Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
LYMAN
Editor and Proprietor.
PUBLISHED
EVERY
SATURDAY
3 East 14th St., New York
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage) United States and
Canada, $3-00 per year; Foreign Countries, $4.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per
insertion. On quarterly or yearly contracts a special dis*
euttnt i* allowed.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should
to made payable to Edward Lyman BilL
Onttrtd mi tht AMI Y*rk Past Office as Second-Class MmtUr.
NEW YORK, SEATEMBER 18, 1897.
TELEPHONE NUHBER, 1745.--EIGHTEENTH STREET.
THE KEYNOTE.
The first week of each month, The Review
will contain a supplement embodying the liter-
ary and musical features which have heretofore
appeared In The Keynote. This amalgamation
will be effected without in any way trespassing
on our regular news service. The Review will
continue to remain, as before, essentially a trade
paper.
THE TRADE DIRECTORY.
The Trade Directory, which is a feature of
The Review each month, is complete. In it ap-
pear the names and addresses of all firms en-
gaged in the manufacture of musical instruments
and the allied trades. The Review is sent to
the United States Consulates throughout the
world, and is on file in the reading rooms of the
principal hotels in America.
THE SILENT WORKERS-
HROUGH the medium of the trade
press the prominent individualities
identified with the music trade industry are
known far and wide. Their various moves,
their comings and goings, are carefully
chronicled. The new creations which
emanate from the firms of which they are
the controlling spirits are analyzed and
described oftentimes exhaustively, and.
every change, improvement, or innova-
tion in their manufacture is carefully
recorded and brought to the attention of
the dealers in all sections.
There are, however, important factors in
the trade that only rarely receive the
notice, the credit they fully deserve, and
yet without whose aid success would be
well-nigh impossible.
These are the silent workers—the men
who labor at the bench, designing new
scales, planning out new ideas in archi-
tecture, who aim to still further perfect
the instruments of which they are to a
great extent the creators.
The men at the desk, who have to think
out and originate the important moves
whereby the business can be piloted safely
and securely through ever abounding rocks
and shoals to the harbor of success,
T
With a full appreciation of the invalu-
able services of the members of the craft,
who labor in the light of publicity, The
Review would respectfully ask recognition
for this great army of silent workers.
Through their efforts the music trade
has achieved the dignity of a beneficial,
substantial and recognized industry. We
have to thank them for the present ad-
vanced standing of the piano, which,
through the many technical improvements
contributed, may be characterized as a dis-
tinctively national instrument.
The highly honored position which the
musical instrument trade occupies to-day,
both in practical and business departments,
is due to the ability of these men, who an-
ticipate the demands and advancement of
the times.
Several powerful forces contribute to the
up-building of our industry. They may be
divided into two divisions, the silent wor-
kers—the public workers. While the per-
sonalities connected with the first named
are not as prominently in the public mind
as the latter, yet no one fails for a moment
to take into consideration—when speaking
of the success of a house and its product—
the vital influence which they exercise
silently, but effectively.
The heroic work accomplished by these
"silent workers" during the past few
years of depression can hardly be esti-
mated.
The ability, the discretion, the good
judgment displayed by the various men in
charge of the great business institutions in
our industry was never better demon-
strated than during this trying period
which is now happily but a memory.
Many of these houses had to stand not
only the severest pressure, but in some in-
stances had to take into their own hands
the affairs of others.
We might with all justice eulogize these
men, but it is hardly necessary. They
have fought a great battle, and they have
won. Depression and hard times have
been conquered, and with the sunshine of
prosperity in the ascendant they will reap
their reward.
To the great army of silent workers The
Review extends the hand of greeting.
They are the sappers and miners, the
engineers upon whose skill, endurance and
ability, the bulwark of this trade rests, and
who will lead it on to far greater accom-
plishments in the near future.
#
#
It seems that some of our over-sanguine
contemporaries have already rushed into
print with congratulations to Steinway &
Sons upon the successful sale of their busi-
ness to a syndicate of London capitalists.
It occurs to us that the proper time to ex-
tend congratulations will be when the sale
shall have been effected. At the present
time we have no knowledge of the fact that
Steinway & Sons have disposed of the
whole or any part of their business to
English capitalists. The deal may or may
not go through, but before Steinway & Sons
close the sale, there will probably be more
money in sight than there has been up to the
present time. The company which was
formed in England for the purpose of buy-
ing out the Steinway interests—provided
the stock was subscribed for by the Eng-
lish public—has not as yet given Steinway
& Sons substantial evidence of their ability
to produce the amount required, or in
other words, as we understand it, the stock
has not been wholly subscribed for by
English investors.
A deal of the magnitude of five or six
million dollars requires considerable en-
gineering as well as a vast amount of cash
to carry it through successful^ 7 .
Chas. H. Steinway, who has been spend-
ing some time in Europe, is at present on
the sea, and upon his return we shall
doubtless hear more about the Steinway
syndicate matters.
#
#
The reed organ trade has, to use the
popular colloquialism, "got a gait on."
There is no use in saying at this period,
" I told you so." Suffice it that manu-
facturers report orders coming in by every
mail. They are not " spurty" nor are
they sectional. Each week shows a steady
increase, thus proving that dealers are
feeling the demand which is being or
will be made upon their stock this fall.
No small portion of the big prices for
agricultural products will find its way back
into the coffers of the organ manufacturers
and the output promises to be a repetition of
the "good old times." With an increasing
foreign and domestic trade the manufac-
turers of organs have good reason to look
forward with confidence and satisfaction to
the business outlook.
#
#
The stockholders of the Mason & Ham-
lin Co. at a meeting held in the offices of
the company in Cambridgeport, Mass.,
last Tuesday, voted unanimously in favor
of the recommendations of the directors
that the working capital of the company be
raised by the issue and sale at par of $100,-
000 cumulative six per cent, preferred
stock, with priority over the common stock
as to both principal and interest.
• It was also decided that as the laws of
Massachusetts prevent the' k issue of pre-
ferred stock without special authority from
the legislature, and which could not be ob-