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THE
7VtVSIC TRKDE
REVIEW
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. B. KELLER
EMILIE FRANCES BAUER
GEO. W. QUERIPEL
A. J. NICKLIN
* Published Every Saturday at I Madison Avenue, New Y o r k . *
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reading matter, $75.00.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill.
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
NEW YORK, JANUARY 10,1903.
TELEPHONE NUHBER, 1745-EIOHTEENTH STREET.
REVIEW
and well paid, with gigantic aggregations of capital, supplying
sinews of industrial effort more lavishly than ever before."
Last year we figured that we had reached almost the high-
water mark, and that a decline was inevitable.
This year many
people figure the same, but it does not seem as if the tide has reached
the point from which it would begin to recede.
r
HERE is one thing, however, which is inevitable, and that is
T
an adjustment of prices in all departments.
In our own in-
dustry the piano manufacturer has been forced to pay more and
more for all materials which enter into the composition of his in-
struments. Msny did not feel the grind during 1902, owing to the
fact that they had certain contracts which provided them the deliv-
ery of certain materials at the old market prices, These contracts,
or most of them, expired with the year, or will not be operative a
short time from the present day.
Therefore, how they can con-
tinue to supply instruments at the old rates when they have to pay
not only a fair percentage more, but in many instances thirty, forty
TH E
On the first Saturday of each month The Review contains in its
ARTISTS'
"Artists' Department" all the current musical news. This is
'
effected without in any way trespassing on the size or service
DEPARTMENT of the trade section of the paper. I t has a special circulation, and
therefore augments materially the value of The Review to advertisers.
and fifty per cent more, is one of the problems which the American
The directory of piano manufacturing firms and corpora
DIRECTORY
tlons found on page 31 will be of great value as a reference for
OF PIANO
dealers and others.
MANUFACTURERS
HE advance in labor, in lumber, in hardware, has been marked
piano manufacturer has propounded for his solution.
T
and will probably continue to advance, as there is not the
slightest indication of a decrease in price of any of the staples of
EDITORIAL,
to-day.
Common lumber such as is used for the making of piano
boxes alone has gone up to such a point that the difference in cost
I N point of material prosperity 1902 has been without a parallel
of boxing pianos when there are thousands shipped by single firms,
*
amounts to a good deal of increase in the aggregate.
in the history of the music trade industry, and has added an-
The probability is that felts will advance materially. Sub-
other period of twelve months to the cycle of activity which began
with the advent of 1898.
In the annals of the industry 1902 will stand conspicuous for
stantial advances in price of wool have already been indicated, and
it is generally believed that the large demand for wool will cause
vitality and strength of trade in both wholesale and retail depart-
a still further increase in its price.
ments, for the highest records of production and distribution and
felt will undoubtedly be compelled to advance their prices.
Just now one of the most pressing demands of the times is
for general prosperity with all its attendant blessings.
We have become so accustomed to using superlatives to ex-
Hence the manufacturers of
a readjustment of prices.
press the breaking of records from month to month that the vocab-
T ABOR has never been so well paid as in the past two or three
ulary seems barren when the year's developments are viewed as a
*—* years and employers have repeatedly made voluntary advances
whole.
in wages when conditions warranted, so that the increase in the
"\ X 7 E should not be unmindful of the fact that recent happen-
labor bill alont on pianos during the past four years has been con-
ings are ever magnified by close proximity, and it is only
siderable, and it would seem that men should recognize the fact
when seen in perspective that figures assume their normal relative
that employers have their best interests at heart and will accord
proportions, presenting a more harmonious picture with richer col-
them that treatment in wages and other matters that faithful duty
oring.
warrants.
* '
It has been contended that little profit would be derived from
They will not, however, permit them to dictate as to whom
marshalling the ghosts of the past, but it is only by reviewing his-
they shall employ in various departments of their business, neither
tory that we are able to make deductions as a guide for future move-
will they discharge men for no other purpose in the world than
ments and department probabilities.
because they do not affiliate with labor organizations.
I N T E R E S T now centers on the outlook for 1903 and the dawn of
' T ' H E R E are new features being introduced into the labor problem.
the new year sees an almost cloudless sky with every promise
of favoring breezes.
No one can write or read of this country's
*
The National Association of Manufacturers—not the piano
association—is emphasizing the need of organization among man-
marvelous progress, or study the figures that stand for increased
ufacturers in all lines. This move is gaining considerable support,
increment of wealth and national power without feeling a thrill of
and organized labor has been led to believe that it was impossible
pride in the fact that he is an American.
for the manufacturers to organize.
The history of this country for four years past has been "one
If organization is good for the men it should be good for the
of bounteous harvest, of fabulous riches dug from the earth, of
manufacturers, and the whole tendency towards organization in
extreme fruitfulness of farm and mine. It is a story of busy shops
all branches of the productive and distributive industries is becom-
and mills.
ing more pronounced daily.
In every corner of the country labor is well employed