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THE
BILL OF LADING LEGISLATION.
Some Important Bills Before Congress Dealing
Particularly With the Actual Machinery of
Railway Shipments and Designed
More
Closely to Define and Limit the Responsi-
bilities of Common Carriers.
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
11
Transferees (banks, for instance) shall not become
liable as owners by warranty of quality, quantity or
condition.
And Its Application to Piano Architecture Dis-
Bills must be surrendered, and uusurrendered bills
continue negotiable notwithstanding delivery of goods.
cussed by S. J. Waring, One of England's
Bills signed by carriers' agents to be evidence of re-
Art Leaders.
ceiut, even where goods are not actually received.
Alterations, additions and. erasures void, except where
specially noted by carrier's agent.
S. J. Waring, one of the best known designers
The words "not negotiable" void where placed on a and decorators in England, arrived this week on
negotiable bill.
a visit to New York and other centers, and his
Negotiable bills must be issued where requested.
Among the multitude of measures designed to
regulate interstate commerce introduced in Con-
The provisions, it will be seen, are those which
gress during the present session, public attention suggest themselves to those who have occasion
has rather lost sight of those dealing more par- to or are requested to loan money on these in-
ticularly with the actual machinery of railway struments. Naturally there are objections made
shipments and designed more closely to define by both carriers and shippers to several of the
and limit the responsibilities of common car- above propositions. It would, however, seem,
riers. In this category might properly be placed says Bradstreets, as if one effect of this bill would
House Bill No. 15,846, introduced by Representa- be to bring the subject of bill of lading legisla-
tive Townsend, of Michigan, and widely known tion squarely before Congress and result in a
as the Negotiable Bill of Lading bill.
clearer codification of the present conflicting
It might be explained that for more than a state legislation on the subject, thus eventuating
year past committees representing the leading in good to the mercantile and financial commun-
trade organizations of the country and the rail- ity generally, by rendering more secure the en-
roads have been conferring on the question of a tire business of interstate commerce as conducted
uniform bill of lading which would be acceptable by means of this class of instruments. A further
to carriers, shippers and consignees of the vast hearing on the matter has been set by the com-
quantity of freight, consisting of food products mottee chairman for Tuesday, April 24, pending
and raw and manufactured goods, making up a which an agreement on the main features which
large part of the commerce of the country, which it is designed to cover may be possible between
seeks markets at home or abroad through the the three great parties in interest, namely, the
medium of the railways and other transporta- carriers, the shippers and the banks.
tion routes. While definite statistics of the vol-
ume of trade in this direction are naturally lack-
FILED CHARTER IN OHIO.
ing, it may be said at once that the business in-
volved is of immense proportions, and, directly
The Krotzer-Hetherington Co., of Youngstown,
or indirectly, touches practically every consumer has filed a charter with the secretary of the State
in the country. The movement of the leading of Ohio for the purpose of handling musical in-
crops to market alone is a very important item, struments. Incorporators: T. J. Hetherington,
and, of course, the ebb and flow of this trade, Max Gambossy, A. Krotzer, F. A. Krotzer and
financed as it largely is by the banks, who fur- J. P. Huxley. Capital $5,000.
nish the funds to move it upon bills of lading,
is of interest to every one. In addition, the ship-
ments of other raw materials and of the leading E. W. ALLEN RETIRING FROM BUSINESS.
products of American manufacture are largely
B. W. Allen, who has been in the piano busi-
financed some time or other through the medium ness for the past forty years in Eau Claire, Wis.,
of bills of lading.
is selling out his stock and retiring from busi-
Given the conceded necessity of moving the ness. He has been located for the past twenty-
vast business of the country through the medium seven years on Barstow and Grand Avenues, that
of credit instruments, there has grown up a sys- city.
tem of loaning of money for which the bill of
lading is the visible evidence. These bills are
THE MEHLIN IN LOS ANGELES.
generally of two kinds. One is known as the
straight bill, not usually negotiable, and the
J. T. Fitzgerald has secured the representation
other is known as the order bill, which gives the of the Mehlin piano for Los Angeles, Cal., and
holder by indorsement a right to the delivery of
vicinity. The deal was made during the recent
the property upon the production and surrender visit of F. H. Frazelle, the Mehlin ambassador.
of the bill. It has been the effort to agree upon This instrument was formerly handled in Los
forms, restrictions and regulations governing the Angeles by the Metropolitan Music Co., who were
receipt and delivery of the property mentioned recently bought out by the Wiley B. Allen Co.
in these bills which has kept the respective com-
mittees of carriers and shippers busy for some
THE MEHLIN IN LOS ANGELES.
time past, and regarding this it may be said that,
with a few minor differences left to settle, the
In The Review recently we commented on the
carriers and the shippers have come very close splendid campaign of publicity inaugurated by
to a final settlement.
Wm. Knabe & Co. in the leading magazines.
The measure under discussion, a hearing upon This outlay involves about $75,000, and is of a
which was had last week before the Committee on very high order of literary merit, and something
Interstate and Foreign Commerce of the House entirely original. The hackneyed advertising
of Representatives, is a measure designed to scheme is supplanted by interestingly written
meet some conceded and other asserted necessi- talks in a colloquial style which cannot fail to
ties for the better protection of the banking inter- make the reader acquainted with the high stand-
ests of the country, which fulfill the very import- ing of the Knabe pianos.
ant part of the entire transaction involved in
furnishing the money to move the freight within
DEATH OF A. W. CHANDLER.
and between the states. As at present conducted,
the claim is made by leading bankers that vary-
A. W. Chandler, lately manager of the Cable
ing laws of different states do not clearly or Company's branch in Goldsboro, N. C, died last
properly safeguard the interests of the banking week after a short illness. Mr. Chandler was
community, that they render fraud easily possi- connected with the piano trade for the past sev-
ble, as demonstrated by numberless instances in enteen years, and the greater portion of that
the past, and that they prevent the innocent hold- period was connected with the Cable institution.
ers of changed, or what is known as spent, bills His death is keenly regretted.
(such being those on which the goods have been
delivered, but for which the carriers have not
Chas. A. Darling, manager of Cluett & Sons'
secured the bills' surrender) from recovering establishment in North Adams, Mass., has pre-
the sums of money advanced to finance the sented a handsome Estey organ to the new Ital-
operation. The following summary of the pro- ian church on Holden street. The pastor has
visions of the pending bill before Congress will issued a letter thanking Mr. Darling.
illustrate the points the banks design to cover:
Bills drawn to order shall be specifically so designated
H. E. Damon has opened a music store in the
In print.
Waud building, Salem, Mass.
Full negotiability to bona fide holders.
VALUE OF COLONIAL ART
remarks regarding colonial art are of interest
to piano manufacturers. He said: "Although we
work in thirty-five different styles and periods
of decorative art and know the best that is in
them all, we have a special sympathy for what
is known as the Colonial style, and I am looking
forward with the keenest pleasure to visiting
some American homes that contain the best ex-
amples in the world of this period.
"Your Colonial art is, of course, what was orig-
inally known as the Adams style, or more pop-
ularly, but incorrectly, as Georgian, because the
Georgian is later and much heavier in its details.
The refined restraint and cultured simplicity em-
bodied in the pure Colonial style reach the high
water mark of one of the best periods of English
decorative art. It is these qualities, blended with
a very attractive domestic note, that have demon-
strated its adaptability to the requirements of
the present age and have produced an active
demand for it, not only in Great Britain, but
throughout Europe. The king's yacht, the kais-
er's Meteor and the Carlton Hotel in London are
examples of it.
"With such excellent examples in your midst,
I am at a loss to understand your apparent
blindness to its beauties. I cannot comprehend
the monotonous repetition of heavy, uncouth and
clumsy forms of furniture, apparently of Ger-
man design, which are still manufactured, used
and exported from this country. I can attribute
it only to an absorption of energy in other pur-
suits. It appears to me that there is room vastly
to improve not only this class of furniture, but
also upon the designs and forms and the har-
mony of coloring in the better class of domestic
interiors.
"I am surprised that, with the phenomenal en-
ergy and capacity which undoubtedly exist in
this country, some effort has not been made to
improve upon this state of affairs; not by the
slavish copying of existing styles, but by an
intelligent study of the principles underlying
style. Why not take your own Colonial style and
reconstruct it so as to meet the social needs and
domestic conditions of to-day?
"There is to-day an extraordinary opportunity
for the artistic genius of this country to evolve
a new American Renaissance—an art that wilJ
meet the conditions of American home life, its
domesticity, its refined influences and its aspira-
tions.
"England, and in fact all nations, have gone
through that evolution which usually precedes
the formation of a good distinctive style. The
worst we ever had in England, and the low water
mark of everything in art, was undoubtedly the
early Victorian era. First we had the slavish
imitation of other styles, with the usual result
that the worst features were copied. This led to
an utter disregard of the laws of purity, harmony
and proportion, until at last it culminated in a
revolt against ugliness, and the formation of an
important and influential cult for the purification
of art was the result.
"Frequently In the process of such an evolu-
tion we find offshoots of extravagance and fan-
tastic aetheticism, such as the extraordinary
phase which we know as 'L'Art Nouveau,' which
I think you characterize as 'freak architecture.'
But when the fermenting process has ceased, we
find a new era has begun which sweeps away the
anomalous colorings and barbarous mixtures of
styles and leaves us with a new Renaissance.
"The keynote of this is simplicity and adapta-
bility. Simplicity of form, simplicity in the use
of color, simplicity in ornament. This is what
is destined to succeed the present rage for a
gorgeous and aggressive magnificence that so
early palls upon the taste."
Mr. Waring has won great distinction for his