Music Trade Review

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VOL. XLVI. No. 2 6 . Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 1 Madison Ave., New York, June 27, 1908.
prudence as is the doctrine that there is no dis-
tinction between a reasonable or an unreasonable
An Important Definition of the Law Handed
restraint of trade. The test is, does the agree-
Down Recently by Justice Goff of the New
ment tend to restrain trade?" Inasmuch as those
York Supreme Court Which Must Influence
who wish to purchase a business frequently de-
Piano Men Disposing of Their Business and
sire that the seller agree not to engage in the
Good W i l l .
same business in the territory affected, it will be
well, as a writer in the Dry Goods Economist
A definition of the law, of particular interest suggests, for those who are planning such an
to the business community, and treating as to agreement to take competent legal advice as to
which agreements are or are not in' restraint of the law, so as to satisfy themselves whether the
trade, was handed down recently by Justice Goff agreement they are projecting is, or is not, in
of the New York Supreme Court. This ruling or contravention of the statutes existing in their
definition was delivered in response to an in- State.
quiry of the foreman of a special grand jury
drawn to investigate the "ice trust." The ques-
A DREHER VOLUME.
tion was whether it was contrary to law for two
A
Special
Publication
Devoted to the Lines
parties engaged in the competitive manufacture
Handled by This Enterprising House.
or sale of any article or commodity in common
use in the same territory in the State of New
The B. Dreher's Sons Co., of Cleveland, O.,
York to enter into a contract by which jne of
these parties disposes to the other of his business have recently issued a very imposing volume,
and good will and all essentials pertaining beautifully illustrated and devoted to the various
thereto, and binds himself not to engage in said instruments of the different makers which they
business in the same territory during a specified represent in their palatial building in Cleveland.
The volume opens with views of their warerooms,
space of time.
recital hall and library, which are followed ny
Justice Goff charged the grand jury as to the descriptions and illustrations of the Steinway,
law that such a contract is in restraint of trade Krakauer, Wheelock, Sterling, Haines Bros.,
and comes within the prohibition of the statute. Huntington and Dreher Bros, pianos, as well as
He said that in this case it was not necessary to the full pianola and organ lines of the Aeolian
consider whether good or evil followed such a Co. This idea of issuing a special catalog—at
contract—whether it benefited the individuals least one as comprehensive as that before us—is
concerned or injured them, or whether it bene- something entirely new, and the B. Dreher's Sons
fited or injured the community at large. The Co. are entitled to congratulations on the move.
question that the law asked was whether such a Nothing has been spared to make this volume an
contract had been made, and if it had been made, artistic compilation, one that will be kept by re-
the law condemned it. Nor had the necessities cipients and that will impress them with the
of trade or commerce anything whatever to dc importance of the line handled by the Dreher
with the case. "The policy of the law," con- institution.
tinued Justice Goff, "as expressed in this statute,
is that there must be absolute freedom in trade.
32,000 MORE CARS IN USE.
Indeed, the old maxim, 'Competition is the life
of trade,' has been adopted by the law, and any- Railroad Traffic Apparently Picking Up—De-
thing that restrains a free competition is con-
mand for Box Cars.
demned by the law and is regarded as a restraint
A decrease of 32,212 in the number of idle
of trade."
freight cars in the United States and Canada is
While Justice Goff was necessarily asked on'y reported in the fortnightly report of the Ameri-
to interpret the law as it exists in this State, he can Railway Association issued Wednesday as of
was very emphatic in adding that this policy of
June 10. This reduces the number of idle cars
the law is not confined to New York State, but
to 349,567, against a maximum of 413,338 cars
obtains in the majority of the States of the
on April 29 last, and is the third consecutive re-
Union and is the law of the United States, the
duction, each report since that of April 29 hav-
rules above enunciated having been in substance
enunciated by the Supreme Court of the United ing shown some improvement in this respect.
Some of the recent decrease in idle cars has
States.
been due to the transfer of cars from the side
To make matters still clearer, the foreman of
tracks to the repair shops, the cars in the shops
the jury asked whether it is legal for a man or
not being counted as idle ears. About one-fifth
for a body of men who want to sell their busi-
of
the decrease in Wednesday's report is ac-
ness (referring again to matters in common use)
counted
for in this way.
to dispose of it to a man or body of men in the
One
of
the most favorable features of the report
same business, promising not to go into said busi-
ness in the same territory for a specified time. is the decrease in the number of idle box cars
To this Justice Goff replied that it is never legal in which merchandise is moved as well as grain.
under the law. He added that at one time there Much of the other recent decreases in idle cars
crept into the court's rulings a distinction be- have been in coal cars.
tween a reasonable restraint of trade and an un-
COMMEND THE MASON & HAMLIN.
reasonable restraint of trade—in other words,
that if a contract was reasonable it was not held
The American Piano Co., who represent the
to be in restraint of trade. "But." said he, "the Mason & Hamlin piano in Mexico, recently re
doctrine is not established as well in our juris- ceived two very strong letters of praise for the
CONTRACTS MUST BE LEGAL.
SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS.
$>.00 PER YEAR.
Mason & Hamlin piano from Juan B. Paulin and
Raymon Guerrero, both well-known teachers, and
their complimentary words regarding this instru-
ment are in line with the many vouchsafed by
distinguished pianists in all parts of the world.
SALESMANSHIP CLASS IN SCHOOLS.
Board of Education to Adopt an Evening Course
for Retail Workers Next Fall—First City to
Try the Plan.
In line wtih the policy of increasing the edu-
cational work closely related to means of earn-
ing a living, the Board of Education will estab-
lish in one of the evening high schools next win-
ter a course of training in salesmanship for re-
tail workers. If it proves successful, it is said
that it will be extended into the day high schools
also.
New York will be the first municipality to
adopt this work in its public school system. It
was suggested to Supt. Maxwell by Miss Diana
Hirschler, who had previously organized a course
in salesmanship for one of the educational cen-
ters of Boston. Miss Hirschler laid a plan of
the course before Supt. Maxwell and Assistant
Superintendent Straubenmuller, which seemed to
them a basis for a highly popular, and at the
same time necessary, course.
The proponents of a school of salesmanship
for retail workers roint out that good salesman-
ship is as necessary in modern trade as skilled
labor. There are at present in almost every city
schools of manual and technical training, and
also so-called commercial schools, where office
work is taught. But there have not been schools
for training persons in the art of selling goods,
although this occupation employs a great per-
centage of the labor of the country.
"Acording to the census of 1900," said Miss
Hirschler this week, "I believe there were over
2,000,000 retail workers in the country, and a
large proportion of that number are working in
New York. It seems peculiar that no concerted
and systematic plan has ever been conceived of
educating these persons in their occupation or of
educating young people who will inevitably be-
come sales-people.
"The only means of learning how to sell has
been through disorganized methods, through cor-
respondence schools mostly. No city has given
its attention to this work, which affects so many
people directly and indirectly. The part that
dsitribution plays in economics has never been
perfected through education. The education
which the retail worker and the salesman re-
ceive is acquired only through personal experi-
ence, very often through bitter experience.
"The course in the evening high school will be
eight hours a week. It will probably be situated
in one of the central high schools of the city."
CARNEGIE HELPS ORGAN FUND.
Andrew Carnegie has donated $1,200 to help
pay for the new $5,000 pipe organ which has just
been installed in the Tabor Congregational
Church at Tabor, la., replacing the one which
was destroyed in the terrible storm of July 6,
1907.