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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
CHAS. H. STEINWAY DISCUSSES EUROPEAN CONDITIONS.
Drawn-Out War in Balkans Having Demoralizing Effect — People Throughout Europe Very
Conservative—Election for President in France Favorably Contrasted with That of the
United States—Offer of Land from Municipality of Hamburg Not Accepted—To Increase
Manufacturing Facilities, However, at an Early Date — The Steinway Branch Establish-
ments Abroad Closed Greatest Year in 1912—Steinway Piano in Favor All Over the World.
Charles H. Steinway, president of Steinway & dollars for the so-called "publicity" or candidate
Sons, returned to America, Saturday morning, on campaigning apparent in our elections. Every-
the "Mauretania" after one of the roughest trips thing progresses in set channels, and the country
this veteran crosser of the Atlantic ever experienc- at large is not disturbed in the slightest. It is, in
ed—his ninety-second, by the way. Mr. Steinway my opinion, the simplest political system in the
left New York Friday night, January 3d, on the world that the French people have perfected.
"In France the president serves for a term of
Holland-American steamer "Amerika," and ex-
pected to arrive on the other side a week later, seven years, and the. term of the present execu-
tive, President Fallieres, expires February 28th of
but the "Amerika" grounded on the mud banks off
New York Harbor, and remained there for a this year. In the month of January prior to the
period of thirty-six hours. As a result of this un- expiration of the president's term, the French
expected delay, Mr. Steinway arrived in Europe Senate and Assembly convene for the purpose of
considerably later than he had expected, and cer- taking a number of ballots for the election of the
tainly covered a remarkable area of ground in new officers of the republic, and whoever gets a
majority of the votes in this session is proclaimed
the very short time he was away.
Mr. Steinway's first visit was to the company's the next president. In the recent election, for ex-
immense factories in Hamburg, Germany, where
he remained for a few days, closing some business
that had necessitated his trip abroad. From Ham-
burg he went to Berlin, where he visited his
mother, who resides in the German capital. After
a very short stay in Berlin, Mr. Steinway returned
to Hamburg, and then proceeded to Zurich,
Switzerland, to meet Mrs. Charles H. Steinway.
His next stop was at Paris, and from there Mr.
Steinway went to London and Liverpool, where
he boarded the "little Mauretania" (as Mr. Stein-
way calls it), for the return voyage. This hufYied
t traveling all took place in a period of nineteen
days, and necessitated railroad connections which
made the trip a business one in every sense of
the word, and hardly a pleasure one.
Notwithstanding the scarcity of available time
for anything outside of the realm of immediate
business, Mr. Steinway managed to spare a few
moments now and then to observe current indus-
trial and political conditions.
"1 was not very favorably impressed with gen-
eral business conditions in Europe," stated Mr.
Steinway, in discussing the situation abroad with
The Review. "The drawn-out war in the Balkans
has had a rather demoralizing effect on business
affairs in many parts of the Continent, and as a
Charles H. Steinway.
result, the general business situation is not very ample, the Republican party, which is the strong-
encouraging. While I was in Europe, the peace est political party in France to-day, canvassed its
conference had virtually settled the differences of
votes, and long before the convention of the
the warring nations and the people were planning French Congress, had eliminated all possible can-
to shortly resume normal prosperous business con- didates of their party with the exception of two
ditions, but since my return, it seems that the gentlemen. Monsieur Pams, and Monsieur Poin-
efforts of the peace conferees have been counter- Cc'ire. Mr. Pams was what might be termed a
acted, and the war continues to upset all industrial sort of compromise candidate, while Mr. Poin-
and financial affairs of Europe. Although the caire, who is the present prime minister of the
•present war does not directly concern the great republic,
is one of the strongest individuals
powers of Europe, they are sufficiently interested mentally and physically in France. When the
in the ultimate outcome to make general conditions Republican deputies went into the general con-
unsettled.
vention, Mr. Pams had a slight majority of the
"As is usual in these wars, the 'big' powers are Republican vote, but the first ballot of the total
all watching each other closely, fearing that one assembly showed that Mr. Poincaire was the
or the other may get some advantage when the favored candidate, and on the second ballot he
time for final settlement arrives.
was duly elected president of the republic. With
"The people of Europe are naturally very con- the passing of these simple formalities we see
servative at the present time, and are a little the completion of a national election without any
nervous as regards their investments, the con- attending country-wide excitement that character-
tinuance of the war naturally having a disquiet- izes our elections, no cessation of business trans-
ing effect on industrial or speculative stocks and actions pending the final election of the president,
and no waste of immense sums of money in order
bonds. As a result of this unsettled attitude of
the moneyed people, the financial resources of the to keep the public on edge months before elec-
Continent are tied up, and the usual normal pros- tion time. And all this simplicity was observed
perity of the various countries is not evident just in a country where there are seven important
political parties, and not merely two or three as
now.
"What impressed me more than any one thing in this country.
during my short stay abroad was the holding of
"One of the objects of my sudden trip to
the French Presidential election a few weeks ago. Europe was to pass on the advisability of our
I' certainly must voice my admiration of the accepting a grant of land from the municipality
methods employed by the French people in hold- of Hamburg which would permit us to increase
ing their elections for officers of their republic. our manufacturing facilities in that city, and
There was an utter absence of any semblance of
occupy more land that we now have. After
our "blood and thunder" methods of campaigning thoroughly investigating the land offered us, and
which forms a part of our business life for many al! incidental details, I felt, however, that it was
months prior to the actual holding of the elec- not quite what we needed and was obliged to
tion. There is no expenditure of millions of
decline the offer of the city. At the same time, I
expressed our appreciation of their kind offer,
and regretted that we could not utilize the splen-
did tract offered us, as climatic conditions would
not work to our advantage on the land in ques-
tion. There is no doubt, however, that we will
shortly be obliged to increase our manufacturing
facilities in Hamburg, as our requirements there
are increasing so rapidly that we are badly handi-
capped by the lack of sufficient floor space.
"1 visited our branch offices abroad just as they
were closing their books for the year of HH'J, and
their figures were highly gratifying. In all our
branches in Europe, last year proved to be the
banner year in our history, and this record was
made notwithstanding continental unrest. This
splendid achievement signifies considerable to us
and the trade, but as one of our American dealers
told me, 'It seems to me that the Steinway piano
is an instrument that occupies a position all by
itself in the highest class of piano perfection, and
that the musically intelligent as well as the
wealthy classes 'all over the world are perfectly
willing to buy the best in the market, and local
prejudices play no part in their making a pur-
chase.' "
A NEW PROTECTIVE MEASURE
Just Introduced in Massachusetts Legislature,
Provides That Furniture Movers Must Ren-
der Daily Report of All Work Done—Will
Check Piano Instalment Swindlers.
(Special to The Review.)
Boston, Mass., Feb. 11, 1013.
Amid the flood of instalment and other legisla-
tion affecting the interest of the piano men, among
others, it is pleasing to note that there has been
another bill introduced in the Massachusetts Legis-
lature which should, if passed, prove decidedly
beneficial to the interests of the trade at large.
Among the provisions of the new bill every furni-
ture mover, which will be taken to include the
piano mover, will be obliged to make a report each
day, on blanks especially provided for the pur-
pose, of every moving operation in which he has
been engaged during the day.
The report will include the name of the party
and the address from which the goods are moved,
the name of the party and address to which they
are delivered and a general description of the
goods themselves.
The various features of the new bill appeal
strongly to those engaged in the instalment busi-
ness as offering the means of ending the depreda-
tions of the people -who buy goods on time and
then move without paying. Under the new bill
goods can be traced by simply referring to the
records of the movers in the office of the city
clerk, and the expense of detective work will
thereby be saved.
WANTS EMPLOYES TO PROFIT.
W. R. Schutz, El Paso, Tex., Incorporates Busi-
ness That Employes May Purchase Stock.
One of the live piano men of Texas is W. R.
Schutz, proprietor of the El Paso Piano Co., who
incorporated his business last month with capital
stock of $70,000, for the purpose of giving his
employes an opportunity for buying stock and
sharing in the profits of the business. Mr. Schutz
came with the El Paso Piano Co. as a clerk and
at a small salary. In 1904 he became a partner and
in 1908 sole owener. At the present time he oc-
cupies his own building at the corner of Myrtle
and Campbell streets.
CLOSES BRANCH STORE.
The French & Sons Piano Co., Springfield, 111.,
has closed its branch store in Taylorville, 111., and
the business in that territory will be handled in
future direct from the Springfield store.
Paul M. Rodet, who conducts a piano store at
381 Main street, Buffalo, N. Y., has opened an-
other store at 5 Genesee street, that city, where a
large stock will be carried.