Music Trade Review

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THE
MUSIC TRADE
15
REVIEW
TRADE IN OLD SQUARE PIANOS
TESTIMONY BEING TAKEN.
GROWTH OF FOREIGN TRADE
Is Still of Importance According to a Prominent
Dealer Declares He Uttered Some Good Words
For This Friend of Bygone Days—Claims That
After Fifty Years They Will be Sought For
as Curios,
The preliminary taking of testimony in
the suit of the Mathushek Piano Manu-
facturing Co., against the Mathushek &
Son Piano Co., of New York, occurred in
New Haven last week when the complain-
ants placed on the stand before special ex-
aminer John W. Edgerton, 865 Chapel
street, about a dozen witnesses who gave
testimony regarding the incorporation of
the house, its organization, as well as facts
relating to the standing of the product and
other data. The examination of the wit-
nesses lasted three days, or more, and the
testimony covered hundreds of pages of
foolscap. It is expected that the next ses-
sion of the special examiner will be heard
in New York. At this hearing the com-
plainants were represented by Townsend
& Avery, while the defendants were rep-
resented by Jos. L. Levy a prominent
patent attorney, 206 Broadway.
The Splendid Showing Made in the Figures Is-
sued by the Department of Commerce and
Labor—Within Ten Years Exports Have
Grown From $680,000,000 to $1,087,000,000,
"Square pianos are out of style, and they
have not been made for more than a decade,"
said a dealer in musical instruments, "but we
could not do business without them. It is not
often that an old square piano goes to the
junk pile; it must be practically worthless be-
fore it is unfit for exchange. I daresay that
not less than 1,000 square pianos were sold
for holiday gifts, and just as many hearts
were made happy. The majority of the rich
and those in moderate circumstances believe
that home is not complete without an upright
piano, and they exchange their old square in-
strument, paying us, of course, a good sum in
cash or notes. The squares are retoned,
cleaned up, and made as presentable as pos-
sible, and we have no difficulty in finding
ready purchasers among those who are unable
to buy an expensive piano. And let me say
that Some of these dear old-time instruments
are far superior to the pianos which have
forced them out of the homes of the rich.
"But, then, there are many rich people who
will not part with their square piano, although
they may own one, two, or even three of the
up-to-date uprights or grands. They hold to
the old piano because it is a fine instrument
and often on account of the associations. In
some homes the old square has become one
of the family, and the head of the house, as
well as the children, does not wish to see it
pass into other hands.
"For practice purpose a good square piano
cannot be excelled, and dealers sell many of
them 'for the children to bang on,' as the pur-
chasers put it. It is an unwise holder of the
purse in a family of moderate means and
small income who will shove off a really first-
class square piano for an expensive upright;
but, then, too, it must be remembered that the
upright piano was manufactured as a space
saver, and by this I mean that the old square
piano is too large to be placed in the small
parlors or sitting room and permit of much
room for other furniture. It practically
crowds out everything else, and it was when
people began to live in flats and other cramped
quarters that piano manufacturers realized
that a room-saving instrument was needed.
"I cannot believe that an improved instru-
ment had much to do with the change from
the square to the upright, and there are own-
ers of uprights to-day who would gladly wel-
come back the old square if they only had
room enough for it. There is xiot the least
question but that the upright piano came into
popular favor as much for the reason given as
from any other.
"Well, well, there is one consolation—
fashion changes, and it will not be fifty years
before the rich will be searching around for
the rare old square pianos just the same as
they are now turning over the old junk houses
for mahogany furniture of ancient make."
PETER DUFFY RETURNS.
• Peter Duffy, president of the Schubert
Piano Co., returned on Tuesday from a
lengthy trip, which extended to several
points on the Pacific Coast.
DEMAND FOR LESTER PIANO GROWS.
[Special to The Review.]
Philadelphia, Pa., Feb. 17, 1904.
H. C. Pressey, secretary of the Lester
Piano Co., has returned to Philadelphia from
the West. The Lester Piano Co. is now
working up to its full capacity, notwithstand-
ing the large additions which were made
only a few months ago to its factories at
Lester, Pa.
From all parts of the country the demand
for the Lester piano is steadily increasing.
This instrument is more popular than ever
in territory where it is known, while in sec-
tions where it has recently been introduced it
has asserted its lead by winning the friend-
ship of players and singers.
A NEW HELLER STYLE.
Winter & Co., 1014-1020 Southern Boule-
vard, have just issued an illustrated announce-
ment to introduce a new style Heller & Co.
piano. It will be known as "Heller & Co.,
New Style C, Colonial," and is being made
in fancy figured mahogany and oak, with
nickel-plated tuning pins and best ivory keys.
The Heller & Co. pianos, under Mr. Win-
ter's administration, have won a very prom-
inent place among thoroughly reliable pop-
ular instruments. The present firm policy of
"maximum value at minimum cost," with
such artistic style and finish as is represented,
for example, in the new style C, Colonial, is
well calculated to add still greater prestige
to the Heller name. Dealers on the alert for
an attractive and profitable line certainly will
not lose by investigating the Heller, particu-
larly Style C, certainly one of the handsomest
case designs of the season.
SHAPIRO, REMICK & CO.'S LATEST.
Shapiro, Remick & Co., of New York,
through Maurice Shapiro, have secured the
rights to produce all of the unpublished
works of Strauss, the great Austrian com-
poser, recently deceased. In order to secure
this valued musical property, Mr. Shapiro
made three trips across the Atlantic.
J. George Laffargue, of Laffargue & Co.,
now traveling in behalf of the Laffargue &
Co. products, is doing well. He finds no diffi-
culty whatever in securing orders up to the
limit of present capacity.
[Special to The Review.]
Washington, D. C, Feb. 16, 1904.
The growth of the foreign commerce of
the United States from 1893 to 1903 pre-
sents some interesting facts. The De-
partment of Commerce and Labor, through
its Bureau of Statistics, presents a table
showing the imports and exports by grand
divisions in each calendar year from 1893
to 1903, thus bringing the figures down to
the very latest date possible. This table
shows that the exports from the United
States to Europe have grown during the
period named from $680,000,000, speaking
in round terms, to $1,087,000,000 or 60 per
cent.; those to North America, from $125,-
000,000 to $227,000,000, or 81 per cent.; to
South America, from $34,000,000 to $46,-
000,000, or 35 per cent.; to Asia and
Oceania, from $31,000,000 to $92,000,000.
or 197 per cent.; and to Africa from prac-
tically $5,000,000 to $31,000,000, or 489
per cent.; while the growth in total exports
has been from $876,000,000 in 1893 to $1,-
484,000,000 in 1903, or 69 per cent.
On the import side, imports into the
United States from Europe show a growth
from $392,000,000 in 1893 to $528,000,000 in
1903, or 35 per cent.; from North America,
from $171,000,000 to $182,000,000, or 7 per
cent.; from South America, from $103,000,-
000 to $113,000,000, or 9 per cent., from
Asia and Oceania, from $102,000,000 to
$161,000,000, or 58 per cent., and from
Africa, from $4,000,000 to $11,000,000, or
175 per cent.; while the total imports show
a growth from $776,000,000 in 1893 to
$995,000,000 in 1903, or 28 per cent, of in-
crease.
In a word, it may be said that our ex-
ports to Europe have increased about 60
per cent, from 1893 to 1903; those to North
America, 81 per cent.; to South America,
33 per cent.; to Asia and Oceania, 197 per
cent., and to Africa, 434 per cent.; while
the percentage of gain in total exports is
69 per cent. In imports the percentage of
growth has been, from Europe, 35 per
cent.; from North America, 7 per cent.;
from South America, 9 per cent.; from
Asia and Oceania, 58 per cent., and from
Africa, 175 per cent.; while in the total im-
ports the percentage of increase is 28
per cent.
TO SELL HORSE SHOES AND PIANOS.
The following, which we clip from the
Hartford, Conn., Post, is a new combination
worthy of record:
A certificate of incorporation of the Always
Sharp Horse Shoe Calk Manufacturing Com-
pany of this city has been filed with the Sec-
retary of State. The authorized capital stock
is $50,000.
The purposes of the corporation are to
manufacture and deal in horse shoe calks and
soft tread horse shoes to prevent slipping and
also to deal in all manufactured articles in-
cluding pianos and other instruments. F. J.
Bacon, Andrew Johnson and A. E. Squire
are the incorporators.