Music Trade Review

Issue: 1901 Vol. 33 N. 9

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
REVIEW
fflJJIC TIRADE
V O L . XXXIII. N o . 9 . Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 3 East Fourteenth Street, New York, Aug. 31,1901.
A CLEVER WORK.
NEW ORLEANS DEALERS ORGANIZE.
The Book by Strauch Brothers of Great Value to
Dealers and Salesmen.
At an informal meeting called by Philip
W erlein at St. Charles Hotel on Aug. 20th,
it was decided that a Piano Dealers' Asso-
ciation should be formed in New Orleans,
and with this end in view, a committee was
appointed to draw up constitution and by-
laws, to be submitted to a meeting for the
purpose of final organization, to be held
in the first week of September.
It is the intention to hold a banquet to
which all piano men in New Orleans will
be asked to subscribe, at which time the
constitution and by-laws of this organization
will be officially promulgated.
The effect of this organization will un-
questionably lead to improvement in piano
conditions in the Crescent City.
Educational trade literature is more and
more in demand. The tendency in this di-
rection may be noted in the steady better-
ment which has been going on in both make-
up and finish of brochures issued by the
piano and allied trades.
One of the most notable of educational
trade works is the book entitled "The Man-
ufacture of The Pianoforte Action, Its Rise
and Development," by Strauch Bros., the
eminent action, key and hammer makers of
our city. It is surprising, too, how the de-
mand for this popular work has grown.
Only this week Strauch Bros, received a
request for twenty copies from one of the
largest concerns in the Southwest, who
had found the work of great value to their
salesmen. Dealers and salesmen who have
perused it have found this book particularly
valuable and instructive. Aside from en-
tertaining descriptive matter relating to the
action, it contains many illustrations, and,
taken altogether, is beautifully gotten up.
We know of many salesmen who frequently
consult its columns. The demand for this
particular production has been so great that
Strauch Bros, have a new edition on the
press, and naturally will take pleasure in
supplying all members of the trade who
may write them with copies of their clever
and interesting book.
INJUNCTION AGAINST MUSIC HOUSE.
[Special to The Review.]
Houston, Tex., Aug. 26, 1901.
J. P. Withers has filed injunction suit
against A. S. Clark and W. L. Pace to
restrain the latter from establishing a mu-
sic house on the second floor of the Little-
ton Building, of which the plaintiff is land-
lord. Petition alleges that Clark has leased
some floor space in the second story of the
building, but it was specially understood
that he can not sublet any portion thereof
without the consent of the landlord. Plain-
tiff's petition shows that he is the president
of the American National Bank, and that
a music house above the banking house would
create a nuisance in that the noise of music
and moving of heavy instruments would in-
terfere with the accurate keeping of books
and accounts. Judge West in session granted
the temporary restraining order pending the
trial of the suit.
r
TORONTO EXPOSITION WRANGLES.
r.Snecial to The Review.]
Toronto, Ont., Aug. 26, 1901.
If W. M. Long, Toronto representative
of the Ennis Piano Co., of Hamilton, voices
the sentiments of outside exhibitors, it is
not calculated to popularize the management
of the Industrial Exhibition in certain quar-
ters. Mr. Ennis has been in the city this
week endeavoring to arrange for a consid-
erable space for exhibition purposes in the
Music Building, but he has met with very
indifferent success. The firm, it appears,
showed five or six pianos last year, but this
season they had arranged to make a "better
showing, but were surprised to find from
those in charge of the building that their
space had been limited to a few square feet
(space for two pianos) near the door on
the east wing. Mr. Ennis strongly objected
to this when he found that other firms had
been granted double space, but the board
declined to make any alterations in their
plans.
The officers of the Industrial Fair have
issued regulations to the effect that only piano
and organ exhibits will be allowed in the
music pavilion. All exhibitors must be gov-
erned by the rules. Playing will be allowed
on the several stands fifteen minutes in each
hour, as per schedule to be provided later.
$2.00 PER YEAR.
SINGLE COPIES 10 CENTS.
A NEW HOUSE IN LACROSSE.
[Special to The Review.]
La Crosse, Wis., Aug. 27, 1901.
S. La Chapelle, the present popular man-
ager of the Lesch Music Co., has arranged to
embark in a business of his own, backed by
Milwaukee and St. Paul capital. The con-
cern will be located in the splendidly sit-
uated building recently vacated by Joseph
Gutman at 318 Main street. The place will
be renovated and subjected to a thorough
course of repairs calculated to make it one
of the most pleasing in the city.
Mr. La Chapelle has arranged to furnish
his patrons with a great variety of high-
grade instruments. He will carry in this
splendid stock the Sohmer, Fischer, Ste-
ger, Kroeger, Schumann and Singer pianos,
together with a full assortment of other
popular musical instruments.
ANTWERP'S IVORY SALE.
At the third quarterly sale of ivory held
at Antwerp, on the 31st ultimo, 159,000
pounds of ivory were offered and sold.
There was a large attendance and the bid-
ding was active. The white varieties of
ivory, which had been bid up to exagger-
ated prices on the last sale by American
buyers, assumed normal figures at this sale.
The prices were $4.63 to $5.35 for the sound
tusks. The color varieties, Angola, Gaboon
and Kamerun, brought the same prices at
the sale of May last. The stock in hand
amounts to about 279,984 pounds as com-
pared with 209,437 pounds in 1900. The
next quarterly sale is scheduled to take place
on Oct. 29th.
STEINWAY CITIZENS PETITION.
KRELL ALTERATIONS.
The citizens of Stein way, Borough of
Queens, have petitioned Mayor Van Wyck
for better school facilities. After enumerat-
ing the growth of their district they say: "In
addition to this, Messrs. Steinway & Sons,
pianoforte manufacturers, are now erecting
and will complete in the early fall or winter,
a large factory in the immediate neighbor-
hood of our present old school building,
where they will employ about 500 workmen,
and which means an addition to our popu-
lation of about 300 families."
Extensive improvements are contemplated
by the Krell Piano Co., of Cincinnati, and
a permit was taken out Monday to tear down
and reconstruct certain parts of their build-
ing at 118 West Fourth street. The im-
provements as contemplated will entail a
cost of $4,000 and will include a magnifi'
cent music room on the first floor,
The representatives of the National Credit
Men's Association and the National Ref-
erees' Association, will hold a conference in
New York on Sept. 12th and 15th with E.
C. Bradenburg, of the Department of Jus-
tice, Washington, concerning the propriety
of amending the bankruptcy law at the com-
ing session of Congress.
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
mm
TWENTY-THIRD YEAR.
EDWARD LYMAN BILL,
EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.
J . B. S P I L L A N E , MANAGING EDITOR.
Executive Staff:
THOS. CAMPBELL-COPELAND
WALDO E. LADD
GEO. W. QUERIPEL
A. J. NICKLIN
PnHHsteM Every Saturday at 3 East 14m Street, New Yorfc.
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage). United States, Mexico
and Canada, $2.00 per year; all other countries, $4.00.
ADVERTlSEflENTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per
insertion. On quarterly or yearly contracts a special discount
is allowed. Advertising Pages $ 0.00, opposite reading matter,
$75.00.
REniTTANCES, in other than currency form, should be
made payable to Edward Lyman Bill.
Entered at the Ne-w York Post Office as Second Class Matter
N E W YORK, AUGUST 3 1 , 1901.
TELEPHONE NUMBER, 1745-E1QHTEENTH STREET.
THE
On the first Saturday of each
ARTISTS'
month The Review contains in its
DEPARTMENT " 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
MANUFACTURERS
The directory of piano manu-
facturing firms and corporations
f m m d
o n p a g e 2O w i U b e o f g r e a t
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,
NON-APPRECIATION OF PET PLANS.
DECENTLY a well-
known manufac-
turer remarked to The
Review: "I have a lit-
I tie plan which I con-
sider, when developed, will be instrumental
in creating a better feeling among the men
in my factory. They will be satisfied that
I am trying to do something special for them
in order to advance them."
Another manufacturer, also discussing
labor problems with The Review remarked:
"I am inclined to the belief that all of these
theories regarding profit-sharing benefits,
and all that, are not appreciated by the work-
men, and in the end do not produce the re-
sults which the generous promoters often
desire. As for myself, I observe advanced
lines of hygiene in my factory equipments.
I give the men well lighted and aired rooms,
and reasonably good surroundings in every
way, and pay them as well as I can afford
to; beyond that I would not move a step,
for, while one man may appreciate the devel-
opment of fancy theories, a hundred will
not, and criticise you for your acts rather
than applaud you."
History bears out the statement of the
latter manufacturer, for, as a matter of fact,
nearly all of the ideal schemes of profit shar-
ing advanced both in the old world and the
new, have come to naught. Perhaps the
model factory institution of the world is
Are the profit-shar-
ing and other p e t
schemes to benefit the
laboring man appre-
ciated?—History says
No—Plans in progress
by piano men
located at Dayton, O. Its employees were
given free libraries, baths, gymnasium, land
to cultivate and adorn with flowers, and all
of that, and as a result of all of this exceed-
ing fostering care on the part of the employ-
ers, a strike was inaugurated there last
spring which tied up that institution for
many months, wholly on account of the fact
that the free towels which were furnished
in the baths and lavatories were washed by
women who were not members of a laundry
union. In another case it was found that
the compressed air springs on the doors were
made by a non-union factory in the Nutmeg
State.
In spite of these facts, Albert Krell and
his associates, according to reports, are go-
ing to inaugurate the model system in their
big piano factory at Springfield. They are
going to put in baths, reading rooms, gym-
nasiums ; in other words, all the frills which
are supposed to be useful in advancing
the physical as well as mental development
of the men. It shows exceeding generos-
ity on their part, but we question the wis-
dom of the move, and when the slightest
disagreement occurs, we are inclined to the
opinion that all of these free health and ed-
ucational accessories will be passed by un-
heeded by the men.
This is a practical age, and it pays the
manufacturer best to pay what he can af-
ford for labor, and let the obligation end
at that point, rather than to build beautiful
theories which go tumbling down, as in the
Dayton case, at the first sweep.
The Dayton people—we mean the Nation-
al Cash Register Co.—have now new trou-
bles on their hands, because it is said that
there are some ten or twenty thousand bar-
keepers who now will refuse to handle
change through their cash registers, all on
account of sympathetic relations with the
men who were using free towels in Dayton.
The A. B. Chase Co., Norwalk, O., have
for two years offered cash prizes for orig-
inal ideas which could be applied with sat-
isfactory results to the manufacture of pia-
nos. Their plan has worked admirably.
They have paid good money for good sug-
gestions and have encouraged the men to
think for themselves.
That is a keenly practical plan.
It may be that, in years to come, a pen-
sion fund will be developed to such a point
that it may be adopted generally by great
industrial institutions.
Everyone knows that the American work-
man to-day earns higher wages than any
paid in any other country. This condition
has been made possible not wholly because
the American employer is any more liberal
than his European competitor, but because
the American workman produces more, and
he produces more because he has been sup-
plied with the most perfect system of labor-
saving machinery on earth. The American
manufacturer has fairly fulfilled his obliga-
tions to his men.
REFERRING TO THE PRIZE ESSAY.
N a neighboring
A co m p o s i t i o n
which should be read
page of this issue
by all salesmen—The
third of The Review
appears the essay which
series—The next one
particularly interest- has
won the third
ing—All invited.
prize in The Review
series. The contributions upon the subject,
"What are the Necessary Requirements of
the Modern Piano Salesman?" have estab-
lished the fact beyond criticism, judging
from the variety and clearness of thought
expressed in the articles sent in for com-
petition, that the piano salesmen can write
as well as talk, for their ideas are forcibly
expressed upon paper.
The prize article, submitted by Mr. Heine-
kamp, of Baltimore, is the most complete
as to details and thoroughly practical as
to application of any sent in. It embodies
important essentials necessary in the make-
up of the successful piano salesman of to-
day, and should be perused by every young
salesman in America, for from it can be
gleaned much that is of value and import-
ance. It will bear reading not only once,
but twice, and several times, for it is replete
with common-sense arguments which must
appeal in no uncertain manner to the sales-
men who are looking for practical sugges-
tions which may be instrumental in creat-
ing advance for them. The article is ex-
tremely logical, and is written by a sales-
man who has long made a comprehensive
study of the art—for it is an art—of sell-
ing pianos.
We may state that the third line of the
series has brought forth most interesting sug-
gestions and ideas, as will be seen by the
different essays which will be presented in
weeks to come. A number of competing
essays for prize No. 4, the next of the series,
have already been sent in. The subject is,
'What Would Be the Effect of a Piano
Trust Upon the Industry?"
The presentation of this topic at the pres-
ent time, when so much discussion has been
rampant concerning the possible effect of
a trust upon the industry, should prove of
more than ordinary interest.
The result of The Review prize series has
been to stimulate healthy thought along
lines which are of obvious benefit to the in-
dustry. We have selected subjects which
affect manufacturer, dealer and salesman.
Other topics will be announced later; in
the meanwhile, there is twenty-five dollars
awaiting the man who sends in the best es'
O

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