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THE: MUSIC TRADE
EXT fall if the programme as now planned is carried out there
will be two music trade expositions, one held at the Coliseum
in Chicago, and one at the Madison Square Garden in New York.
The men behind the enterprises state that they have ample capital
to carry out their plans on a scale which will attract public
attention.
It is proposed that a display of musical exhibits of every descrip-
tion will be made, and the purpose of these expositions is not only to
show the evolution in musical instruments, but to demonstrate par-
ticular improvements which have been made in specialty lines during
the past few years. The promoters announce that they propose to
make the music trade expositions an annual event. It will require
a good deal of publicity and some special attractions in order to in-
terest our people in a large way so that the daily attendance will pay
the exhibitors for their monetary outlay. On the whole the ex-
periment is one which will be viewed with considerable interest by
those interested in the exploitation of the American musical industry.
N
LTHOUGH scarcely up to expectations, at least in one import-
ant particular the July crop estimates of the Government indi-
cate a remarkably favorable condition on the Western farmlands.
The corn product gives evidence of a record breaking yield, and to
help the business prospects of the country the indications now point
to a general crop above the average. A successful agricultural sea-
son is of more than usual importance this year, because the business
of the country stands in need of just such powerful impetus to start
forward upon another period of activity. In view of this fact the
present crop estimates will undoubtedly assist great:y in the restora-
tion of confidence which for the last few months has been making
rapid progress.
A
HE commercial failures for the first half of the year have been
compiled by R. G. Dun & Co. from their reports. While
the result is at first glance unfavorable, closer examination shows
conditions that are quite encouraging.
The number of commercial insolvencies in the United States for
the first six months of 1904 was 6,214, with indebtedness amounting
to $79,490,909. In the first half of 1903 there were 5,628 failures,
with liabilities of $66,797,260.
Of the foregoing, 1,463, with losses of $27,418,992, were manu-
facturing suspensions, against 1,208 failures of similar character,
with liabilities of $26,135,144, in the first half of the last year.
The merchandising insolvencies were 4,482 in number, involving
$34,270,584, as against 4,038, involving $30,544,443 in the first half
of 1903.
T
T is important to note that the increase in liabilities occurred in
the first quarter of the year, each month making a better show-
ing than its immediate predecessor. Hence, it would appear that
most of the weak spots were disclosed and eliminated in the opening
months, leaving the present position much stronger. Thus, the total
liabilities of commercial failures for June were only $8,469,502, as
compared with $18,483,573 in January.
Taking the second quarter separately, the failures were more
numerous than in 1903, but the liabilities declined to $31,424,188,
against $48,066,721 in the first three months of 1904, while there is
a decrease of more than a million dollars in comparison with the
liabilities during the second quarter of 1903.
I
HE large increase in banking failures, which in the first half of
the present year numbered 59, with losses of $17,057,106, as
against 44, involving $6,495,716, in the corresponding period of 1903,
is attributable in part, at least, to fire insurance insolvencies growing
out of the Baltimore fire and similar disasters in other cities, and
which were in no way attributable to the business situation.
T
""T* HE failures which have occurred in this trade are comparatively
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small and unimportant. There are one or two concerns which
had long been looked upon as financially weak which have suc-
cumbed recently to the inevitable. However, as a whole it must be
conceded that the music trade interests of the country seem well forti-
fied behind financial fortifications which seems impregnable. Per-
haps the general stability of the trade was never more generally rec-
ognized than to-day.
N authority states in reference to a recent editorial in The Re-
view anent trade-marks that any manufacturer who is first to
adopt and use a trade-mark for a particular class of merchandise can
A
REVIEW
maintain his rights in the courts of any State, or if he is a citizen of
another State in the Courts of the United States, without registering
it either in the office of the State or at Washington. The exclusive
right of the first user of a trade-mark cannot be taken from him by
its registration by another manufacturer, therefore it is neither neces-
sary nor in most cases is it useful to register domestic trade-marks
with the offices of the several States.
T
HE public hardly needs to be told that the craze for organizing
great industrial corporations has run its course. That fact
has been patent for some time. The tremendous decline in industrial
stocks last year, the failures of some large corporations launched with
glittering prospects, the exposures of promoters' methods in the
courts and the publication of the dismal results of numerous under-
writing syndicates have pretty thoroughly demonstrated to all who
read the current news that for some time at least the path of the or-
ganizer or promoter of schemes for merging industrial properties
will be anything but smooth. Some figures bearing upon this subject
have recently been published, however, which are quite interesting.
The movement first began to attract national attention in 1898, when
consolidations were formed in several branches of the iron and steel
trade, whose great financial success induced similar undertakings to
be launched in other industries. They were comparatively modest,
their capitalization usually ranging from $30,000,000 to $50,000,000,
although a few ran as high as $100,000,000 or more.
UT there was enough of them in all trades to make an aggregate
capitalization for that year of about $4,000,000,000. That stu-
pendous amount was exceeded in 1899, when the total capitalization
of such corporations ran somewhat over $5,000,000,000. From that
high point the total for subsequent years gradually receded, falling
to $3,000,000,000 in 1902 and a much lower figure in 1903. This
year, it is stated, the capitalization of new corporations throughout the
entire country may not reach $1,000,000,000, so far not a single in-
dustrial company having applied for authority to capitalize as high as
$50,000,000. For some time it has only been practicable to form con-
solidations by the owners of the merging companies taking all the
stock in the greater corporation. It has been impossible to market
any of the securities. Under such circumstances bankers are unwill-
ing to engage in industrial underwriting, as they look for their profit
in selling to the public. Hence new projects of this character are
limited and will continue to be so until the public has forgotten its
experience of the past year or two. This will take time.
B
NE manufacturer who has visited The Review booth at St.
Louis, writes: "1 consider that you are conducting at the
World's Fair the most important work ever carried on by a trade
publication, and you certainly deserve great credit for your enterprise,
which necessarily means the outlay of a considerable sum of money."
It is indeed very gratifying to receive the many compliments
which are sent to us from various sources upon our work
in exploiting some knowledge of music trade affairs among the visit-
ing thousands at the world's greatest Exposition. Then, too, the
press in widely separated sections of the country has given our work
extended notice.
O
N one week there appeared in the various papers throughout the
land more than a hundred notices relating to The Review work
and to the World's Fair Number. Here is a sample taken from a
conservative paper Jike the Brooklyn Times under date of July 9th:
"A special World's Fair number of the Music Trade Review-
has been brought out by Edward Lyman Bill. Besides giving gen-
eral information about the St. Louis Exposition this number is some-
thing more than a review of the music trade. It is not merely an
exploitation of commercial interests, but devotes considerable space
to telling the story of music in America and to the discussion of
special topics of interest to those who wish to be well-informed. The
allotment of space to different articles is discreetly adjusted to the
artistic and industrial phases of musical expression and instrumental
production and this commends itself with its fund of solid informa-
tion. A special feature is a symposium of opinions from prominent
musicians. There are many illustrations/'
I
PIANO dealer from the Soutn writes to The Review that
the commercial and industrial prosperity of the South has
just begun, and that the people in his locality are now beginning to
wake up as to the South's advantages as an agricultural and manu-
facturing section.
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