Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
From A Traveler's
Note Book.
HEARTY ENDORSEMENT OF THE " N E W YORK
NUMBER"
CREATED
COMMENT
ECHOES OF A CALIFORNIA TRIP.
WILEY B. ALLEN
SONALITY
;
AN AGGRESSIVE PER-
LYON & HEALY HIS "FOUR
LEAF CLOVER"
APOLIS
NO END OF KINDLY
GROWING MINNE-
THE GREAT
HOUSE OF
DYER — A BIG BUSINESS CON-
CERN—FOSTER & WALDO—R.
O. FOSTER
that THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW has been
appreciated by its readers. I have received
a willing and generous support from the
trade in all parts of America. I have been
most hospitably entertained. I have been
enabled by a generous support in all sections
to produce numbers which I think have re-
flected some credit upon music trade jour-
nalism, and have helped to dignify the
music trade before the world.
FLANNER, OF
MILWAUKEE, CONTROLS
AN EXPANDING
The visitor to California, particularly in
the winter, must be charmed, and the trip
from San Francisco up to Portland is one
which affords an unusual variety of scenic
beauty from the car windows.
Almost
every city in the United States has one firm
TRADE.
R. O. FOSTER.
HE many kind words said anent
the "New York Number" of
'THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW,
which are constantly received
at this office, cause a continu-
ance of that satisfaction which
springs from having perform-
ed an honorable task and being warmly ap-
plauded for same.
It is a physical impossibility to reply in
person to all those who have sent congratu-
latory words to this office regarding that
great issue. I only say that it is with feel-
ings of the deepest gratitude that I express
my thanks to my friends who have ma.de
all of the Special Numbers possible.
THE MUSIC
TRADE REVIEW,
while not
posing as the greatest trade publication on
earth, has given incontrovertible evidence
of its national character and national sup-
port.
Having visited every city of note
from Portland, Me., to Portland, Ore.,
from Quebec to Vera Cruz, I can say with-
out that attempt at egotism, which seems
to characterize the writings of my imitator,
that THE REVIEW has been received warmly
and heartily endorsed by the greatest men
engaged in either manufacturing or retail-
ing American musical wares.
To repeat all of the kind words that have
been said to me would require a greater
number of pages than are embodied in the
New York Number. I for one do not think
it adds to the dignity or standing of a
music trade journal or of a music trade edi-
tor to reprint in cold type everything which
is said in favor of the journal or any pleas-
ant greeting extended to the editor.
It
seems to me to be an exhibition of decidedly
poor taste as well as the possession of egot-
ism of the most glaring character to print
" I tell you that's a great paper you're get-
ting out;" 1 " Your Specials have been the
finest thing the trade has ever seen;"
"There is no question of the standing
of your paper with the trade;" " I t is the
trade paper of the country;" "What
monster editions you are bringing out,"
and scores of congratulatory sentences of a
like character. The whole matter I sum
up in the tollowing brief words:
I have traveled much, have been received
a manner which justifies me in saying
WILEY B. ALLEN.
which stands at the head of the list. Per-
haps travelers can better recognize the posi-
tion which certain firms occupy in the trade
than local residents. There is one strong
personality which permeates the music
trade of the Pacific-Northwest and the
strength of that personality must be appar-
ent to every traveler in that favored section.
I refer to Wiley B. Allen, head of the
great music firm which bears his name in
Portland, Ore. Like Lincoln, Mr. Allen
first saw light in a log hut, and like Lincoln
again, he has shown the possession of a
wonderful amount of perseverance backed
by a strong element of Americanism which
has made him a strong force in the music
trade of the Pacific Coast.
The sketch of Mr. Allen's life is interest-
ing. When he started in San Jose, Cal., in
1877, he had a cash capital of $600. He
purchased a Pease piano with this, and a
small stock of sheet music.
When he
moved to Portland in 1880 things were
lively. That city was in the midst of what
in the West is termed a "boom." Mr.
Allen attributes much of his success in life
to the advice ^-hich he received from Lyon
& Heah T , the members of which firm he
classifies as "his four-leaf clover."
first visited Minneapolis, in the fall of 1880.
I was then on my way to the far Northwest.
It was some three years before I returned.
The progress of the town during that time
was simply amazing. It had then become
a vast manufacturing as well as a distribut-
ing city for the entire Northwest. Music
was then beginning to take a still firmer
hold upon the infant settlements further
West, and great houses had sprung up in
St. Paul and Minneapolis, which controlled
a vast trade in Northwestern Minnesota
and Dakota.
The house of W. F. Dyer & Bro. occupied
then as it does to-day the greatest reputa-
tion of any concern in any section of the
country.
I recollect seeing pianos sold
from the house of Dyer as far North as
Winnipeg. Winnipeg in those clays was a
good hustling city of some eight or ten
thousand.
Prominent among the newer concerns of
the Northwest is the enterprising firm of
Foster & Waldo. The gentlemen compos-
ing this firm arc both Westerners, and are
imbued with all the hustle which the word
implies. R. O. Foster is, I think, the only
leading member of the music trade in Min-
neapolis who can claim that city as his
birthplace, he having been born there in
1859, and since early boyhood has been
connected with the music business. This
concern have fairly won their spurs, and
* *
*
Minneapolis is a town which must assur-
'edly charm all visitors. It is a cit}' which
has developed at a rate which has been be-
yond compare almost. I recollect when I
JOSEPH FLANNER.