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MAY
14, 1921
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
MANUFACTURING OF EVERETT PIANO TO BE RESUMED
DECISION FOR SMITH, BARNES CO.
R. B. Burchard, President of the John Church Co., Announces Consummation of Plans Whereby
This Well-known Line Will Be Produced Under Supervision of John Anderson in Meriden, Conn.
Referee in Bankruptcy in Case of Claimants
Against Eilers Music Concern Gives Findings
in Which Smith, Barnes Claims Are Sustained
CINCINNATI, O., May 7.—Word has been received
at the offices of the John Church Co. from Presi-
dent R. B. Burchard, who has been in New York
for the last few weeks, that he has made ar-
rangements for the manufacture of the Everett
piano, under the direction of John Anderson, in
Meriden, Conn.
The above dispatch was shown this week to
Frank G. Smith, vice-president and treasurer of
F. G. Smith, Inc., with whom the Wilcox &
White Co. is consolidated, who stated that it is
correct and that the Everett piano will be manu-
factured at the plant in Meriden, Conn., under
the supervision of Mr. Anderson. "Mr. Bur-
chard," said Mr. Smith to a representative of
The Review, "has been anxious for some time
to secure the services of Mr. Anderson to super-
vise the manufacture of Everett pianos, believ-
ing that he is the only man who understands
the requirements necessary for producing this
instrument according to the high standards of
Everett tone quality and workmanship."
TEXAS PIANO MEN IN CONVENTION
"Musico-religion" was Dr. Slayter's theme,
who said that music was not the handmaiden
of religion, but its essence, and that as a power
it was not equaled by any single force in the
world. Music in industry was the subject of
Mr. Dolbin's address.
The following delegates from the Texas Mu-
sic Merchants' Association are attending the
Chicago conventions:
A. JL. Jewett, Richmond, Ind.; J. H. Adams,
Waco; former Mayor Frank W. Wozencraft; W.
L. Bush, Chicago; Robert N. Watkin, R. M.
Taylor, Waco; S. G. Banks, Chicago, and H. P.
Beasley, Texarkana.
Mr. Wozencraft is the only member of the
party having a place in the convention program.
His subject will be, "Music as a National and
Civic Asset."
Honoring the convention of the association
here and transpiring as a part of Music Week
in Dallas was a magnificent musical pageant,
which traversed the principal streets of the city,
arousing much enthusiasm, and the massed sing-
ing of 400 voices in the Coliseum, where or-
chestral concerts were also held free to the
pubLc. Prizes were given the owners of the
floats taking part in the pageant judged to be
the most artistic. B. W. Gratigny was chair-
man of the pageant.
Association Has Two-day Convention in Dallas,
at Which Officers Are Elected for Coming
Year—Big Pageant Viewed—Protest Tax
DALLAS, TEX., May 9.—About the livest and most
profitable convention that the Texas Music Mer-
chants' Association ever held which, by the way,
was coincident with the most splendidly ar-
ranged and executed Music Week Dallas has
ever known, came to an end May 5 with the
election of officers for the ensuing year and the
selection of Fort Worth as the convention city
for 1922.
New officers elected by the association are:
C. C. Miller, of Fort Worth, Tex., president;
J. W. Howerth, Dallas, first vice-president; E.
H. Allcorn, Waco, second vice-president; H. P.
Beasley, Jr., Texarkana, third vice-president, and
A. L. Plunkett, Fort Worth, secretary and treas-
urer. The board of directors was elected as fol-
lows: Henry P. Mayer, Paris; C. C. Miller,
Fort Worth; Robert N. Watkin, Dallas; E. S.
Goodall, Waco; B. Heyer, Dallas, and J. W.
Howerth, Dallas.
The last day of the convention developed the
passage of a unanimous protest by members
of the association against the five per cent ex-
cise tax on musical instruments after a reading
of a resolution apropos the same drawn up by the
resolutions committee. The resolution described
musical instruments as necessities and declared
the tax was opposed to common sense and pub-
lic sentiment. On adoption of the protest a copy
of it was sent to the chairman of the Ways and
Means Committee at Washington.
Interesting features of the two-day convention
were addresses by Robert N. Watkin, secretary
of the Will A. Watkin Co., of Dallas, Tex.; R.
E. L. Saner; Mrs. Mamie Folsom Wynne, presi-
dent of the Texas Music Teachers' Association;
W. L. Bush, of Chicago; Dr. John G. Slayter,
and R. C. Dolbin.
Mr. Watkin's subject was the "Dallas Music
Industries Association," while Mr. Saner's talk
was an advocacy of a municipal band for Dal-
las made up of members of the police and fire
departments of that city. Mr. Saner stated that
the plan was practicable and that if it were
adopted Dallas would have the finest music in
the world. Mrs. Wynne's address created much
discussion from the position she took in it that
manufacturers and not musicians were responsi-
ble for music's developjment. She pointed out
that some of the greatest masters of their day
were content with crude instruments and that
not until manufacturers turned their efforts to-
ward bettering the quality of their products did
music make any appreciable strides.
Urging the delegates to scoop the world on
music by coming to the next convention with
their own brass band and averring that Texas
to-day was turning out more original ideas in
practically every branch of its activities than
any other section of the country, Mr. Bush de-
veloped the discourse of Mrs. Wynne and de-
clared that the musical leaders of America were
looking to Texas to keep in the forefront.
BURGLARS VISIT PEASE HOME
Family of President of Pease Piano Co. Lose
Valuables When Home Is Entered in Their
Absence—No Clue to Thieves Discovered
Burglars visited the home of H. D. Pease,
president of the Pease Piano Co., at 321 West
Eighty-eighth street, New York, on Saturday
afternoon last, and secured $25,000 in jewelry
and bonds, thoroughly ransacking the house
from basement to roof.
Mr. Pease, accompanied by Mrs. Pease and
Chauncey D. Pease, treasurer of the company,
as well as his daughters, left the house at 1
o'clock for an automobile ride. As they were
to be away some time, the servants were also
given permission to leave. It is believed that
the robbery occurred about 7 o'clock in the eve-
ning, as it was two hours later when the Pease
family returned home, finding that all of Mrs.
Pease's jewelry, some of it heirlooms, and that
of her daughters, except such as they had worn
during the day, had been stolen. Other valued
stolen articles were silver sets, antiques and
larger silver ornaments, as well as clothing.
WILL ENTER PIANO BUSINESS
WORCESTER, MASS., May 11.—Robert A. Bothwell,
formerly assistant superintendent of the Worces-
ter Woolen Co., of this city, has resigned to
accept a position with the M. Steinert & Sons
Piano Co. of Boston, Mass.
The Bacon Banjo Co., of Groton, Conn., has
been incorporated under the laws of that State,
with a capital stock of $50,000, for the purpose of
manufacturing musical instruments.
The findings and decision of the referee in
bankruptcy apropos the •objections to the claim
of Smith, Barnes & Strohber Piano Co., of Chi-
cago, by the trustee of the estate of the bank—
rupt Eilers Music House, of Portland, Ore.,
overruling the objections and sustaining the
claim, have reached the office of The Music
Trade Review. The matter was heard in the
District Court of the United States for the Dis
trict of Oregon.
An unpaid balance of approximately $150,000
owing Smith, Barnes & Strohber is the basis of
the claim against the estate, according to the
referee's report which states that objections to
its payments were made by the trustee on the
ground that said company received, in Decem-
ber, 1917, a voidable preference to the extent
of some $80,000 and that until the amount of
this preference is surrendered to the estate the
claim is not allowable under the'terms of the
bankruptcy act.
Records from the testimony taken at the pro-
ceedings showed that Smith, one of the officers
of the claimant, accompanied by his attorney,
John Taylor Booz, late in November, 1917, came
to Portland for the purpose of securing payment
of their claim or procuring security from the
bankrupt covering the balance of about $150,000
owing them. Negotiations, according to the
testimony, were had with Hy J. Eilers, presi-
dent of the company, with the net result that
there was assigned to the claimant collateral
security to the extent mentioned. At this point
the referee's decision reads:
"Two prime facts necessary to a determina-
tion of 4he question are not admissible of dis-
pute, namely, that at the time the security was
taken Eilers Music House was insolvent and that
the security was taken for a pre-existing debt and
no valuable consideration passed at the time
these securities were transferred, so that the
only remaining question is, did Smith, Barnes &
Strohber know, or have reasonable grounds to
believe, that the bankrupt was insolvent and that
taking of the security would result in a pref-
erence?"
After reciting further results of the investiga-
tion into the financial condition of the music
concern made by Messrs. Smith and Booz and
by Accountant M. C. Koester, who was called
in by the claimants, which showed that the mu-
sic house was solvent by over $200,000, the ref-
eree says:
" . . . Hence I feel satisfied that Eilers did
exactly what it is claimed he did in that he de-
liberately led Smith and Booz to believe that the
concern was solvent and that they took the se-
curity in such belief."
Though granting the motion of the claimant
to dismiss the objections, the referee disallowed
the claim to stand as presented because of his
understanding that there was or might be a
considerable difference between the parties as to
the amount due after the claim had been held to
be a lawful claim against the estate and not
maintainable on account of the alleged prefer-
ence. The question of how much shall be al-
lowed the claimant was left open pending fur-
ther evidence touching the amount in which the
claim is properly allowable against the estate.
0. W. CHRISTIAN NOW IN CHARGE
YOUNGSTOWN, O., May 6.—O. W. Christian, well-
known piano man, is now in charge of the Stein-
way department of the McMahon Piano Co., it
was announced by officials of the company this
week. Some improvements are planned to the
store interior which will give the company addi-
tional floor space for piano and talking machine
displays.