Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
TWENTY-FIRST YEAR.
* # EDWARD LYMAN BILL J* Jit
Editor and Proprietor.
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY
3 East 14th St., New York
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage). United States, Mexico
and Canada, $2.00 per year ; all other countries, $4.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per
insertion. On quarterly or yearly contracts a special discount
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$75.00.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should be
made payable to Edward Lyman Bill.
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
NEW YORK, JULY 21, 1900.
TELEPHONE NUMBER, 1745-EIOHTEENTH STREET.
T H E KEYNOTE^
The first week of each month The Review
oontains a supplement embodying the literary
and musical features which have heretofore
appeared in The Keynote. The amalgamation
is effected without in any way trespassing on
our regular news service. The Review con-
tinues to remain, as before, essentially a trade
paper.
LIVE ISSUES DISCUSSED.
TN this issue we present the first of a se-
ries of business talks with dealers in
different parts of the country. These in-
terviews will be continued for a number of
weeks, and will cover practically the entire
trade in the several states.
The advantage of these "talks" to man-
ufacturers is obvious, inasmuch as they
convey the opinions of piano merchants
regarding numerous matters of immediate
interest. The questions submitted em-
brace the business outlook for the fall, the
manner in which it will be affected by
the presidential election, the condition of
crops, the methods of competition in the
piano line, and the possibilities for trade
betterment. These are all live topics and
will afford the manufacturer views of men
of all shades of politics, and who are in
close touch with local affairs.
By a perusal of these weekly interviews
a fair idea of fall prospects can be gleaned
and in the aggregate they form valuable
as well as interesting testimony on which
to base business operations for the coming
season.
While most of us are not desirous of ad-
mitting that business will be seriously af-
fected by the coming Presidential cam-
paign, yet, we consider it an excellent
point to talk with the merchants in every
city of the land, and thus get their opin-
ions. We believe that following up this
line will establish confidence, and it cer-
tainly will give rise to a healthy discus-
sion of topics of the times. Every man,
no matter with what political party he
may affiliate shall have an opportunity of
expressing his views in the columns of
this journal. While personally we do not
hesitate to declare our belief that the in-
terests of America will be best served by
continuing Wm. McKinley at the head of
the Government, still we are perfectly
willing that all arguments shall be heard
in this forum of the trade.
The matter of politics, crops and local
conditions form certainly interesting top-
ics on which to continue business thought.
There is apparent in many of the inter-
views a sentiment which reveals plainly
the fact that the dealers themselves believe
that there could be much remedial action
taken towards trade evils by concerted
effort.
The interest which is being
aroused to-day shows plainly that the
dealers, like the manufacturers, feel the
necessity of organization and no doubt the
part of next year's session of the Piano
Manufacturers' National Association to
which dealers will be invited, will be pro-
ductive of material benefit in stimulating
interest along these lines.
NAMES AS PROPERTY.
OCCASIONALLY we note illustrations
where men seek to use names which
others have made valuable in commercial
circles. It may be that the name used is
their own patronymic, and they say that
they are entitled to the use of their own
name to gain a livelihood, and that no na-
tional or state law could deprive them of
that right.
There appears to be a fairness about that
which appeals to the average American,
and yet in too many cases do not men enter
that sort of business with the direct inten-
tion of stealing that which has been made
valuable by another?
The courts of this country have held that
the theft of a trade mark can be made as
well as the theft of any other property, for
property it is, and in many instances vast
fortunes and much time and intellectual
force have been expended to create for it
that value. It is possible, from recent de-
velopments, that in the near future we
shall have at least one notable case on
trial.
If it can be clearly shown that an indi-
vidual firm or corporation is organized for
the purpose of trading upon the reputation
of another and through its output consti-
tutes a medium through which the public
is deceived, it is only a question of a short
time before a permanent injunction can be
secured restraining such operations.
We have had in this trade in times past,
a number of cases which through the me-
diumshi-p of bungling and inefficient at-
torneys, came to naught as far as the plain-
tiffs' interests were concerned. If a case
is well handled legally, the intent of the
individual can be demonstrated and if it
can be shown that a certain institution
maintains an open door through which de-
ception enters, why the courts will not
hesitate to close it permanently. Justice
has not as yet reached a low stage in this
country.
INTEREST AROUSED.
TN Boston the Blake case is exciting much
attention and through the media of the
press interest has been generated in this
case throughout the entire country. Mr.
Blake has been most warmly condemned
both at home and abroad for presumably di-
recting his wife in a business transaction
with all the unsavory resultant effects
which have occurred in this instance.
It is to be regretted that a lady's name
has been introduced in a transaction of
this kind, but it is a satisfaction to know,
however, that her husband has been in-
dicted together with her, so that he must
stand trial as well.
If Mr. Blake were a poor man, driven to
his wits' ends to raise a little money, some
apology could be made for him in trans-
actions of this character, and the mantle
of charity and forgiveness might be broad
enough to envelop him, but the facts are
that Mr. Blake is a wealthy man, and the
statement has been made that in 1899 he
sold as many pianos at retail as any other
single firm in the city of Boston. Be that
as it may, he is a successful piano dealer,
and is substantially fixed in this world's
chattels, therefore even to be broadly char-
itable, there was no occasion for his enter-
ing into partnership with any one in a deal
of this nature.
We have for many years denounced the
fake house sale methods of disposing of
pianos which have been practiced in a
number of our largest cities. They are of
serious injury to the legitimate trade and
how any regular dealer can be a party to a
contract of that kind, we are unable to
fathom. It is well, however, that a case
such as this is now brought before the
court of justice.
It does not speak well for trade ethics
that a member of the "regular" trade
should be entrapped in legal meshes,
but the action of the members of the
Boston music trade and the local as-
sociation of that city can be most en-
thusiastically commended. It shows a
manifest desire on the part of the dealers of
that city to purge the trade effectively of
all accumulations which retard its honest
digestion. The matter so far has reached
an indictment by the Grand Jury, and suf-
ficient interest has already been engen-
dered so that there will be no unusual de-
lay in the case being brought to trial. If
the Blakes are proven guilty of the charges
under which they now rest, it will have a
deterring effect upon the fake "house sale"