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THE
STARR BRANCHES^ ESCAPE FIRE.
The Great Forest Fire Which Recently Dev-
astated Part of Michigan Caused Consid-
erable Loss in the Various Towns Which
It Visited but Fortunately the Starr Stores
Escaped Damage of Any Kind—Five New
Agencies Just Established by the Starr Co.
(Special to The Review.)
Detroit, Mich., July 14, 1011.
Starr pianos had a charmed existence during
the forest fires here this week, judging from re-
sults. The Starr Piano Co. have agencies in sev-
eral towns in the hurned district, but in every case
the fires worked around the towns and bore away
in some other direction. Elk Rapids, Bellaire,
Harbor Springs, Alpena and West Branch all have
Starr agencies. Only in Alpena, which is quite
a good sized city, did the fire actually enter the
town. Even there it did not tackle the Starr store.
It raged all through the counties in which the
other towns mentioned are locaed, stopping only
when the wind stopped.
Manager Hannon recently tried to establish
. agencies in Oscoda and Au Sable, but could not
get anybody interested. These two towns were
almost entirely consumed.
Within the last ten days the Starr Co. have
established new agencies in five cities, Clare, Mid-
land, Marshall, Sebewaing and Pigeon. They all
sent in good sized orders with their contracts. The
traveling men report business a little shy, because
so many merchants are away on vacations. They
are taking their vacations early this year because
of the torrid and unusually advanced summer.
July is August in Michigan this year in every-
thing but name.
The Starr's retail business in Detroit is keeping
up better, though this, too, is affected by vacation
time.
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEIW
July 1. Mr. Kochmann's associations have always
been in the Eastern section of the country, his
family living at New Rochelle, N. Y., and there-
fore he naturally prefers to work there where his
trade acquaintance is more intimate.
FREEBORN 0. SMITH CELEBRATES
His 83d Birthday at His Home in Brooklyn on
Monday—The Veteran Piano Man Still Ac-
tively Interested in Piano Matters.
Freeborn G. Smith, the pioneer manufacturer of
pianos in Brooklyn, celebrated his e'ghty-third
birthday at his home, 197 Washington Park, on
Monday evening with a family dinner which in-
cluded several out-of-town relatives of himself
and his wife.
The gathering was informal, as Mr. Smith is just
recovering from an attack of the grippe, which
was not made any better by the recent hot spell.
Hearty, despite his four score and three years, Mr.
Smith is still active in his interest in the Brad-
bury and other pianos which he manufactures and
he visits the plant every day when his health and
the weather permits.
The active pan of the business, however, is now
being carried on by F. G. Smith, Jr., though the
senior is still consulted on matters of importance
concerning both the manufacturing and business
ends.
Freeborn G. Smith, Sr., and his wife are active
in the Hansom Place Methodist Episcopal Church,
and on Monday their hosts of friends in business,
social and church circles extended the heartiest
congratulations to Mr. Smith on his arriving at
this ripe age with full possession of all his mental
and physical facilities and able to keep in touch
with all that is going on in music trade affairs
throughout the country.
WHERE THEREj\RE OPTIMISTS.
REINHAED KOCHMANN RESIGNS.
Reinhard Kcchmann, who has been in the whole-
sale department of Lyon & Healy, Chicago, travel-
ing the Eastern territory, severed his connection on
A satisfied customer
is a real profit maker
—the best salesman a
piano dealer can possibly
have
Every Packard owner is a Packard
booster. He is more than satis-
fied—for he has received more
than "full value" for his money
That's the reason Packard pianos
are easy to sell—and that's the
reason you will find profit and
pleasure in selling them. Also it's
the reason why we are finding it
easy to get the better dealers
everywhere to handle them. Write
The Packard Company, Fort
Wayne, Indiana—to-day. If we
are not already represented in
your territory, we may be glad
to make agency arrangements
with you—and it may mean for
you the one big opportunity.
Merchants of the Middle West, and How They
View the Business Outlook.
(Special to The Review.)
Lincoln, Neb., July 15, 1911.
The attitude of interior merchants toward fu-
ture trade is illustrated strikingly by the experience
of traveling men who make this city their head-
quarters. One of these men returned to-day from
a trip through western and central Nebraska.
He found no discouragement.
"While the coun ry merchant is buying close and
is taking on only enough to keep up his assort-
ment he has no serious doubts about the future,"
said he. ' : He positively will not order far ahead,
and looks for a moderate autumn trade. This is
true all through the interior, and is responsible
for many cancellations of orders placed early in
the spring. The merchant is easily influenced by
crop conditions, and he is so close to the farmer
that he has little misunderstanding of the exact
conditions."
Yet here and there in almost every town are
found merchan s who are going ahead, advertising
freely and making special sales with results that
are surprising. They reason that there is plenty
of money in the country, and though during the
hot weather there is always in a country community
a disposition to let things go easy, there is certain
to be a reaction, and the farmer finds in the end
that, after he has been buying closely for more
than a year, there are many things he must have.
The merchant with courage and enterprise is with
his suitable stock likely to get this trade earlier
than his rival who neglects his business. It is
largely a matter of competitive enterprise, and
while for six weeks things have looked blue and
some localities will suffer, the Middle West mer-
chant is going to fare as well as last year.
TWO ESTEY CONCERT GRANDS
Purhased by Tali Esen Morgan for the Big
Auditorium at Ocean Grove Where All the
Noted Musical Affairs Are Held.
Two Estey concert grands were bought by Prof.
Tall Esen Morgan, the widely known teacher of
music in New York, for the big Auditorium at
Ocean Grove, N. J. The professor has always
been a great admirer of the Estey on merit, and
this selection for so great a place, where thousands
assemble to hear the best of music, was made in
the same spirit. The order was placed with L. A.
Duckworth, manager of the Estey Co., 7 West
Twenty-ninth street, who attended to all of the
details of the transaction. The shipment was
made from the factory in New York, and was
delivered last week.
CORPORATION TAX STATUS.
About
Eight
Thousand Concerns on the
linquent List.
De-
(Special to The Review.)
Washington, July 17, 1911.
The Commissioner of Internal Revenue is hav-
ing some difficulty with those corporations which
reported last year, but which were not taxed be-
cause their revenues were very small. About 8,000
corpora:ions have been placed on the delinquent
list this year for not making any report to the
Government. While it is conceded that some of
those corporations have failed since last year, it
is presumed that the larger portion of them are
still doing business, but did not make a report be-
cause it was not considered necessary.
The law gives the commissioner power to fine
all corporations not making reports to him, whether
they are liable to the tax or not. It is presumed
that ndne of the corporations will be excused for
ignorance of the law and that they will be fined.
The tax receipts have fallen off considerably
since the first of the month in comparison with the
figures of last year. This is due lo the fact that
most of the tax was collected before the time limit,
June 30, was up, and to the fact that the corpora-
tions understand the law better smce the Supreme
Court decision. The collections since the first of
the month up to the close of business last week
were a little less than $1,000,000, whereas for the
same period last year the collections amounted to
over $4,000,000.
THEY
COST
MORE
THEY'RE
WORTH
IT
To the manufacturer who
values his reputation, and to
the dealer who wants his cus-
tomer's confidence, demand
them in the pianos you han-
dle—especially in the players
—made of superior German
felt.
401-424 E. 163d St., New York
Chicago Office: Republic Blclg.