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SEPTEMBER 3,
1921
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
FIGHTING TAX ON HOME GROUNDS
BIRMINGHAM TRADE ACTIVITIES
APPEALING FOR TEACHERS' SUPPORT
Congressional Recess Affords Members of Music
Industry an Excellent Opportunity for Pre-
senting Arguments to Senators and Repre-
sentatives While at Their Homes
£. £. Forbes & Sons Piano Co. Obtains Long
Lease—C. C. Holcombe Rents Three-story
Building—Plan Auditorium for Concerts
Response of Trade Members Opens Way for
Presenting of Arguments to Music Teachers
* Enlisting Their Support in Tax Fight
BIRMINGHAM, ALA., August 30.—The E. E.
Forbes & Sons Piano Co., wholesale and retail
dealer of this city, has obtained a twelve-
year lease on the four-story building which the
concern now occupies on Third avenue. The
store space of the company is being remodeled
and many comforts are being installed for the
convenience of patrons. The fourth floor has
been rented to the Women's Club, thus estab-
lishing a valuable connecting link with the ladies
of the community. The leading instruments
handled by this company are the Kranich &
Bach, Krell, Apollo and Artemis pianos.
C. C. Holcombe, who handles the products of
the American Piano Co. and the Jesse French
& Sons Piano Co., has rented a three-story
building on Third avenue directly opposite the
E. E. Forbes & Sons Piano Co. building. The
new quarters of this concern present a very
attractive appearance.
The Community Sing, which has been held
annually by the music dealers with the co-opera-
tion of the city, has been discontinued this year
on account of the withdrawal of the support
of the city. Plans are under way, however, for
the construction of a large auditorium within
the next twelve months, with a seating capacity
of 5,000 people, at which concerts will be held.
The fiftieth anniversary of the City of Bir-
mingham will be celebrated next month. Presi-
dent Harding is expected to take part in the
ceremonies. Local music merchants will be
active in helping to make the event a success.
W. L. BJUR REMEMBERED IN WILL
The first member of the trade to respond to
lhe request of the Music Industries Chamber of
Commerce to send in the names of local music
teachers whose aid it would be desirable to
secure in the tax campaign was J. M. Wilson,
of the Wilson Music House, of Kokomo, Ind.,
who sent six names^ five of them women.
Following up this prompt response to its re-
quest the Chamber immediately sent a letter to
the teachers designated by Mr. Wilson. Similar
letters will be sent to other teachers whose
names other members of the industry undoubt-
edly wil' send in. Following is the letter to the
Kokomo teachers:
"Your name has been given to us as a promi-
nent music teacher in your community. For
this reason we presume you are vitally inter-
ested in the development of music as an art,
particularly in the home, as it is this which re-
sults in the demand for music lessons for chil-
dren. We also presume that you would be glad,
in your own interest, to do anything you can to
remove any unjust restrictions on music.
"As you probably know, there is at the present
time an unjust and discriminatory Federal tax
of 5 per cent upon pianos, phonographs, music
rolls, records, etc., paid by the manufacturer, but
passed on, of course, to the consumer. The re-
sult of this tax, which does not apply to other
industries, is a substantial increase in the cost
oi musical instruments. The inevitable result is
the purchase of fewer musical instruments, and
hence a less demand for music lessons. Even
more important is the fact that this tax, being
of a type usually imposed upon luxuries, has
spread throughout the country a feeling on the
part of the general public that music, because it
is so subject to a tax, is a luxury and non-
essential. This stigma upon music is a tremen-
dous hindrance to the development of the art
of music. Everyone who loves music or who
depends upon it for a living must desire the re-
moval ot this stigma.
"The removal of this tax is now being dis-
cussed by Congress. You can help by writing
your Congressmen, names and addresses of
whom are given below, stating that this tax is
a blow at music, at musical education, and hurts
you. Ask your Congressmen to use their in-
fiuence to have it removed."
At the bottom of the letter appeared the names
of the United States Senators from Indiana, to-
gether with the name of the representative of
the Kokomo district.
William Walter Ray Bequeaths to Well-known
Piano Man Sum of Money and Motor Boat
ARTRIO RECORDS FOR SEPTEMBER
Whatever may be thought of the wisdom of
the members of Congress in voting to recess at
this time, the Music Industries Chamber of Com-
merce declares that by closing up shop at Wash-
ington and going home the Senators and Repre-
sentatives will afford the members of the music
industry an excellent opportunity to tell them to
their faces what they think of the excise tax
on music.
The Chamber urges all members of the trade
to establish personal contact with both of their
Senators and their Representatives during the
Congressional recess. Write to them-at Wash-
ington at once, the Chamber suggests. Tell them
you would like to have the opportunity to talk
with them about the burdensome excise tax on
your industry. This in itself will constitute an
argument which they will not forget even if they
do not go home for the recess.
Have a heart-to-heart talk with your Congress-
men who come home. Tell them the women of
your acquaintance, wholly regardless of your
direct interest in the matter, are becoming
alarmed lest the added cost of instruments due
to excise taxes will force music teachers into
other lines, thus depriving the youths of the land
of the foundation lor that future love of music
which is beginning to brighten the lives of
Americans of all ages. If your Congressmen
don't come home, write them to this effect. The
women are watching tax revision, and the men
who fail to take the burden off music are going
to lose the woman vote. Tell them so in no
uncertain manner.
During a previous recess of Congress a certain
industry in an Eastern State affected adversely by
proposed legislation appointed a committee to
tour the State to hold conferences with the Con-
gressmen in their homes. The result justified
the experiment. The Chamber suggests that
our people in all parts of the countrj r adopt
some such scheme in the tax fight.
The House tax bill, the Chamber declares,
does not solve the problem. It will not bring
in the necessary revenue. It is suggested, there-
fore, that tb** members of the industry couple
their demand for the repeal of the excise tax
with the suggestion for the adoption of a
sales tax.
THE USE OF MUSIC IN INDUSTRY
Wall Street Journal Comments Upon Apprecia-
tion for Music Shown by Steel Magnates
That music in industry along the lines advo-
cated by the National Bureau for the Advance-
ment of Music of the Music Industries Chamber
of Commerce is appreciated more and more by
men in a position to know is shown by the fol-
lowing editorial in the Wall Street Journal, un-
der the caption, "Steel and Music":
"Somebody has called the Steel Corporation
'The Corporation With a Soul.' This is par-
ticularly true so far as music is concerned.
Many of its leading men have turned to music
in their hours from work. Andrew Carnegie,
Henry Clay Frick and C. M. Schwab used to
divide the services of one of the best organists
in America between them, paying him jointly
$25,000 annually. C. M. Schwab's organ at his
Riverside Drive home is one of the finest in the
country, and the steel man knows how to play
it. It is a fact that these three delighted in
simple music. All of them have helped strug-
gling American musicians in the past and the
Schwabs number some of the leading opera
singers and other musical stars among their
personal friends."
DEATH OF BELMONT J. VON JENNY
Organ Builder of Corona, N. Y., Stricken With
Apoplexy While on a Train
Belmont J. von Jenny, president of the von
Jenny Organ Co., Corona, N. Y., died suddenly
on Friday of last week at Newfoundland, Pa.,
where he was removed from a train after being
stricken with apoplexy. Mr", von Jenny was
born in Germany fifty-seven years ago, and
came to the United States as a young man, be-
coming a citizen shortly after his arrival. He
started as an organ builder in Corona many
years ago and built up quite a substantial busi-
ness. He is survived by a widow and one
daughter.
W. L. Bjur, president of the Bjur Bros. Co.,
Southern Boulevard, near 156th street, New
York, was remembered in the will of William
Walter Ray, vice-president of Middleton & Co.,
who died on August 13. Mr. Bjur and Mr. Ray
were very close friends and were both members
of the Wa-war-yanda Fishing Club, Babylon,
L. I. Mr. Bjur's bequest includes the sum of
$2,000 as well as Mr. Ray's motor boat, with the
use of his room and its contents at the fishing
club. Mr. Ray also left $5,000 to the club to-
wards its upkeep.
PETER WEYDIG ON VACATION
President of Whitman Piano Mfg. Co. Goes for
Two Weeks and Wm. E. Weydig Returns
Peter Weydig, president of the Whitman Piano
Mfg. Co., New York, is at present taking his
vacation at Monticello, N. Y. William E. Wey-
dig, secretary of the company, returned this
week after spending two weeks at Monticello.
An Imposing List of Worth-while
Selections
Played by Pianists of Note
A particularly interesting and high-class list
of Artrio records for September has just been
issued by the Wilcox & White Co., the list in-
cluding compositions played by Mme. Fannie
Bloomfield Zeisler, Mme. Yolanda Mero, Rich-
ard Buhlig, Beryl Rubinstein, Vera Kaplun and
other pianists of prominence. Among the selec-
tions there is the Serenata Op. 15 No. 1 by Mosz-
kowski, the Hungarian Rhapsody by Liszt, The
Eagle by MacDowell, a Sonata in F sharp minor
by Schumann, a nocturne, a prelude and an etude
by Chopin, and, of particular interest, a Spanish
dance by Granados. Fifteen records in all go
to make up lhe list, all of them being of the
solid permanent character.
H. L. Smith, for many years connected with
the retail department of F. G. Smith, Inc., has
taken over the management of the retail depart-
ment of the Wegman Piano Co., New York.