Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
situation are given out. In a recent talk, which have resulted in his father's success
President Cable stated- that the demand in in life. He is a genuine piano man—
the organ field has not been so active for shrewd and conservative, with the keenest
many months as it is at the present time. foresight, and is tireless in his energy and
Proof of this may be adduced from the efforts to advance the interests of the firm's
fact that last month two thousand organs business and incidentally the interests of
were sent out by the Cable Co. Orders so the Bradbury patrons, by striving to make
far this month continue to show an undi- the Bradbury piano, which he knows from
minished demand. In their piano depart- the castor to the top, structurally, musical-
ments the Cable Co. are unusually busy ly and artistically, the most perfect musi-
and the summer trade with them will evi- cal instrument in the world."
dently be larger than usual.
The Trade Outlook in Africa.
The Baus piano, made by Augustus Baus
It is interesting to note, now that the
& Co., is now handled at the warerooms of
Wm. J. Schultz, 241—3 West Madison principal cities of the South African Re-
street. The Baus is a popular instrument publics are in the hands of the British, that
and should find no small army of admirers Pretoria, which previous to the war had
about twelve thousand population, had
in this city.
also eight music dealers who handled the
New Gabler Brochure.
leading American makes of organs such
At hand, but not in time for extended as the Mason & Hamlin, Clough & War-
review this week, is the new Gabler broch- ren, Wilcox & White, Needham, and Kim-
ure. It is of convenient size and shows ball. Their names are as follows: Alf.
five illustrations of the latest Gabler styles. Allen, Church street; Petrus van der
The artistic features of the work are inter- Burg,.Market street; W. E. Burmester &
esting and form a pleasing departure from Co., Church Square, opposite Government
the form adopted by many. There is an House: Hirst & Schaedler, Church street,
absence of glaring color work and the ef- East; John Keith, Church street; Mackay
fect produced is one of marked refinement. Bros., Church street; Maggs & Co., and
The Gabler firm are to be congratulated F. W. Becket & Co. Two of them, Bur-
upon the issuance of such artistic literature. mester and Maggs, closed their doors at the
This work is in complete harmony with beginning of the struggle, and if still liv-
the Gabler institution which always works ing are fighting in the "forlorn hope."
along dignified and progressive lines. The
In the beautiful city of Johannesburg,
brochure bears the stamp of Stillson, whose six dealers were in business at the opening
work, by the way, surpasses, that of any in- of the war, namely, Mackay Bros., Rissek
stitution in New York and in the country and Loveday, P. Davis & Son, Wm. Hirst,
for that matter.
Casiraghai Bros, and Paul Mueller. Of
these the latter was an officer in the Boer
F. Q. Smith's Accomplishments. ranks. Among these dealers, the Mackay
Freeborn G. Smith, the celebrated man- Bros, are perhaps the most enterprising
ufacturer of the Bradbury piano, and his and go-ahead concern. In addition to a
notable career are the subject of an ex- full line of American instruments they
tended and unusually well written article handle a very complete assortment of band
in last Sunday's Brooklyn Eagle, wherein instruments of London and Paris manu-
he is characterized as the father of the facture and "small goods" embracing
branch system in the piano business. many American specialties.
After reference to Mr. Smith's early strug-
Since the occupation by the British of
gles and successful accomplishments in the these towns, business according to the lat-
piano field we read:
est accounts is again looking up. Of
"From the small Bradbury plant of course, it will take time to heal the wound
thirty-five years ago Mr. Smith has evolved, to industry and commerce which has been
as sole owner and director, three great fac- inflicted by this lamentable war. In any
tories and seventeen distributing houses, event sympathy must be extended to the
with an invested capital of upward of $2,- unfortunate members of the trade, whose
000,000. In spite of his advanced age and ambitions and fortunes have been over-
thrown through the present trouble. The
the fact that he and his son, F. G. end of the war, which is now only a matter
Smith, jr., are now heavily interested of time, will of course stimulate somewhat
in banking and financial institutions our organ exports in South Africa, al-
throughout the country, Mr. Smith is though it will be some time before the
still actively engaged in planning new farming element in the late Republics will
enterprises and directing the many be equipped to purchase luxuries. Peace
details of his business with the same skill, will immediately stimulate trade in Cape
acumen and earnestness which have placed Colony and experience has shown that
after a war there is a marked period of
him so high on the ladder of success.
"Any statement regarding the career of activity in all lines of business.
achievements of the piano business of Mr. Phonorium for Waldorf=Astoria.
Smith would be incomplete without a word
George L. Weltz, of the Estey ware-
concerning his son. To that quiet gentle-
rooms,
informed The Review yesterday,
man, F. G. Smith, jr., is due in no small when asked
for news, that he had just con-
degree the remarkable progress made in summated arrangements for the purchase
late years by the Bradbury establishment. of an Estey Phonorium, style O 87, for
F. G. jr., as he is frequently called by in- the Waldorf-Astoria. A case of special
timates in the trade and in local social life, design is being constructed to match with
surroundings. The instrument is to be
while totally different from his father, is placed
near the main entrance to staircase.
still a combination of many of tliose traits Jt wiU be 10 feet in height and 12 feet wide.
REVIEWLETS.
The splendid Chickering grand piano
that James A. Guest sent to Des Moines,
la., for the use of the National Music
Teachers' Convention this week had a
narrow escape from destruction in the
Auditorium fire, reported on page 20 of
this paper.
Among the visitors this week at the
Kranich & Bach factories and warerooms,
were Chas. S. Losh, of M. P. Moeller &
Co., Hagerstown, Md.; E. E. Forbes,
Montgomery, Ala. ; and Fred. Lechner, of
Lechner & Schoenberger, Pittsburg, Pa.
These gentlemen are all Kranich & Bach
agents, and selected full stock during their
visit.
P. J. Gildemeester, in charge of the
Knabe retail interests in this city during
the absence of Ferdinand Mayer, of the
firm, is expected to return on Monday
from a brief business trip in the Knabe in-
terests.
The moving of stock from the present
Wilcox & White warerooms on Fifth av-
enue, to the elegant new quarters two
blocks farther north on the same thorough-
fare, has begun. It is expected that the
entire transfer will be completed within
two weeks.
We notice that John Hoyt, the veteran
piano dealer of Davenport, la., has joined
the ranks of Benedicts. Last week he was
married to a prominent Ithaca lady, a sis-
ter-in-law of the Mayor of Davenport.
The Review extends congratulations.
Jack Spies, son of Henry Spies of the
Spies Piano Co., who recently returned
from camp at Peekskill, where he took
part in the exercises of the Twelfth Regi-
ment, finishes his five years term of State
militia service this year.
Moses Lee Fergusson, Richmond, Va.,
and Mr. Hamilton, Pittsburg, Pa., both
Fischer agents, were visitors at the J. &
C. Fischer warerooms this week.
Among callers at the Weber warerooms
this week was Mr. Werner, of Werner
Bros., Weber agents at Bangor, Pa.
C. A. Burns, brother of Frank B. Burns,
returned on Saturday from a very success-
ful business trip.
Stetson Visits Alaska.
Nahum Stetson, accompanied by his wife
and daughter, will leave Seattle, Wash.,
to-day for Alaska. It is not probable that
they will go as far north as Cape Nome,
but follow the route usually pursued by
tourists. It will be past the middle of
July before Mr. Stetson reaches New York.
At Chautauqua.
C. E. Brockington, of Mason & Hamlin,
leaves town on Monday for Chautauqua,
where he will, as usual, assume charge of
the large Mason & Hamlin interests in con-
nection with Chautauqua Assembly work.
The 27th Annual Assembly begins on June
27 and ends on August 23, 1900.
The Mason & Hamlin instruments are
used exclusively during the course, as here-
tofore. ' Five grands, thirty-one uprights
and eight organs have been shipped for
use during the course.'