Music Trade Review

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VOL. XLI. No. 7.
Pablished Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at \ Madison Ave., New York, Attg. 19, 1905.
NOT ALARMED BY YELLOW FEVER. tion Committee which recommends as to the kind
Werlein Reassures His Fellow Members—Traf-
fic Manager Moore Reports on the Western
Classification
Meeting—The Piano Trade
Association Now Fully Recognized by the
Railroads—All Suggestions from the Trade
Should be Made Officially to Insure At-
tention.
(Supplied by Chairman Press Committee.)
Traffic Manager Thomas C. Moore has reported
to the officers of the National Association of
Piano Dealers of America the results of the re-
cent meeting of the Western Classification Com-
mittee at Charlevoix, Mich. In a letter of con-
siderable length he states:
"The only thing done in which we were inter-
ested was a recommendation by the chairman of
the Classification Committee in regard to the
kind and size of lumber to be used in shipping
unboxed pianos in carloads. They require such
lumber as will not permit pianos to break loose
from their moorings and become damaged in tran-
sit. It is to the interest of the piano trade that
such action should be taken, and I agreed with
the chairman of the committee to accept his
recommendation.
"There were two matters on the docket of the
committee, filed by outside parties with indi-
vidual members of the committee, but they were
acted on adversely. As I stated to you before, I
think that if the manufacturers and dealers de-
sire to secure results, the best plan would be to
have all applications before the Classification
Committee come through me. Where they are
filed by individuals, without my knowledge of
the facts, I am unable to argue in their favor, or
to do any work towards securing the desired re-
sults. I think some of the committee are in-
clined to stand by me in my recommendations
and suggestions, and if a matter comes before
the committee in which I do not seem to be in-
terested, which is not filed by me, they look
upon it as being of little importance."
In commenting upon Mr. .Moore's report, Philip
Werlein, president of our association, has the
following to say:
"The special point to which I desire to call
attention is that this association is now recog-
nized by the railroads of this country, and that
any suggestions or changes brought before them
by members of the trade and not indorsed by
this association through its traffic manager are
very likely to receive harsh treatment.
"This association is handling these matters
comprehensively and satisfactorily, and every
firm interested in the music trade can certainly
afford to pay the small fee that we require for
membership in our organization, and where they
will not do it. and independently request freight
concessions, it is practically impossible for them
to obtain results unless they send representatives
to the meetings in person, which can only be
. done at a tremendous expense and then without
any guarantee of results.
"We do not desire to be placed on record as a
stumbling block to such independent requests
for adjustments, but we certainly do desire to
be placed on record as not. having any interest
whatsoever in any such moves or suggestions.
"The present ruling of the Western
of lumber to be used in unboxed shipments is a
substitute ruling for one that was contemplated
to forbid the shipping of any pianos except in
boxes.
"By having this ruling made in the shape that
it is the piano interests of the country are cer-
tainly saved $50,000 per annum, and that is a
very conservative amount, as boxes cost $4.50.
and the freight on them certainly averages $2
each, practically all of which is saved."
Many of the members of the trade have been
more or less solicitous concerning the safety of
our president on account of the reports of the
existence of yellow fever in the city of New
Orleans. In reply to a personal letter on the
subject, Mr. Werlein reassures his correspondent
as follows:
"For your information, this town is not in-
fested with yellow fever. Cases have appeared
in about forty homes occupied by foreigners, and
250 cases have been the result, with fifty deaths.
While trade is seriously affected and the situa-
tion is considered very serious, we are not
alarmed, and congratulate ourselves upon the
fact that we have neither bubonic plague, as San
Francisco has, nor sunstroke, as Philadelphia
has, and our death rate, notwithstanding the
fever, is the lowest that has ever been known in
New Orleans."
OEISSLER'S RETIREMENT REGRETTED.
His Old Friends in San Francisco Regret to
Learn of His Permanent Residence in the
East—A Compliment Paid Him by a San
Francisco Paper—Will Receive a Princely
Salary from the Victor Co.
(Spccinl by Wire to The Review.)
San Francisco, Cal., Aug. 12, 1905.
Referring to Louis R. Geissler's retirement
from the firm of Sherman, Clay & Co., which was
announced in The Review of last week, the fol-
lowing excellent article referring to Mr. Geissler
appeared in a recent issue of the San Francisco
Chronicle, which announcement of his important
change was the first notice that his friends had
of it:
"CHANGE IN THE BUSINESS WORLD."
"Louis F. Geissler Will Go East to Accept a
Position, with a Princely Compensation."
San Francisco's loss is Philadelphia's gain.
Louis F. Geissler, a managing partner of Sher-
man, Clay & Co. for over twenty years, retires
from that firm to accept a position in Philadel-
phia of great importance and at a salary which,
it is said, is but little less than that of the Presi-
dent of the United States. The choice for the
important position fell upon him as a fit recog-
nition of the sterling worth, one of San Fran-
cisco's brightest business men and one of whom
his friends may well feel proud. Mr. Geissler,
after much hesitancy, has consented to accept
the position of business manager of the Victor
Talking Machine Co., of Philadelphia, the great-
est institution of its kind in the world. It is
with considerable regret on all sides that ho
severs his connection with old business asso-
ciates and numerous friends. Twenty-three
years' continuous residence in San Francisco has
SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS.
$2.00 PER YEAR. .
made him a most enthusiastic Californian. From
the burden and responsibilities of his extensive
business he found recreation in indulging his
tastes as a sportsman, and no hunter or sports-
man appreciates the beauties of nature in Cali-
fornia more than does he. But he does not bid
California adieu forever, for he hopes to return
to the Golden Gate after a few years, perhaps to
remain. He is going to a wider field of useful-
ness, and the Victor Co. is to be congratulated
upon having secured so able and popular a man
for its manager as Mr. Geissler; while he ought
to appreciate the fact that the choice has fallen
upon him, of all able men in the United States,
to assume management of so important and ex-
tensive an enterprise.
Mr. Geissler is well and favorably known
throughout America and Europe, where his busi-
ness interests "have frequently called him as one
of the most indefatigable workers in the music
trade; a man of ideas and rare good judgment,
and the results of his efforts on the Pacific Slope
have been patent to all followers of the music
trade.
A little romance, the culmination of which is
hastened by this change of residency, and not
less important, is the fact which has just been
whispered that Arthur Geissler, the son, popu-
larly known at Stanford during his football days
as "Art," and who has been identified with his
father and with Sherman, Clay & Co. since gradu-
ating from college, is planning to carry with him
to Philadelphia, as his bride, Miss Carol Moore,
the beautiful and only daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
George A. Moore, and a very intimate friend of
Miss Eleanore Geissler, the charming daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Geissler. The engagement
of Arthur Geissler and Miss Moore will be an-
nounced at a tea to be given to-day at the Moore
residence on Broadway.
Upon interview by your correspondent, Mr.
Geissler modestly modifies all the above praise
and refuses to arrogate to himself all the honors
heaped upon him by the newspaper. He claims
that the Victor Talking Machine Co. has only
added one more worker to its staff of managers.
With Mr. Geissler's acquaintance and friendship
among the largest jobbers and dealers and his
knowledge of their requirements, gained by his
own long experience as a Victor jobber, his in-
fluence should prove very powerful in maintain-
ing the amity'of feeling and cordial appreciation
of the mutual interests between the factory and
its selling agents. And the mere fact that Mr.
Geissler, to accept this position, relinquished a
position of managing partner in one of the larg-
est houses in the country for the talking machine
business, is evidence of the strongest kind of
his confidence in the stability, development and
great future of the talking machine, and es-
pecially for goods of the artistic nature and
quality of those made by the Victor people. The
Victor talking machine department of Sherman,
Clay & Co. has gained steadily since its introduc-
tion, and is gaining more rapidly this year than
ever before. The department has assumed an
importance almost beyond credence, and Mr.
Geissler is of the opinion that every other music
house in the country that gives this article the
attention which its merits deserve Is meeting
with a like success,