"American Musical Instruments" by William Steinway

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Chapter 73 of 1795-1895: ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF AMERICAN COMMERCE CONSISTING OF ONE HUNDRED ORIGINAL ARTICLES ON COMMERCIAL TOPICS DESCRIBING THE PRACTICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE VARIOUS BRANCHES OF TRADE IN THE UNITED STATES WITHIN THE PAST CENTURY AND SHOWING THE PRESENT MAGNITUDE OF OUR FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL INSTITUTIONS. Vol. II. Edited by Chauncey M. Depew. New York: D.O. Haynes & Co., 1895.

For the introduction of the pianoforte, to which such an ennobling, educating, and progressively fascinating mission was intrusted, America is indebted to Europe. This instrument was invented almost simultaneously by Christophale, of Italy, about 1710, and Gottlieb Schroedter, of Germany, within a few years of that date, and was greatly perfected by Silbermann, of Strassburg, shortly afterward. The pianoforte did not come into general use until the beginning of this century, in either America or Europe. In London it was for the first time publicly played in the Covent Garden Theater in the year 1767. John Jacob Astor, of New York, imported from London the first pianofortes as early as the year 1784. They were small four and one half to five octave square pianos, having eight legs. Their tones were feeble and tinkling. Each piano had his own name on the name-board.

The few pianos which were used in the United States at the close of the last and the beginning of the present century were imported. In a short time, however, the trying climate of North America, with its everrecurring dry land winds, its severe winters, and the general heating of houses by stoves and subsequently by hot-air furnaces exerted its destructive influence upon these instruments, which had been constructed for the comparatively uniform and moist European climate. Again, the great distance between the American settlements, scattered over so vast an extent of territory, with wretched roads, made it next lo impossible to effect necessary repairs, even if trained and skilful piano repairers had been accessible; therefore to keep the instruments in anything approaching a playable condition was only possible in the largest cities. As a natural consequence pianos were articles of luxury, accessible only to the wealthy.

It was quite natural, then, that as the demand for pianofortes gradually increased, the enterprise of American manufacturers should have been directed toward their production here, The first successful attempt at building pianofortes was made in Philadelphia about the year 1790, by an American named John Hawkins. In the year 1802 he sailed to London, taking with him two upright pianofortes which he had manufactured, and exhibited them in London. One of these original instruments, preserved for over eighty years, was exhibited at the International Inventions Exhibition, South Kensington, London, in 1885, and there was personally examined by Mr. William Steinway, who could not but admire the ingenuity of this pioneer of pianoforte making in America. Drum and fife and military music were imitated in this instrument, which, though of no practical utility, showed great inventive genius.

There were one or two more manufacturers in Philadelphia at the close of the last century and the beginning of the present one, but not until the close (1815) of the second war between England and the United States was the industry of pianoforte making taken up as a distinct American manufacturing feature. From the close of that war till about the year 1825, a great business depression prevailed in Great Britain. In consequence a number of young and skilled English piano makers and artisans emigrated to the United States and began manufacturing pianofortes. Among them were Robert and William Nunns, Geib, Stoddard, Morris, and others. Pianofortes were gradually extended in compass from four and one half and five octaves to six octaves; but up to about the year 1830, none were larger than six octaves, all being of square form.

About 1825 the first steps of improvement in American piano making may be traced. In that year the first successful attempts were made to give the body of the instrument more durability and an increased power of resistance against the "pull "of the strings, by the application of a full frame of cast-iron in place of one of wood, which had before been used.

The object of this brief synopsis is to describe the enormous dimensions to which the manufacture of pianos has grown in the United States, and the excellence which has been attained, making the American piano a standard which has been recognized by all Europe for a number of years. Consequently, only those inventions can be mentioned which, by their practical and lasting value, have aided materially in the development of this branch of art industry. It must be mentioned, however, that a careful search of the records of the United States Patent Office from its beginning has revealed the fact that a large number of most interesting inventions have there been filed, which, though impracticable in themselves, prove that for nearly one hundred years there has existed a constant and earnest endeavor to improve the manufacture of pianofortes in North America.

In the year 1825, Alpheus Babcock, of Philadelphia, obtained a patent for the construction in a square piano of a cast-iron ring, somewhat resembling the shape of a harp, for the purpose of increasing its power of resistance to the "pull" of the strings. By this invention the principle was first practically introduced of casting the iron hitch-pin plate in one piece with that portion which supported the wrest-plank.

In the year 1833, Conrad Meyer, of Philadelphia, exhibited at the fair of the Franklin Institute in that city, a six-octave square piano which was constructed with a full cast-iron frame, substantially the same as that used at the present time. This original instrument, still in perfect condition, was exhibited by him, together with his new pianos, at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876. The successful introduction of this full iron frame was aided to a great extent by the excellence of the quality of American iron and the perfection to which the art of casting had already attained in the United States at that period. It may be mentioned here that as far back as the War of 1812, cannon using thirty-two-pound and even forty-eight-pound balls had been successfully cast in the United States and effectively employed in that war, while in Europe nothing heavier than eighteen-pounders were known.

By the year 1837, Jonas Chickering, of Boston, who was born in 1800 and died in 1853, had greatly perfected the application of the full iron frame in square pianos. It was indisputable that the iron frame pianos thus made stood better in tune than those previously constructed; but one great defect was that they had a thin and disagreeably nasal character of tone. For this salient reason the new invention soon had quite as many opponents as admirers, so that until the year 1855 all the New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore pianoforte manufacturers made no attempt to utilize it In fact, before 1855 not one of the prominent manufacturers outside of Boston employed the full iron frame in the construction of his instruments; but all the pianofortes manufactured in Boston at that time had a full cast-iron frame, of which the wrest-plank bridge was a portion. Across the acute edge of this iron bridge were laid the strings, which were generally exceedingly thin. The action used in these pianos was, without exception, what is styled the " English action," having a somewhat "dragging" touch.

In New York, on the contrary, the instruments made were provided only with a small cast-iron hitch-pin plate, and the "French action" had a more direct and prompter touch. They differed from the Boston pianos in possessing a much fuller and more powerful tone, though at the same time with a quality which was less singing. The New York piano makers succeeded in giving their instruments the capacity of standing in tune more permanently than had been previously accomplished, by a greater solidity of construction and a heavy wooden bracing of the case, and more particularly by the use of a solid bottom or bed of wood fully five inches in thickness, which, however, to some extent marred the elegant appearance of the instruments. By degrees a new difficulty manifested itself in the instruments thus made, for, as their compass gradually extended and finally reached seven or seven and one-third octaves, it was found impossible to obtain the necessary power of resistance against the " pull " of the strings, even by the most solid construction of the case, if wood alone was the material used.

At that time (1850-55) the principal pianoforte manufacturers were the Chickerings, Lemuel Gilbert, Hallet & Davis, Woodward & Brown, of Boston; Nunns & Clark, Stoddard & Monis, Bacon & Raven, Horatio Worcester, John B. Dimham, J. C. Fischer, Light, Newton & Bradbury, Albert Weber, Adam Gale, Hazelton Brothers, Steinway & Sons, and Haines Brothers, of New York; Conrad Meyer and Schoraacker, of Philadelphia; Knabe & Gaehle, of Baltimore; and Boardman & Gray, of Albany. There were a number of minor manufacturers in New York and Boston and their vicinity, but with few exceptions their firms became extinct many years ago, and other successful manufacturers others a German named Mathushek, who was a highly skilled piano maker, was engaged in John B. DunhamYork. Mathushek had invented the so-called "sweep-scale" (increasing at the same time the compass from seven to seven and one-third octaves in square pianos), which greatly improved the power of tone, but also increased the size of the instrument and weakened its durability by narrowing the soprano part of the wrest-plank.

The Steinway family had arrived in New York on June 9, 1850, and the father and three sons (among them William Steinway, then a lad fourteen years of age) worked for nearly three years in different New York piano factories, familiarizing themselves with the requirements and tastes of the American musical community. Though possessing a reasonable amount of capital, they did not start in business for themselves until the fifth day of March 1853, when, with cautious modesty, they placed their first shop in a rear building at 85 Varick Street, removing in 1854 to 88 Walker Street, New York. In 1855 they succeeded in constructing an overstrung square piano with a solid front bar and full iron frame, the latter covering the wrest-plank, the wrest-plank bridge, however, being made of wood. Without describing in particular the novelty of the instrument, it may be said that for the first time the overstrung plan - that of placing the bass strings in the shape of a fan - was successfully introduced. The instrument, by the unanimous verdict of the jury, received the first prize, a gold medal, at the exhibition, in 1855, of the American Institute at the Crystal Palace in New York. This was located at what is now known as Bryant Park, and was destroyed by fire in 1858. The new method of construction immediately became the standard for all American manufacturers and soon after for all other countries, and has remained so ever since.

As stated before, nearly all the pianos made the United States up to the year 1856 were square pianos. Jonas Chickering, one of the leading pioneers of American piano manufacturing, in 1840 constructed the first American grand piano, successfully introducing the iron frame. A small piano manufacturer named Buttikoffer, a former workman of Erard, of Paris, France, also made Erard fine pianos entirely of wood; but the demand for grand pianos was so limited that the great pianist Thalberg, who arrived in the United States in the year 1856, brought with him two Erard concert grand pianos for his concert tour throughout the country. In 1859 Steinway & Sons made a great improvement by successfully introducing into grand pianos the overstrung system, which was secured to them by United States patent dated December 20, 1859. At the same time several other standard piano makers of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston commenced the manufacture of this kind of instrument, all of them with the overstrung system. Overstrung grand and square pianos were exhibited by Steinway & Sons at the World's Fair of 1862, in the Crystal Palace, London, taking a first-prize medal; and again overstrung grand, square, and upright pianos were shown by them at the great International Exposition of Paris in 1867, these being crowned by a first grand gold medal and the unanimous indorsement of the international jury. Messrs. Chickering, of Boston, also exhibited parallel-stringed grand and upright pianos and overstrung square pianos, and were also awarded a gold medal, so that America's triumph in the piano department was literally overwhelming.

The overstrung system was at once imitated by nearly all of the prominent manufacturers of Europe, and has ever since been known as the "Steinway" or "American system"; and the supremacy of the product of all first-class American piano makers has been conceded by the musical public of both continents. The importation of pianofortes from Europe into the United States not only practically ceased, but since that time the export of the American product to all parts of the civilized world has steadily increased, notwithstanding the somewhat higher prices. It must also be added that, practically speaking, almost all important novelties and inventions by which the tone and durability of all three styles, grand, square, and upright, have been enhanced and increased within the last half-century, have been made by American pianoforte manufacturers, all being imitated in Europe as soon as the details became known.

It may be interesting to state here that, up to the year 1850, England and France produced more pianofortes than all other countries, and supplied the European continent as well as the outlying colonies. Since that date there has been a marked change in that direction. Germany, which undoubtedly has, with America, the most skilled piano manufacturers and workmen, has nearly kept pace with the United States in the quantity of pianos manufactured, and Gernan piano makers were invariably the first to see the importance of American inventions and improvements. Only one old house in Paris and one old house in London still adhere to the antiquated system of parallel strings. All others have adopted the American overstrung system and full cast-iron frame. As far as can be judged, Germany, producing 70,000 pianos annually, has the largest export of pianofortes of any country in the Old World, especially in the cheapest class of instruments; and there is no doubt that Germany, although making at the present time more pianofortes than all other European countries combined, is surpassed by the United States of America, which, on a careful and conservative estimate, produce annually from 80,000 to 90,000 pianofortes.

The manufacture of pianos in the United States was formerly confined to the following four cities; first, New York; second, Boston; third, Baltimore; fourth, Philadelphia. Within a dozen years Chicago has stepped in, and now has become third in the number of pianos annually produced. The list is now: first, New York; second, Boston; third, Chicago; fourth, Baltimore; fifth, Philadelphia; and successful pianoforte manufacturers have also located in other large cities of the United Stales, such as Buffalo and Rochester, N. Y., Cincinnati and Norwalk, O., and Erie, Pa.

In Europe the manufacture of square pianos practically ceased about the year 1855, and only grand and upright pianos were thereafter made. In the United States, as mentioned before, the square pianoforte was, up to the same time, almost exclusively manufactured, and sales of grand pianos were about as scarce as angels' visits.

During the years 1844 and 1845 a French manufacturer named Henri Herz, who at the same time was a first-class pianist, traveled through the United Slates, giving concerts in the larger cities. He had brought with him a number of French upright pianos, and during his stay in this country imported many others. These were readily sold, but within a few years all succumbed to the influence of the climate and became total wrecks, from the fact of hav ing been made from wood alone. This caused such a deep-rooted prejudice throughout the country against upright pianos that they became absolutely unsalable, and up to the year 1866 fully ninety-seven percent. of all the pianos which were annually made in the United Slates were square pianos. In that year Steinway & Sons succeeded in completing a system of manufacture for upright pianos which produced instruments that were fully as beautiful in tone and as durable for use as the square and grand pianos. This was speedily followed by other standard American piano makers, some of whom made improvements of their own; and within a few years thereafter a complete revolution in the piano industry took place, so that the situation of to-day is exactly the reverse of what it was less than thirty years ago. The manufacture of square pianos has now almost entirely ceased. The annual production of American pianofortes consists of about ninety-five percent uprights, less than two per cent, squares, and a little more than three per cent, grand pianos. There is no question that by the year 1900 not a single square piano will be manufactured in the United States or any other part of the world.

Setting aside, then, the effects of the business depression of the year 1893, and, to some extent, of 1894, which fell with very much greater severity upon other branches of manufacture than it did even on pianofortes, American piano manufacturers have every reason to feel proud of the results achieved by them. There has not only been steady progress in the number of the pianofortes produced by them, but the art of piano making in the United States has been elevated to the highest perfection — a fact which is recognized all over the world.

Quite a number of good European pianos were exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876, and at the Columbian World's Fair in  Chicago in 1893 ; but none of them were sold, and  all of them had to be reëxported. No grand piano of foreign make has ever been publicly heard in the  United States since the advent of Thalberg, now  nearly forty years ago ; but many first-class American concert grand pianos have been, and are at  present publicly used in the art centers of Europe  by the greatest artists. Besides, the five largest  piano manufacturing concerns in the world are  located in the United States. They are: two at New York, one at Chicago, one at Boston, and the  fifth at Baltimore. This is indeed a proud and unique position, and American piano manufacturers have no reason to complain of anything in their industry with one exception, as follows:

In 1850 the overwhelming majority of piano artisans were of American nativity, while since that time, and now for many years, almost all of them are either foreign-born (mostly German) or the direct offspring of foreign-born parents, who, by permission of the employer, are taught a certain single branch of the business by their fathers. This is much to be deplored, for American boys, many of them extraordinarily intelligent and ingenious, are practically kept out of this important industry through what might be called the force of circumstances. As far as can be learned there is now no effective apprentice law in force in any of the States. This is very different from the conditions existing in Europe, Take, for instance, Germany. After having been released from school, say at the age of fourteen or fifteen years, a boy is apprenticed to a master mechanic for six or seven years. It is true he receives his board and lodging, but he has to pay, say, $100 lehrgeld (learning money), in order to indemnify the "boss" for the time lost in instructing him, or for the defective workmanship and spoiled material which may result from his unskilfulness.

No American boy would be willing to be placed in the position of an apprentice for six or seven years, although that is the only way in which a business can be acquired thoroughly in all its branches and details. Thus there is no guaranty to any employer that a boy, after one or two years spent in learning a branch or subdivision of a business, will not leave him and shift for himself. To enact laws compelling a lad who is growing up to remain with an employer and make up in the later years of his apprenticeship the losses he has caused in the first years does not suit American ideas, and probably never will. Still this matter should engage the attention of all those interested in social problems, for our American boys are second to none in intelligence and practical ideas. And this, too, is one of the chief causes of the sad fact that in no civilized country are there so many young men who are unskilled as in the United States.

In 1850, when William Steinway, then aged fourteen years, arrived in New York, a very lamentable state of affairs prevailed in the pianoforte and other manufacturing industries. The city was still suffering from the effects of the cholera epidemic of 1849; there was but little ready money in the country, much being of the "wildcat" order; there were no sawing, planing, or other labor-saving machines to do the hard work required in piano manufacture, nor were there any elevators ; all heavy loads having to be carried up and down stairs on the shoulders of the artisans.

The despicable " truck " system prevailed throughout the country. The skilled workman was not paid his hard-earned wages, which were from $6 to $10 a week: but he would receive, say, from $1 to $3 of his weekly earnings in cash, and some of the rest in orders on grocers, tailors, and shoemakers. The remainder would be retained by the employer, who acted as a self- constituted savings-bank for his employees, without paying interest, and sometimes not even paying the principal. William Steinway, at the age of seventeen years, lost all his savings of $300 by the bankruptcy of his employer, William Nunns, in 1853. There were piano factories and other manufacturers who each were thus constantly owing over $10,0000 in wages to their workmen. By the year 1860 this reprehensible "truck" system had, however, entirely ceased throughout the country.

The Civil War, between 1861 and 1865, also caused the piano manufacturers great hardships and struggles. They lost nearly all their claims against piano dealers in the South; there was no immigration to speak of; skilled artisans were scarce, many of them having gone to the war; and in February,1862, the workmen in New York instituted a strike for higher wages, in which they were perfectly justified. The currency had then depreciated, and all the necessaries of life and rents had risen enormously in value. The workingmen's demand for ten per cent. was readily granted. In May following they again demanded ten per cent. more on the increased wages, which was also acceded to. But in October, 1863, they had formed a large society, the Piano-Makers' Union, and suddenly demanded an augmentation of twenty-five per cent, on the twice-increased prices, being in all a raise of fully fifty percent. on the original rates. This was simply impossible for the employers to grant, the more so as no increase whatever had as yet been made in wages in the same occupation in Boston, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.

For the first time in the history of piano manufacture the twenty-three piano employers were driven together by necessity, and met at Ittner's Hotel, where it was resolved to resist the demands of the employees. A committee of seven manufacturers (of which William Steinway was a member) was elected to receive the committee of fifteen who represented about 3000 workingmen then on strike. The spokesman of the employees first demanded the increase of twenty-five per cent., with payment for all the time lost by the strikers, and then announced the program mapped out by the leaders of the strike as follows:

"Gentlemen bosses, we, the piano makers of New York, will now assume control of the piano business. You shall no longer be permitted either to engage or dismiss any workman without our consent. You must pay us full wages irrespective of bad or good times. You must all pay the same wages, must not undersell one another, and must every Saturday afternoon submit your books to our inspection, so that we may satisfy ourselves that you have strictly carried out our instructions. Now, gentlemen bosses what can we report to our union as your response?"

The employers' committee were simply stupefied, when one of the manufacturers, Albert Weber (who died in 1879), a very quick-witted man, observed:  "Gentlemen employees, your demands are exceedingly moderate; but in your very modesty you have  omitted your most important point."

The spokesman of the employees inquired, “Well, and what might that be?”

“Simply this," returned Mr. Weber; "that every Saturday afternoon, when you have looked over the manufacturers' books, the employees shall go a-bowling, and that the bosses should be made to set up the tenpins for their workmen."

A deafening and unanimous roar of laughter followed this sally. It was the right word at the right time. The ice had been broken, and both parties were conciliated. Half an hour later a compromise was effected, that fifteen per cent. (instead of twenty-five per cent.) increase was to take place in wages, all other demands by the employees being  withdrawn.

The truce, needless to say, did not last long; the strike broke out anew in February, 1864, and was completely put down, after a struggle of nine weeks, by the unflinching resistance of the United Piano  Manufacturers. Another strike in 1872, to reduce the daily hours of work from ten to eight, was also defeated, and since then but few and brief strikes have occurred. One partially successful occurred in  1880. Those in 1S86 and 1890 both brought defeat to the strikers. As a general thing a much kindlier feeling between employers and employees  gradually arose, and has existed for a number of years past. 

PRINCIPAL INVENTIONS OF AMERICAN PIANOFORTE MANUFACTURERS, WHICH HAVE BEEN MORE OR LESS ADOPTED BY AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN PIANO FIRMS.

1825. Alpheus Babcock, of Philadelphia, Pa, patented invention of a full iron frame in the form of a harp for square pianos.

1833. Conrad Meyer, of Philadelphia, construction of an iron frame in square pianos, except wrest-plank bridge, which remained of wood.

1837. Jonas Chickering, of Boston, Mass., construction of a full iron frame, with wrest-plank bridge (in square pianos) of iron, all in one piece -- an important invention, although his application for a patent was unjustly rejected for alleged want of novelty.

1840. Jonas Chickering, successful patented construction of the full iron frame with agratffe bar in grand pianos.

1849, Mathnshek (with John B. Dunnham), invention of so-called " sweep-scale " in square pianos, the compass of which he at the same time successfully extended to seven and one third octaves.

1855. Invention by Steinway & Sons, of New York, of the overstrung system and its iron frame, placing the strings in form of a fan, in square pianos.

1859. Invention by Steinway & Sons (United States patent, December 20, 1859) of the overstrung system, with its strings in fanlike shape, and novel construction of the iron frame, in grand pianos: also the square grand piano and novel agraffe bar (United States patent, November 29, 1859).

1862. Invention (United States patent) by Decker Brothers, of New York, of novel wrestplank construction, increasing capacity lo stand in tune, in square pianos; also novel apparatus to veneer round corners in square-piano cases.

1866. Invention (United States patent, June 5, 1866) by Steinway & Sons of double iron frame and patent resonator (controlling tension of sounding-boards) in upright pianos.

1868. Invention (United States patent, August 16, 1868) by Steinway & Sons of tubular metallic action-frame in grand and upright pianos.

1870. Invention (United States patents, March I5, 1870, and August 15, 1870) by George Steck & Company, of New York, of the self-supporting, independent iron frame.

1872.Invention by Steinway & Sons (United States patent. May 28, 1872) of the iron cupola and pier frame; also the grand duplex scale (United States patent, May 14, 1872).

1874. Invention by Steinway & Sons (United States patents, October 27, 1874) of the tone-sustaining pedal. The same year Mr. Hanchett, of Syracuse, N.Y., brought out (United States patent) a novel apparatus for pro-longing the tone.

1875. Invention by Steinway & Sons (United States patents, October 20, 1875) of concert grand with capo d'astro bar all cast in one piece, and design thereof.

1878. Invention by Steinway& Sons (United States patents, May 21, 1878), bending into form the entire case of grand pianos, composed of a series of continuous veneers; also tone-pulsator in grand pianos; also capo d'astro bar in upright pianos.

1879. Invention by George Steck & Company (United States patent, January 7, 1879) of further improvements in self-supporting, independent iron frame.

1881. Invention by George Steck & Company (United Slates patent, October 18, 1881) of further improvements in self-supporting, independent iron frame.

1885. Invention by Steinway & Sons (United Stales patent, March 31, 1885) of double cupola iron frame in grand pianos.

1893. Invention by Henry Ziegler (nephew of William Steinway), of Steinway & Sons (two United States patents of November 21, 1893), of the grand piano with capo d'astro bar in upright form.

1894. Improvement by George Steck & Company in self-supporting, independent iron frame in upright pianos.

1895. Invention by Henry Ziegler, of Steinway & Sons (United States patent. January 8, 1S95), of iron frame with capo d'astro bar and suspended wrest-plank in grand pianos in upright form.

After a careful and conservative estimate, it appears that there are now engaged in the production of pianofortes and their component parts upward of 200 manufacturing concerns established in the UnitedStates, representing a capital of over $40,000,000, and giving employment to about 40,000 skilled artisans; to say nothing of the many millions of capital invested in, and the many thousands of people employed by, houses engaged in the sale of these and other musical instruments.

Next to pianofortes no class of American musical instruments has attained the prominence of the American reed-organs, the manufacture of which took distinct shape about the year 1850, commencing with melodeons in small square-piano shape, produced in great excellence by the late George L. Prince, of Buffalo, N. Y., Carhart & Needham, of New York City, and many other makers. These readily gave way to the superb reed-organs of Mason & Hamlin, of Boston, Mass. ; the Estey Organ Company, of Brattleboro, Vt. ; Burdett, of Erie, Pa. ; the Fort Wayne Organ Company, of Fort Wayne, Ind. ; and others too numerous to mention. Besides the interior capacity and the quality and quantity of tone, a variety of musical effects and the imitation of wind-instruments, as well as exquisite external workmanship, were introduced by these and other manufacturers. In good season, even before American pianofortes were exported, shiploads of these fine American reed-organs were sent to Europe, especially to Great Britain, Sweden, Norway, and other Protestant countries. Of late years, however, the importance of this branch of industry has diminished almost in the same ratio as the general interest in pianofortes has increased, the latter instrument becoming more and more popular. As the manufacture of the piano from year to year increased, the pianoforte, with its larger compass and its greater variety of expression, allowing full scope for the individual touch and for novel musical effects, has gradually taken the place of the organ. It has become the most welcome instrument in the American home and family circle, being especially fitted for accompanying the voice. Of late many of the standard manufacturers of American reed-organs have also gone into the manufacture of pianofortes, and several have been very successfuL

Formerly, with the exception of banjos and mandolins, all small string and wind instruments had to be imported. All this, by the constantly growing perfection of the American manufacture of these articles, has been so greatly modified that the importation of these instruments does not now cut very much of a figure. At the present time fine harps, violins, guitars, flutes, and all kinds of wind-instruments are successfully produced in the greatest perfection by American manufacturers in all the larger cities of the country. They have greater durability, especially against climatic effects, than the imported articles, in which wood plays a part, can ever possess. Many millions of capital and thousands of skilled artisans are engaged in the manufacture of small musical instruments, and of late Chicago seems to make the greatest progress in this direction. Lyon & Healy, of that city, produce excellent small musical wind-instruments in large quantities, and their harps, which are of superb quality, are unexcelled by the best ones made in Europe. The latter are unable to withstand the effects of our severe North American climate for any reasonable length of time.

C. G. Conn, of Elkhart, Ind., and of Worcester, Mass., also produces most excellent brass wind-instruments in very large quantity. Vocalions, an English invention by Sir Bailey Hamilton, were first produced, and have been brought to high perfection,by Messrs. Mason & Risch, Worcester, Mass. Æolians are also extensively manufactured and sold. Within a few years autoharps, manufactured by Alfred Dolge & Sons, of Dolgeville, N. Y., have come into great favor, and are extensively produced.

The construction of church organs during the past fifty years has also reached large proportions in the United States. Everything is now manufactured, from the largest cathedral church organ down to the small portable pipe church organ. They are of the finest quality.

In all classes and kinds of musical instruments American ingenuity has achieved great triumphs and introduced many improvements, adding to the quality, and especially to the durability of the article, so that the importation of them has almost ceased.

William Steinway