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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Editor and Proprietor.
EDWARD LYMAN BILL,
W
J. B. SP1LLANE, M*n«*lng Hdlt.r.
EXECVTIVE STAFF:
THOt.
,
Gxo.
BOSTON OFFICE:
E u i x n L. WAITT, 855 Washington St.
PHILADELPHIA OFFICE:
R. W. KAUFFMAN.
B. KXIXXR,
E M X U I FRANCXS BAUER,
A. J. NlCKXIN,
W. MURDOCH LIND,
Gxo.
W. QUXRIML.
CHICAGO OFFICE:
E. P. VAN HARLINGXN, SO La Salle St.
MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL:
R. J. LKFXBVRX.
5T. LOUIS OFFICE :
CHAS. N. VAN BUKXN.
SAN FRANCISCO OFFICE: ALFRED MKTZGXR, 425-487 Front St.
Published Every Saturday at 1 Nadison Avenue, New York.
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
SVBSCRIPTION (including postage), United States, Mexico and Canada, $2.00 per
year; all other countries, $4.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount is allowed. Advertising Pages, $50.00; opposite
reading matter, $75.00.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill.
THE ARTISTS'
DEPARTMENT
On the first Saturday of each month The Review contains in its
"Artists' Department" all the current musical news. This is effected
without in any way trespassing on the size or service of the trade
section of the paper. It has a special circulation, and therefore aug-
ments materially the value of The Review to advertisers.
M I r r T A D v J i i t u A The
directory of piano manufacturing firms and corporations
found o n
u.«.Vw.Tn V c
another page will be of great value, as a reference for
MANUFACTURERS
dealers and others.
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONE-NUMBER 1745 GRAMERCY.
NEW YORK, DEC. 17. 1904.
EDITORIAL
T
HERE is no taint on any of the awards granted exhibitors in
the music trade section at the World's Fair so recently closed.
They have been worthily won and granted through merit, and the
publicity that has recently been given World's Fair awards in the
columns of the daily papers has no bearing upon the music trade
section. The scandal relates directly to some brewing corporations,
one of whose representatives, it is alleged, was approached with the
proposition to deliver a gold medal for $1,500.
We make this statement so that it may be thoroughly understood
that there is a flawless title to all awards granted to the industry to
which The Review directly appeals.
HATTING with one of the foreign jurors at the World's Fair,
he remarked that in comparison with European exhibitors,
and especially those of France, Americans are prone to overlook the
services rendered by workmen.
This is a foreign view, and not our own, for it is difficult to
believe that of employers in this country, where so much deference
is shown to what is termed "labor." This same juror asserted that
in the schedules given, many European firms gave names of em-
ployes as being entitled to awards in case the principal exhibit was
deemed worthy of mention. And one of the highest officials of the
French Government, M. Picard, impressed upon the French jurors
the desirability and necessity of taking proper cognizance of the
value of the services of the workingman.
It will be remembered that in the splendid awards which the
Baldwin Co. received at Paris, in 1900, a number of special depart-
ment men were individually honored. So thoroughly imbued with
this advice were the French jurors that they made a determined
stand for the workmen as collaborators, even when their principals
were not in competition for prizes, owing to their service on the juries
of awards or through other official connection with the Exposition.
C
T
seldom was the name of a workman mentioned unless he happened to
be the principal inventor.
The French position may be best explained in the fact that the
leaders of the French laboring classes are, very important factors in
the political situation, and on occasions may be said to hold the life
of the Government in their hands, which is not true of the labor
leaders in this country. That may be the impelling force in France,
or at least may influence the Government to take the position which
it does.
HEY argue that the workmen should not be deprived of their
just dues because their employers devoted some time and
talents to making the Fair a success. On the other hand, when an
American firm requested an award for individuals as collaborators,
E are prone to say that the various World's Fair cities show a
decline in general trade not only through the life of the
Exposition, but have a regular slump after the Exposition gates are
closed. Now an almost unprecedented increase in nearly every
branch of business conducted in St. Louis during the World's Fair
over that of the preceding year, is the result shown by the comparison
of statistics gathered and compiled by W. H. Roscher, the new
president of the St. Louis Furniture Board of Trade. He says that
in nearly every line of wholesale business there is an enormous in-
crease over 1903. The population enumerated by the census of 1900
that 575,000 has increased to 700,000, and it is reasonably certain
that on January 1, 1905, with the floating population disappearing,
St. Louis will have a stable population of 650,000.
H
E claims that two years ago America had but two cities that
were known in all parts of the world—New York and Chi-
cago. To-day, St. Louis, the fourth in size, has become the third
great American city in commercial importance.
URELY, such optimistic views must be encouraging to the men
of the World's Fail city, and from personal observations
gleaned after frequent visits to St. Louis during the past two years,
we are of the opinion that there will be no reactionary effects as the
result of the close of the Fair. St. Louis is the gateway to the great
Southwest, and the exposition will have a direct impelling force in
its future commercial growth and activity.
It seems more than passing strange that no piano factory worthy
of the name has ever lived in St. Louis. The natural conditions
certainly favor the city, and labor conditions are not dissimilar to
those of other great cities, and still it has never developed as a piano
manufacturing point.
In consequence of the publicity which it has received during the
past few months, we know of two or three concerns that are care-
fully considering the advisability of establishing piano manufacturing
plants in St. Louis.
S
L
EGAL controversy over patent rights, infringements and other
things directly relating to the manufacturing department of
the industry seems to be largely in evidence just at the present time.
Perhaps there never has been a period when so many important
suits were pending as at present. Well, the courts are the proper
places to settle matters of this kind, and not in the columns of the
trade newspapers. There is no reason, however, why a man should
immediately acquiesce with his neighbor's views as to dollars that
he says are due for alleged infringements of patents. A friendly
suit at law can easily determine the right of inventors in this matter.
In our opinion, however, the patent laws of the country are not
intended to protect an individual who does not exercise proper care
in protecting his own interests by allowing patents to practically
expire before bringing test suits.
B
USINESS men, more than ever before, are endeavoring to
secure some relaxation from the hard grind of trade, and there
is everywhere an obvious desire to slow down a bit from exacting
conditions.
Perhaps no stronger evidence can be brought forth to support
this statement than is furnished in the enormous sale of the book,
"The Simple Life," by Pastor Wagner, who recently sailed from our
shores. The presses have been working day and night to supply the
orders for this work, and its immense and continuing vogue in this
country is a good sign. It furnishes some indications of the reaction
against the artificial and complex existence under which a greater
proportion of Americans are forced, either by social emulation or
by the hope of finding satisfaction in the multiplication of external
conveniences and luxuries. That hope is one that always has been
and always will be disappointing, and Pastor Wagner's honest,
straightforward presentation of the old, unvarying alternative is a
mighty wholesome thing for Americans to read.