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THE
MUSIC TRADE
CHANGES IN CLEVELAND.
REVIEW
PIANO PLANTS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Removals and Remodeling the Order of the Interesting Figures Upon Capital and Output
Day in the Ohio City.
Furnished by Census Bureau.
(Special to The Review.)
Cleveland, Ohio, May 6, 1912.
W. H. Buescher & Sons Co., the prominent piano
and music dealers of this city have arranged to
move to handsome and commodious quarters in the
new Sweetland building and 1016 Euclid avenue,
a few doors from their present store, on June 1.
Charles I. Davis has remodeled his entire store,
putting in new and enlarged show-windows, new
show cases and shelving and making many other
improvemets of decided value. He is at the pres-
ent time making a large display of pianos and
other musical goods generally, including talking
machines.
The Hart Piano Co., has now added a line of
Victor and Edison talking machines to its stock
of pianos and other musical goods, having pur-
chased the stock of the Talking Machine Co., in
the Arcade.
The B. Dreher Sons Co. is now settled in the
new quarters of the company which is located on
Euclid avenue. The removal of the company from
its long established headquarters in The Arcade
has aroused much interest in the trade.
EXCESS BAGGAGE CHARGES.
Extra Piano Polishing
Murphy Brand
Cheapest by the Tear.
Yearly Finishing Costs are not simply the bills and
wages for straight-away finishing.
Other, sometimes vastly greater, costs are:—
1 Bother and Delay and Re-doing parts of the work:
2 Grouchiness of Dealers because Finish does not
hold good in salesroom:
3 Returned pianos when the Finish completely
falls down:
4 Loss of Good Will and Reputation and Custom.
Extra Piano Polishing reduces these "other and
greater costs" to the minimum.
The vamuh Murphy Varnish Company
T h a t La«U
Longest
New Providence Building Will Be One of the
Best Equipped of the Many Handsome Stores
Occupied by M. Steinert & Sons Co.
(Special to The Review.)
Washington, D. C, May 6, 1912.
According to a report just issued by the Census
Bureau, there were, in 1909, thirty factories en-
gaged in the manufacture of pianos in the State of
Pennsylvania. The total number of persons en-
gaged in this branch of the music industry in that
state was 1,331. Of this number, 21 were pro-
prietors and firm members; 53 were salaried of-
ficials, superintendents and managers; 59 were male
clerks; 16 were female clerks; 1,182 was the aver-
age number of wage earners. Another set of
figures shows that out of 1,262 wage earners on
December 15, 1909, 1,206 were males over fifteen
years of age, 16 were females over fifteen and 40
were males under sixten. The capital invested is
given as $3,157,965; total expenses, $2,117,165;
value of products, $2,381,849.
In the same year the number of establishments
making "musical instruments and materials not
specified" was nineteen. This makes a total of
forty-nine musical- instrument factories in the state.
Eighty-seven persons were engaged in this branch
of the music industry, eighteen being proprietors
and firm members. The capital here invested was
$201,057 and the value of products was $115,118.
According to the comparative figures the number
Committee Will Endeavor to Obtain Redress
of establishments making pianos and organs and
for Complaints.
materials in 1899 was thirty-one, one more than
Mr. Daniel P. Morse and Mr. S. C. Mead, secre- in 1909. The number of persons engaged grew in
tary of The Merchants' Association, attended a ten years from 807 to 1,331.
Philadelphia was the chief producer of pianos
meeting of the National Baggage Executive Com-
mittee in Washington on April 19 and 20, as rep- and organs and materials among the various cities,
resentatives of the association. .The committee has having thirteen such establishments in 1909. Erie
under consideration complaints of charges made was second, with four establishments.
by the railroads for the transportation of bag-
gage exceeding the weight and size allowed for
MISSOURI DEALER EXPANDS.
free transportation.
The traveling men are especially up in arms A. Besse Now Occupies Entire Three-Story
Building in Joplin. .
regarding the anomalies in excess baggage rates,
and they are demanding a higher weight limit and
A. Besse, the prominent piano dealer of Joplin,
revision of charges now in force.
An effort has been made by the Advisory Com- Mo., is now settled in new quarters in that city,
mittee to obtain a conference with the railroads occupying an entire three-story building for his
throughout the country upon the subject, but this various departments. Mr. Besse recently pur-
attempt proved unsatisfactory and the Advisory chased the piano business of the Newton-Smith
Committee recommended that the Executive Com- Co., and both members of that firm are now con-
mittee take the matter forthwith to the Interstate nected with the Besse house in the new location.
Commerce Commission. The Executive Committee Mr. Besse, who has been in the piano business in
Kansas for the past twenty years, handles the
after discussion, decided against this action and
will first try the conference plan. Should this fail, Knabe, Mehlin, Kimball, Smith & Barnes, Cable-
Nelson, Kohler & Campbell and other makes of
another meeting will be held to determine what
pianos and the Apollo line of player-pianos.
steps shall be taken.
Quality Is
Economy
NEW STEINERT BUILDING READY.
FRANKLIN MURPHY, Pre.id.nt
Auociated with Dougall Varnish Company, Limited, Montreal. Canada
(Special to The Review.)
Providence, R. I., May 6, 1912.
A notable addition to the office buildings in Provi-
dence will be" that of the M. Steinert & Sons Co.
on Westminster street, and of which possession has
just been taken. The location is well chosen, as it
will be but a few years before the retail section
will extend well toward Canonicus square, or Hoyle
Tavern, as former generations termed it.
The plans for this building were prepared by
G. Henri Desmond, the well-known Boston archi-
tect.
The front elevation is constructed of white
glazed terra cotta, which material, while new in
Providence, has been used in the construction of
a number of the finest office buildings in New
York and Boston. This gives the building an en-
during, glossy and attractive appearance and makes
it conspicuous among the business structures.
There are two large, well lighted stores on the
ground floor, one of which will be occupied by
M. Steinert & Sons Co. That concern is also
using the second floor for a large music room,
similar in its adaptability to the widely known
Steinert Hall in Boston. The third, fourth, fifth
and sixth floors are fitted up for office purposes.
PADEREWSKMVAS INSULTED.
Will Never Return to South Africa, Says the
Angered Pianist—Comments of the South
African Papers on Paderewski's Visit.
Ignace Paderewski, the famous pianist, who has
just finished a tour of South Africa, complained
bitterly belfore sailing for England of the treat-
ment he had received, and announced his intention
never to visit the country again.
In an interview published in the Cape Times,
the pianist related his experiences while coming
down the coast from Durban aboard the steamer.
He was playing very softly on the ship's piano
when a man came up and said:
"Here, you stop that noise."
"I stopped playing at once," said Paderewski,
"and then the man went into the smoking room to
his friends and they roared with laughter when
he told them that he had stopped me from playing.
He was not content with insulting me, but must
also go up on deck, where my secretary was paint-
ing, and throw biscuit crumbs all over the picture.
"What a country! How could one be happy in
a country where there is no understanding of art?
They have no idea of art, no sentiment for it, and
no desire for it."
If the famous musician is vexed at the treatment
he received in South Africa, the inhabitants in their
turn are vexed by his remarks.
"If we have disappointed the great performer as
an artistic community," says the Johannesburg Star,
"it is only fair to say that he has likewise dis-
appointed us as a man of the world and a good
sport.
"It is not our fault if an artist visits our towns,
and particularly Johannesburg, under the impres-
sion that we are an open gold mine. It has never
been previously impressed upon such visitors that
we have had little more than a quarter of a cen-
tury's existence, and that we are still in our artistic
swaddling clothes."
SETTLEMENT WITH CREDITORS.
R. R. Whitehead to Continue Piano Business
in Peoria, III.
NEWARK,
N.J.
CHICAGO,
ILL.
It is reported that R. R. Whitehead, who con-
ducts a piano store at 125 North Jefferson ave-
nue, Peoria, 111., has made an arrangement with
his creditors to continue the business at the present
location and the prospects are that the financial
difficulties of the house will be settled satisfactorily
to the creditors and all concerned. A large new
stock of pianos and player-pianos has recently been
received and placed in the warerooms.