Music Trade Review

Issue: 1903 Vol. 36 N. 24

mm
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
V O L . x x x v i . No. 24.
PatiMGil Every Sal, ly Edward Lyman Bill at 1 Madison Aye., New Tort, June 13,1903.
OUR EXPORT AND IMPORT TRADE.
[Specially Prepared for The Review.]
Washington, D. C, June 8, 1903.
The summary of exports and imports of
the commerce of the United States for the
month of April, 1903, the latest period
for which it has been compiled, has just been
issued by the Treasury Department. The
figures relating to the music trade industry
are as follows:
The dutiable imports of musical instru-
ments during April amounted to $86,-
033 as compared with $80,876 worth of in-
struments which were imported the 1 same
rronth of 1902. The ten months' total,
ending April, shows importations valued
at $908,535, as against $860,266 worth of
musical instruments imported during the
same period of 1902. This gives an increase
in imports for the ten months ending April
of $48,269.
The import figures for the ten months'
neriod for the three years are as follows:
1901, $811,676; 1902, $860,266; 1903, $908,-
535-
The total domestic exports of musical in-
struments for April, 1903, amounted to
$284,360, as compared with $383,083, which
w 3 the value of the instruments exported
the same month of the previous year. The
ten months' exportation of musical instru-
ments amounted to $2,759,699, against
$3,176,926 for the same period of 1902. This
shows a decrease in exports for the ten
months ending April of $417,227.
The export figures for the ten months
are as follows: 1901, $2,247,279; 1902,
$3,176,926; 1903, $2,759,699.
Of the aggregate exportations in April
there were 1,226 organs, valued at $86,970,
as compared with 1,567 organs in 1902 val-
ued at $120,530. The ten months total
shows that we exported 14,017 organs val-
ued at $965,760, as against 14,761 valued
at $1,052,913 for the same period in 1902,
and 14,389 valued at $968,247 for the same
period in 1901.
In April, 1903, we exported 182 pia-
nos, valued at $35,989, as against 180 pia-
nos valued at $34,049 in April, 1902.
The ten months' total exports show 1,685
pianos, valued at $348,297, as compared with
1,882 valued at $354,383 exported in the
same period in 1902, and 1,398 valued at
$282,754 for the same period in 1901.
The value of "all other instruments and
parts thereof" sent abroad during April,
1903, amounted to $161,451, in the same
month of 1902 their value was estimated
at $228,504. The total exports for the ten
months under this heading foot up $1,445,-
642, as against $1,769,630 exported during
the same period of 1902, and $996,278 ex-
ported during the same period of 1901. This
shows a decrease for 1903 over the previous
year of $323,988.
A PEASE FIFTY YEARS OLD.
The Pease Piano Co. have been display-
ing in their warerooms, 128 West Forty-sec-
ond street, a Pease piano which they recently
secured in exchange for a sale made to a
party in Tarrytown, N. Y. This piano was
numbered 32 and had been in one family in
that place for over fifty years. The instru-
ment, which is practically all hand made, is
an excellent example of the pianos made by
C. D. Pease, the first.
When we consider that the Pease pianos
turned out to-day are numbered above 70,-
000, one can get a fair idea of the large num-
ber of these instruments which are in use in
this country. And it is only correct to say
that wherever they are used they are liked.
THE POPULAR "ANGELUS."
There is little to relate regarding the
progress of the Angelus piano player
made by the Wilcox & White Co. At
home and abroad it continues to win its
way into a larger degree of favor all the
time. The improvements embodied in the
latest Angelus styles are highly praised by
all discriminating dealers, and "demonstra-
tors." They give the Angelus a control
over the keyboard that is in every respect
human.
CREDIT MEN'S ANNUAL CONVENTION.
The National Association of Credit Men
held its annual convention in St. Louis
on the 9th, 10th and n t h inst, when very
important questions touching legislation and
betterments for creditor and debtor were
discussed. The seven previous conventions
effected great good to the mercantile com-
munity, and this will be none the less bene-
ficial to the business world.
The National Association numbers about
5,000 members in thirty-four local associa-
tions, that of New York, naturally, being the
greatest.
The J. C. Soward Co., of Dayton, O., have
found business so satisfactory that they are
now considering the erection of a new build-
ing. They handle the Weber, Kroeger,
Poole, Henry and S. G. Lindeman, Need-
ham, Haines & Co., Bailey and other instru-
ments.
SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS.
$a.oo PER YEAR.
SECOND=CLASS MAIL DECISION.
Department Officers Say It Assures a Self-Sustain-
ing Postal Service.
The long-standing contention of the Post
Office Department that novels and other
writings published in the form of periodicals
were not entitled to the use of the mails at
second-class rates, like newspapers and mag-
azines, was sustained by the Court of Ap-
peals of the District of Columbia on Friday.
According to Postmaster-General Payne and
other officers of the Department, this deci-
sion practically assures a self-sustaining
postal service.
The decision was in the test cases of
Houghton, Mifflin & Co., of Boston, publish-
ers of the "Riverside Literature Series," and
the Bates & Guild Co., of Boston, publishers
of "Masters in Music." The Riverside Lit-
erature Series had been issued for many
years, and had been accepted by previous
Postmasters-General as mail matter of the
second class.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals
sweeps away the contention that the Post-
master-General is bound by any decision of
his predecessors in accepting matter under
a wrong classification, and restores to him
the authority which he has all along been
allowed to exercise without question, until
the reform in the second-class mail matter
was undertaken, when the courts were in-
voked to prevent him. The decision leaves
him free to classify the mail matter accord-
ing to his judgment and discretion as to the
true meaning of the law.
The court held that a book or set of books
cannot be converted into a periodical publi-
cation by the ingenuity of the publisher in
inventing a serial name or a literary title and
numbering the books consecutively. The de-
cision will affect a great number of alleged
periodical publications which are in fact
book 3.
CANTRELL'S FINE BUILDING.
The Cantrell Piano Co., of Charleston,
W. Va., will move into a new building in
that city about August 1. Their new quar-
ters will be splendidly equipped and their
facilities will enable them to carry about one
hundred pianos. They will use the entire
four-story building, utilizing one floor for a
recital hall. The Cantrell Piano Co. carry
the Chickering, Knabe, Weber, Everett,
Sohmer, Hobart M. Cable and Harvard
pianos, the Estey, Mason & Hamlin, Stevens
and Burdett organs and the Pianola.
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
6
MUSIC TRADE
TH
REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN
BILL,
EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.
J. B. S P I L L A N E
if it were not known that anything of the sort was quite out of the
question.
Basing the conclusion on these premises and on other reports
it may be said that the prosperity of the country at the present
time is on approximately a fifteen per cent, basis of increase which
is large enough to be satisfactory without being so great that it
can be construed as unhealthy.
A S the Dealers' National Association becomes stronger, it will
MANAGING EDITOR.
EXECUTIVE STAFF :
THOS. CAMPBELL-COPELAND
ftEO. TV KKLU.U
W. MURDOCH LIXD
A. EDMUND HANSON.
REVIEW
exercise a more important influence on the selling depart-
EMIL.TK FRANCES BAUER
(JEO. W. QUER1PEL
A. J. NICKL1N
Published Every Saturday at I Madison Avenue, New Y o r k . *
SUBSCRIPTION (Including postage), United State*, Mexico and Canada, | 2 . 0 0 per
year; all other countries, f-i.OO.
ADVERTISEMENTS, f 2.00 per Inch, single column, p*>> insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount la allowed. Advertising Pages $50.00 ; opposlU
reading matter, f 7R.00.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman BUI.
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter,
ment of the industry, and it will undoubtedly bring about many
needed reforms in the retailing of pianos.
If a dealer through
surreptitious
methods
obtains
pianos
which are regularly carried by his local competitor and advertises
them at cut rate prices what shall be done with him?
Shall he be expelled from the Association, or shall his methods
be passed by without a protest?
NEW YORK, JUNE J3, 1903.
Will there be men who will say that they see nothing wrong
TELEPHONE NUnBER, I74S-EIOHTEENTH STREET.
THE
On the first Saturday of each month The Review contains in Its
ARTISTS'
"Artists' Dep^lrt^lent" all the current musical news, This U
nE-BKEt-ru
-r effected without In any way trespa«Hing on the size or service
DEPARTMENT of the trade section of the paper. Jt liax a special circulation, and
therefore augments materially the value of The lie view to advertisers.
The directory of piano manufacturing firms and corpora-
CIRECTORY
tlons found
on page 29 will be of great value as a reference for
d l
d
0F PIANO
h
MANUFACTURERS
in advertising a piano at any price provided the advertiser is will-
ing to sell the instrument at the prices named to the first caller who
comes to inspect it and expresses a willingness to purchase?
These rules are conceded to be correct in regular lines of
merchandising, but it would seem to us that stronger measures
should be taken to prevent occurrences of this sort.
The dealer
who finds that his competitor can procure instruments which he
sells regularly and can offer them at practically wholesale rates in
EDITORIAL
his territory, will grow lukewarm in his work in the interests of
J
U N E has opened fairly well notwithstanding many things which
have occurred to act as a detriment to business.
The drought
in the East, the floods in the West, tornadoes in the South and
the piano which can be secured so easily and offered at such prices
as to destroy the reputation which he has created for it.
HT* H E strict legality of a deal of this kind no one can question
*
various strikes and lockouts have all contributed to holding back
because whether there is a profit or not in selling a piano is
entirely the concern of the seller, and following out the same line
business.
The situation as a whole, however, is far from unfavorable.
of argument we might say that he has a right to advertise any
With all due allowance, the heaviest wheat yield on record is
merchandise which he possesses at whatsoever prices he may elect.
still possible and the average crops of corn, oats and cotton may
That might be true in many lines outside of pianos, but unless
be realized.
Higher prices for farm products of all kinds favor
more compensation to producers from this source.
The great West will require many pianos to keep up with the
there are strenuous measures adopted to remove this sort of
juggling from the retail department of trade, manufacturers will
find that their interests will suffer materially.
The dealer who is
The drought in New England and in New York hap-
doing his utmost to build up a name and reputation for his instru-
pily has been broken, and while cereal crops, hay and dairy products
ments locally must be supported to the extent of blocking avenues
have been injured yet the trade situation has materially improved
through which his opponent may obtain instruments of which he
in that section of late.
is the regularly accredited representative.
demand.
I
N the Northwest crop conditions have been almost perfect, and
Inasmuch as no retailer can afford to cut the life out of his
one advantage of this great big country of ours lies in the fact
regular staples, he is not going to be enthusiastic over instruments
that while some sections may be severely hit another may advance
which can be sold in his town at cut rates.
to such a point that it more than outweighs the losses which oc-
I
curred in sections that were hit by droughts or floods.
Railroads are busy, and the gross earnings for May were about
twelve per cent, over 1902.
T is time now for the regular dealer to get his thinking cap on,
and figure how he is going to turn the summer into one of
profit. '
What is the best thing to be done ?
This drift of gain is found to correspond with current reports
If business is to be obtained the usual method in the piano
from other sources including the United States Government Post
line is to force it, for it is conceded that in no other line of mer-
Office reports.
It is a curious fact that the gains and receipts of
chandising is there required the amount of work to develop sales
the post offices of the Union and the gains in gross earnings of
that is necessary according to the present methods of conducting
the railroads are so close to the same ratio of increase that one
piano retailing.
would thkik that there had been some juggling with the figures
Too frequently the way to force piano selling is found by the

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