified conditions they
would dispose of their properties, can hardly
be termed progress.
Before capitalists
would agree to float any scheme, they must
first assure themselves, that all statements
made them are borne out by facts. It is the
vulgar egotist, and not the logical man, who
announces plans before they have even
advanced beyond the elementary stage
of progress. It is natural that he should
say to these men, "We will be able to produce
for your properties, one half cash and one-
half preferred stock in this combination at does not recognize. He has been a stranger
the proper time;" but it should also be under- to it and no »one has taken the trouble to
stood that before any of the great financial introduce him.
institutions take hold of this matter they THE ADVANTAGE OF THE ** ANTIS."
must first have convinced themselves that it
"THERE should not
Some opinions of
is absolutely genuine in every respect before
m a n u f a c t u r e r s—
b e t h e slightest
Strength of the oppos-
they give it their endorsement, and the stock
ing forces—An elabor-
alarm aroused in the
ate plan on paper—
is placed on the market through their various
Words from the " in- reading false allegations
side" of trustdom.
factors. They would not for one moment
minds of any readers by
endorse a proposition which was based upon concerning the trust. Since the latest plan
the earning capacity of enterprises unless was exposed in The Review, a number of
first they had gone, with their experts, mi- manufacturers have expressed themselves in
nutely into all matters appertaining to the no uncertain way concerning the trust move.
business, and a money combination would not They believe that in some respects it would
endorse a proposition based largely upon be the best thing for the industry, that is
good will. The men who have gone so far for the men who remain outside of any com-
as to state that they will accept a proposi- bination.
They feel that the independent
tion made them upon the lines discussed manufacturers and independent dealers
with the promoter, can rest assured that would form a force which the combination
they will not be called upon in the imme- could not meet. They figure that the elabo-
diate future to dispose of their enterprises.
rate plan which includes a certain number of
The man who was supposed to underwrite
the original scheme turned it down simply
because of his unbelief in the ability of a
trust to purchase and retain good will. He
proposed to do his own watering and not to
pass that important part over to any body
of manufacturers. The carefully prepared
figures of the promoter will not be accepted
by the cold-blooded financiers who will not
pay fanciful prices for good will and old
machinery.
The man who has been discussing trust
statistics with piano manufacturers has
really gone trust mad. He was vaccinated
with the trust virus some years ago when the
Dolge plan was at its height, and the fever
is still coursing in his veins. He has ac-
tually lived the trust scheme so completely
for the past four years that he really believes
that a trust is in existence. On his basis of
figuring there would be large profits in it
for him, and it is the hope of securing those
large profits, it is the worship of money,
which has diseased his mentality to such an
extent that to-day the atmosphere all about
him is laden with trust visions. It is im-
possible for him to turn the pages of a paper
without seeing trust statistics on every page.
He has built trust edifices out of the thinnest
kind of trust shadows, and now he hies him-
self across the seas in the vain pursuit of
the elusive trust spectre.
We have published facts concerning this
matter, as we deemed it our duty last week
to give the entire details up-to-date, because
we knew that the trust schemer would distort
the situation according to his own diseased
vision.
If a combination is ever made
among the manufacturers in this industry,
the individual behind the move must have
first won and retained the confidence and
respect of the men whom he seeks to interest.
Character is a force the present promoter
dealers who would also become stockholders
in the trust as distributing agents, would in
itself form an element of weakness.
They figure that the distributing forces
upon which the promoter loves to dwell as a
final clincher, would be materially reduced in-
side of twelve months, and that every piano
incorporated in the combination would at
once lose its individuality, and would become
levelled to the position of the commercial
pianos.
They figure that trust stores would decline
in influences and their output would be cur-
tailed.
They figure that every salesman, every
dealer, would so quickly acquaint the public
regarding the trust pianos that the artistic
and sentimental value which surrounds them
would quickly become dissipated, and that
the destruction of the piano trust would be
brought about quicker even than the wall
paper trust or the bicycle trust. The com-
mon stock of the latter, by the way, reaching
$3.00 per share this week.
It is easy to figure beautiful combinations
on paper; it is easy to elaborate figures to
such an extent that they are most enticing,
but one of the leading men who has discussed
this matter with the promoter remarked to
The Review:
"The scheme is elaborate and well-figured,
and the idea of controlling retail establish-
ments is to my mind a saving clause, but I
have grave doubts concerning the success of
the plan. Financiers are not going to float
a scheme of such magnitude without a care-
ful investigation, and the statement made to
me that a certain great firm would be in the
trust and retain its individuality by not hav-
ing it generally known that it is a part of the
combination, seems to me absurd, and that
statement alone shows how unpractical are
some of the theories advanced by the promoter.