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THE
GRAY MATTER HA^ RIGHT OF WAY
Says Dr. Hill in the Piano Trade as in Every
Other Industry—Address of This Well Known
Clergyman at the Banquet of the National
Piano Dealers' Association—Was a Piano
Man Before He Became a Minister.
As stated in last week's Review, the Rev. Dr.
John Hill, pastor of the Metropolitan Temple,
New York, who opened the convention of the
National Piano Dealers Association with prayer,
and delivered a forcibly patriotic address at the
banquet Tuesday evening of last week, was an
old piano man. His speech, which was crowded
KEV. DR. JOHN HILL.
out for lack of space, is reproduced in part, as
follows:
"Ideas have a market value. Pig iron is worth
$2Q a tone, but when mixed with ideas, its value
is enhanced: as horse-shoes, $90; knife blades,
|200; watch springs, $1,000—that is, iron, $20,
ideas, $980! A number of years ago a French
painter, Millet, who lived in almost absolute pov-
erty, bought 15 cents worth of paint and 10 cents
worth of canvas. He transferred an idea to the
canvas, wrought with the fire of genius; result,
a picture, copies of which are in all our homes,
the original selling a few years ago for $100,000—
'The Angelus.' Raw material, a quarter; gray
matter, $100,000.
"Gray matter always has the right of way. I t
is the pivot upon which wages turns around.
True, there are exceptions to the rule, but the
exception only proves the rule; and therefore, if
one man is receiving larger compensation than
another, it is on account of the value of the
ideas wrought into the thing at which he Is en-
gaged, and also the superior ideas which he puts
into his work. The difference between the truck-
man loading a piano at the hack door and the
manager in the office signing the contract for the
POOLE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
sale of the organs, is the difference between
muscle and brain. The chasm can only be
spanned by thinking. Ideas are the only guar-
antee of success in life. God has filtered it into
all blood and stamped it upon all character, and
projected it into all achievement. 'As a man
thinketh, so is he!' When we come to think
of it, our civilization and national institutions
are all the fruit of thinking. And I would have
you understand at this point that there is a dif-
ference between thinking and talking, although
I must say, in the piano business, the two are
essential; first ideas, and then forceful, con-
vincing presentation of the ideas, and then the
contract.
"We have been hearing some-
thing here to-night about the
President of these United
States. I regret very much
that the gentleman preceding
me has felt called upon to
offer such unjust criticisms
upon his administration.
I
think his administration will
compare with the greatest ad-
ministrations in the history of
this country, and that when
the history of these stirring
times is finally written, Theo-
dore Roosevelt will take his
place on the dome of these
American centuries by the side
of Washington and Lincoln. I t
is unjust to attempt to hold
him responsible for the indus-
trial depression through which
we have just passed. He is no
more responsible for that than
the physician is for the condi-
tion of his patient. True, he
has been obliged to resort to
heroic treatment: the case was
beyond the reach of the poul-
tice; it was necessary for him
to use the knife, to puncture
the loathsome carbuncle of
financial fraud and corruption.
Numberless rascalities h a d
been perpetrated upon the
country in the name of law;
Wall Street had absorbed the
resources of our New York
banks; capital and credit were
diminished and impaired; our
commercial organism was suf-
fering from blood poison inci-
dent to stock gambling and
over-capitalization; we had reached a crisis; the
time was ripe for the use of the lance of justice;
and the strong-handed, big-brained, far-seeing
man in the White House thrust the blade to the
seat of the disease and saved the patient.
"True, the recovery has been slow, but it has
been, nevertheless, sure, and to-day the nation is
upon a stronger, better business foundation than
it has occupied for a half a century, and the
future is bright with promise. We were in the
condition of the Hebrew who accidentally swal-
lowed a dollar, and exclaimed, 'I am a dollar in
and a dollar out, and I can't balance my books!'
We scarcely knew where the money had gone;
our books could not be balanced; but to-day they
are balanced, and the trade balance of the world
is in our favor. Our commerce is going every-
where; new fields of industrial enterprise are
opening; new commercial achievements are
crowning our industrial genius; and to-day our
flag floats in every port, and upon every land and
sea, and wherever it is unfurled, it is greeted as
the grandest insignia of civil and religious lib-
erty known to history!"
The doctor was repeatedly applauded to the
echo. In fact, the sentiments he expressed were
9
in entire accord with the Innermost feelings of
his auditors, and they placed the assemblage in
the frame of mind with which they had enjoyed
the banquet, a pleasant spirit greatly disturbed
by the incongruous remarks of the preceding
orator.
BANQUET COMMITTEE'S GOOD WORK.
All Who Attended the Recent Banquet of Na-
tional Piano Dealers Association Feel Grate-
ful to Messrs. Kammerer, Duckworth and
Janssen—How Mr. Duckworth Came to Select
the Souvenir.
The banquet committee that were responsible
for the elegant affair at the Hotel Astor for the
National Piano Dealers Association of America
during the evening of June 9, were highly com-
plimented for their successful work. Each mem-
ber of the committee—R. C. Kammerer, secretary
of Geo. Steck & Co.; L. A. Duckworth, manager
of the Estey Co., and Ben H. Janssen—divided
the duties between themselves. To Mr. Duck-
worth fell the task of providing a fitting souvenir
L.. A. DUCKWORTH.
of the occasion. To create something original
was no easy job, and he cudgeled his brains for
a month in vain. One day a tuner was busy at
a piano on the floor, when Mr. Duckworth heard
a big, big D uttered, and he called out, "What's
the matter, John?" John replied: "I just broke a
hammer." In telling of the incident, Mr. Duck-
worth remarked: "That gave me an idea, and I
instantly said, 'That's all right, John, I'm glad
you broke the hammer,' for the souvenir was
then framed up—a gold stick pin with a hammer
on a broken shaft
"The remainder of the committee indorsed my
suggestion, and we accordingly went ahead and
furnished the pins, and from all I can learn every
one has appreciated the little remembrance. Of
course, stick pins with the piano hammer device
are not unknown, but none has ever been gotten
up like the one the committee designed. Since
the banquet I have a number of applications for
pins, and I have ordered another lot, which will
be furnished at $1 each to those who want extra
pins for friends in the trade and not able to be
present at the banquet."
Pox & Rilley is the title of a new firm of
piano dealers in Moundsville, W. Va.
W. A. Alexander is a new piano dealer in
Cainsville, Mo.
Appeal to cultivated tastes. I hey are
marvels of beauty and form at once a
valuable accessory to any piano store
* and 7 APPLETON STREET, BOSTON. MASS.