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THE
J1UJIC TIRADE
V O L . XXXIV. N o . 2 5 . Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 3 East Fourteenth Street, New York, June 21,19Q2.
ALLEN'S ARTISTIC PIANO ROOMS.
A Credit to the Pacific Coast—An Entertaining and
Interesting Description of These Quarters.
The new piano warerooms of the Wiley
B. Allen Co.,San Francisco,Cal.,were thrown
open Wednesday night of last week for the
recital given by the violin pupils of Prof.
Herzog,of the San Francisco Conservatory of
Music. The musical critic of the Dramatic Re-
view, who was present on the occasion, took
occasion to write as follows in connection
with her review of the event:
The quarters of this enterprising firm im-
pressed me as being so very artistic and
handsome that they merit a word of descrip-
tion. Entering from Market street, just op-
posite the Native Sons' fountain, the rooms
were ablaze with light, the highly polished
floors upon which numerous beautiful pianos
were displayed being arranged for the time
as a concert room, and thronged with guests.
There was an atmosphere of cheerful good
will, and rows of palms and potted plants
about the rooms or placed upon an elevation
against the wall added to the air of hospi-
tality. At the close of the evening, some one
remarked my staying to the end, but the
work of the young people was interesting,
and I felt so thoroughly at home that I had
no desire to leave and remained chatting for
a while with Mr. Allen, who invited me to
see the building.
Passing through the arch that divided the
main warcroom from the offices, I entered
the private office of the manager that was
deliciously cozy with its lounge and dainty
cushion and desk, etc., an ideal little den for
a busy man and neat as a pin, and as we
walked back to take the elevator to go up
to inspect the big seven-story building, I
noticed pretty sprays of autumn leaves warm
and glowing, entwined in the arches, and
they seemed emblematic of the new season
coming as the leaves turn red, and thought
of Nordica and Zeisler, who had delighted
in just such another Everett piano that I
had heard among the violins, its rich mellow
tones like ripples of silver under the magic
touch of a young musician, making me
break the tenth commandment, for T never
coveted an instrument more ardently.
The swift elevator bore us upward as T
explored Moor after floor, finding depart-
ments for every branch of piano work—
tuning rooms, varnish rooms, repair shop,
and parlors everywhere devoted to the Ever-
ett, Steck, Ludwig, Packard, Cable, Jewett,
Smith & Barnes, Bush & Gerts, Kingsbury,
Straube and Harrington pianos, and a stock
of beautiful organs. The piano playing
room showing the Chase & Baker and the
Claviola was an interesting room, and seemed
so cheerful that I was tempted to say, "What
a glorious idea it would be to have a recep-
tion room where musicians could meet down
town and feel at home," for it seemed so
central with that superb view of the town
from the windows, and a pleasant masculine
voice replied : "That was done in our Port-
»3.oo PBR YEAR.
SINGLE COPIES io CENTS
JOS. W. CHAMBERLAIN FAILS
With Liabilities of $1,300,000—Trouble Brought
About Through Failure of Waterloo Organ Co.
[Special to The Review.]
deneva, N. Y., June 15, 1902.
As a sequel to the failure of the Waterloo
Organ Co. came the filing yesterday of a pe-
tition in bankruptcy by Jos. W. Chamber-
lain, the piano merchant of this city. Mr.
Chamberlain's liabilities arc $1,300,000. It
is largely a paper liability, and is due to the
fact that Mr. Chamberlain was a stockholder
in the Waterloo concern.
As a result he is liable for all the com-
pany's indebtedness. He is also liable on
bonds given to the two national banks in this
city to the First National Bank of Waterloo,
to indemnify the parties in interest against
paper discounted for the organ company.
These liabilities are $1,140,000. This comes
from the fact that these bonds were given
yearly, but through some neglect they were
not cancelled, and he must put them in his
schedule.
His liabilities on these bonds are a dupli-
cate of his liabilities to the Waterloo Organ
Co., but must be put in the schedule of lia-
bilities. Mr. Chamberlain's personal liabil-
ities aggregate only $15,000. He recently
sold his piano stock here to his wife at about
ninety per cent, of its value. Among the
bondholders is Hammond Reed Co., of Wor-
cester, Mass.
DEATH OF MRS. EDW. STROUD.
land street store and it worked like a charm,
and pleased our musical friends."
It was the one thing lacking in this estab-
lishment, but as Mr. Allen tells me he means
to lend himself to the teachers most gener-
ously. I hope this may yet be added at some
future time, for the warerooms seem des-
tined to become very popular. The ceiling
and walls and the main floor are deliciously
cool and restful to the eye with the delicate
tinting of green and soft gold by skillful
Italian artisans, and I felt like the big bear,
the little bear and middling size bear in the
story book, who tried all the beds and ate
up all the porridge, for each piano in its shin-
ing case was a temptation to my fingers, and
as Mr. Allen bade me "good night," I
thought I had never seen a more enterpris-
ing and attractive place of business, and suc-
cess seemed beaming ahead of him in the
future as it has been in the past in a long
business career.
Mrs. Stroud, wife of Edward Stroud,
superintendent emeritus at the Weber fac-
tory, died on Friday last at her home, 321
West Nineteenth street, in this city, after an
illness of about two weeks. The funeral ser-
vices were held on Monday at the Stroud
residence. The interment took place at
Greenwood on Tuesday. She was in her
seventieth year.
TAX ON TRAVELERS ABOLISHED.
At the last session of the legislative coun-
cil in Jamaica, an act was passed and signed
by the Governor abolishing the tax of $60.90
on the commercial travelers selling pianos
or other wares, but not spirits; the advocates
of the sale of the latter had to pay a tax
of $109.49. During the existence of the law
many salesmen arrived in the island intend-
ing to transact business, but, owing to what
they considered an excessive tax for a stay
of a week or a fortnight, they left without
selling any of their wares.
Mr. Mueller, of Julius Bauer & Co.. Chi-
cago, sails for Europe on June 24th.