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THE
fflLflC TIRADE
VOL. XXXIX. No. 22. Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at I Madison Ave., New York, Nov. 26,1904.
SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS.
$2.00 PER YEAR.
NO REDUCTION IN DUTY ON PIANOS.
E. F. DROOP CELEBRATES
THE SMALL GRAND DEMAND.
The Revised Tariff for Philippine Islands Ig-
nores Musical Instruments—Piano Manufac-
turers Should Take Action on This Matter.
The Forty-seventh Anniversary of His Entry
Into the Piano Business.
These Instruments Have a Greater Call This
Year Than Ever Before—A Larger Market
Predicted.
(Special to The Review.)
Washington, D. C, Nov. 21, 1904.
For some time past the authorities in the Phil-
ippine Islands have been arranging for a new
and revised tariff which will be not only more
favorable to them, but also to the exporters in
the United States. Some details of the projected
revision of the present tariff have just reached
the War Department at Washington, but there is
no change proposed on the present rates in
pianos, organs and musical instruments which
remain as follows:
Item 235. Pianos: Concert grand, $100 each;
ordinary grand, $75 each; concert upright, square,
$50 each; ordinary upright, square, $30 each.
Item 236. Harmoniums and cabinet organs,
$10 each.
Item 237. Mechanical music boxes: Playing
three airs or less, 75 cents each; playing more
than three airs, $2.50 each.
Other musical instruments shall be dutiable ac-
cording to the principal component part thereof,
and in addition thereto, a surtax of 100 per cent.
The failure to incorporate any reduction in the
tariff on musical instruments is a matter that
should call for immediate action by the piano and
organ manufacturers of the United States, if they
are at all desirous of doing business in the near
future with our new possessions in the Far East.
Unless rates much more favorable are made it
will be impossible for American manufacturers,
particularly of musical instruments, to compete
with the French, Spanish and German concerns.
This is a subject which it seems to me the
piano manufacturers' National Association could
take up with some profit. A formal petition
praying for the reduction in duties on musical
instruments should be sent immediately to the
Bureau of Insular Affairs at the War Department
in order to insure consideration.
THE FOSTER-ARMSTRONG CO.'S ADVANCE.
The new factories of the Foster-Armstrong Co.,
which are being erected in Despatch, near Roches-
ter, N. Y., will probably be ready for occupancy
some time in the spring of next year. It is esti-
mated that this will be the greatest piano plant
in the world, as it will afford facilities for turning
out from 20,000 to 30,000 pianos a year.
Business with the great Rochester institution
is at top notch these days, their western trade,
under the management of E. P. Hawkins, being
particularly active. The general situation, as far
as it effects the Foster-Armstrong Co., at all
points in the United States is exceedingly satis-
factory.
A. W. Kroeger, treasurer of the Kroeger Piano
Co., has been elected a trustee of the town of
White Plains, N. Y., where Mr. Kroeger has long
resided and where he is highly respected. This
mark of appreciation is not surprising to anyone
who knows Mr. Kroeger's ability and sturdy
merits.
Edward F. Droop has been celebrating this
week the forty-seventh anniversary of his entry
into the music business in Washington, D. C.
In this connection a very interesting letter ap-
peared in the local papers in which is emphasized
in a very happy manner the part which Mr. Droop
has played in the musical advance of the Capi-
tol city.
Mr. Droop was born in Germany in 1837, and
soon after arriving in this country in 1857 he
went to Washington where he engaged in busi-
ness with the late W. G. Metzerott. In 1884 he
engaged in business for himself, and later his
two sons, Edward H. and Carl A. were taken into
partnership.
The Droop business is one of the most repre-
sentative in the country, and the line of pianos
include such well-known instruments as the
Steinway, Everett, Kranich & Bach, Mason &
Hamlin, Gabler, Crown, Mathushek & Son, Hunt-
ington and the Cecilian piano player.
TO FIQHT WESTERN FREIGHT RATES.
Governors Cummins, Vansant and La Follette
Have Conference With President.
(Special to The Review.)
Des Moines, la., Nov. 20, 1904.
Governor Cummins, of Iowa; Governor Van-
sant, of Minnesota, and Governor La Follette, of
Wisconsin, have formed a triumvirate to force
a revision of freight rates in the West, and for
that purpose will hold a conference with Presi-
dent Roosevelt this week.
Governor Cummins has gathered a large
amount of data, which he will present to the
President, showing that the present freight tariff
is inequitable. The trimuvirs will urge more
equitable rates for both communities and indi-
viduals, also that the Interstate Commerce Com-
mission be given more authority in this direc-
tion.
The railroads in the three States are up in
arms over the prospect. While they have sus-
pected that Governor Cummins would take some
action, they did not anticipate that La Follette
and Vansant would join the movement.
A close friend of Governor Cummins at Wash-
ington states that E. P. Bacon, of Milwaukee, will
represent La Follette in the conference to-day.
Cummins and Vansant arrived in Washington
last night.
There Is no mistaking the steady growth in
popularity of the small grand piano. Chatting
with several manufacturers this week, they re-
ported an unparalleled demand for these instru-
ments, one gentleman stating that he had been
practically "cleaned out" through receiving or-
ders within the past few days for fifteen small
grands. While the others had not received orders
as large as this, yet opinions solicited from ten
manufacturers revealed a total output of small
grands within a brief period that would really
surprise those who have not kept in touch with
its ascendency in popularity.
One of the manufacturers approached this week
said: "A notent illustration of the prosperity of
the country is revealed in this call for small
grands. It means that, there is a fashion in
pianos, as in everything else, and that the people
of means are purchasing grands in preference to
the upright, not so much because they are musi-
cally superior to the upright, but because the
latter is to-day becoming so popular as to be
found in the homes of the very humblest people.
On the other hand, there is a big army of people
keenly alive to and appreciative of the musical
merits of the grand piano and they are buying it
for its intrinsic musical worth. I believe," added
the manufacturer, "that the demand for the
grand piano is not transitory and that we are
only on the eve of a still larger market for these
instruments."
BUSY TIMES WITH BARCKHOFF CO.
The Barckhoff Church Organ Co., of Pom-
eroy, O., are this week erecting organs in the
M. E. Church, South, Memphis, Mo.; a large
tubular pneumatic organ in the church of the
Transfiguration, Mt. Pleasant, Pa., and a very
handsome organ for the music rooms of the Carl
Hoffman Music Co., Kansas City, Mo., which will
be used for recital and demonstration purposes.
They recently erected a magnificent instrument
in St. Joseph's Church, Crestline, O., which was
formally dedicated by Professor Rogers, on No-
vember 13th. This instrument has been highly
praised by experts.
IMPORTANT PATENT RULING.
An important decision has just been rendered
by the Commissioner of Patents to the effect that
"where an applicant for a patent has prosecuted
claims for one invention, he cannot subsequently,
FORGER GETS TWO YEARS IN PRISON.
after final rejection, or after that rejection has
been affirmed by an appellate tribunal, shift his
Chas. Kain, an ex-convict was sent to the Mary- ground and present for consideration in the same
land Penitentiary for two years on Monday last application claims for another and distinct in-
for forging the name of Chas. M. Stieff to a check vention.
for $12, which was drawn on the Fidelity & De-
posit Co., of Maryland. Kain evidently over-
GOES TO THE PHILIPPINES.
looked the fact that Chas. M. Stieff, whose name
he signed to the check, died a good many years
W. F. Wehland, who was formerly a piano
ago, while the present head of the firm is Fred P. dealer in Walnut, la., has gone to Manila, P. I.,
Stieff.
where he says he will open a piano store.