Music Trade Review

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March 5th, 1882.
235
THE MUSICAL CRITIC AND TRADE REVIEW.
tioned the names of some of them in our last
article.
There is, for instance, Mr. Wm. Fleet, No. 225
Broadway, Cambridgeport, Mass. Three months
ago he sent $65 for an organ. He has no organ,
and Beatty holds the $65. The sum Beatty thus
holds is very large, probably much more than
$50,000. We now ask if there are no bills pay-
able? And if these bills payable are deducted
from the total we reached, how much is left?
We have thus, step by step, reached a conclu
sion about Beatty's financial statement which
should make an animal as serious as an African
elephant smile.
We have stated before that Beatty is in a chronic
state of willful falsifying, and we will now prove
it, and prove it with his own printed remarks and
statements. He has just issued his "latest" cat-
alogue, and we will take a casual look at some of
its remarkable features.
FALSEHOOD NO. 1.
He says: "My factory having proved insufficient
to meet the demands upon it, an extensive addi-
tion has been erected."
This is not so. The factory was destroyed by
fire, and upon the foundation of the old factory
the new factory was put up. It has the same num-
ber of floors, 1 the ceilings being higher, and one of
the wings is one story higher. As to the factory
proper, it has the same dimensions as the old one.
FALSEHOOD NO. 2.
have a certain preferred position on an order vertisement, on February 24, he talks about "my
book, that in itself does not provide them with the new factory, covering four acres." The building
organs.
is evidently growing at the rate of one acre per
month.
FALSEHOOD NO. 8.
Under an old political maxim, which, as in this
case, has often been abused, namely, the well-
known "Vox Populi," Beatty states: "The popu-
lar voice is to-day declaring in favor of Beatty
pianos and organs, at the rate of over one thou-
sand per month."
This assertion is thoroughly a la Beatty.
It does not signify anything on examination.
It does not signify one thousand organs and pi-
anos per month combined; neither does it signify
one thousand of each per month. Beatty makes
no pianos, and does not sell one thousand pianos
per month, consequently it would not signify one
thousand instruments per month.
One thousand instruments per month does not
mean "one completed every twelve or fifteen min-
utes," especially where the latter statement refers
only to organs.
This statement reminds us of a characteristic
episode that took place in Washington, N. J.
Beatty was telling some one about having
shipped forty organs that day, and one of the
listeners who happened to be present had some
business at the freight depot next day. The man
who worked there, one Dennis O'Shea, an honest
Irishman, was asked by the party who heard
Beatty, "Well, Dennis, pretty busy yesterday,
weren't you; shipped forty Beatty organs?" The
honest old son of the Emerald Isle said: "Yis; but
it all depends on which side you put the naught."
He says: "It now covers an area of over three
acres." The factory, by actual measurement, oc-
cupies between one and one and a quarter acres.
FALSEHOOD NO. 9.
If every square inch of floors were measured, there
would be about three acres. But Beatty says "it," In speaking of "The Celebrated Golden Tongue
signifying "my factory."
Reeds," Beatty says: "The principal difference
in construction between the Golden Tongue and
FALSEHOOD NO. 3.
the reeds made for the Monopolists is in the su-
Beatty says: "A stool factory, etc.,is connected perior manner of securing the reed to its seat in
with the establishment." This is, again, not so. the block."
Beatty has no stool factory, and he gets all his Beatty is careful not to call them ' 'his" Golden
stools from stool factories.
Tongue Reeds, but the construction of the re-
marks that follow leave the impression that they
FALSEHOOD NO. 4 .
are his reeds, while all other reeds are made for
Beatty also says: "An instrument is completed the monopolists. This is consequently "the lie cir-
everj twelve or fifteen minutes." This is pos cumstantial."
itively not so. One instrument every fifteen min- Beatty's reeds are made by an organ-reed fac-
utes is four every hour; four every hour is forty tory that supplies many factories with millions of
every working day, and, as Beatty says he works reeds. He gets his reeds where the "Monopo-
at night, he makes, according to this statement, lists" get their reeds. So much for Falsehood
more than two hundred and forty a week.
No. 9.
This is not so, and everybody who knows any-
FALSEHOOD NO 10.
thing about the organ business knows it is not so.
We intended to investigate the question of reeds,
FALSEHOOD NO. 5.
and sets of reeds, in the Beatty organ under this
In speaking of what he calls monopolists, agents, section, but the job is so herculean that we are
high-priced manufacturers, and extortionists, afraid we must defer it.
Beatty says: "They know that at last the public When Beatty advertises an organ having a cer-
begin to realize that my factory at Washington, tain set of reeds, he deviates from the usual meth-
N. J., is an immense affair, that it to-day employs ods of counting the sets.
more men, and has more special and costly ma- For instance, a five-octave organ, with one set of
chinery than any other upon the face of the earth reeds, is an organ with one reed controlled by each
key; that is, consequently, one set of reeds consist-
that ships its products to the people direct."
Now mind the last expression, "that ships its ing of five octaves of reeds.
products to the people direct." Behind this re- In legitimate organ building such has always
been the case. But Beatty has introduced new
mark the complete falsehood is hidden.
Beatty knows, if he is not an ignoramus, that features. With him a single octave of reeds is
his factory does not employ more men than any called a set of reeds, and, consequently, he can
other on earth. This falsehood is simply shame- make an organ of five octaves have five sets of
ful. Every factory ships its products to the peo- reeds by simply putting a stop to each octave,
ple, whether directly or otherwise, and Beatty, in said stops named differently; and then he has an
hiding behind a subterfuge, exposes one of his organ with five sets of reeds, when in reality it has
motives again. The factory has not more special only one set of reeds. This principle he follows
and costly machinery than any other on the face throughout.
of the earth. These are representative Beatty A Beatty organ never has as many sets of reeds
fabrications. It is tiresome to analyze them, as as any other organ having the same number of
stops. The world at large knows nothing of all
upon their face they are too transparent.
this, and Beatty, by boring holes and placing stops
FALSEHOOD NO. 6.
in them, succeeds in overawing purchasers by the
"If you send me price of instrument by draft quantity of stops he advertises or shows. As this
on New York, or postoffice order, I will immedi- is a subject that would fill a volume, it is sufficient
for the purpose to give the above general explana-
ately ship the instrument."
That is what Beatty says, but he does not ship tion.
immediately.
FALSEHOOD NO. 1 1 .
In the first place, he has no instruments yet to In the piano advertisement Beatty fabricates
supply the incredulous with, and in the second very lively. For instance, what he calls "New
place, he does not care to fill cash orders. The Style, 2,023, only $297.50," is a piano which, ac-
cash he receives he keeps, but the instrument he
to his statement, contains, among other
also keeps, or ships to parties who deposit a cer- cording
things, "Beatty's very latest iron frames." Such
tificate.
a thing does not exist; there is no such a thing as
a "Beatty iron frame."
FALSEHOOD NO. 7.
gets pianos from a factory and stencils
Beatty says "Cash orders always have prefer- his Beatty
name on them, or has it stenciled on. The piano
ence on order book." For reasons stated in the for $297.50
be purchased of any dealer for less
preceding section, this one must be put down as a than $200, can
on installment, and no cash with the
falsehood. They may technically have preference order.
on the order book, but that preference means noth-
FALSEHOOD NO. 12.
ing, and is only one other prevarication. We have
itemized too many cases where parties have sent
Beatty says, in his catalogue, that his factory
money long ago, and although their names may covers three acreB of ground, and in another ad-
FALSEHOOD NO. 1 3 .
In the same advertisement, which refers mainly
to his "Beethoven" organ, he says: "Bear in mind
that this popular organ has ten full sets of golden
tongue reeds."
He charges $90 for the organ. Ten full sets of
reeds would cost about $90, or very near it, espe-
cially if they were Beatty's golden tongue reeds.
Where do the other expenses come from? But
there are no ten full sets' there are not even three
full sets of reeds; and yet this man Beatty has the
impudence to call manufacturers "monopolists"
because they or their agents advertise their organs
truthfully, and not as Beatty advertises his goods.
FALSEHOOD NO. 14.
In speaking of his new factory, Beatty says: "It
is in full operation and is turning out more organs
than any other in the world to-day."
This is not so, and the falsehood becomes much
baser because Beatty knows that there are organ
factories in this country that "turn out" more
organs than are turned out in his factory to-day.
On February 24, the date of the advertisement,
Beatty's factory was not in full operation.
These are a few only of Beatty's advertised
falsehoods; a volume could be filled if all of them
should be exposed. No proper effort has ever
been heretofore made to enter into a close analysis
of his style of advertising, but THE MUSICAL
CRITIC AND TRADE REVIEW has undertaken to ex-
pose the sham, and it will not cease its efforts
until all the rottenness of the institution is clearly
exposed.
This is not alone a duty to the trade, but to all
persons who contemplate purchasing an instru-
ment.
Beatty's reputation in his neighborhood is not
over-savory, as will be seen from an extract from a
paper published in his own county.
The Dover (N. J.) Iron Era, in speaking of him,
says:
Cheap Advertising Lodge.
There are various ways in this world of obtaining
notoriety, but the worst are the methods employed
by those in search of cheap advertising. For in-
stance, Nathaniel F. Sweatty is accused of writing a
threatening letter to the counsel of Guiteau. It did
not cost much, probably, to get the letter noticed
publicly, but it gave Sweatty an elegant opportunity
for a denial, to be copied all over tbe county free of
cost. Just so the report about the burning of
Sweatty's factory, with all the harrowing details of
a man burned to death—a detestable lie which gives
Sweatty cheap notoriety In the way of a denial. If
an obituary of Sweatty were sent to us, we should
charge tlfteen cents a line for it, lest he might rise
up to obtain a notice of denial free of cost.
The manner in which Beatty acted in his bull-
dozing game toward Mr. Gerard, when he put on
the style of injured innocence, is thus described in
the same paper of February 4:
A Discourteous Act.
After Mr. Wm. Gerard, of Hackettstown, had re-
tired to his bed last Saturday night, an officer from
Washington appeared at his house, placed him under
arrest, and took him to the Clarendon House, where
he was confronted by D. F. Beatty, some deputies
and an officer, and charged with sending a liiieious
dispatch to the New York Times. The conclave of
secret inquisitors was enough to frighten a man, but
Mr. Gerard calmly established his innocence, where-
upon the conclave broke up, and Beatty and his
friends departed without so much as expressing a
regret that they had dragged Mr. Gerard from his
home and friends in the still hours of the night, nor
an apolo>o for the annoyance they had caused him.
Who's running this country? Beatty?
From all this, it can be seen that there is noth-
ing substantial about Beatty, and that his efforts
to undermine a legitimate manufacturing business
(although they have been until recently partially
successful with a certain class of people) will not
last much longer.
It is only a matter of time, and a very short
time, before every reader will be able to see that
the purchase of a Beatty instrument involves an
outlay that does not bring in any adequate return.
MILLVILLE, N. J., February 21.
Thinking you may wish to have an additional
item of information about the Beatty swindle, I
send you the following: A club at Millville, N. J.,
was getting up a fair and needed an organ.
It was on the point of buying one of a reliable
make, but finally decided, on account of its seem-
ing cheapness, to order a Beatty.
Accordingly, in November, I wrote, asking if he
could furnish an organ for the fair, to be held at