Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
IN
EUROPE.
(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ABROAD.)
THE LONDON AGENTS OF MR. ALFRED DOLGE—
A FRIENDLY DISCUSSION ON PROTECTION
AND FREE TRADE—AN ILLOGICAL FREE
TRADE ARGUMENT — CHAPPELL &
CO.—MR. KEMP—THE CHICKER-
ING PIANO IN ENGLAND—
CLOUGH & WARREN
ORGANS.
CHAPPELL'S BAND INSTRUMENTS IN THE UNITED
STATES—THE TANAKA ENHARMONIC ORGAN
—THE " VOCALIAN " ORGAN AND MR. A.
RAMSDEN—THE CLAVI-HARP—COCKS
& CO. AS THE NEWMAN BROS.'
AGENTS—MR. JACK HAYNES*
MOVE—STANLEY LUCAS
& CO.—FACTS ABOUT
MUSIC PUBLISH-
ING.
NEW BALLADS AND COMPOSERS.
HAD a most interesting conversation re-
cently with Mr. Gerdes, of Qnitrnan & Co.,
the British representatives of Mr. Alfred Dolge.
The conversation, or rather discussion, was on
the well-thrashed subject of protection. Quit-
man & Co. operate a very extensive connection
throughout the trade here. They are agents for
sounding-boards, felts, wire actions and a host
of materials produced on the continent, in addi-
tion to many of Mr. Dolge's celebrated special-
ties. They have represented the latter house
for many years, and are great admirers of that
worthy member of the American trade, though,
if Mr. Gerdes' own personal views can be taken
as the opinions of those constituting Quitman
& Co., they differ with Mr. Dolge on the ques-
tion of maintaining a tariff on American imports.
One, however, can easily understand their posi-
tion in that connection.
Mr. Quitman was absent when I called at their
place, 91 Queen Victoria street, but Mr. Gerdes,
his representative, placed himself at my disposal
with the greatest courtesy.
I found him a most intelligent gentleman,
well read and rather a formidable antagonist
when we drifted into a talk on the ethics and
economic uses of protection. Mr. Gerdes ad-
mitted that most American manufacturers are
right in advocating the maintenance of laws
which tend to benefit the industry or industries
in which they are interested, but he thought the
policy is most injurious to the United States as
a whole. To prove this, the familiar analogy of
Great Britain's rapid industrial and fiscal devel-
opment under free trade was brought forward ;
an old and time-worn, though respectable, argu-
ment I must admit. To make it logically use-
ful, however, is another matter.
*
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* •
*
Great Britain owes its wealth chiefly to its
commerce and industries. It cannot feed itself
and cannot provide itself with the raw materials
used in manufacturing. Since the chief stable
necessaries of life and a large proportion of raw
materials employed for industrial purposes have
to be imported into Great Britain, it did not
require a wonderful amount of political genius
in Cobden 's time to see that an indiscriminate
protective tariff was a suicidal policy. Any tyro
in political economy can, therefore, readily com-
prehend the wonderful development which fol-
lowed the removal of an indiscriminate tax on
British imports in past years. Modern develop-
ments, however, have made it plain to the sub-
jects of Queen Victoria that it will be necessary
for them to place a tariff on a host of imported
manufactured articles, in order to be able to hold
their own in the home market. But—here is
the point—what has the foregoing to do with
the tariff question in America ? Where is the
logical force in the analogy ?
*
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Most persons forget that the United States,
with the wonderful variety of its natural re-
sources, cannot be compared with Great Britain,
in the manner I am contending against, for
reasons already given. And yet American and
English free traders are never weary of using an
argument which, on examination, is found to be
entirely misleading and illogical in its premises.
Your correspondent attempted to meet Mr.
Gerdes' views with a few of the above, in a
"give and take " spirit, which resulted in pleas-
ant feelings on both sides. We "agreed to
differ '' finally, and then followed a return to
music trade and kindred topics. Mr. Gerdes
reported that Quitman & Co. are enjoying a
brisk business at present, especially in sounding-
boards and actions. I then looked over some
specimens of German-made actions with con-
siderable curiosity, for Mr. Gerdes told me the
figure at which they were supplied to the trade,
and I smiled inwardly as I thought of the argu-
ments with which he here supplied me in favor
of American protection. At the end your cor-
respondent parted from Mr. Gerdes with a warm
invitation to call again.
*
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*
I had the pleasure, a few days ago, of meeting
Mr. Kemp, manager of Chappell & Co.'s exten-
sive piano and organ departments. Chappell &
Co. rank among the leaders of the London music
trade, as you know, and at their splendidly ap-
pointed showrooms, in New Bond street, may be
seen an extensive stock of pianos, American
organs, harmoniums and miscellaneous musical
goods of the highest class. But it must be
especially interesting to readers of THE MUSIC
TRADE REVIEW to know that Chappell & Co.
are, and have for many years been, the British
agents for the sale of Chickering pianos and
Clough & Warren organs, of which they carry a
large stock. As music publishers they occupy
an equally prominent place in England. They
are known on both sides of the Atlantic as pub-
lishers of some of the best ballads of Tosti,
Pinsuti, Wellings and other composers of that
calibre, apart from what they produce in the
shape of high-class instrumental works in the
smaller forms. Mr. Kemp recognized and wel-
comed your correspondent immediately on ap-
proaching his desk, and promptly placed himself
at my disposal.
* -
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#
Among the facts elicited during my conver-
sation with Mr. Kemp, I learned that Mr.
Rogers, their principal tuner, had just returned
from America, where he had been traveling on
business. Accordingly, I set myself the task
of discovering that gentleman, for the purpose
of getting his impressions of that much misun-
derstood country, the United States, and shall
make these the subject of a future paragraph in
one of my letters. In speaking of the Chicker-
ing piano, I ascertained that Chappell & Co.
have made preparations to push these instru-
ments on an unusually aggressive scale during
the coming season. In fact, they contemplate
carrying on a small campaign with these cele-
brated products of the United States, which are
regarded among the finest instruments in the
European market. I believe that a few special
styles are being prepared for the British trade.
The severe blow sustained by Mr. George H.
Chickering, through the death of Captain Rux-
133
ton, was referred to, mingled with expressions of
sympathy and regret on both sides, and I may
remark that in nearly every conversation held
with representative members of the London
music trade, during my present trip, Chickering
& Sons have been spoken of in the most kindly
and sympathetic terms in connection with Cap-
tain Ruxton's sad death. In that respect the
men constituting the British trade harbor the
most fraternal feelings towards American piano
houses and their members. I think that they
lose none of their patriotism, which is as mtteh
the right of Englishmen as it is of Americans,
by cultivating the goodwill that they unques-
tionably cherish towards their brethren in the
United States. This they manifest in a hundred
ways.
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*
Clough & Warren organs are handled with
eminent success by Chappell & Co., and I find
that they push them among British dealers with
an energy which in itself betrays a marked and
positive appreciation of their sterling value and
musical character. It must not be forgotten
that Chappell & Co. will not, under any circum-
stances, assume the agency for any musical
instrument or article of a mediocre or second
grade. They have labored to win the high re-
putation they hold, and they labor steadily to
sustain and deserve it. To be represented by
them is, therefore, something of which Clough
& Warren may well feel proud. Detroit also
may share in their pride, for it is not an insig-
nificant honor for that city to be able to turn out
organs which occupy such a place in musical
circles in the British islands, and throughout
Europe, as that held by those produced by the
factories of that firm. Beyond assuring me of
the fine prospects which these instruments enjoy
for a good fall trade, Mr. Kemp said little.
What he did say was to the point. He clearly
did not think it necessary to make superfluous
or studied statements on behalf of his house, or
about organs which they, Chappell & Co., re-
gard as an established selling success. Mean-
while I made a note of the fact that a large con-
signment of instruments is shortly expected,
and among them will be several new styles.
*
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#
Last Summer Mr. Kemp took some pains to
illustrate to me the scientific principles embodied
in the "enharmonic organ" invented by the
Japanese philosopher, Tanaka, which Chappell
& Co. hold the agency of. The instrument met
with considerable success in scientific circles at
the time, owing to the manner in which the in-
ventor attempted to bridge over the chasm
which divides musical art as it is from '' Scien-
tific Music." One, however, cannot consistent-
ly use such a term as the latter, for, apart from
the physical origin of sound, music, in its modes
and forms, is distinctly an art, and its laws are
purely those sanctioned by the artificial and es-
thetic senses. Tanaka, meantime, carried the
experiments of Poole, and a host of other mu-
sical acousticians, to a very remarkable con-
clusion in his key-board system, a fact Mr.
Kemp pointed out during my visit last year,
but, as I anticipated, his " enharmonic organ "
has achieved no useful place in musical art, be-
ing merely regarded as an interesting experi-
ment like its precursors.
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After leaving Mr. Kemp, I passed into the
apartment set aside by Chappell & Co. for their
brass and orchestral instruments, and presented
my card. An acquaintance with Mr. Davis, the
gentleman in charge, followed. He reported
their American trade as very satisfactory, de-
spite the McKinley tariff, a condition which is
largely due to the house of C. Howard Foote, of