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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
In Norway, ascetic acid, naphtha and alcohol are produced on a
commercial scale out of sawdust. Factories have been erected in
America and Europe for converting pine needles into forest wool.
This is being used for mattresses, and for manufacture into hygi-
enic articles, such as chest protectors.
F
EDWARD LYMAN BILL, - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPUJLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorial Staff:
Quo. B. iriT.f.im.
w . N. TYLER.
F. H. THOMPSON.
BMILIB FRANCIS BAUDS.
L. B. B0WBH8. B. BRITTAIN WILSON, WM. B. WHITB. L. J. CHAMBBHLIN. A. J. NICKLIM.
BOSTON OFFICE:
CHICAGO OFFICE:
E. P. TAN HABLINOBN, 195-197 Wabasb Are.
TELEPHONES : Central 414 ; Automatic 8643
MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL:
ST. LOUIS:
L. WAITT, 278A Tremont St.
PHILADELPHIA:
R. W. KAUFFMAN.
A. W. SHAW.
CHAS. N. VAN BURBN.
SAN FRANCISCO: S. IT. GRAY, 2407 Sacramento St.
CINCINNATI. O.: NINA PUGH-SMITH.
BALTIMORE, MD.: PAUL T. LOCKWOOD.
LONDON, ENGLAND:
69 Basinghall St., E. C.
W. Lionel Sturdy, Manager.
Published Every Saturday at 1 Madison Avenue, New York.
( )R many years bituminous coal operators threw away slack as
waste. Now it commands at the mines seventy-five cents a
ton. The increased cost is due largely to the demand coming from
the makers of cement. Formerly they bought lump coal, and pul-
verized it, now the}- use slack. Quartz rock was not long ago con-
sidered worthless, now glass is made from it.
Roth & Engelhardt are making an art ivory, which it is said
makes an elephant ashamed of himself when he views this new by-
product. How cruel it is to talk about the destruction of old square
pianos by fire when these relics of a bygone age might be easily
ground up into something which would be entirely useful in the
piano trade. Anyway millions upon millions have been saved by
the transformation of what was formerly called waste matter into
finished products, and such is the march of science.
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
SUBSCRIPTION, (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, $60.00; opposite
reading matter, $76.00.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should b« made payable to Bdward
Lyman BUI.
Directory ol Plamo The directory of piano manufacturing firms and corporation*
found on another page will be of great value, as a reference
Manufacturers
for dealers and others.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Wand Prim
Paris Exposition, 1000 Silver Medal.Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma.Pan-American Exposition, 1001 Gold Medal. .St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Oold Merial.Lewls-Clark Exposition, 1905
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONE-NUMBER 1748 GRAMERCY
Cable address: "Elblll N e w York."
NEW YORK, JANUARY 26, 1907
EDITORIAL
k
A
MID the congratulatory remarks which are being passed
around regarding the marvelous prosperity of the country,
we note that John D. Rockefeller predicts hard times, and deplores
the national trait of extravagance. Let John do all the worrying,
he can afford it with his little meagre billion or two, and the rest of
us are too busy. What is the use of howling about pessimism when
factories are snowed under with orders. There is a splendid out-
look on every side for business for the new year, and things are
starting off grandly. Of course, there are problems, and plenty of
them to solve, but the hardest nut to crack just at the present time,
is the cost problem, and it refuses to be cracked very easily. But
the dealers will pay more for pianos, that can be depended upon
absolutely, and presumably they will get more dollars from their cus-
tomers, because they can easily obtain them. Every five dollar note
which is attached to the wholesale cost of a piano can be easily se-
cured from the retail purchaser. No customer worth considering in
a piano- purchase will call a sale off simply because a dealer asks a
few dollars more for the instrument which he is contemplating pur-
chasing.
F
ACTORY waste is not so noticeable in American as in Euro-
pean factories. Here everything is run on such a precise
system that enormous waste is impossible, yet it may be truthfully
said that there are instances where the cost of pianos might be some-
what reduced, if greater care were exercised in some of the de-
partments. Everything is saved nowadays and used for something.
The modern uses of waste will change the whole complexion of
things. Perhaps the old man "who used to cat sawdust with a
spoon" was eating sugar. They make both sugar and alcohol from
sawdust. It practically is pure cellulose and easily converted into
these products. Also sawdust in the twentieth century is more
valuable than solid lumber. By the use of hydraulic pressure and
intense heating the particles are formed into a solid mass, capable
of being molded into any shape, and capable of receiving a brilliant
polish. The only materials used are sawdust, alum and glue. Imi-
tation marble can be manufactured from the mixture of sawdust
with ivory waste, glass and glue. Moral: Save the sawdust in
the factories. It can be made into something—may be gold bricks.
S
HORTAGE of freight cars throughout the country has become
so grave a problem, threatening, as it does, immeasurable
damage to the live stock and perishable goods covering leading in-
dustries in the Southwest and in the West, that it has seriously in-
terfered with business. So numerous and so serious are the com-
plaints that the situation is declared to be one of the most acute
now confronting the country. This shortage'is one of the results
of the prosperous times. Crops are so large, the demand for manu-
factured goods so great, that the railroads have been wholly unable
to cope successfully with the phenomenally developed demands.
Roads with limited trackage and rolling stock could not possibly
meet the demands of the citizens along their lines.
Frequent accidents which have resulted in the great destruction
of human life, has been the result of trying to run the trains with
too little time between the schedules. The railroad people are not
happy with the present problem on their hands, but it is reasonable
to suppose that they are doing all they can to relieve the situation
and perhaps the Commerce Commission may assist them.
T
HE number of department stores which have made a success
of the piano business is extremely limited. However, it must
be conceded that at least two of those great big trade emporiums in
New York are doing an enormous business annually. In this con-
nection we might say that there has been in the Siegel stores, a re-
organization in such a way that a departmental manager purchases
for the Simpson-Crawford store, the Fourteenth Street Store and
the Henry Siegel Co. of Boston. Out of the trio of stores, the
first named has been the only one which has handled pianos, but it
is hinted that the Siegel store in Boston may within the very near
future put in a line of pianos and musical instruments.
L
AST Thursday night the Chicago Trade Association held its
annual banquet, and a right good affair is was, too. The
members of the Chicago trade never do things in a half-hearted
way, and the social gathering" of 1907 will go down in history as a
mighty interesting event.
T
HE world's a stage on which we stroll about in various groups,
and some few have a leading role, but most of us are supes,
and so we will continue, unless we get out of certain ruts into which
unfortunately we may have fallen. It is necessary to hustle to
win success, for success is a fickle jade who needs to be wooed
with a constancy that knows no relapse into indifference. She is
jealous and exacting, but she is worth the winning, and the average
young man who seeks to conquer the world of business cannot
wander into office or warerooms about nine o'clock and thereafter
note every stroke of the clock waiting for quitting time. Success
will not be wooed and won in that kind of a manner, and the man
who wins usually deserves to win, and the man who fails all too
often gets his just deserts. Express your life in what you do; if
piano work is uncongenial, either cultivate a love for it, cut it out,
or do something which is more harmonious, but for Heaven's sake
stop kicking about it; what is the use of growling about the lack of
opportunities in the piano business and yet keep sticking to it.
Achievement without a fixed purpose is mere accident, and only
that which results from pertinacious effort is worth while.