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REVIEW
THE
fflJJICTT^ADE
COPIES, 10 CENTS.
VOL. XLII. No. 2 5 . Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at \ Madison Ave., New York, June 23, 1906. SINGLE
$2.00 PER YEAR.
PIANO TRAVELERS TO BENEFIT
By the Amendment to the Federal Bankruptcy
Law Which Makes Traveling Salesmen Pre-
ferred Creditors—Bill Passed by the House
and Senate Will Receive the
President's
Signature, It Is Expected, This Week.
(Special to The Ucview.j
Washington, D. C, June 18, 1900.
Piano travelers throughout the country will be
interested in the amendment to the Federal
Bankruptcy law, which has just been passed by
both Houses of Congress, and which is now be-
fore the President, making unpaid salaries of
commercial travelers preferred claims. In the
hearing oil the measure, before the House Ju-
diciary Committee, it was stated that under a
decision of the United States Court in Kentucky
traveling salesmen are held not to be within the
purview of Section 64. In that case a traveling
salesman asked to be considered as a preferred
creditor to the amount of the salary due him
in a pending bankruptcy proceeding, but the
court, after going carefully into the precedents
established under the present and former bank-
ruptcy laws, held that such salesmen were riot
entitled to preference, although it was stated
that a person selling goods within a store would
lie a preferred creditor as coming within the
category of clerks.
A statement was made in behalf of the meas-
ure by Representative Taylor, in which he indi-
cated the widespread interest in the subject on
the part of several hundred thousand commercial
travelers. He said: "I was led to introduce this
bill as the result of representations made to me
Ijy various traveling men's organizations. It so
happens that one of the largest associations of
this kind has its national headquarters in my
district—the city of Columbus, Ohio—the United
Commercial Travelers of America. The amend-
ment does not seek anything radical. It simply
asks that traveling salesmen be placed upon the
same plane as servants, clerks and others under
the provisions of the bankruptcy act. When the
committee formulated the bankruptcy bill I am
informed that it was supposed to cover traveling
men, that it was the intention to so consider
them, but the courts have held to the contrary.
The traveling man of all men is less able to
protect himself than any other class of servants.
He is not in the store; he may be thousands of
miles away, and in case of failure he suffers a
heavier loss. These are the men we seek to pro-
tect by the amendment.
$300 for wages earned within three months only
prior to. the assignment or bankruptcy."
The House Committee on these representations
reported the bill with a favorable recommenda-
tion, and it was promptly passed and sent to the
Senate. Senator Nelson, of Minnesota, who has
long been one of the leading authorities in Con-
gress on the bankruptcy question, took great in-
terest in the matter, and succeeded in securing
a favorable report from the Judiciary Committee
of which he is a prominent member. On Monday
he called the bill up in the Senate, and passed
it without any debate whatever, all present rec-
ognizing'the justice of the proposed change to the
law. The bill was promptly forwarded to the
White House, and will receive the President's
signature in a day or two.
It will go into force at once, and will apply to
all cases in which the bankruptcy petition,
whether voluntary or involuntary, is filed subse-
quent to the date of the approval of the bill by
President Roosevelt.
PIANOS FOR WORCESTER SCHOOLS.
John T. Duggan, the Well Known Piano Dealer,
Complains of the Ridiculous Economy Prac-
ticed by the School
Committees—Buying
Second-Hand Pianos Instead of New Pianos,
Which in the End Cost More Money.
(Special to The Kevlew.)
Worcester, Mass., June 18, 19()
The absurd methods adopted by the school
committee of this city in purchasing second-hand
pianos from private parties to be used in public
schools has at last been brought to the attention
of the authorities, and one of our piano men has
had the courage to say what he thinks about it,
and to no less personage than the Mayor. As he
well says, it is about time the school department
should devote its time to teaching the chil-
dren instead of hunting around and trying to
get hold of pianos at rummage sale prices. The
matter came to a head through the action of the
school committee at its last meeting, in voting
to sustain the committee on music and kinder-
garten in purchasing Iwo second-hand pianos for
use in the Adams Square and Abbott street
schools.
In conversation with the Mayor, John T. Dug-
gan. the local piano man, said he had been asked
to furnish bids on pianos for the school depart-
ment. He naturally supposed, he said, that city
officials would do business in a business-like way,
and when the time came to buy pianos they
would buy them from the lowest bidder in the
"There are about 450,000 or 500,000 traveling business in Worcester and not from private
men in the United States, and very nearly 300,- parties. He said that one of the instructors in
•000 of them are organized in these various or- music goes around with a little note book in his
ganizations, all of which act as one body in mat- pocket, keeping tabs on families who contemplat-
ters pertaining to their mutual interest through ed disposing of their pianos, and when the cily
an association known as the Association of Com- wanted a piano the music instructor bobbed up
mercial Travelers, composed of the chief officers with his list of owners of second-hand pianos
of all the various unions or associations. I do who want to sell, and the committee approves
not see anything to press upon this committee. his action. As a result, Mr. Duggan says, "a tin
It seems to me a just claim. I want to say that pan" is installed in the public schools, and inside
a number of States, through their legislatures, of a year it gets into such condition that the city
have passed in their bankruptcy or assignment
is called upon to pay more to get it tuned than
laws legislation preferring traveling men, ftlong
il would have cost to buy one in good shape at
with other laborers and clerks, to the extent o£ the outset.
Mr. Duggan also told the Mayor that he thought
he voiced the sentiments of the piano dealers of
the city when he objected to officials of the school
department acting as -jobbers in second-hand
pianos, and he thought the Mayor should see to
it that the school department installed good ar-
ticles in the piano line the same as they would
in the book line.
The Mayor said he personally did not approve
of any department going into the second-hand
business, although he naturally would approve
of economy in any department.
The pianos in question were installed in the
school buildings, according to the Mayor, before
the order for their purchase ever reached him.
One of them now in use in the Adams Square
kindergarten was purchased for $125, and the
other now in the Abbott street school, was pur-
chased for $50. Both were purchased from pri-
vate families who wanted to get rid of them for
some reason or other unknown to the Mayor.
TARIFF MAKES^DEALERS CLOSE.
How Mexican Tariff on Pianos Affects Three
Dealers Located in Nogales, Ariz.
Owing to the increase of the Mexican tariff
on pianos from $35 to $160 (Mexican), the three
piano dealers formerly located in Nogales, Ariz.,
have been compelled to give up the business en-
tirely. Nogales is situated on the boundary half
in Arizona, and the other half in Mexico, and
as most of the trade was done in the latter coun-
try the increase of tariff was prohibitive.
OLD EMPLOYES SHARE BUSINESS.
'Greater Porch Bros." Incorporatetd With a
Capital of 100,000—Employes Will Share
Interest With Head of Firm.
(Special to The Review.)
Johnstown, Pa., June 10, 1906.
With the idea that faithful service on the part
of employes deserves special recognition, Porch
Bros., the dealers, have devised a way for re-
warding this service, by taking their old em-
ployes into the firm and letting them enjoy a
share of the profits. The company have obtained
a charter under the name of the "Greater
Porch Bros.," with capital of $100,000. The head
of the new concern will be W. W. Porch, while
I he following employes will constitute the rest
of the firm: R. L. Druckenmiller, who has been
with Porch Bros, for fourteen years; F. W.
Van Scoyoc, manager of the Greenburg branch;
A. C. Hinton, of the Altoona branch; Bert Best,
and C. W. Thompson.
CALHOTJN WAS ACQUITTED.
Louis B. Callioun, who formerly conducted a
piano store in Alliance, Ohio, was acquitted of
the charge of forging notes by the court at
Akron. Mr. Calhoun was held, however, to an-
swer a similar charge brought by the prosecut-
ing attorney.
BOARDMAN & GRAY IN CLEVELAND.
Boardman & G«ay have placed the agency for
their pianos with Williams & Rogers, Cleveland,
Ohio.