Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
p[U SIC TIRADE
VOL. XLVI. No. 2 3 .
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 1 Madison Ave., New York, June 6, 1908.
OUR EXPORT AND IMPORT TRADE.
Import Trade of Musical Instruments Shows
Decrease—Exports for the Month Are Much
Larger—Player Shipments Make Fine Record
— T h e Figures in Detail Regarding the
Various Instruments Furnish Some Interest-
ing Particulars to Our Readers.
(Special to The Review.)
Washington, D. C, June 3, 1908.
The summary of exports and imports of the
commerce of the United States for the month of
April, 1908, the latest period for which it has
been compiled, has just been issued by the Bureau
of Statistics of the Department of Commerce
and Labor. The figures relating to musical mer-
chandise, including pianos, organs, piano players
and miscellaneous "small goods" in the musical
field are as follows:
The dutiable imports of musical instruments
during April amounted to $103,057, as compared
with $132,412 worth which were imported the
same month of 1907. The ten months' total end-
ing April shows importations valued at $1,216,-
221, as against $1,215,417 worth of musical in-
struments imported during the same period of
1907. This gives an increase in imports for the
ten months ending April of $804.
The import figures for the ten months' period
for the thres years are as follows: 1906, $1,071,-
242; 1907, $1,215,417; 1908, $1,216,221.
The total domestic exports of musical instru-
ments for April, 1908, amounted to $280,829, as
compared with $270,531 for the same month of
the previous year. The ten months' exportation
of musical instruments amounted to $2,835,797,
as against $2,(532,076 for the same period in 1907.
This shows an increase in exports for the ten
months ending April of $203,721.
The export figures for the ten months' period
for the three years are as follows: 1906, $2,649,-
302; 1907, $2,632,076; 1908, $2,835,797.
Of the aggregate exportations in April there
were 958 organs, valued at $51,969, as compared
with 864 organs in 1907, valued at $57,429. The
ten months' total shows that we exported 10,158
organs, valued at $611,747, as against 10,765
organs, valued at $735,725, for the same period in
1907, and 11,119, valued at $773,801, for the same
period in 1906.
In April, 1908, we exported 372 pianos, valued
at $87,118, as against 341 pianos, valued at $80,-
579, in April, 1907. The ten months' total ex-
ports show 3,758 pianos, valued at $915,174, as
compared with 3,209, valued at $729,369, exported
in the same period in 1907, and 2,279, valued at
$520,278, for the same period^in 1906.
Of the aggregate exportations in April there
were 405 piano players, valued at $95,922. For
the ten months' period, 2,544 of these instru-
ments, valued at $684,740, were sent abroad.
The value of "all other instruments and parts
thereof" sent abroad during April, 1908, amount-
ed to $45,820, in the same month of 1907 the
value was estimated at $88,060.
The total exports for the ten months under
this heading foot up $624,136, as against $700,558
exported during the same period of 1907, and
$697,008 exported during the same period in
1906. This shows a decrease of $76,422.
OLD PIANO COUNTS SAME AS CASH.
Wissner & Co. Fail to Secure Replevin Because
of Judge Vail's Opinion in the Matter.
Roscoe H. Sanborn was defendant in the Cir-
cuit Court at Elizabeth, N. J., last week, in a
suit brought by Otto Wissner, the piano manu-
facturer, to replevin an instrument which was
sold to the defendant on the instalment plan on
Jan. 6, 1905. According to the terms of the con-
tract under which the sale was made, Wissner
in delivering the piano to Sanborn, accepted a
second-hand instrument for which he allowed
Sanborn $150 on account, and the latter was to
pay the house $10 per month thereafter as rental
until the full price of $625 was paid.
Sanborn paid the required $10 per month until
he had paid in by actual cash $230. He then
ceased paying for a time, whereupon Wissner
brought suit to get the piano back, claiming that
Sanborn had violated the contract entered into
and that the instrument had been forfeited.
At the trial, which was before Judge Vail with-
out jury, Sanborn, through his counsel, Raymond
T. Parrot, insisted that instead of simply paying
the Wissner people $230 he had actually paid
$380, claiming that the $150 allowed for the old
piano accepted by Wissner was so much cash and
was really so much paid the house in advance.
Scott German, counsel for Wissner, did not look
at the matter in the same light, and said to the
court that the house in giving credit to Sanborn
for the instrument taken in exchange, credited it
as so much merchandise received. The court
took the same view of the matter as Sanborn
did, and rendered judgment in favor of the latter,
thus denying Wissner the replevin asked for.
Counsel for Wissner said t^at Judge Vail was
the first judge who hid ever construed the mean-
ing o e the contract in that light. The court re-
plied that such might be the case, but that he
was sitting to consider cases according to law,
and if his decision was wrong there was a way
of upsetting it.
SEATTLE WELCOMES FLEET.
Piano Houses Join with Merchants—A Great
Patriotic Outburst—Warerooms Attractively
Decorated for the Occasion.
(Special In The Review.)
Seattle, Wash., May 28, 1908.
Seattle never before in her history has ap-
peared in such gay attire as on the occasion of
the call of the battleship fleet to this city. All
the business houses have made a special effort
to decorate in a most attractive manner, and
from every window in the business section—and
there are thousands of them—a flag swings to the
breeze, while the wall space between is covered
with the national colors in bunting or flags.
Among those houses which were specially com-
mended for their decorations were the D. S.
Johnston Co., the prominent piano house. The
decorations of their building are not confined to
the exterior. The otitside of the building is
decked with flags and bunting in attractive de-
sign, adding much to the general decorative
SINGLE COPIES. 10 CENTS.
$1.00 PER YEAR.
effect of Third avenue. It is inside, however,
that more decorative design is shown. There,
with infinite skill, have been arranged pianos
and musical instruments in the form of vessels,
each little group forming a perfect type of a war
vessel, with a piano for the hull, and drums,
horns and wind instruments for other parts, in-
cluding the smokestacks and the guns, in all a
"lifelike" representation, and very pleasing.
Kohler & Chase also created much favorable
comment by their handsome decorative scheme,
and both their building and that of the D. S.
Johnston Co. were photographed and reproduced
in a special issue of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
STEGER ENDORSES ''GOLD BONDS."
(Special to The Review.)
Omaha, Neb., June 1, 1908.
The Schmoller & Mueller Piano Co., of this
city, are making quite a point of their "gold
bond" proposition in selling pianos, and in the
Omaha Bee of May 28 there was a prominently
displayed advertisement embodying a fac-simile
of a telegram which contained the following:
"Steger, 111., May 27, 1908.
"Schmoller & Mueller Piano Co., Omaha, Neb.
—We authorize you to extend time on gold bond
certificate for 30 days. Our desire is that every
bond holder shall have ample opportunity to use
same toward securing a first-class-piano.
"STEGER & SONS."
Then followed a large advertisement headed
"Time extended," embodying a strong induce-
ment to holders of the "gold bond" certificates to
call early.
TUCKER'S ENTERPRISE WINS.
The true Yankee spirit of perseverance is well
illustrated by M. Tucker, whose piano store in
Chelsea was completely destroyed in the great
fire which swept that Boston suburb recently.
Mr. Tucker has erected a small wooden shack
about 15 x 15 in dimensions on his old site,
where it may be readily seen by pedestrians on
the main streets, as well as from the cars run-
ning between Boston, Lynn, and the pleasure re-
sorts. Mr. Tucker has been liberal in the matter
of signs and is endeavoring in every way to
make the public aware that neither he nor his
business are among the things of the past. With
the ruins cleared away and rebuilding begun, we
hope to see Mr. Tucker located in substantial
and permanent warerooms in the near future.
TO ENLARGE BUILDING.
B. B. Spalding, owner of the building at 408
Fourth street, Omaha, Neb., at present occupied
by the Schmoller & Mueller Piano Co., has had
plans drawn for adding two stories to the struc-
ture, which will also be leased by the piano com-
pany, giving them about 2,000 square feet of
additional floor space designed especially with
the needs of the piano business in view.
R. E. Wells, formerly manager for the Ludden
& Bates Co., in Jacksonville, Fla., has opened
warerooms of his own in Montgomery, Ala., with
the Krell piano as his leader.