Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
EDWARD LYMAN BILL
Editor and Proprietor.
PUBLISHED
EVERY
red tape and bungling about this entire
matter of awards and medals that the
whole affair is now simply ludicrous. The
World's Fair will soon be ancient history,
and the medals and awards, and the right
to use them, will be of little value to ad-
vertisers.
• • • • • • • • • • • •
SATURDAY
ENTRE-NOUS.
HERE is no earthly reason why piano
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage) United States and
warerooms should not be as attractive
Canada, $3.00 per year; Foreign Countries, $4.00.
and inviting now as during the holiday
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per
insertion. On quarterly or yearly contracts a special dis-
count is allowed.
season, and yet, with few exceptions, they
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should
are not. The unusual pains taken to "set
be made payable to Edward Lyman Bill.
off" the different instruments and to give
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second- Class Matter.
an artistic air to the place, such as would
"THE BUSINESS MAN'S PAPER."
attract purchasers, seems to be entirely
overlooked all through the year with the
exception of a few weeks around Christ-
mas.
Why?
.
It .seems to us that instead of complain-
ing and talking dull business, the wide-
awake salesman should pay more attention
to what some consider unimportant details.
Are they unimportant?
We hardly think so. A wareroom with
the stock in the same position week after
l!;3 cause thi
week, and a show window not too inviting,
hs
wrong
tbat
needs
r
c
s
i
s
&
g
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will
not induce would-be customers or
For tho wrong ib
passers-by to visit the warerooms or become
For
interested in the instruments shown therein.
People are influenced by esthetic environ-
ment in every business. But in the piano
business they look for it. This is a matter
E call attention to our Mr. Bill's that should not be overlooked any part of
remarks anent trade relations the year, be times good or bad.
That is why we allude to it.
between this country and Mexico, in his
very interesting" letter, which appears else-
where in this paper.
THE FIFTY-THIRD CONGRESS.
3 East 14th St., New York
T
i
W
I
N a short time there will be a "Steinway
Hall" in all the World's capitals. Lon-
don and New York are already represented,
Chicago is now on record, and ere long the
Steinway piano will have a home in the
French capital.
I
T has apparently taken the authorities at
Washington two years to realize that
the medals awarded exhibitors at the
World's Columbian Exposition may be of
service to them in an advertising way.
According to a dispatch which appears
elsewhere, it seems the late exhibitors will
henceforth be at liberty to use copies of
the medals awarded them. The law against
their use, which has existed for the past
two years, and which is now abrogated,
would have some force had exhibitors re-
ceived their medals. The funny part of
the matter is, they have not as yet—in fact
the design was only finally determined on
a short time ago. There has been so much
should in future be taken entirely out of
politics. The turmoil which has prevailed
anent these questions for the past two years
—working such a blighting injury to the
commercial prosperity of the country—
should end with the departure of the Fifty-
third Congress.
T
HE Fifty-third Congress made its exit
last Monday to the great relief of the
country at large. Its record has been one
of incapacity and indifference to the best
interests of the country. It misused great
opportunities for public service. It has
been faithful to personal interests and blind
to those effecting the commercial prosperity
of the people.
Its dissolution was received with a sigh
of relief, nay, joy, by every business man in
this country, for its presence has been
synonymous with hard times.
It is needless to go into details as to why
and wherein did Congress fail. It is suffi-
cient to know that its record will be con-
demned by every American, irrespective of
political belief, unless he be a blind par-
tisan. The business world can now feel at
ease. The horizon is clearer. The sun of
better times is peeping above the hill-tops,
with hope and good cheer in his wake.
As we have emphasized several times
before, the questions of tariff and currency
PATENT REPORT FOR 1894.
T is a gratifying fact to note that inven-
tive genius is neither discouraged by
hard times, nor by repeated failure to score
a success. It seems that no matter how
dull general business may be the inventor
is always at work. The reports for the
past year, as presented by the Commissioner
of United States Patents, state that during
the year 1894, 36,987 applications for pat-
ents, 1,357 for designs, 2,053 f° r registra-
tion of trademarks, and 2,286 caveats were
made. This furnishes remarkable testi-
mony to the activity of the American
mind, and shows that inventive genius is
determined to meet the needs of the times.
There is no better key to the supremacy
which we as a nation occupy in the inven-
tive and -manufacturing world, than the
industrious striving after new devices, or
improvements on old ones, as evident in
the records of the Patent Office year after
year. Concerning the patents taken out on
musical instruments during the year 1894,
we notice the majority were new adapta-
tions of old ideas, and their extension in
new directions; yet quite a few have
worked in untried fields, and if they failed
to succeed they have at least placed them-
selves on record and will doubtless be
looked after by somebody else in due time.
In the multitude of devices recorded some
must prove valuable, and in this way the
manufacturing world is benefited.
As far as pianos are concerned, nothing
startling has been recorded during the past
year which can be termed of especial value
in the realm of tone, action mechanism, or
case architecture. In fact, the modern
piano has attained a perfection which is not
likely to be surpassed in our age, at least,
and yet in these days of marvelous sur-
prises in the inventive field it would be
simply absurd to be positive in this asser-
tion.
As we remarked before, inventors in the
musical instrument field display a weakness
for taking up old ideas and improving on
them. This is commendable in a way, but
when these old ideas are weak, and destitute
of real merit, it is simply a waste of time
to try and produce something out of noth-
ing. This, in a measure, is the reason why
the Commissioner of Patents refused to
accept so many applications during the
past year. Inventors, like other clever
I