Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
JKWKNE of the most
important events of the week
"*P* was the purchase by Mr. Peter Duffy, Pre-
sident of the Schubert Piano Company, of the
seven story building at No. 1418 Broadway. It is
a splendid location, convenient to Grand Central
Station, Opera House, theatres, and Herald
Building ; $175,000 was the purchase money. At
present there is no prospect of Mr. Duffy moving
uptown, for he holds a lease of the present ware-
rooms at 29 East 14th street until May 1st. In
making a radical move of this kind—which will
remove him so far from the recognized centre of
the piano business—Mr. Duffy illustrates that in-
dependence of thought and farsightedness which
has built up the splendid business of which he
is the standard bearer.
Mr. Duffy is recognized as a keen student of
the trend of business affairs, and he sees clearly
that the great business houses of the future will
centre around Herald Square, hence he believes
in taking time by the forelock.
ffiHE one and only Bradbury piano continues
61* to win golden opinions from statesmen in
Washington and "the common people," as
Abraham Lincoln so aptly called the public at
large. If you make an examination of the
latest styles which Mr. Smith has placed on the
market you can realize why the Bradbury pianos
are so popular. The "Columbian," "Renais-
sance " and " Colonial " styles are " things of
beauty and a joy forever." The case designs
are artistic and the tone quality of the instru-
ments is a positive delight. The " Colonial "
will especially commend itself to dealers as an
unusually handsome instrument, and one that
will prove a general favorite with the trade.
Freeborn G. Smith finds a general growth of
business all through the country, and the satis-
factory demand for the instruments in which he
has a controlling interest, go far to demonstrata
that things are on the mend.
Jdb*HE St. Gauden's World's Fair medal con-
ST» tinues to cause no little end of trouble in
the artistic world. Mr. Carlisle has ceased to
bear the responsibility of judging its artistic
merits and has practically blocked further prog-
ress, for the present at least, by referring the mat-
ter to a special Senate Committee with Senator
Vilas as Chairman. Mr. St. Gaudens has en-
tered a protest against this arrangement, and, in
a letter to Secretary Carlisle, has asked, in case
any alterations should be decided upon to make
the medal acceptable, to be allowed to make
them himself. The Executive Committee of the
National Sculpture Society has also taken the
matter in hand and at their next meeting will
pass vigorous resolutions upholding St. Gau-
dens, and demanding that if changes in art are
ordered, then such changes should be made un-
der the immediate direction of the artist.
And yet all this rumpus could have been
avoided if the '' intelligent '' officials at Wash-
ington paid proper attention to the matter at the
start. But we forgot, politicians are not sup-
posed to go to Washington for business but sin-
ecures.
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/
CLEAN CUT TRUTHS.
another part of this paper will be found a
summary of the speech delivered at the
25th annual reunion of the employees of Alfred
Dolge & Son, at Dolgeville, January 27th. On
ordinary occasions Mr. Dolge has contented
himself with a brief resume of the business of
the year, but owing to the nostrums applied to
the body politic and industrial by Prof. Wilson,
he made a more extended address than usual
and thoroughly analyzed the " cause and effect "
of the present deplorable condition of affairs in
this country.
Mr. Dolge's speech is, in every respect, a
clean-cut, logical and forceful review that must
appeal to every intelligent man. It is the con-
tribution of a thoroughly practical man and not
a theorist; a man who has labored both as an
employee and employer ; a man who has done
more for the prosperity and well being of his
kind than the entire army of free trade sophists ;
a man whose every move demonstrates a desire
to aid and elevate the people in his employ ; a
democrat in the truest sense of the word. Such
a man is Alfred Dolge who told so many plain
truths concerning the effects of free trade upon
the industries of this country.
In a masterly manner he traced up the pro-
gress of the Dolgeville industries for the past
quarter of a century, and showed that for the
first time in that long spell they were obliged to
close for want of orders. He makes a strong
and an unanswerable argument as to the hum-
bug of free raw material, and demonstrates the
disastrous effects of free wool. He further
proves that foreign manufacturers paid the duty
under the McKinley bill, and that under the
proposed Wilson bill consumers will be the suf-
erers. He pricks innumerable free trade bub-
bles, and paints a strong picture of the results
which must ensue if the Wilson regime is in-
augurated.
It has always been the custom at these an-
nual reunions to report a gratifying progress in
the condition of the different earning-sharing
funds. This year, however, Mr. Dolge had the
unpleasant duty of informing his employees
that, while they had earned sufficient profits to
increase the pension list and provide for the
payments of the insurance premiums and
policies, nothing could be placed to their credit
above their regular wages. As to the future,
Mr. Dolge can see no other course if the Wilson
bill becomes law, but have recourse to a general
reduction in wages. The reunion this year was
unattended by the usual banquet, Mr. Dolge
preferring to give his check for $500 toward the
relief of the unemployed.
Mr. Dolge's earnest and truthful statement of
facts cannot fail to leave a lasting impression on
the reader, and it should have a wide circulation.
The Dolgeville Herald contains a complete re-
port of the proceedings, as well as illustrations
showing Dolgeville in 1874 and 1894, which af-
ford a potent object lesson as to the benefit of a
protective tariff.
LYON & HEALY will open a large music store
in Peoria, 111., about February 5th, with Kirk
Booth as manager.
V
Employees of Steinway Hall,
London, Celebrate.
W H E employees of the London house of
~<£) Steinway & Sons inaugurated a custom
very general among large commercial houses on
the other side, bj' giving a house dinner on De-
cember 29th. From reports to hand it was a
most enjoyable affair. Mr. Ishelby, the popular
manager, in responding to the toast of Steinway
& Sons, said, among other things:-"I have
always tried to do even-handed justice- to all,
believing that the laborer is worthy of his hire,
and in all things to carry out the principle of
our New York house of attracting, by permanent
employment and highest rates of wages, the
best workmen in the trade. It is with pride I
look around me and see such an assemblage of
happy, honest faces, and am able to feel sure of
the fact that whenever a press of work comes
(and it has come pretty often lately), you all
will work heartily, double tides, to get the work
out of hand. As you know, there is one point
that I always insist upon, and that is that
everything must be perfect, and in that I am
only carrying out the policy that has made the
Steinway piano what it is, viz., that when new
it commands double the price of any other, and
after ten or twenty years of wear, three times as
much as any other. As I often tell our cus-
tomers, a Steinway piano is almost as good an
investment as a diamond, as there is always a
good substratum of value left after years of use.
As many of you know, I am one of yourselves,
having risen from the ranks, as it were. In
1870 I entered the employ of Steinway & Sons,
New York, as a tuner, and it is a source of great
pride to me that some years ago I was selected
to fill the honorable post I now occupy, that of
representing in my native country the foremost
house in our trade in the world. It is my
pleasant duty to tell you, that, notwithstanding
the bad times, our sales in London have made a
larger increase during 1893 than in any pre-
vious year."
Bright and Progressive.
\SjTHE leading article of the January Keynote is
-eJ " Program Music," from the pen of A. J.
Goodrich. An excellent portrait and biographi-
cal sketch of this well-known theorist and
author is also given. The special musical selec-
tions are a '' Norwegian Mazurka,'' by Frederic
Mullen, and " Forget Me Not," a song for so-
prano or tenor, by Anita Owen. The Keynote is
virtually a musical periodical, although it con-
tains departments devoted to art, literature and
the drama. The paper is now in its tenth year,
and is bright and progressive in its tone. It is
published by Edward Lyman Bill, New York.—
Brooklyn Times, N. Y., January 29th.
THE Western houses can't be beat for original
methods of pushing their business. The mon-
arch of them all, however, is the house of W.
W. Kimball & Co., Chicago, who favor us with
the first edition of a catalogue of advertisements
specially gotten up for their agents. It contains
some thirty-two pages of advertisements, run-
ning from one inch to six by fourteen inches, all
electrotyped and numbered, and on selection
will be forwarded free of cost. The majority of
" a d s . " bear upon the achievements of this
house at the World's Fair. The book will prove
invaluable to Kimball agents and will do much
to advertise artistically the products of the
house.