Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
been gained by hard struggles against often-
times unfortunate conditions and secret
vilification.
_ It is not within our legitimate province
to criticise any individual for not becom-
ing affiliated with the Association, or to
criticise those who have deemed it neces-
sary to withdraw. We believe in the As-
sociation idea, and believe that tremendous
good can be gained to the industry by an
Association formed on a broad, compre-
hensive, logical ground, where all matters
of vital importance to the industry can be
freely discussed without personal wrangle
or bitterness.
We believe that in the union of piano
manufacturers there is strength which is
of unqualified advantage to those whose
interests lie in this particular zone of 1 ac-
tion. Because all manufacturers do not
see it in precisely that light we have no
right to condemn them, because it is abso-
lutely impossible that we should all view
everything in precisely the same way.
T H E Association has had a hard enough
time to reach its present position, and
needs offer no apology for its existence.
It has fought against destructive elements,
also trade indifference, and has survived
for a term of years. There are influential
manufacturers who have remained outside
of the organization, alleging that they could
not see where their interests could be ma-
terially advanced by becoming members.
Others, too, have claimed that the Asso-
ciation has accomplished nothing worthy
of serious consideration and they do not
care to become affiliated for the ostensible
purpose of an annual junketing trip.
It is, of course, impossible that we should
all think alike, still the fact remains that
serious-minded, enthusiastic men have de-
voted time and energy to the upbuilding
of the Association idea. It cannot be
said that they have profited personally by
their actions. They have worked for gen-
eral trade good and betterment. That
they have not accomplished more is due
largely to the fact that greater interest has
not be generated throughout the trade.
There are important trade institutions
which have never been identified with the
Association, perhaps never will.
No one can tell just what might be ac-
complished if they all came in under the
Association banner pledged for the protec-
tion and advancement of mutual interests.
I T is oftentimes amusing, when it does
not become tiresome to read the utter-
ances of certain sections of the trade press.
To an onlooker it would seem as if the en-
tire journalistic firmament was ablaze with
bombast or abuse. One in particular seems
to have mapped out lines of personal con-
quest which means the total annihilation
of all others if its own special wishes were
to be carried out to an ultimate issue.
Others contain little silly bursts of spite
and malice against certain individuals, the
reasons for which are fully disclosed when
one consults the advertising columns, for
an absence of the business card of the firm
to which reference is made is immediately
found.
As far as we are concerned those papers
which are utterly reckless of principle,
honor and reason, may continue to confine
their yellow and blackmailing tendencies
to their particular spheres and subjects.
They may manufacture, distort and mis-
represent to suit their own individual tastes.
They may continue to lie for revenue if
they so desire.
This paper will continue to pursue its
clearly defined path of securing and serv-
ing accurate reports, suppressing nothing
to which publicity should be given, and as
far as we are concerned the remainder of
the craft, if desirous of so doing may con-
tinue to give weekly exhibitions of acro-
batic and contortionistic displays of vanity,
vulgarity and venom.
TT would seem as though all reports of
the troubles between the piano work-
men of Chicago and their employees ap-
pearing in the daily papers of that city
were colored from the workingman's side.
There has been no expression of editorial
views, only sensational accounts, with one
notable exception.
We are glad to say that the Chicago
Tribune of the uthinst., has made a re-
freshing departure, and prints the follow-
ing editorial under the caption "The Mis-
chief a Walking Delegate May Do."
"President Gompersof the Federation of
Labor has made peace between the Chicago
piano manufacturers and their employees.
There should have been ho war. There
would have been none but for the persist-
tent activity of the walking delegate of the
employees' union. He induced its members
to demand that the employers should 'rec-
ognize the union,'dealing with it instead
of dealing directly with the men. The em-
ployers refused and resolved on a lockout.
It has lasted for ten weeks. The manufac-
turers have lost what they might have made
during the holiday season. The men have
lost $450,000 in wages. By the agreement
the employers concede the nine-hour day.
They consent to meet their employees in
their respective shops and adjust any differ-
ences of wages which may exist. All these
things the manufacturers were willing to
do when the trouble began. The walking
delegate would not accept that settlement
because he and his union were not recog-
nized. Nor are they recognized under
the agreement which Mr. Gompers has
negotiated. So the employees have se-
cured at a cost of $450,000 concessions
which they might have had for nothing if
they had not been so unfortunate as to
have a walking delegate who was deter-
mined to be 'recognized.' If the manu-
facturers had ' recognized the union ' the
walking delegate would have gained great-
ly in importance. He would have been
authorized to meddle in every shop and
become a thorn in the side of the employ-
ers. His ambition has cost the men whom
he led astray nearly half a million dollars,
and he has shown how much mischief one
small walking delegate can do. It is said
he will resign. He ought to do so, for he
has been a costly failure as a leader."
T H E above article appeared when it was
believed that the labor troubles were
of the past. Since then the situation has
changed, and while there may be an imme-
diate settlement, there is also a probability
that the period of final settlement may be
materially extended. The unpleasant fea-
tures which seem to be inseparable from
strikes have already appeared. Violence
and bloodshed has occurred at the factory
of Geo. P. Bent, where the striking ele-
ment has committed brutal assaults upon
non-union workmen—assaults which should
entitle them to an extended tarry within
penitentiary walls.
C V I D E N T L Y some members of the
trade have not as yet learned that
controversy with an editor is a blunder.
They forget that he always has the last
word and his space is unlimited. Also
that some are adepts at dust-throwing,
question-begging and confusing theissue.
pvAYTON, O., is a city which should
not be overlooked by Western piano
manufacturers who are looking for advan-
tageous piano sites outside of Chicago. It
is the home of large industries, and there
must be a number of skilled operatives
there who are experts in a line which is
first cousin to certain parts of piano mak-
ing. Crown Point, Indiana, would be an
appropriate site for the Crown factory.
T H E men who fail in life and who move
in the common grooves would have us
believe that "circumstances make the man"
and that "position" and success are the
result of luck or good fortune. In some
cases this is true, but an overwhelming
majority of the world's successful men are
workers, not men with exceptional natural
ability and peculiar and extraordinary
talent, but simply workers. They are
men who make their time count, who
have not sought for ease and comfort as
the best to be obtained in life. Let any of
us look up at abler and more successful
men, consider the time we waste in lazy
ease and in uselessly expending energy.
There we see the cause of our own in-
feriority. The workers, the persistent and
intelligent plodders, are climbing the lad-
der and passing while we are stopping to
view the beautiful scenery from a round
half way up.
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