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THE MUSIC TRADE
here it might be fitting to speak of two or three
of the artists whose work Adams used. One
of these was Pergolesi, although his designs were
mainly in relief work. Antonio Zucchi, an Ital-
ian, was another, whose personality is more in-
teresting because he it was who won the heart of
Angelica Kauffmann, whose ceiling painting for
Adams is world celebrated. This gifted and
charming young woman was the friend of Sir
Joshua Reynolds.
Perhaps the esteem in which Robert Adams
was held by England is most eloquently expressed
by the fact that after his death, in 1792, he was
buried in Westminster Abbey.
The only way we can increase our sensibility
to beauty and learn the truths that Art can
teach is by the study of the best. The aim of
the ideal is the purely artistic effect. There is
no more delightful way of doing this than to
visit the Steinway Studios, which contain gems
of beauty and perfection of Art. Each piano
is a perfect composition carefully proportioned
to the place it is to fill; all the artists and crafts-
men work in unison to complete one thought,
thereby perfect harmony is the result, and no
daintier or truer conception has ever been con-
ceived.
The Art Department is thoroughly equipped
to carry out the designs of architects and con-
noisseurs of Art in special period styles, having
the best designers, craftsmen and decorative art-
ists always at their command, guaranteeing and
preserving the most superior results as to tonal
effect. Advice and suggestions gladly given,
together with designs and estimates, by address-
ing J. Burr Tiffany, director of the Art Depart-
ment of Messrs. Steinway & Sons.
YOUR WINTER'S TRADE.
The statement of the Packard Company this
week is timely and will afford a profitable sug-
gestion to many dealers. Packard pianos have
steadily gained among the leaders until to-day a
large number of the most enterprising houses
handle them with enthusiasm. Trade the com-
ing winter promises to be unusually good, and
there can never be any mistake on the part of
dealers who help along their trade by pushing
Packard pianos. The late Packard styles are
beauties in every sense of the word.
AWARDED FIRST PRIZE.
Kohler & Chase, of San Francisco, and with a
branch in Sacramento, Cal., were awarded first
prize and a gold medal for their exhibit of pianos
at the California State Fair, held in the latter
city recently.
T. C. Martin is a new music dealer in Pocatello,
Idaho.
RUDOLF
PIANOS
are conscientiously made, good
instruments; in other words, the
sweetest things out.
RUDOLF PIANO CO.
458 E. 141th Street,
NEW YORK.
POOLE
£
urn! 7
REVIEW
J. H. LING WORKING FOR REFORM
Of the Prevalent System of Piano Selling from
Door to Door—Story to Illustrate His Point
—Gaining Entrance Into Private Dwelling
Under Fake Pretenses—Business Rather
Quiet in Detroit—New Traffic Ordinance.
(Special to The Review.)
Detroit, Mich., Sept. 30, 1907.
Dull days, climatically,, in the last week, had
a tendency to reflect themselves more or less in
dull days in a business way for some of the
piano men. None of them openly are complain-
ing, but there is little doing outside of special
sales, at ail of which special inducements are
fceing offered and still few of the music stores
are filled with patrons. The manufacturers' sales-
men are beginning to put in an appearance and
some of the dealers admit freely that they are
not going away with big orders for new stock.
J. Henry Ling, president of the Detroit Music
Trade Association, still hammers away a t the
idea of a reform in the piano dealers' methods.
He is heartily opposed to the door-bell ringer,
and he doesn't lose an opportunity to score the
prevalent salesman system. Mr. Ling says he
dropped in to see a prominent merchant the other
day on a personal matter and the merchant jok-
i n g ^ told him to get out as he had heard enough
of piano salesmen for some time. Mr. Ling asked
his friend for the story, and this is it:
"My wife was dressing for a reception the other
afternoon. She was hurriedly completing her
toilet when the maid came in with a card, very
prettily engraved 'Miss Smith,' 'Miss Jones,' or
some one or other, I don't remember the name.
My wife didn't feel sure that she knew the lady,
but she supposed she must be someone she had
met recently at some function, and she hurried
down although disappointed at the idea of being
detained when she was anxious to hurry away.
"The caller evidently took her cue from some
little remark of my wife's and carried out the de-
lusion of a 'reception acquaintance,' without ex-
actly lying. She was a very prepossessing young
woman in every way. The conversation was of
social matters, of friends of my wife, of some
musicale which my wife had attended, of the
piano used, and then—then the caller produced a
catalog, hitherto kept in hiding, with the an-
nouncement 'I represent Blank, Blank & Co.
(naming one of the leading Detroit dealers),'
and tried to sell a piano. When I got home my
wife was in tears."
Mr. Ling says there ought to be a law against
such work. He says it is an imposition. He
says that gaining entrance to a private dwelling
under false pretences ought to be a crime on equal
footing with obtaining money under false pre-
tences.
An electricians' strike has caused more delay
at the Grinnell Bros, new store, but work once
more is progressing. The white, glazed tile be-
ing used on the outer walls will make a hand-
some structure.
J. F. Smith, representing Krakauer Bros.,
called on J. Henry Ling this week.
H. H. Hudson has been in the East on a busi-
ness trip for several days.
Ira L. Grinnell, of Grinnell Bros., the well-
known piano dealers of this city, was recently
a victim of the new traffic ordinance put in
force in the city, and as a result, in a letter to
Mayor Thompson last week, proceeded to take
a fall out of that same ordinance. Mr. Grin-
nell's letter was certainly to the point and after
commenting at length upon the foolishness of the
ordinance generally, he said:
"I see very little good in the ordinance and to
require a man living out four miles having the
only house wuhin a mile to turn around so that
the left side of his rig will not be to the curb,
PIANOS
13
and then turn around again when he starts out
again seems like a needless interference.
"I believe that if the city officials are so an-
xious to pass ordinances they might better pass
an ordinance requiring people eating in all public
parks, or places over which the city has control,
to eat their soup with a fork for fear that they
may drown from too large a quantity in case they
use a spoon."
MEHLIN PIANO IN TOLEDO.
The Whitney & Currier Co. Secure the Repre-
sentation of the Full Line of Pianos Made
by Paul G. Mehlin & Sons.
Arrangements have been consummated where-
by the Whitney & Currier Co., of Toledo, O., be-
come the agents for the pianos made by Paul
G. Mehlin & Sons. The deal was closed by F. H.
Frazelle, the Mehlin ambassador who resides in
Toledo, and who has long aimed to have the
Mehlin piano represented by one of the most in-
fluential houses in that city. The Whitney &
Currier Co. are one of the oldest and most im-
portant houses in Toledo, and they carry a mag-
nificent line of instruments and are highly re-
spected. The initial order for Mehlin pianos to
be shipped to the Whitney & Currier house was
a handsome one.
JOHN V. STEGER'S VIEWS
On the Financial Situation—Cause of Money
Shortage—Much to Fear from German Manu-
facturers Owing to the Lower Cost of Skilled
Labor and Security of Capital.
John V. Steger, of the Steger & Sons Piano
Mfg. Co., who recently returned from Europe,
had some interesting views to express regarding
business conditions and prospects both here and
abroad. In a chat with the Steger Herald he
stated that in his opinion, based upon wide ob-
servations, the money market would remain tight
until after the first of the year at least. He also
said that the volume of business would have to
be reduced materially if the present situation was
to be relieved. One cause of the money shortage
in this country, according to Mr. Steger, was the
fact that there was so much profitable business
being done in Germany that the capitalists of
that country found it advantageous to invest
their money a t home instead of sending it to
this country.
Regarding the situation in Germany, Mr. Steg-
er said:
"We Americans have to "be on our guard and
have much to fear from German maufacturers,
because the German manufacturers are now buy-
ing labor saving machinery; they are using it
to great advantage, which enables them to pro-
duce manufactured articles cheaper than we can,
on account of skilled labor being at 50 to 55 per
cent, less than in this country. In some respects
the laboring man of Germany has the advantage
of the laborer in the United States. "Wearing
apparel is cheaper, but some few other things
like eggs and meats and some of the necessities of
life are dearer.
"If the laboring man of Germany desires to
live as well as the laboring man of the United
States his expenses are about the same average,
but rents, of course are cheaper. We are not get-
ting now in the United States the same number
of German emigrants that we formerly got. The
conditions are so much better and the wages are
now satisfactory to them at home. The prosper-
ous conditions there have created this change."
James M. Olmstead, referee in bankruptcy, has
declared a dividend of 10 per cent, upon all
claims against the Mendelssohn Music Co., Bos-
ton.
Appeal to cultivated tastes. They are
marvels of beauty and form at once a
valuable accessory to any piano store
BOSTON. MASS.