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THE:
MUSIC
TRADE!
REVIEW
WHY NOT THE BRIGHT SIDE
CAMERON CHARGED WITH PERJURY
Of the Trade Situation?—Jeremiad in Which
the Piano Trade Is Indulging Just a Condi-
tion of Nerves—Automobile Not a Menace
as Long as Labor Is Employed.
In Connection with the Failure of the Knicker-
bocker Piano Co.—Pleads Not Guilty and
Is Held in $3,000 Bail.
The American people in general, and particularly
that section of them which is engaged directly or
indirectly in the manufacture and sale of musical
instruments, have been going through one of those
periodical spasms of pessimism and alarm which
are so characteristic of our national genius. Just
why we should annually or biennially clothe our-
selves in sacke'oth and cover our heads with
ashes, mourning meanwhile over the inevitable
smash-up of civilization, which we so clearly see
at such times, is a problem to be determined by
the expert in polio-psychology, rather than by the
business observer. But that such near-panics are
periodical and apparently permanent features of
our national life is no more to be denied than to
be admired.
Blest with a native land which possesses the
fruits of the earth and the fatness thereof to a
degree never before known in history 1 , we ever
and anon weep and wail, implore our governors to
aid us from impending ruin, and tearfully predict
the everlasting cave-in of business, politics and na-
tional life.
The jeremiad in which the piano trade has just
been indulging, and which is the text for these
candid remarks, found its excuse—we simply can-
not bring ourselves to say its reason—in the large
and healthy growth which has recently been noted
in the automobile trade. The direst predictions
have been made as to the impending supression of
pianos by buzz-wagons, of music rolls by gasolene,
of songs by cylinder oil. The people were about to
desert Polyhymnia for Diana. And the demnition
bow-wows would get the rest.
Now, as a matter of fact, it seems to the patient
observer that a good deal of solemn nonsense is
being talked. In the first place, the people who are
buying automobiles are not the people whose ag-
gregated influence upon the music trade is ever
great. It is the great mass of middle-class people,
artisans, clerks, business men of moderate com,-
pe e .ence, who are the mainstays of the piano trade.
The fast crowd, the rich crowd and the Philistine
crowd have pianos in their houses, but they are
not congenially piano people. Pianos are to them
incidentals of furnishing.
On the other hand, the careless talk which
has been going on about the farmer wasting his
money on automobiles, or the small business man
mortgaging his painfully earned home for the
elusive delights of benzine buggies, is largely non-
sense, cooked up for the occasion. Indeed, one has
s'.rong reason for suspecting the ever-wary bears of
a strong desire to take a fall out of the bulls about
this time. Naturally, depression of values and
near-panics are in order and much to the taste of
the primata refered to.
As we remarked above, the mainstay of the
piano trade is found in the very classes who have
no idea of buying automobiles, at least until
their ownership and up-keep are less rich men's
monopolies. A report on labor conditions has just
been issued by the New York State Department of
Labor, in which figures of an exhaustive nature are
quoted, showing a remarkable improvement in the
conditions of all labor for the present year.over the
same period in 1909. Everything points to more
steady employment, better wages and quieter con-
ditions as between employers and employes. How
on.earth is the automobile craze going to affect
this great army of labor? If there be any effect,
surely it will be beneficial. Automobile' building
employs skilled labor and skilled labor buys pianos,
not automobiles.
. ....
. . . .
Let us have an end of the "bearing" of this
country. The man who bets against America is
headed for bankruptcy. Let us have common-
sense and refrain from crying like children because
we do not every moment of the day get just what
we want. Let us rather like children see that our
own faults are to blame. Energy, perseverance
and good sense will make for greater success in the
piano business to-day than ever before. The lack of
these qualities would bring defeat in Paradise itself.
Albert B. Cameron, president and treasurer of
the Knickerbocker Piano Co., New York, which
went into bankruptcy a year ago, was arraigned
Monday before Judge Hough in the United States
Circuit Court, Southern District of New York, on
an indictment charging perjury. The perjury is al-
leged to have been committed during the examina-
tion in the bankruptcy proceedings before United
States Commissioner Thomas Alexander on Au-
gust 1, 1909. Cameron pleaded not guilty, and
Judge Hough fixed the bail at $.'1,000.
The petition in involuntary bankruptcy was filed
against the company by William C. Smith, on July
30, 1909, and on August 19 of th* same year the
concern was duly adjudged bankrupt. In the
course of the hearings Cameron gave testimony to
the effect that prior to the bankruptcy he had sold
eight pianos to Smith, the petitioner, for $688.
The indictment charges' that the testimony was
false.
When the foregoing was brought to the atten-
tion of Max J. de Rochemont, assistant general
manager of the American Felt Co., New York,
and trustee for the creditors of the Knickerbocker
Piano Co., Tuesday, he said: "The statement is
correct in every particular. Through my attorney,
as trustee, we laid these facts before the United
States district attorney, and we were in hopes that
Cameron would be indicted and arrested. As one
cannot always tell what will happen in matters of
this kind until it actually occurs, why, of course, I
refrain from saying anything."
TAKES CATTLE FOR PIANO.
Piano Dealer with Knowledge of Live Stock
Increases Sales to Farmers by Taking Horses,
Cattle, Etc., in Part Payment.
A piano dealer in central Illinois who boasts of
an excellent knowledge of horse and cattle qual-
ity states that he has added considerably to his
volume of sales during the dull times in the coun-
try, before crops have been harvested, by taking
live stock as first payment on pianos where the
farmer felt that he wanted a piano but was short
on cash and long on cattle. At times the dealer
has had a barn full of likely animals taken in ex-
change for pianos and, through judicious handling,
generally realizes considerably more on them than
the actual money they represent in the sale. Of
course a sale for cash is naturally preferred by any
dealer, but a profitable substitute is very acceptable
when the piano man is a first-class judge of the
value of what he is getting. "Live" cattle are cer-
tainly better than "dead" notes.
DRAWBACK FOR J. & C. FISCHER.
(Special to The Review.)
Washington, D. C, Aug. 9, 1910.
Regarding the application of J. & C. Fischer,
New York, for a drawback on pianos manufactured
by them from imported materials, the Treasury
Department has addressed the following letter to
the New York Collector of Customs, bearing date
of July 26:
"T. D. 0475 of March 31, 1910, providing for the
allowance of drawback on pianos manufactured by
the J. & C. Fischer Co., of New York City, from
imported wire, tuning pins, and decalcomanias are
hereby amended to provide for the allowance of
drawback on the additional style of piano, No. 2.'?,
set forth in the manufacturers' sworn statement,
dated July 13, 1910, transmitted herewith for filing
in your office.
"In liquidation the quantities of imported ma-
terials which may be taken as the bases for the
allowance of drawback may equal the quantities
used, after official verification of exported quanti-
ties, provided they shall not exceed those shown in
the sworn statement, namely, •! pounds of music
wire,' 224 tuning pins-,' 1 dccalcomania, and three-
foi'.rths of one Scotch lambsk~nT." "
Talking Points
on
Piano Actions
The importance of
QUALITY in a piano
action cannot be overes-
timated from the stand-
point of the manufac-
turer, the dealer or the
consumer. To the man-
ufacturer it means in a
large measure the repu-
tation of his piano, for
without a high-grade
action he cannot make a
high-grade piano, and
no matter how good the
other parts of the in-
strument may be, if the
action is deficient in rria-'
terials or workmanship
the reputation of the
piano will suffer.
To the dealer the use
of a STRAUCH action
in a piano is a guarantee
of quality in the instru-
ment and an insurance
to him against com-
plaint and dissatisfac-
tion on the part of his
customers, and as satis-
fied customers mean fu-
ture sales, the action
will largely influence
the growth of his busi-
ness.
To the consumer a
STRAUCH action in
the piano he buys means
an absolute assurance
of satisfactory service
throughout the life of
the instrument, and as
STRAUCH actions are
only supplied to manu-
facturers of pianos of
QUALITY, it is to him
a guarantee of the grade
of the instrument he has
purchased.
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