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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
8
STEINWAYS ON SS. "1MPERATOR."
(Continued from page 7.)
STATUS OF THE STENCIL PIANOS IN ENGLAND.
Henry Billingshurst, in Paper Read at Buxlon Convention, Suggests That Fictitious Names on
Pianos Be Discontinued, and in Future Only Names of Manufacturers, Legitimate Dealers
or Their Registered Trade-Marks Be Recognized.
the Louis XVI period and occupies a prominent
place in one of the luxurious dining salons of the
steamship. All of these instruments are excep-
In view of the movement among certain piano
tionally beautiful and in keeping with the fame and
manufacturers in the United States to do away
artistic supremacy of both the "lmperator" and the
with the stencil piano, or at least put it under
House of Steinway.
some form of regulation that will make for some
satisfactory standardization of piano value, and the
announcement published in The Review recently to
LOOK OUT FOR THIS MAN
the effect that the rules of the Music Trades' Ex-
Using the Name of the A. B. Chase Co. and
hibition to be held in London in September dis-
Operating
in Western Pennsylvania and
tinctly barred stencil pianos, the following paper
Eastern Ohio—Repairing Pianos
in the
read at the recent convention of the British Music
Flooded Districts—Collecting and Decamping
Trades' Association at Buxton, by Henry Billings-
hurst, of Brinsmead, Ltd., should prove of par-
The A. B. Chase Co., Norwalk, O., has written ticular interest. Mr. Billingshurst said:
Herbert W. Hill, secretary of the National Asso-
"There are few subjects of greater importance
ciation of Piano Manufacturers, under date of
•to iboth -manufacturer and dealer, not only in this
June 24, calling attention to a man operating in country, but all over the world—notably in America
eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania, repairing —where steps are being taken with a view of find-
flood pianos, who claims to hi connected with the ing a satisfactory solution to the vexed problem,
A. B. Chase Co. and who is engaged in question- and to bring about a cleaner and better state of
able practices.
trade, more advantageous to both producers and
In this connection the A. B. Chase Co. says: the public.
"We have had four letters from different people
"It has long since become an established custom
for whom this man worked, all of them intimating to place some name prominently on the fall of each
that he was in some way connected with our firm. piano. In the early days, when makers' retailed
To most of these parties he has rendered an ac- their own instruments more than they do now, it
count which has been paid by them, and in some was their means of distinguishing their pianos
of the cases he has left the work partly finished. from those of their competitors, and, with high
We do not know how much of this work he has quality lying behind it, the name on the fall has
done, as we have only received these four letters;
(even before the days of advertising) popularized
the last letter came this morning from a man from the great manufacturing houses throughout the
I whom he got credit from the strength of his rep- country.
resentations, and it seems that he left for parts
"The benefit of this popularity or goodwill so
unknown without stating where or settling for the legitimately acquired, does not, under present trad-
goods purchased or doing the work he promised. ing conditions, remain solely with the original
We do not know anything about this man, who makers, but it is shared by the dealers throughout
he is, or anything further than that he has never the world, who act as their agents.
in any way, so far as we know, been connected
"I do not ibelieve there is any thinking member
with us, or any of our representatives.
of either branch of the trade to dispute that there
is genuine value in the agency of one of the great
"We believe that the trade should be advised
of his actions as he is likely not only to put us in' manufacturing houses. Further, I think that, as
wrong, but other manufacturers as well. So far practical business men, we must agree that were
# as we have been able to learn this man has no there no such names on the falls of pianos, a large
permanent address, but leaves for parts unknown section of the buying public—whose ear and touch
after securing credit, or money, on statements as have not had the full training of a musician—would
not purchase the high-grade and well-known pianos
indicated above."
Should dealers in eastern Ohio and western that they do to-day, and that only the smaller pro-
Pennsylvania, or any other section of the recently portion—the real musicians—would be willing to
flooded district, come across any unauthorized per- pay the price of the best musical instruments.
"The enormous development of the medium and
son operating and using the name of the A. B.
Chase Co. we shall be glad to have the dealers cheap pianos has further made it desirable that
write us so that these swindling operations may be dealers of repute should add their names promi-
nently on the instruments they sell.
ended.
"The dealer who is established is known, and has
a local reputation to keep up. As his success de-
NEW GENERAL MANAGER ELECTED. pends on his supplying real value for money, the
E. C. Scythes has been elected general manager fixing of his name on a piano is a guarantee to his
of the Williams Organ Co., Ltd., Oshawa, Ont., customers of the worth of that article, and his
succeeding Fred Bull, president of the company, good name would certainly suffer if he .allowed
in that capacity, owing to the prolonged ill health it to ibe associated with indifferent instruments.
"What should be the aim of us all is to entirely
of the latter. Mr. Bull, however, still retains the
office of president of the company. Mr. Scythes stamp out of existence the boxes of strings which
has been connected with the company in an impor- are doing such harm to the whole of our
trade. These are the pianos- that neither manu-
tant capacity since 1902.
facturer nor dealer, with a shred of sound reputa-
tfon, desires to see his name attached to. They
JOSEPH CAULFIELD MARRIED.
must have some name or designation on the fall,
Joseph Caulfield. son of Mrs. E. T. Caulfield, as custom requires it, and they would find no retail
who handles Hardman, Pease and other pianos buyer without—the result is that a bogus name or
with great success in Hartford, Conn., and nephew stencil is invented.
"I feel quite convinced that these few words will
of J. P. Caulfield, the well-known piano man of
Baltimore, Mel., on Monday of this week married not raise a discussion, but will bring forth a unani-
Miss Mary Grace, a popular society girl of New mous resolution in the terms of the title.
"There is one most important feature in connec-
Britain. Conn. The couple are spending their
tion with this question, which I commend to both
heneymoon at Atlantic City.
branches of the trade, and which I feel sure your
sound common sense will eventually bring you to
KISSED THE BLARNEY STONE.
adopt, and that is the insistence that each maker
Arthur C. Byrne, of the C. E. Byrne Piano Co., should affix his name (or registered trade mark)
East 41st street, New York, returned recently from prominently on every piano he makes.
a two months' trip through Europe. He visited
"As I pointed out last year at Brighton, in the
many of the foreign countries and inspected a natural course of events, some of the greater
large number of piano factories and other manu- names in the British trade may cease to exist. And
facturing establishments.
when any single one is gone, what are we doing to
During his trip through Ireland he kissed the replace it?
Blarney stone, which is "some kiss."
"Should ever a known name (by that I mean a
name known to the retail public) go, the dealers
lose an asset, the value of the goodwill of the
agency, and the manufacturers lose a home com-
petitor whose very efforts in the past have stimu-
lated them to better work. Why do not dealers in
their own interests treat their brother Englishmen
as well as they do foreigners? They import stock,
and sell German pianos with the German maker's
name on the fall, thus advertising and creating a
goodwill in this country for that foreign make. If
they did the same for the home maker they would
effect three great improvements in the trade, all
three entirely in their own favor.
"1. They would ibe gradually creating new
names to replace older ones that they may lose,
and, therefore, acquiring assets for themselves.
"2. They would get better quality, as the mere
fact of a maker knowing that his pianos had to
carry his name would cause him to do his very
utmost to apply his constant energies towards the
improvement of his pianos, for his own credit, and
the chance of his future higher status, well knowing
that the better they become known amongst the
'public the greater will be the demand through the
trade.
"3. The dealer will always obtain his goods at
the best prices. Manufacturer 'A' will not 'be able
to make a higher price than 'B,' quality for quality,
as he would certainly divert to 'B' his -business by
so doing.
"Thus I am certain the dealers have everything
to gain in price and quality of goods and in con-
solidating their own businesses by adopting my
suggestion.
"The manufacturers will gain by getting their
names known and recognized by the public with the
ultimate result of greatly increased output, pro-
vided that they are able to do as well or 'better than
their neighbors.
"The only thing which is needed to bring this end
about is the combination of the dealers, that they
may agree on the sound and proper selling prices
of instruments so that the present 'cutting ea h
other's throat' business may cease entirely."
CHARLES KOHLER'S HORSES SOLD.
Bring Liberal Prices—Twenty Head Bring a
Total of $32,225 at Auction in Belmont
Paddock.
Twenty horses in training—two and three year
olds—the property of the late Charles Kohler,
were sold by public auction at Belmont Park be-
fore the races on Saturday, and the lot realized
$32,225.
Tranid, a filly by Voter—True Love, brought
top price, $5,700, and was knocked down to Dr.
R. W. McCully for $5,700. The same buyer got
Hurakan, a filly by Uncle—The Hoyden, for
$4,G(X). H. C. Hallenbeck paid $3,300 for Uncle
Mun, a colt by Uncle—Offensive. G. D. Widener
paid $5,000 for Joannina, a Keene bred filly. W.
H. Karick, acting for Schuyler L. Parsons, presi-
dent of the Coney Island Jockey Club, who in-
tends to race in his own colors, bought Beetho-
ven, a colt by Broomstick—Sans Peur, for $2,300
and Dombra, a filly by Hermis—Frederica, for
$700.
James McLaughlin, Jr., bid $2,300 for Bartlett,
a-colt by Heno—Blanca. William Shields made
three purchases: Massenet, by Uncle, for $800;
Ardencraig, by Charles Edward, for $950, and
Fadoodle, by Heno, for $450. Chopin, by The
Scribe—Torchlight, went to L. Blume for $750,
who secured Orotund, by Hippodrome—Olevia, for
$1,000.
Other buyers were Allan Pinkerton, J. L. Hol-
land, H. J. Morris, J. L. McGinnis, W. M. Sheedy
and Andrew Miller.
REORGANIZE IN PERTH AMBOY, N. J.
Alonzo Allen and Fran': Van Syckle have pur-
chased the interest of George Kanouse in the Allen
Fiano Co., Perth Amboy, N. J., and the company
has been reorganized.