Music Trade Review

Issue: 1902 Vol. 34 N. 13

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Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
V O L X X X I V . N o . 13. Published Every Saturday bj Edward Lyman Bill at 3 East Fourteenth Street, New York, March 29,1902.
OUR MANUFACTURING GROWTH.
A Splendid Showing Made in the Returns Issued
by the Census Department—Interesting Details.
The census returns of manufactures is-
sued at the beginning of the week should be
gratifying to those who wish to see this
country become industrially preeminent.
The gross value of products of all manu-
facturing and mechanical industries in 1900
was $13,040,013,638, a gain of $3,667,576,-
355' o r 39- l P e r c e n t - o v e r t n e gross value
in 1890. The gross value in the latter year
was $9,372,437,283, and in 1880 the value
was $5,369,579,191, the increase in the latter
decade being $4,002,858,092, or 74.5 per cent.
The increase in the decade from 1890 to
1900, though less relatively than in the ten
years previous, represents a greater volume
or quantity of products than is indicated by
the value in dollars, because it is well known
that the tendency of manufacturing has been
to cheapen cost greatly in the past ten years.
The capital employed, the increase in the
number of wage earners and in the amount
of wages paid showed the heaviest increases
in the decade ending with 1890. It is to be
kept in mind, of course, that there is a ten-
dency to duplicate the values owing to the
fact that the finished products of many
manufacturing establishments become the
raw materials of others, but the claim is made
that the gross value here given represents the
commercial transactions involved in these en-
terprises in the same way that the bank-clear-
ing transactions represent the banking busi-
ness of a city. If, however, the value of ma-
terials purchased in a partially manufactured
form, $4,641,717,228, is deducted the net
value of the product is $8,388,409,055. This
total may be further subdivided into $2,393,-
836,629, the sum paid for crude materials of
manufacture, $322,669,636 for fuel and
freight and $5,671,902,790 the value added to
materials by the processes of manufacture. It
is further shown, says Bradstreet's, that the
value of product per wage earner increased
from $1,065 m ^ 5 0 to $2,451 in 1900, a ratio
of increase not as great as that given in the
amount of capital or the products of industry.
ORDERS FOR 600 PIANOS.
During a recent visit to Eastern trade
points, K. T. Cassell, proprietor of the Col-
umbia Music Co., of Denver, Col., contracted
for six hundred pianos to be shipped be-
tween now and the end of the year. They
recently took the agency for the Victor
piano, and the first shipment which they just
received has given them immense satisfac-
tion.
MUSIC DEALERS SEEK DAMAGES.
S I NG LE
THE MUSIC TRADE OF WISCONSIN.
[Special to The Review.]
[Special to The Review.]
San Francisco, Cal., March 22, 1902.
Wright & Kochman, who conduct a store
at 250 Turk street, brought suit against
Chester F. Wright and David S. Jacobs yes-
terday for $7,000 damages. They allege
that the defendants took from their store 75,-
000 sheets of music, valued at $7,000, on
February 19, and have refused to return
them.
Washington, D. C , March 24, 1902.
According to figures filed by the Census
Office there are 3 establishments in Wiscon-
sin devoted to the manufacture of organs and
materials employing a total capital of $24,-
825, of which $11,200 is in cash and sundries,
$3,475 in machinery, tools and implements,
$7,250 in buildings and $2,900 in land. Fif-
teen earners are employed and the total
wages paid in 1900 amounted to $6,508.
Miscellaneous expenses in that year amount-
ed to $2,032, while the cost of materials used
reached a total of $5,781. The value of the
products in the census year was $18,488.
In the manufacture of musical instruments
and materials not specified 4 concerns are
listed in the returns of the Census Office.
Capital to the amount of $15,665 is employed,
of which the major portion, $11,435, is in
cash and sundries. The wage-earners in
1900 numbered 7 and they received wages
to the amount of $4,488. Miscellaneous ex-
penses during the census year amounted to
$769, while the cost of materials used dur-
ing that year totaled $1,977. The value of
the output was $9,740.
THE "BELL BRAND" STRINGS.
The National Musical String Co., whose
"Bell Brand" strings are known in all parts
of Europe, Australia and South America, as
well as in the United States, have been com-
pelled to get out a number of their price
lists in foreign languages.
They are now working on a Spanish edi-
tion for the trade in South America, where
their strings are in great demand, and ex-
ceedingly popular. The growth of the for-
eign business of this institution would Ix?
remarkable were it not for the fact that it
is a logical evolution based upon the giving
of the highest possible values in the string
field. The National Musical String Co.
have made a study of foreign countries and
their requirements as far as it applies to the
matter of strings-, and they have produced a
better class of goods and are putting them
up in a neater form than those made abroad,
with the result that they are winning trade
on this basis.
The list of jobbers who are handling the
"Bell Brand" strings in Europe as well as
in this country, is a formidable one, and em-
braces every concern of note. These great
firms would not be identified with anything
but the best, and the best is tHe "Bell Brand."
Business at the factory of the National
Musical String Co., in New Brunswick, N.
J., is, needless to say, very brisk, and the
outlook in both domestic and foreign fields
could hardlv be better.
LIGHT FINGERED PIANO TUNER.
The police are hot on the trail of John
Harris, a piano tuner, who is wanted in
Erie, Pa., for theft. Harris is said to be a
sport and is a hanger-on at music halls.
In Erie, it is said, he managed to get
away with several gold rings and diamond
pins, a lady's gold watch, a gold bangle and
$85 in cash. It is asserted that he is a des-
perate character, and the police will have
some trouble when they attempt to capture
him.
TO MANUFACTURE ORGANS.
[Special to The Review.]
Wabash, Ind., March 24, 1902.
The Butler Organ Co. opened a new fac-
tory at Lafontaine, this county, to-day, em-
ploying at the outset fifty men. This force
will be largely increased. The first organs
will be turned out April 15th.
A RARE PIANO.
Mrs. J. C. Frawley, of No. 35 Cedar
street, Hornellsville, N. Y., is in possession
of a piano of which only eighteen were ever
manufactured. It is a Linden & Fritz, and
was made in New York in 1852. Mrs. O.
E. Livingston, of Campville, N. Y., has one,
and there is one in Albany. Mrs. Frawley's
and Mrs. Livingston's are both in a fair
state of preservation.
SMITH & YOUNG PURCHASE.
The entire stock and goodwill of Gibson,
Glaser & Co., Baltimore, Md., who recently
went into bankruptcy, have been purchased
from the receiver by Smith & Young, of
Washington, D. C. They will continue this
business in addition to their Washington
house. Both Mr. Smith and Mr. Young are
young men who have made quite a success
in Washington, which they are destined to
duplicate in Baltimore.
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRKDE REVIEW
mm
where the ladies could write their letters, and of the manufacturers means a big increase in
f?v ?"•
they could find time to rest from general the expense bill... •.: *\-\ ^
The lot of the piano manufacturer cannot
shopping without being urged unduly to buy.
be one of heavenly bliss. On top of all this
In other words, they were entertained.
I T takes a careful analysis of everything to vast increase comes the dealer clamoring for
EDWARD LYMAN BILL, ;
make a successful business, and all the lower prices. Evidently he is not familiar
tllTOR AND PROPRIETOR.
important part of the science of merchandize with the problems which beset the manufac-
J. B. S P I L L A N E , MANAGING) EDITOR.
ing is to attract, and how can one attract if turer, else he would be a trifle shy on broach-
THOS. CAMPBELL-COPELAND
EMILIE FRANCIS BAUER
ing the subject. It is extremely likely that
the
surroundings are not cheery?
WALDO E. LADD
Executive Staff:
GEO.
W. QUERIPEL
A. J. NICKLIN
It pays now and then to think about these there will be an increase in the wholesale
price of pianos all along the line. It has
Every SatnrnaT at 3 East 14th street, New York matters, for analysis and dissection, whether been up to the manufacturer—to use the
SUBSCRIPTION (Including postage^, United States, it be of purchases, separate stocks, separation
Mexico aril Canada, $2.00 per year; all other countries,
f4.00.
of detail, of expenses, comparison of weekly colloquial expression—for some time, and the
ADVERTISEriENTS, $2.00 per Inch, single column, per
passing months do not seem to lessen the
insertion. On quarterly or yearly contracts a special dis- expenses as against weekly sales for each
count is allowed. Advertising Pages $50.00; opposite
reading matter, $75.00.
problems which environ him.
REniTTANCES, In other than currency form, should be month of the year, division of advertising ex-
made payable to Edward Lyman Bill.
penses, is part of the strategy of modern T T is a rollicking sort of a Spring that they
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
are getting down in the Yankee Orient—
business.
-• •
• • - - . i - - . . ' - r • - •
NEW YORK, MARCH 29, 1902.
The progressive merchant surveys the field that is, Maine. April has been leapfrogging
TELEPHONE NUMBER, 1745-EIQHTEENTH STREET.
He realizes that over the back of March in weather and
On the first Saturday of each month carefully and frequently.
THE
The Review contains in its "Artists' De-
trade. Snow has vanished and the festive
ARTISTS'
partment" all the current musical news. analysis and dissection may involve some
DEPARTMENT This is effected without in any way tres-
passing on the size or wervice of the trade trouble, yet they afford the most complete
piano man is abroad pursuing piano trails
section of the paper. It has a special circulation, and
therefore augments materially the value of The Review
'•
-<
safeguard in the whole business. They are with surprising results.
to advertisers.
DIRECTORY OF
The directory of piano manufac-
PIANO
turlng firms and corporations found
MANUFACTURERS « n page 29 will be of great value as
a reference for dealers and others.
EDITORIAL
TOPICS OF THE HOUR.
T~\ ID you ever enter a piano store and sur-
vey the field for a few moments with-
out discovering signs of life anywhere, and
then after walking down half the length of
the establishment on a tour of discovery,
locate a salesman behind a desk in some ob-
scure corner?
Surely there is no glad hand of welcome in
such an establishment as that.
It could hardly be called an ideal store,
for the ideal store is a store of cheerfulness,
where the visiting people find everybody an-
xious to serve, agreeable, polite and always
ready to welcome.
Some piano men should realize that things
have changed since the old days and the old
ideas of purchase and sale are sadly out of
•place in the new century.
Carelessness and indifference regarding
store environments are responsible for the
greater part of the non-success of many busi-
ness men of to-day.
It is a plain fact that if you are to co-
operate with a certain class of buying people
the surest way to do it successfully is to in-
terest those people and understand them. It
is not only to advertise in a manner which
interests, but it is to receive properly, and
help on advertising by a most attractive kind
of store treatment.
The little reception room is gaining ground
in the larger cities, and we saw one recently
in the West which made a most attractive
feature of the store. There were little desks
the insurance employed by the intelligent man
against ignorance, against losses, and they
give him in addition a thorough knowledge
of just where best profits are made.
T^HE recent failure of a concern in Chicago
bearing a name long identified with the
small goods trade of America, forcibly dem-
onstrates the lack of reliable information fur-
nished by the leading mercantile agencies.
This concern had engaged in the piano busi-
ness very recently and had opened up ac-
counts in New York with four or five con-
cerns, who granted a line of credit from fif-
teen hundred to two thousand dollars each.
Before shipping instruments the reports
gained from the agencies were of such a na-
ture that removed all suspicion. The New
York piano manufacturers, however, who re-
lied upon the reports find that the concern
really had no assets, and had no sound basis
upon which to render the report which it
did.
The agencies are prone to accept anything
which is supplied them, without making in-
vestigation, and the demand is rising on
every hand for credit information which shall
be reliable.
The field as covered by the two leading-
agencies is wholly out of date. It would seem
as if the Piano Manufacturers' Association
could enlarge the scope of its rating bureau,
so as to materially benefit the manufacturers
themselves.
We may say that from Vermont a dealer
writes: "General trade is better than for
some years past. Collections are good."
From Worcester our informant says:
"Spring trade is opening up in excellent
shape, and the trade conditions have im-
proved largely in that section during the
past few days."
New England seems to be taking care of
itself all right, and reports from the West
and South during the past ten days have been
most encouraging.
Road men, too, send in very pleasing re-
ports regarding the state of trade.
ROM now on there need be no guessing
—no perhaps—as to the trend of the
coming season's piano demands. The drift
is too pronounced to give rise to any doubt.
"Better than last year" means a good deal
to the piano man, and it would seem to be
moderately certain that last year's figures
will be moved up considerably.
C O M E papers should get out of the rumor
rut, for it is only by a presentation of
accurate news that any publication merits the
confidence of that portion of the public to
which it directly appeals.

A paper which is a purveyor of rumors, or
scandals, can no more win the confidence of
the people than can its first cousin, the black-
mailer who is on the alert with handy bludg-
eon to waylay individuals unless they hold
up their hands at the proper time.
A journal should be straightforward, clean,
DIANO manufacturers in all parts of the
country have now to face new insur- honest and fearless, and even then it may
ance conditions. The increase of twenty-five find the way to fame obstructed, by many
per cent, is truly not a pleasing situation, thorns. But, it is character that will build
particularly when the materials have also the newspaper, just as it will build a big
business institution. The business institution
advanced.
The matter of insurance alone with some which meets all of its obligations faithfully

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