Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
music and book publishers, anent the way
things were run in the Copyright Office.
Inquiries were not attended to, fees were
demanded for insignificant inquiries, and
acknowledgments for money sent had in
many cases to be demanded. As President
Cleveland once said: ' 'Public office is a pub-
lic trust," and we hope that the Treasury
officials will continue in their good work
until the affairs of the Copyright Depart-
ment are placed on a sound, substantial
footing—a footing that will reinspire pub-
lic confidence. This should be achieved at
any cost.
Sterling Success.
HE Sterling Co., of Derby, Conn., are
not complaining of dull trade at the
present time. One day's mail last week
brought them orders for sixty-six pianos.
They have done a remarkable summer busi-
ness, running their factory full time and
full force, and by running a part of the
works over time they have managed to
keep up their shipments and accumulate
some stock to draw from for prompt ship-
ments during the busy season, which is
sure to come, and is so close upon us. It
is not so remarkable that the Sterling Co.
have been favored with business when the
fact is taken into consideration that they
are making one of the best pianos in the
market to-day for the money. The follow-
ing letter, an exact copy of one shown us,
which came to them unsolicited, shows to
what extent the goods are appreciated by
some of the best musicians and artists in
the country:
T
SAN JOSE, Aug.
12th,
1895.
To MESSRS. SCOTT & BROWN, San Jose,Cal.:
Gentlemen:—In refutation of remarks
and insinuations made by a few unprin-
cipled persons concerning the terms under
which I use the Sterling pianofortes in the
King Conservatory of Music, I desire to
state, unsolicited, to the public generally,
that the instruments in question, eleven
in number, to which I shall have to add
three or four more very soon, were selected
by me on their merits: First, of touch;
second, of quality and sympathy of tone;
third, general artistic finish. These in-
struments were not rented, but bought
outright as the contracts will show.
Furthermore, after one year's continual
and most trying use, from eight to twelve
hours per day, for there are now in my
Conservatory nearly 150 students reg-
istered, they have given satisfaction be-
yond my most sanguine expectations; are
just as good as the day they were put in,
with not a fault or flaw in any one of them.
You may use these lines as you please, for
they are simply written as an honest ex-
pression of my opinion of a Sterling piano-
forte factory.
FRANK LOUI KING, Dean.
THE Knabe piano will be used at the
Worcester (Mass.) Musical Festival this
year.
M. A. PAULSEN, president of the Century
piano Co., Minneapolis, is seriously ill.
Klaber's Statement.
EMILE KLAliER WRITES OF THE COURT MAT-
TER
SAYS THE MACHINE WAS HIS
OWN INVENTION.
been commenced against Mr. Davis, which
will be pushed, apart from the criminal
proceedings pending, to the fullest extent
of the law.
Respectfully, yours,
EMILE KLABER.
WHAT MR. DAVIS SAYS.
NEW
YORK, Aug.
27,
EDITOR MUSIC TRADE REVIEW:—
1895.
W
E desire to be entirely fair in this con-
troversy, and therefore publish Mr.
Klaber's letter in full, although we cannot
agree with the insinuations conveyed in
the opening of the second paragraph. As
there are two sides to every question, we
have had our representative call on Mr.
Davis at the factory of the Electric Self-
Playing Piano Co., 333-5 West Thirty-
sixth street, of which company he is treas-
urer and general manager, and in connec-
tion with this matter he makes the follow-
ing statement:
"Mr. Klaber tells an untruth when he
says that the Music Perforating Machine,
which I removed from my shop at No. 96
Church street, was invented by him, for
here is the contract with Mr. Klaber and
the Automaton Piano Co., under which
I built the Perforating and Recording
Machine, and in which they clearly
acknowledge me to be the inventor; and
as a further substantiation of this state-
ment, I beg to state that the ^Eolian Or-
gan and Music Co., among the largest and
most reliable musical concerns in the coun-
try, after thorough^ investigating my
claims as inventor of the machine, paid
me on yesterday, a large amount for my
assignment to them, and I hand you for
inspection my contract with them in the
matter.
"As to Mr. Sidney Henry, the uncle of
the Klabers, being a discharged employee,
Mr. Henry, who is in business for himself,
swore in Court that he left the services of
the Klabers after unfair treatment of him
by them, and the Klabers did not attempt
in Court to disprove this.
"As to the civil suit which he mentions,
neither myself nor the Electric Self-Playing
Piano Co. have been sued for the recovery
of the Perforating Machine.
" I have produced documentary or other
evidence to prove the truthfulness of every
statement I have made, either to the press
or in Court.
"Mr. Klaber has been persecuting me in
every way possible since I have started the
Electric Self-Playing Piano Co. in opposi-
tion to his business."
Dear Sir:—My attention has been called
to an article in your last issue, headed
"Klaber's Charge."
Were it not for the fact that the state-
ments contained therein appear editorially,
thus clothing them with an appearance of
truth, which they do not possess, I would
not ask you to publish the following facts,
but feel sure that your reputation for
fairness will admit of your giving this
communication the same prominence as the
article referred to by me.
Inasmuch as I feel that the article has
been written in good faith, and on the
basis of statements made by Mr. Davis, I
will not enter into any controversy on the
matter, but simply state the following
facts:
In the hearing before the Court, Mr.
Davis did not prove that he had a perfect
right to enter the premises in question;
neither did he produce any unexpiied lease.
He did produce a letter, agreeing to lease
him a portion of the factory occupied by
the Neostyle Co. As to whether or not he
had a right to enter the premises will be
decided by the Magistrate on September
20th, at Jefferson Market Police Court.
The machine he removed was not his
own invention, and was not used for cut-
ting perforated music only. It was used
for recording pieces played by a performer
on a piano, and a patent had been applied
for, covering this (my) invention through
Mr. Davis, for the application of which
said patent I hold his receipt.
It is true that Mr. Henry, and also Mr
Green, president of the Hektograph Co.,
testified prejudicially toward myself and
my brother, but in view of the fact that
Mr. Henry had been in the employ of my
brother, Mr. A. D. Klaber, and had been
discharged by him, and that Mr. Green is
a defendant in a suit brought against him
and his company by the Neostyle Co., of
which my brother is manager, I hardly
think any explanation necessary to show
the animus of these gentlemen. The other
witnesses were all former employees of the
Automaton Piano Co. who had been dis-
charged, or, as they stated, "resigned."
Looks Like Business.
The insinuations contained in some of
the questions asked of my attorney, Mr.
N connection with the enlargement of
Lichtenstein, relative to the possession of
the plant of the Keller Bros. & Blight
a check, were so absolutely without founda- Co., which was reported in our last issue,
tion in fact that Magistrate Cornell ordered Mr. Blight informed a reporter of the
them struck from the record, and I am Bridgeport Union that the company had
willing to admit that these questions, were already on hand orders for three hundred
of such a'scandalous nature, and coming as and fifty pianos to be delivered before the
they did, like a thunderbolt from a clear holidays—about twice the usual number of
sky, caused me momentarily to lose my instruments ordered at this season. Efforts
composure, which I now exceedingly re- to fill the orders on time are now being
gret.
made, but it has been found impossible to
In conclusion, I would state that civil keep up with the current demand for the
suit for the recovery of the machine has company's wares.
I