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THE: MUSIC TRADE
GRINNELL EMPLOYES TO SHARE
In Connection with Incorporation of Business
—Old and Trusted Employes Become Inter-
ested—Formal Statement Issued Regarding
Change in Business Organization and Rea-
sons Which Led to Formation of Corporation
with Capital of $3,750,000.
(Special to The Review.)
Detroit, Mich., Aug. 13, 1912.
On Thursday, August 8, Grinnell Bros., whose
incorporation was announced in The Review last
week issued a formal statement to the trade and
to the public at large through the daily press of
Detroit, setting forth the reason for the change
in their business organization. It was as follows:
"That the business may be perpetuated,: and the
benefit of the vast amount of advertising done be
maintained and fully realized upon, the firm of
Grinnell Bros., prominent for more than thirty
years in the music business of Detroit and Mich-
igan, finds it advisable to make a change in form
of ownership, and this 'has been effected through
the incorporation of the business.
"Up to this time the business has b^en con^
ducted as a partnership, I. L. Grinnell and C. A.
Grinnell being the sole owners. Both members of
the firm have come to feel that they would like
to be relieved somewhat of the grinding details of
operating the business, which has grown to vast
proportions, and to do this have taken in a number
of their old and tried employes—the ones who have
done a great deal toward making the business
what it is. The board of directors is: I. L. Grin-
nell, president; C. A. Grinnell, vice-president; A
A. Grinnell, second vice-president; S. E. Clark,
secretary, and C. I. Nye, treasurer.
"The company will maintain the branch stores
and factories in Michigan and Canada with the
same men in charge who have been in charge for
years. As a matter of fact, there will be no par-
ticular change in the management of the business
anywhere along the line.
"The capitalization is $3,750,000, of which $2,-
000,000 is common stock and $1,7">0,000 is 7 per
cent, preferred stock, all of which through the
Michigan law is made non-assessable and non-tax
able. Nearly the whole of this stock will be taken
over by the directors and employes of the com-
pany, except a small amount of preferred stock,
which will be offered to the public, and, as no com-
pany in Michigan can be organized with more pre-
ferred stock authorized than two-thirds of the cash
value of the assets actually paid in, this preferred
stock will be a most excellent investment for any-
one desiring a steady income, as the dividends will
be paid four times a year.
"This corporation is organized on rather a unique
basis, in that there is no 'water,' so-called, capital-
ized at all, and if it were not for the fact that the
two original owners of the business will be still
the owners of a great majority of the stock, it
would have been necessary to arrive at some actual
valuation of the good-will, which means that the
business would have brought more in cash from
outsiders than it was taken over for by the new
company and paid for in stock. That I. L. ana
C. A. Grinnell take pay wholly in stock for their
interest in'the business would clearly establish it as
gilt edge'in character. The directors alone own
three-quarters of the entire issue, all of which
will be paid for in cash. None will be placed to
be paid for from the profits of the business, but
each share" disposed of will represent ftill amount
of cash paid in.
•
"Grinnell Bros, have for years been the largest
music house in Michigan, arid also one of the very
largest retail music organizations in the -world, and
to perpetuate such an organization was undoubtedly
the first duty of the owners of the' business.
"The same policies which have been instrumental
in the remarkable development of this great busi-
ness will be continued and improved wherever pos-
sible..
i "The music business when properly handled and
on a large scale shows "a reasonable profit on the
investment, and the handling of pianos must be
done on a large scale if the expense per piano is to
be brought low enough so the public are not over-
REVIEW
charged. Grinnell Bros.' business amounts to over
three million per annum and the new organization
has a very bright future."
C. A. Grinnell has left for a six weeks' tour of
the West. His wife and daughter accompany him.
CLOSING OF TUNERS' CONVENTION.
New Governing Body Chosen and Resolutions
Adopted—Annual Banquet a Success—Fac-
tories Visited—-Had Most Enjoyable Time.
(Special to The Review.)
Cincinnati, O., Aug. 12, 1912.
The third annual convention of the American
Guild of Piano Tuners, which has been in progress
in Cincinnati since Tuesday morning, came to a
successful conclusion, so far as its business is con-
cerned, Thursday noon, when it was adjourned
to meet next year at the call of the board of direc-
tors. Although the Chicago Commission of Com-
merce, through, its convention bureau, had formally
invited the Guild to hold its next convention in
Chicago, no definite action was taken in this mat-
New York, and the John Church Co., of this city.
The third annual dinner Wednesday night was a
great success and D. F. Summy, of the Cable Piano
Co., of this city, made the hit of the evening with
his speech. Other speakers were Chairman Mc-
Clellan, of Cincinnati; H. W. Willson, of the Amer-
ican Steel & Wire Co.; Chairman O'Harrow, of
Northwestern Ohio; William Braid White, as toast-
master, fulfilled his duties successfully.
Thursday night the delegates were entertained at
a Dutch lunch given by the Cincinnati branch, and
on Friday visited the Cincinnati factories.
CELEBRATES 36TH_ ANNIVERSARY.
L. S. Parsons, the piano and music dealer of
Waterloo, la., recently celebrated :the thirty-sixth
anniversary of the establishment of his business
which from a small foundation has grown to a
point where it occupies a large section of the
building erected by Mr. Parsons in 1902 at 818-820
Sycamore street. L. S. Parsons has associated
with him in the piano business hrs soil, H. O. Par-
sons, and handles the A. B. Chase, Vose, R. S.
Howard, Kurtzmann, Autopiano and other makes
of pianos and player-pianos. He sells about 400
pianos annually.
PATENTING A DESCRIPTIVE TERM.
Seated, President Emil Knoll, Standing, Right
to Left, First Vice-President E. H. Bacon,
Second Vice-President L. P. Reinhardt,
Secretary-Treasurer
Wm. Braid
White.
ter, the final decision being left in the hands of the
national executive officers.
Resolutions were adopted calling for closer co-
operation between the Guild and piano manufac-
turers, and the national executive officers were in-
structed to study the question of the relations now
existing between music teachers and piano tuners,
with special reference to some sort of co-operation
between the Guild and the National Association of
Music Teachers. It was also directed that an of-
ficial statement be presented for the press in general,
setting forth the economic and trade position of
the Guild, with a special reference to insistence
upon the organization not being a labor union in
any shape or form, but an association of master
craftsmen devoted to the highest interests of the
profession.
The old Executive Council was abolished and in
its stead the convention created a national board
of directors, consisting of a president, two vice-
presidents, a secretary and a treasurer. The nom-
inating committee presented a slate in which the
following names were put forward. For president,
Ernil Koll, of Cincinnati, vice-chairman of Cin-
cinnati branch; for first vice-president, E. H. Bacon,
chairman of Rochester branch; for second vice-
president,, L. F. Reinhardt, of Loganport, Ind., who
is a member of the Central Indiana branch; sec-
retary and treasurer, William Braid White, of.
Chicago, founder and general organizer of, the
Guild. The ticket was unanimously elected and the
new national officers formally inducted.
The national headquarters were settled at 532
Postal Telegraph Building, Chicago, where Secre-
tary-Treasurer White will be in charge.
During the afternoon session, a practical me-
chanical demonstration of piano playing mech-
anism was given by William Braid White to the
assembled delegates. Mr. White used a player piano
furnished by Butler Brps. Piano Mfg. Co. of this
cityT-"
' '
"""-•
$•••-•
.-
- -
Souvenirs -we*e-peseiited by th^^merican Steel
& Wire Go., the Standard Pneumatic Action Co., ot
How far may the owner of a commodity which
lie wishes to trade-mark monopolize a descriptive
term ? Not at all, say the courts, if the term de-
scribes the goods: "Brilliant" may be used as a
trade-mark for flour or shoes, but not for dia-
monds. Applied to a make of shoe, it might sug-
gest superiority; it would not describe a quality.
The Trade-Mark Bulletin quotes this opinion by
Federal Judge Wallace:
"If it [the trade-mark] is so aptly and logically
significant of some quality of the artitcle to which
it is sought to be applied, that its exclusive con-
cession to one person would tend to restrict others
from properly describing their own similar articles,
it cannot be subject to a monopoly. On the other
hand, if it is merely suggestive, or is figurative
only, it may be a good trade-mark, notwithstand-
ing it is also indirectly or remotely descriptive."
THEY
GO
TOGETHER
TRUE
PIANO
QUALITY
AND
THE
SCHMIDT
HAMMER
SUPERIOR
GERMAN
FELT
The hammer that is
always selected when
the
manufacturer
wants QUALITY—
not cheapness.
Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
Chicago Office: Republic Bldg