Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
strument line a gradual increase has been
noted year after year in our export trade.
Next to Germany the United States take
second place as heaviest importers of musi-
cal instruments to Great Britain, and while
our trade on the European Continent is not
proportionately as great, yet it is steadily
growing.
In the line of stringed instru-
ments and small goods—harps, mandolins,
guitars, violins, etc.—we are manufactur-
ing instruments that are far superior to the
imported, and in a few years their excel-
lence cannot fail to be recognized abroad—
in fact, the magnificent harps manufactured
by Lyon & Healy, of Chicago, are to-day
acknowledged to be the equal of any made
in Europe.
•
..
-••.-.
'The enormous capacity of our manufact-
uring plants, the skill of our mechanics, the
inventive
ability and originality of the
practical men at the head of manufacturing
enterprises, all result in the production of
wares of such certain and established value
in the civilized world. For our own part,
we can not help thinking that the disregard
for conventional headgear exhibited by
nearly all musicians has a good deal to say
to it. It is the rarest thing to see a virtuoso
in a tall or hard hat, and it is well known
that tall and hard hats are perhaps more
than anything else conducive to baldness.
* *
*
Politicians and political economists have
evolved many schemes for improving the
condition of the times, but a newspaper
man is out with the following panacea
which I would commend to the considera-
tion of Secretary Carlisle, who is lying
awake nights thinking out the best plan to
prevent Treasury deficits. This jin-de-siecle
financier says: It is estimated that if the
people who are in debt to the newspapers
in the United States would pay their in-
debtedness it would place an additional
$35,167,748.73 in circulation. The propri-
etors would immediately use the money to
pay their pressing obligations, and in this
way times would be very materially bet-
tered.
that they are destined to command in time a
world-wide recognition.
I do not regard it as within the province
of a trade paper to dip into the private
affairs of a family. I consider it is not
necessary for a trade paper to give expla-
nations or reasons to the trade why Mrs.
George A. Steinway was granted a divorce
in the courts of Fargo, Dakota, from her
husband. The bare announcement is suf-
ficient.
• '"-: . ' - -
..,:
A
STATISTICIAN has been trying to
trace connection between baldness
and various professions. According to his
figures, only one out of one hundred musi-
cians is bald, whereas eleven out of one
hundred writers are deprived of nature's
cranial protection. Commenting thereon,
a London paper says: We all know the
famous degrees of comparison recently
quoted by an eminent statesman: lies, d—d
lies, and statistics. But even if we make
all deductions for the shortcomings of the
psuedo-scientific investigator, the supe-
rior shagginess of musicians—especially in-
strumental musicians—as compared with
other sections of the community is a mat-
ter of too common notoriety to admit of
question. Fiddlers and pianists are the
despair of the hairdresser. They seldom
or never subscribe to toilet clubs, conscien-
tiously avoid the abhorred shears, and
have no need for lotions and washes. Now
if our statistical professor, instead of mere-
ly stating improbable percentages, had set
himself to discover what are the essential-
ly hair-producing conditions of the musical
calling, he would have commanded the re-
spectful attention of at least all the barbers
On the back cover page of the current
issue of The Ladies' Home Journal will be
found a showy and effective advertisement
of the Autoharp. The different styles are
shown, from the cheapest to the most ex-
pensive, and the reading matter is perti-
nent and cleverly written. Such advertis-
ing cannot fail to be profitable.
* *
*
They are talking about nominating John
Boyd Thacher as candidate for Mayor of
Alban}\ If he cannot make a better record
as Mayor than he did as chairman of the
Committee ou Medals and Awards at the
World's Fair, the voters of the Capital City
had better leave him to enjoy the luxury of
private life.
,
; ;
V
.' v :
* *
*
According to recent statistics it appears
that the German export trade is larger than
that of last year, while the increase upon
the first half of 1892 is considerable. This
is almost exclusively due to the exports of
German pianos to Great Britain. The ex-
port of German pianos to Australia, how-
ever, has fallen off since 1892, and at least
30 per cent, of the Australian trade has
gone from Germany during the three years.
But in the first six months of the present
year upward of 180,000/. worth of pianos,
altogether apart from other musical goods,
were exported from Germany into Great
Britain. On the other hand, the United
States of America do not seem to have tak-
en a solitary Germany piano during that
time.
*
Sohmer & Co. are making an attractive
little upright, which is bound to prove a
popular favorite with the trade. It is
called the new style "5-B," and is four feet
six inches in height, and is turned out in
all the standard woods—mahogany, rose-
wood, walnut and ebony. It contains all
the improvements of the larger uprights,
and the tone—well, it is the "Sohmer
tone," and that expresses everything. The
styles which Sohmer & Co. have ready for
this season are each and every one of them
beautiful instruments, both as to design of
case, tone and finish. Their growth in
popularity is not surprising.
* *
*
I learn that Ernest Alfieri, editor and
manager of our London contemporary,
7 he Piano, Organ and Music Trades Jour-
nal, has severed his connection with that
paper, and has purchased Musical Notes,
which he intends to enlarge and improve.
Mr. Alfieri is quite a musician, and there
is no reason why he should not make a
great success in his new venture. There
is a demand for a representative musical
monthly in London, and if Mr. Alfieri sup-
plies our cousins across the water with
what they are looking for, he will win
fame and fortune. He has my best wishes.
* *
*
The proposition to shorten the next
Presidential campaign is being discussed
favorably in business circles. The politi-
cians as a matter of course, with little con-
sideration for the business interests of the
country, are inclined to start an early cam-
paign, and use all the "talk" and fireworks
available. It is satisfactory to note that the
national committees of both parties will
favor a short campaign, which is a proper
step to take. The business men of this
country are heartily sick of politics, and
the less agitation we have the better for the
country. I notice the Chicago 7 inics-Hera/d
printed a short time since the views of the
prominent business houses of Chicago, and
I heartily agree with the opinion emanating
from the distinguished house of the W. W.
Kimball Co. It is as follows- "We are
cleaily of the opinion that the Presidential
campaign of '96 should be a short one.
The business public have for years looked
on the Presidential election year as a kind
of dead letter, business to a large extent
being paralyzed, and we believe that this
interruption to business can be largely
overcome by making the campaign short.
Both sides can tell all the yarns they can
think of in sixty days just as well as four
or five months, and the voter, as a rule, is
just as ready to vote thirty days after the
convention as he would be in six months.
We have had one or two campaigns of
education that have not been productive
of the very best commercial results, and