Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN
Edltor 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-
count is allowed.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should
fee made payable to Edward Lyrnan BilL
Mmitrtd mt ths If*w Y&k Pbst Offie* as Second-Class Mmttm.
Z NEW YORK, JULY 10, 1597.
TBLBPHONE NUMBER 1745. — BIQHTEENTH 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.
UPBUILDING OF FOREIGN TRADE.
E have received from Mr. Theo. C.
Search, president of the National Asso-
ciation of Manufacturers, a letter relative to
the scheme adopted by the association of
making American products better known
in South American countries through the
establishment of a series of sample ware-
houses for American goods in important
business centers.
Mr. Rudolf Dolge has been engaged in
the organization of this enterprise in
Venezuela for the past six months, and the
plans for the first of these warehouses have
been completed. Mr. Dolge returned from
Caracas some weeks ago and reports hav-
ing met with much encouragement in
Venezuela as well as being deeply im-
pressed with the importance of arousing
American manufacturers to look outside of
their own country for a market for their
goods.
Since his return to this country he has
been most successful in interesting manu-
facturers in all sections, who have already
engaged a considerable portion of the
space for exhibition purposes.
Mr. Search in his letter says: "This is
not to be an enterprise for profit, but to
promote the interests of American trade in
Venezuela, a market which is believed to
W
offer splendid opportunities for American
enterprise. It may be taken as good evi-
dence of the practical character of this
plan, that the project has been heartily
approved by the principal export merchants
who do business in Venezuela. We believe
that you will approve very fully of the
objects we have in view and the methods
we desire to apply."
We desire to state that the objects of the
association have our heartiest support and
approval. American trade has for years
been at a great disadvantage throughout
South America, because of the absence of
direct representation of the American
manufacturers. The English, German,
French, and other European manufacturers
have many branch establishments in the
principal South American trade centers,
where their goods are carried in stock, and
where they can be seen by the intending
purchaser. Only in rare instances are
American manufacturers thus represented,
and their goods, consequently, are less
known. The Caracas warehouse will serve
as a permanent exhibition and as a bureau
of information both for Venezuelan buyers
and for the members of the association,
rather than as a store for the actual sale of
goods. The warehouse will not compete
with export merchants, who now handle
the bulk of the business between the
United States and Venezuela, but its aim
is to bring American goods before the buy-
ers in Venezuela more prominently than is
possible by any other meansnow available.
The Government of Venezuela has mani-
fested its friendly disposition by granting
to the association the privilege of entering
samples for exhibition free of duty until
sold. As the duties in Venezuela are very
high, this privilege is of material advantage
to those who desire to develop their trade
in that country. We understand further
that the " Red D " Steamship Line of New
York has offered to carry American ex-
hibits to Caracas at one half the regular
freight rates.
The object of the National Association of
Manufacturers is to make the scale of charges
so reasonable as to permit of the warerooms
being available to exhibitors at the lowest
possible cost. The rates for space range
from $s down to $2 per square foot,
the price being based on the amount of
space used by the exhibitor, with a mini-
mum charge of $25 per year for the
smallest amount of space taken. Quite a
number of prominent manufacturers as
well as public men have written letters
approving highly of this mode of intro-
ducing American wares to our foreign
friends.
It is proposed to follow the establish-
ment of the Caracas warehouse by the
organization of similar institutions in
other important foreign trade centers in
South America, Europe, and the Orient.
#
#
The Merchants' Association, recently or-
ganized in this city, and referred to else-
where, has a vast opportunity for useful-
ness. The manufacturers of New York
and locality have apparently overlooked the
fact that trade has been steadily diverting
to other cities, owing to their indifference
and the enterprise of their competitors in
other manufacturing centers.
We must no longer flatter ourselves with
the belief that New York is supreme in
the commerce of the country. In.the slang
of the day, "there are others." New York
merchants are, however, at last waking up
to the fact that ground is being lost, and
the formation of the organization referred
to is the result.
We have just received from the secretary
of the Merchants' Association a roster of
the members up to date, but we fail to find
therein the name of a single member of
the music trade industry. This is hardly
creditable. The members of the music
trade should be as active in fostering and
promoting the commerce of this city as our
brethren in other industries.
Such a"live"subject as this amply merits-
trie attention of the American Piano Manu-
facturers' Association. Instead of coming
in at the eleventh hour, or allowing others
to do the work, they should be more aggress-
ive and endeavor to exert a greater force
in all that pertains to the betterment of
their industry as well as the general com-
mercial welfare.
The Merchants'Association is a splendid
idea, and we commend it to the members
of the music trade as well as the American
Piano Manufacturers, Association, as a
movement worthy their heartiest support
and encouragement, not so much on senti-
mental as on the selfish grounds that it will
be of benefit to their interests.
#
#
The Tariff Bill is at last out of the hands
of the senators and is now being consider-
ed by a conference committee composed
of members of the Senate and House of
Representatives.
Notwithstanding the
many predictions made the early part of the
year, the bill was passed on Wednesday
with a majority of ten votes instead of
two as expected, and without a silver
"deal."
The country will now look for speedy
work in getting the bill through the com-
mittee and House and into the hands of the
President. There will be no excuse for