Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
12
REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL,
J. D. SPILLANE,
Editor and Proprietor.
Editor.
EXECVTIVE STAFF:
THOS.
CAMPBELL-COPELAND,
GEO.
W. MURDOCH LIND,
BOSTON OFFICE:
GEO.
W. QUERIPEL.
CHICAdO OFFICE:
ERNEST L. WAITT, 255 Washington
PHILADELPHIA OFFICE:
R. W. KAUFFMAN.
E M I L I E FRANCES BAUER,
B. KELLER,
A. J. XICKLIN.
St.
E. P. VAN HARLINGEN. 36 La Salle St.
MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL:
R. J. LEFEBVRE.
•
Published Every Saturday at I Madison Avenue, New York.
Entered at the AVK 1 York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
SVBSCRIPTION (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 is allowed. Advertising Pages, $50.00; opposite read-
ing matter, $75.00.
REMITTANCES.
in other than currency form, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill.
DEPARTMENT
On the first Saturday of each month The Review contains in its
"Artists' Department" all the current musical news. This is effected
without in any way trespassing on the size or service of the trade
section of the paper. It has a special circulation, and therefore aug-
ments materially the value of The Review to advertisers.
The directory of piano manufacturing firms and corporations
DIRECTORY MANVrACTUR.ER.S
dealers and others.
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONE-NVMBER 1745 GRAMERCY.
NEW YORK, MAY 7, 19O4-.
T
HE great Fair at St. Louis was formally opened one week ago.
Surprising progress had been made during the past month.
Buildings which then seemed impossible to complete were ready for
a critical inspection, and for the enjoyment of the world upon the
opening day. Taken altogether the great enterprise was perhaps
more nearly complete on the opening day than any previous world's
fair. That part which was not prepared was not conspicuous or
offensive to the eye. All of the main palaces were completed and
ready for the installation of exhibits.
T
HE Exposition authorities assert that fifty per cent, of the ex-
hibits were in place upon the opening day, so it will be seen
that the officers carried their part to completion, and the delay has
been principally with the exhibitors, who have drifted into the habit
of thinking that there is no good reason why everything should be
in their proper place on the opening day of the Exposition. We
have fallen into that habit, and it is the fault of the exhibitors them-
selves that the great Fair was not in a more completed state.
HE estimated total of exhibits is represented by twelve thou-
sand carloads, while the total number of the Chicago Fair
was eight thousand. Enormous shipments are coming in daily, and
every twenty-four hours shows an enormous increase in the exhibits
in the various palaces.
The State Buildings are nearly all completed. The New York
State Building, however, as far as details are concerned, eclipses all
others, everything being placed down to the smallest detail of house
equipment.
T
AKEN altogether the St. Louis Exposition makes the most
comprehensive and inspiring display of the world's progress
in art and industry that has ever been collected under one manage-
ment. While there are splendid exhibits in the music trade section
of individual firms, yet they are not numerous, and many of the
firms that were represented in Chicago are not in evidence at St.
Louis.
One reason why they are not: Piano manufacturers have fig-
ured that the great expense incidental to making a comprehensive
T
T
HE great Fair from an exhibition standpoint is colossal, and
words are not adequate to convey a correct impression of the
variety and extent of the great show to which St. Louis has invited
the world.
The center figure in the great Exposition picture is Festival
Hall. The colonnade of States extend in an arch on either side,
and three cascades with a grand basin in front represents the su-
preme achievement of the men who planned and built the "Ivory
City." Festival Hall will be the scene of many important musical
events, for it is intended that the musical attractions of the Fair
shall be larger and more comprehensive than any previous work of
that kind.
5 T . LOUIS OFFICE :
CHAS. N. VAN BUREN.
SAN FRANCISCO OFFICE: ALFRED METZGER, 325 Davis St.
THE ARTISTS'
exhibit is greater than the possible returns, and then a good many
were not satisfied with the award system.
T
HE Music Trade Review booth, which occupies a commanding
position in the music trade section, is conceded to be one of
the most artistic creations in the Liberal Arts Palace. It is a worthy
Exposition home for a paper which has fairly represented the
music trade industry for a quarter of a century. The features of The
Review exhibit from an educational, historical and evolutionistic
standpoint when entirely in placce, will be entertaining and in-
structive.
We shall have several representatives in St. Louis during
the life of the Exposition, and we cordially invite all members of
this industry to visit our booth and make it their general head-
quarters upon the occasion of their visit to St. Louis. The latch-
string is out, and the big globes are always burning on the top of
the classic pillars which mark the entrance to The Review booth.
N
O trade newspaper has previously undertaken such an enter-
prise as we have inaugurated at St. Louis. While The Re-
view has won honors at great expositions, notably the Grand Prix
at the Paris Exposition of 1900, a diploma at the Pan-American and
a silver medal at Charleston, it has not previously made an exhibit
on such a broad and comprehensive basis as the one which we have
prepared for the World's Fair of 1904, wherein it shows the evolu-
tion of a great industry. It represents an outlay alone of capital
which would approximate the total of yearly business of some trade
newspapers.
Trade journalism has advanced beyond the personal and petty
basis. It is occupying daily a higher position in the estimation of
the trade and the general public because it is conducted with higher
aims and represents the advanced thought of industrial life. It is
just such work as The Review is carrying on at St. Louis which
dignifies and elevates trade journalism, for it brings it in a forcible
and emphatic way before the visiting thousands.
RADE conditions continue to improve, and there has been
recently a very satisfactory degree of activity in practically
all departments of trade. Our special reports from various trade
centers throughout the country indicate that local piano merchants
are anticipating a goodly trade. The satisfactory results of business
last year left behind a good financial condition, and there is a ten-
dency now to build up piano stocks, so that it is but fair to assume
that manufacturers will have a steady demand made upon them
from this time on. Current business rests upon the sound basis of
excellent conditions throughout the country.
T
HERE is a tendency, however, to place small orders. The
piano merchants are not inclined to stock up heavily. The
whole tendency of trade is towards conservatism. This should not
be misinterpreted as meaning pessimism, for there are really but few
pessimistic theories advanced in the voluminous correspondence
which has reached us during the past week. There is an unmistak-
able demand for instruments of the better grade which in itself is
an indication of the healthfulness of trade.
T
E wonder if our Eastern piano manufacturers are paying the
attention they should to the great development of the South-
west. There have been changes there which in any other country
save this would have been considered miraculous. Oklahoma, now
claiming Statehood, has twenty-five hundred miles of railroad, one
thousand of which were built last year, the greatest growth of the
year in any State or Territory. Within its limits were raised thirty-
W