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THE
MUSIC TRADE
but perfectly clear to the limited number of readers who follow
such writings whom the party means—then to what a low estate
have we fallen!
We have frequently stated that this kind of journalism has
thwarted and checked the growth of this industry, and how in the
world even a limited number of the men of to-day will permit
themselves to be shackled by such vulgar and insolent chains is
beyond the comprehension of ordinary mortals.
Fear! Of course, fear!
For, if one man is attacked and his official acts distorted his
character maligned and abused, why then the next man, no matter
how pure and honest he may be, settles, because he knows that the
cunning thug and his apt pupils can distort matters to suit their
own foul purpose. It is on such weaknesses that the journalistic
.(God save the mark) thugs have fattened.
Have not such conditions reflected upon the character of a
REVIEW
trade which has been polluted and poisoned by the influences of
a band of persons without manners or morals, who have terrorized
advertisers for a number of years and who now find their hold
growing feebler by reason of the attitude of an independent press?
The violators of decency are endeavoring through every pos-
sible means of trickery, deceit and fraud to maintain their hold
upon a trade which is showing a material evidence of growth
towards better things.
Death of the venal press is hard, but life will linger just as
long as one single member of the trade exists who will yield to
dishonest demands.
That is the whole thing in a nutshell, and all the abuse and all
the arguments thrown out from a thuggish volcano does not change
the cold facts in the case.
Now, the question is, how long will men stand for this sort of
thing? That is up to them.
TALL TOWER
The immense output of the piano factories of
the country is most impressively proven to the
public at large through the carload shipments
made to the Pacific Coast from the factories in the
Middle West and the East. According to reports
on file with the Interstate Commerce Commission
there have been eighty-two carloads of pianos re-
ceived in Portland, Ore., from the East since
January 10, sixty-five of the carloads going to one
concern. Figuring on the basis of ten or twelve
instruments to the car this record means that close
to 1,000 pianos have been received in Portland
during the late winter and spring months when
the piano business, as a rule, is not at the height
of its activity. It is to be understood that there
are several piano concerns on the Pacific Coast
who can handle pianos in thousand lots with com-
parative ease through their many branches and
agencies; still, shipments aggregating many times
that amount annually, and the fact that they are
disposed of in short order at retail, lead the un-
initiated to wonder just how a market # of such pro-
portions is found. The agent for one of the lead-
ing railroads running from Chicago to the Coast
expressed genuine surprise at the number of cars
required to carry to the Coast the pianos that
were to make up the holiday stocks last fall, and
said that it seemed to him as though half the
population west of the Rockies could be supplied
with the pianos that his own and the several other
large railroads carried to Los Angeles, San Fran-
cisco, Portland and other Coast cities in a single
year. The plain statement that the annual output
of the piano factories of the country is in the
neighborhood of 300,000 annually at the present
time is met with firm disbelief by the average citi-
zen. The statement that a certain factory turns
out three, five, ten or even fifteen thousand pianos
in a year also appeals to many as being simply an
advertising talk, but the hundreds of carloads of
real pianos being sent across the continent offer
proof of the magnitude of the piano industry that
cannot fail to prove convincing.
*
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FYeeborn G. Smith, 3d, grandson of the elder
Freeborn G. Smith, the piano manufacturer of
Brooklyn, N. Y., now in his eighty-fourth year,
is a chip of the old block, it seems, when it comes
to selling pianos. The junior, about 20 years of
age, was out driving in his automobile on Long
Island, when he picked up a prospect about five
o'clock in the evening. The party brought up the
question of buying after he learned Mr. Smith's
identity, when the latter proposed going to Brook-
lyn and looking over their stock in the warerooms.
The offer was accepted, the prospect taking along
his wife. Mr. Smith went flying to the city, the
Long Islanders found what they wanted, made a
payment, the salesman whisked them back home,
and reached his own domicile about 9 o'clock
in the evening. His mother, the wife of Free-
born G. Smith, the second, was greatly worried performed on the Fourth, in part celebration of the
about her son's absence, as he was always prompt- day. In further commemoration of the event, Ruef
ly on hand at a regular time. When his experi- purchased—he is still a very wealthy man "under
ence was related everybody was proud of the cover," it is alleged—the piano aforesaid and do-
young man's business acumen and quick-witted- nated it with his compliments to the penitentiary
ness, especially the grandfather, and congratula- authorities for the entertainment of his fellow-
tions were in order.
citizens temporarily deprived of their liberty for
various and divers infractions of the criminal laws,
«t K «t
Another honor has been conferred on the and therefore menaces to society at large. It is a
Aeolian Co., New York, through their distin- question whether the manufacturer of this piano is
guished president, Harry B. Tremaine, now in particularly solicitous to obtain a letter commend-
Europe. Recently the company received a cable ing its beautiful singing quality and true musical
from Mr. Tremaine in which he stated he was in tone from Abe Ruef or Raffles the burglar,-though
the receipt of a royal warrant of appointment to the instrument will give them no end of pleasure.
the King of Belgium. This makes the second
«t at «
royal appointment received by Mr. Tremaine with-
The classified advertising columns of the daily
in the past year, the first being from King George
papers of various cities of the country have re-
V. of England. A royal warrant of appointment,
cently been quite well filled with offers from piano
which is highly esteemed abroad, is always con-
houses to store pianos in the homes of applicants
ferred upon individuals, never upon firms. In
during the summer free of charge with a view to
these warrants issued to Mr. Tremaine the article saving storage expense. In very few instances is
recognized is the Aeolian Co.'s Pianola, which has
the name of the piano house making the offer
been accorded innumerable honors at the hands given in the advertisement, and in several cases at
of royalty and distinguished personages the world
least the advertisements have been worded in such
over.
a way as to indicate that the offer came from a
K K K
private family, generally one about to leave town
for an indefinite period. It is needless to say that
In mentioning the Aeolian Co. another honor,
the competing piano men who are on to the game
but of a totally different kind, was offered them,
and the manner in which it is worked are not in
but it was declined with thanks. At Long Beach,
L. I., N. Y., one of the finest stretches—about the least in favor of such advertising and where
possible make a strong protest. In some cases,
nine miles of ocean frontage—of beautiful white
sand along the whole Atlantic Coast, and now however, it has been almost impossible to discover
the name of the house making the offer until too
rapidly developing into a fashionable resort, a steel
late to. spoil the effect. While there are some
pier was to be erected. The shore foundations
dealers who claim that the summer storage plan is
were completed and then work was suspended
a perfectly proper way to secure piano prospects
indefinitely, and the construction never proceeded
any farther. It came out accidentally that the there are a great many others who believe that the
plan is to be included among the many that serve
Aeolian Co. had been approached by the real
estate promoters of the scheme, and the proposi- to cheapen the piano business and would like to see
tion made that if they would subscribe to a cer- it discontinued.
tain amount of stock the work should be named
at at at
Aeolian Pier. The company, however, were not
Ferruccio Busoni, the famous pianist-composer,
interested and therefore, as stated, they missed who was heard in concert with the Chickering
that other "honor," for which they did not care piano last season, has been working on an opera
a rap. By the way, a bunch of New York piano for the last few years which he now expects to
manufacturers are property owners at Long Beach, have produced some time in the autumn. The
and they think well of the investment.
libretto, as well as the music of the new opera
n at at
which will be entitled, "Die Brautwahl" (The
Abe Ruef, the whilom San Francisco political Wooer's Choice) are by Busoni. The premier of
boss and grafter par excellence, now serving a the new opera will occur at the Stadttheater at
fourteen-year term in San Quentin Penitentiary Hamburg in November under the capable direction
for being "caught with the goods," has presented a of Conductor Gustav Brecher. The production of
concert grand piano (name unknown at present the new work will be awaited with interest, for
writing), to the co-inmates of the prison. Per- during his tour of this country Busoni demon-
haps everyone is not aware Ruef is a college-bred strated that he was a man of originality, and of
man, one of rare intelligence, and his acumen, con- distinct force in the musical world. His readings
sidering his political misdeeds, need not be cata- of his own works, as well as the compositions of
logued here. However, Ruef had written a play, the masters, through the medium of the superb
in which the entire cast were convicts, including Chickering grand which he used, were a revelation,
himself in the title role—he always had a penchant and his career in the fatherland is being followed
for being at the head of the procession—that was with interest by his many friends here.