Music Trade Review

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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
15
FORTY PER CENT. INCREASE IN PEERLESS OUTPUT.
Demand for Automatic Pianos and Orchestrions Made by the Peerless Piano Player Co. Has
Been Active This Year Due to the Production of Instruments of Unusual Merit—Prom-
inent Part the Engelhardt Family Has Played in Growth of St. Johnsville.
The principal industry located in the town of St. hours per day is quite another proposition. In the
Johnsville, N. Y., and of which the citizens are the coin-operated instrument constant playing produces
most proud, is the great plant of F. Engelhardt & the profits for the purchaser, and no sentimental
Sons, who, besides manufacturing piano actions regard for the wearing qualities of wood and metal
and keys, are also proprietors of the Peerless Piano enter into his reckoning. It is as an instrument that
Player Co., makers of one of the most popular will "stand up" under the almost brutal usage met
lines of automatic pianos and orchestrions on the with in cafes and similar places, and still give
steady satisfaction for a surprising number of
market.
The steady development and growth of the En-
gelhardt business during the years since its estab-
lishment, and more especially during the past five
years, has meant the development of the town in
which their plant is located, and the fact is duly
appreciated. There is an old proverb to the effect
that one person doesn't really know another until
they have lived together, and on that basis the
Engelhardts have reason to be proud of the high
place they occupy in the estimation of their towns-
people—the people with whom they are most inti-
mately associated and who know what efforts have
that way. It seems that practically all of the
dealers wlio handle non-Peerless instruments want
the Peerless now."
RECOMMEND PARCELS POST.
Hitchcock Prepares Plans for Congressional Ac-
tion in December for the Purpose of Improv-
ing the Postal Service.
(Special to The Review.)
Washington, Aug. 29, 1911.
An outline of the program of legislation for the
postal service which Postmaster General Hitch-
cock will ask Congress to follow during the regu-
lar session, to begin in December, was indicated
by Mr. Hitchcock to-day.
In his annual report, which will be laid before
Congress in December, Mr. Hitchcock will recom-
mend the establishment of a parcels post service
on rural mail routes; the crystallization into law
of proposed increases in second class mail rates,
and the enactment of proposed laws providing
for a radical change in the system of compensa-
ting the railways for transporting the mails.
Mr. Hitchcock explained that it was his idea
first to establish parcels post on the rural routes,
in order that the administrative details of the sys-
tem might be worked out without disadvantage to
the postal service generally. Gradually he would
extend the parcels service to urban communities,
so that packages and parcels might be delivered
locally by city carriers. Subsequently the service
would be extended to include railway transporta-
tion.
DETROIT DEALER IN NEW OUARTERS
ALFRED D. ENGELHARDT.
years, that the reputation of the Peerless line has
been built up.
The three things considered primarily in the
manufacture of the Peerless instruments are: First,
the ability to produce music of the first quality in
all the various combinations, the certainty of the
instrument standing rough usage through the use
of materials specially selected for their soundness
and strength and, lastly, combinations of musical
effects and case designs that are up to the minute.
No better proof of the satisfaction-giving qualities
of the Peerless products can be desired than the
enthusiasm of the dealers who have handled and
are handling the line. They know.
FREDERICK ENGELHARDT.
The town of St. Johnsville may well be proud
been put forth to bring about the present success of the Engelhardt business, the men behind it and
of the great business.
the product. The story of F. Engelhardt & Sons
Of all the various departments of the plant flic has been a story of development and progress since
progress of the Peerless Piano Player Co. is de- the business was founded.
serving of the most interest, for it has been truly
remarkable. The progress has not been due to
accident and has not been made by sudden spurts,
but it is the result of continual betterment of
product wherever possible, the introduction of new
ideas of real value and the apparent desire to keep
the output right up to the minute at all times. Hav-
ing been among the first in the field in the produc-
tion of automatic musical instruments of the coin-
operated type, the Peerless Piano Player Co. have
steadily maintained their advanced position in that
field and have kept step and generally been a little
in advance of the new developments in such in-
struments.
While Frederick Engelhardt stands at the head
of the company, his two sons, Alfred D. and Wal-
ter L., find a goodly share of the burdens of the
business resting on their shoulders, and their broad
experience in the producing, selling and financial
ends of the business, and their intimate association
with their father in the work, have rendered them
fully competent to secure the results upon which
success has been built. As it is, the Engelhardt
WALTER L. ENGELHARDT.
"boys" have become strong factors in the auto-
Alfred D. EngelhaTdt recently remarked to The
matic piano field.
The production of a successful coin-operated Review: "Tn going over our records covering
automatic piano presents difficulties that the man- shipments and wages paid June 10, 1910, and June
ufacturer of the ordinary styles of pianos and of this year, I find to my surprise that there is an
increase of over 40 per cent., and if the present
player-pianos never has to face. To provide for
normal or average use of a piano is one thing, situation continues we are going to double this
while to produce an instrument that will stand up next year. The Peerless, without doubt, is now
under steady playing for from ten to eighteen enjoying an excellent demand, if 1 may put it in
Separate Salesrooms for Different
Lines in
New Building Occupied by J. Henry Ling.
(Special to The Review.)
Detroit, Mich., Aug. 30, 1911.
The Ling family of pianos moved into their
new home Monday, August 28. Said family con-
sisted, of the Weber, Krakauer, Newby & Evans,
Milton and Schiller. Each member will have a
separate salesroom to itself, but they are only
getting settled this week, so a description of their
quarters will be reserved for another spiel. Suf-
ficient to say that there is nothing superior in
Michigan, and not very many larger. The new
quarters were made ready in the nick of time.
The special decorations ordered by Mr. Ling re-
quired a good deal of time to finish. The artist
who decorated the Michigan State Capitol, did the
work. In an advisory capacity there acted J. Floyd
Harris, of Washington, D. C, a draper and decor-
ator of considerable fame throughout the country.
GOLDEN STOCK SOLD.
Jacob Bros. Become the Purchasers—Trustee
Breck Expects to Close the Estate at an
Early Date.
The stock of W. C. Golden & Co., 410-416 East
Thirty-second street, in bankruptcy, was sold at
public auction Saturday last on the order of Chas.
J. Breck, trustee. There was sixty-eight lots, in-
cluding unfinished pianos listed, and the same was
bid in by Jacob Bros., for $1,100; Kindler & Collins
were the next highest bidders, viz., $1,075. Charles
J. Breck, the trustee, expects to close the estate at
an early date, all claims of creditors having been
tiled and passed upon.
TO RETIRE FROM BUSINESS.
The W. H. Chine Co., Los Angeles, Cal., who
handled pianos in conjunction with their electric
sign and theatrical supply business, have an-
nounced the fact that they are going out of busi-
ness and will dispose of their agency.
PIANO FACTORY IN SKIATOOK.
Citizens of Skiatook, Okla., have raised all of the
bonus of $10,000, which will insure the location of
a new piano factory at that town. Stock to the
amount of $10,000 will also be subscribed to by the
raisers of the bonus.