Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
reputable, reliable and newsy publication.
A man who gives an equivalent for every
dollar invested; a man who eschews in-
sincerity in any form, and above all things
abhors intimidations and threats of any
character made for the obvious purpose of
bringing non-supporters into line. The
date at which his rise became marked was
the date upon which the thinking men of
the trade concluded that it was about time
to place a fair share of their patronage
with a concern which had given undeniable
proof of its loyalty to trade interests and
unswerving honor in all business dealings.
Thus the future trade historian may
write in years to come when all those who
are now active upon the stage shall have
become but memories.
The name of A. T. Stewart stands as a
monument of success. Stewart as a boy
is remembered as absolutely reliable.
Everybody who came in contact with him
felt that he was to be depended upon. He
inspired confidence when dealing with a
customer. The customer always felt that
he was personally getting the benefit of
the deal. No one ever had the feeling
that there was a cunning game back of a
business transaction with this merchant of
a by-gone generation.
The same feelings must come to every
manufacturer who does business with the
legitimate trade journalist. When the
business element of this trade is brought
in contact with the stencil trade journalist
who bears upon his brow the stencil-crime,
they feel that their own honesty is over-
matched by cunning. They know, or at
least they believe that they have no show
in an unequal fight where the one has a
blackmailing journal which he uses as a
bludgeon to gain the gold of the other.
Talent—time—energy and ambition are
not considered by the stencil trade journal-
ist who is troubled with no such feelings as
pangs of conscience. He coldly asserts
that he is in the business for money and it
is the money game that pays. In the past
he has played the game successfully, but
after all, his ill-gained wealth has melted
as a wreath of mist before the morning
sun. He, too, has lost that which a man
holds most dear—character.
One William Shakespeare, who in his
day was reckoned good, correctly inter-
preted the relations between character and
purse.
It is nothing less than a crime to attempt
to defame the reputation of men who have
always been fair in their dealings with
their fellowmen, who have given good
values, and have lived lives above reproach.
But in comes the stencil journalist;
smooth, oily and loquacious, Even the
contact with his flesh as he extends his
hand, as it is met in exchange, is cold and
repulsive. There is something about his
touch which makes one shudder—it is sug-
gestive of the snake, and while he talks his
eyes do not meet you in full gaze; they
wander. He wins by his cunning and not
by his virtues.
Years ago the stencil journalist talked
through his paper anent "stencil" piano
making, but he talked with his mouth to
"stencil" manufacturers.
The stencil
journalist aimed his shafts of satire at some
poor dealer in Skowhegan while he was
holding out both hands to catch the drop-
ping gold from stencil manufacturers who
were selling the poor devil of a dealer.
So he has gone on, the insincerity of the
stencil journalist who has debauched music
trade journalism becoming more and more
apparent. However, the laws of destiny
are immutable, and in the end right must
triumph, and now in these close of the cen-
tury days, the hand of the stencil journal-
ist has been stricken from its throttling,
thieving clutch on trade honor.
Now and then we see spasmodic kicks
which afford evidence that some life still
remains in the diseased body of the stencil
trade journalist. Having been brought to
his knees on several occasions by the re-
plies of outraged honor, his grasp has be-
come weakened ; his touch, while still hav-
ing power of communicating disease, is
fast being removed from the possibility of
contact. There are still a few flings at
reputable manufacturers. Nothing is lack-
ing, however, in the way of evidence to
prove the rottenness of the fount from
which the stencil journalist draws his sus-
tenance. It shows its pollution by the fil-
thy poetry—by the splenetic attacks upon
men who have been scrupulous in their
dealings with all mankind. The tide of
his reckoning can not be turned to some
remote date. All the twisting and evasion
cannot dodge or evade the issue. The de-
struction and total annihilation of the sten-
cil trade journalist is as sure as that the
sun will rise on to-morrow's Sabbath.
decadence and imbecility of the stencil
journalist who now goes begging from
door to door, to check the wave of disaster
which is now overwhelming him. It is
loo late—too late; his forehead is stenciled
with the inaffaceble brand of crime.
T H E residents of the central West fortu-
nately are reaping great big golden
harvests these October days. The farmers
belong to the favored class this year, and
they are not slow in making investments
in pianos and other accessories to home
comfort.
One of the traffic managers of one of the
great railroad systems in the West, re-
cently remarked to us, that almost every
depot on his line of roads was filled with
articles of luxuries such as pianos, organs,
sideboards, tables, paintings, and all mat- ,
ters intended for home adornment and
home culture. He stated that with the ex-
ception of last year such a condition had
not existed—well, not before within his
memory.
No stronger proof of the prosperity of
the farmer can be given than such testi-
mony as this, for a farmer does not usual-
ly buy musical instruments for his home
until the mortgage is paid and there is a
surplus in the treasury.
Here is a trade illustration showing how
the West is specially favored: It is said
that the September trade of Crancer &
Curtice, Lincoln, Neb., was more than
double that of September, '97, which by
the way, was a record breaker over the
preceding years. The West is surely en-
joying its innings in great big royal shape.
Kernels of Success:
Keep in touch with the trade.
Be posted.
Read The Review.
Use its pages liberally for advertising,
and dull times will pass you by.
T H E most extraordinary "recipes "for
keeping pianos "in condition" are
usually encountered in the daily papers.
For instance the following regarding
There is a force incorporated in this "sticky keys" from the Evening Post,
trade to-day which means a steady aug- which, by the way professes to know
mentation of the right. Men of soundness everything about trade and musical mat-
have nothing in common with a filthy ters, is unique:
blackmailer-—have nothing in common
" Sticky piano keys can be made smooth
with the man who has prostituted the best by putting a little gin or spirits of wine in
interests of this trade to selfish gain. Im- the water, but for actual discoloration a
moral greed will receive its final check paste made of gin and whiting is recom-
from outraged honor. Only a short time mended. With a flannel cloth wound
will have elapsed before the entire edifice around the finger the paste is applied with
of the stencil journalist will crumble. brisk rubbing. When the place is dry,
That which is right will live; that which rub off and polish with a very little dry
is wrong must die. The days of sandbag- whiting, finally giving a dry rub with a,
ging have gone. Eyery week ^dds to tk§ chamois."