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THE MUSIC TRRDE
itors had been duly notified in advance.
There have been in the piano line some sud-
den transfers of stock whereby creditors
have been defrauded. In this city, under the
new law, this is now made impossible.
special publications, and the individuality of
the advertiser is lost among fifty or seventy-
five more who are engaged in the same line
of trade. Better by far to appear in a num-
ber when there is a limited amount of dis-
play advertising.
YEN old Germany is willing- to recog-
nize the "commercial element," and HP H E spring season is now well advanced,
and while many are complaining re-
Emperor William's recognition of that ele-
ment has given grave offence to the nobility garding trade for the past two months, yet
our special reports from many points in the
and bureaucracy of the Empire.
It is a mighty unpleasant thing, don't you United States show, upon the word of the
know, to be thrust aside for a lot of vulgar leading piano merchants, that trade has not
trade fellows, just because they have done fallen off from last year's record.
something which benefits mankind in the 1902 has not been marked by phenomenal
way of inventions. Xoble lords viewed it sales. There are some who have complained
once that way in England, and now they regarding a certain slowness of business
do all kinds of things from driving a shilling which has reached them.
This condition is not general, however.
cab to marrying an American heiress.
It is interesting to hear some of the ex-
The German swells will fall in line after
planations,
too, in regard to the dropping
a while and then will come the real awaken-
ing of Germany and the sweeping out of its off of trade in various lines.
A book publisher remarked recently that
mediaeval cobwebs, • • '
the popularity of ping-pong detracted in
I ABOR mutterings have been distinctly some measure from the sales of current fic-
heard for some weeks past. The visit tion. Fathers of families, he said, did not
of Dold to the East did not result in any ap- bring home novels as frequently as they for-
parent change in the situation, yet it is ap- merly did because they know that the nights
parent that there is a plan on foot to organ- will be filled with the music of the whizzing
ize the entire piano forces in the East and ball and that the cares which infest the day
even extend its organization to all of the will be soothed by athletic rather than in-
smaller towns, so that if a strike were called tellectual exercise.
This reminds us that it was the same way
it would be general.
With prosperity in manufacturing and ease with the bicycle when that craze was in its
earlier stages. When business is a little
in finances come labor troubles.
It is a perfectly natural sequence to the slow, just about the time some new recre-
previous conditions. Evidently there are ation makes its appearance, all sorts ot
hold-ups for the manufacturer; for just as charges are made against the new fad.
he sees an opportunity to get out of the
quicksands, labor jumps on him, and down
he goes again. The manufacturers now in
everv line are situated so that they can do
fairly well, that is, if labor will allow it; but
labor is a watchful jade and if a goodly share
of the prize money doesn't go to her she is
liable to tip over the whole business.
There is a strike atmosphere all over the
country. Incipient strikes, impending strikes
and active strikes are everywhere.
I T is an excellent plan for some publica-
tions to show a little enterprise arountf
Association times.
Fifty-two weeks of the year they are prac-
tically nonentities, and if they bob up to
the surface during the jovial Convention
days, why it emphasizes the fact that they
are still on earth.
We do not believe in these big specials.
()ur policy has been rather to make every
issue of sufficient interest to make it of spe-
cial value to our readers. In this busy age
men do not care to wade through immense
\ 1 / HY are good men scarce?
Or, to be explicit, why are good piano
men scarce?
That is practically the question which was
propounded to The Review by a leading pia-
no manufacturer recently.
It is a pretty difficult question to answer
within a limited space. We may say that the
piano industry has not possessed special fea-
tures of attraction for the young men of the
country. They have preferred to engage in
broader fields where there is more possi-
bility of advancement.
The larger field would naturally attract
the ambitious, but there is no question but
that this industry to-day, broadening as it is,
contains great possibilities for the young,
ambitious, energetic men who are willing to
concentrate their entire energies in their
work.
There is ample opportunity for the em-
ployment of brains in this industry, and ex-
cellent remuneration for those brains.
Good men are scarce, and they are parted
with reluctantly and every inducement is
offered them to retain their services.
When a man works from the right incen-
tive he is developing a broadness that will
fit him for any contingncy that may arise.
The great trouble with the young men of
to-day is that they are looking for what is
commonly known as "soft snaps," and the
real facts are that too manv are looking for
the same kind of employment.
There are no soft snaps.
Hard working, intelligent men create for
themselves positions of wealth and promi-
nence, but men of this kind are never look-
ing for soft snaps. They are forever in the
thickest of the fight, and they are never
watching the clock and figuring how easy
the day's work can be.
They make themselves indispensable.
No one of the successful pi'uio men of
to-day were looking for easy berths.
Thev hustled.
\\J
HY should not some of the papers re-
produce a photograph of the store in
which Blumie formerly sold stencil pianos
in Baltimore? It would make an interesting
souvenir.
T^ J1 E financial strength of the country is
well evidenced in the recent Wall street
crash. The stocks included were manipu-
lated by a reckless crew of men who were
no longer able to keep their flimsy house of
cards from falling, but the crash only affect-
ed ar. infinitesimal section of the field of em-
ployment for banking and investment capi-
tal. The losses were not distributed suffi-
ciently to cause any general withdrawal of
cu'd-it. There is no warrant to spread any
c'-pprehension regarding financial conditions
as an outcome of the recent Wall street
smash. There is no sound reason to Ix^lieve
that our investment market has swung so
far from the moorings of intrinsic value as
will justify its comparison with the inflated
markets of '82.
It is fair enough to hold, as many sub-
stantial people do, that prices have risen high
enough and in some cases too high. But
nobodv who is familiar with the recent de-
velopment of earning power and with the
operating statistics of our railroads and
ether corporations will allow himself to be
influenced by the whisperings of disaster,
founded on no evidence of declining outside
prosperity, but simply on the vague fear that
cedit in some directions may have become
too greatly extended. The chances are that
when the present flurry in speculative circles
is over the Wall street markets will prove
again that facts are stronger than fancies in
the long run, even in a speculative move-
ment.
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