You took the letter,—I have seen several of them,—and went to the house named in it. I never knew anybody who received any special courtesy in consequence, but he generally found his bill from twenty to fifty per cent. higher than it would have been had he brought no introduction. The two hotels played that game a long time before travellers found them out, and it was astonishing how long it took to discover the trick. A friend of mine once arrived here from the hotel at the other end of the line. I met him at the dock, and urged him to go to the house where I lived. “No,” said he, “I have a letter from —— to his cousin here, and I am going to that hotel. Just look at that letter.” I read the document, which was one of the most fulsome things you ever saw, and would clearly entitle my friend to canonization. He went to the hotel, was politely received, crammed into a room under the eaves, and about as large as a cigar-box; could not get moved lower down, though they promised every hour that they would transfer him on the next; and after staying there four days, left in disgust, with the additional affront of a bill, in which there were all real and several erroneous extras at the highest possible or impossible rates. The real wording of that letter should have been,—
“This is one of our patrons; stick him in anywhere, and charge him all you can.”
COMMISSIONS IN THE PIANO TRADE.
I presume the business that pays more commissions than any other is that of making and selling pianos. In the first place each large establishment usually keeps a man to write its advertisements and look after its business relations with the press and advertising mediums generally. One manufacturer, a shrewd foreigner, is understood to employ one of the musical critics, who not only prepares pamphlets and advertisements, but devotes his criticisms as far as possible to the interest of his master. Then, most of the distinguished pianists who come here are each paid by some one of the manufacturers to toot for his piano. If you look at the programmes of these piano concerts and recitals, you will generally see a line announcing “The Muggins piano is exclusively used at this concert, and recommended by Herr Ivorypounder.” One pianist, now in this country, was brought here by a piano maker who guaranteed forty thousand dollars for a six months’ tour; and another foreign pianist, now here, has a similar guarantee of twenty thousand. It is safe to say that half the noted foreign pianists are imported by the piano makers, and that half the rest are engaged and subsidized by the makers soon after they get here. Then, most of the concert tours are backed by the piano men; and I know several instances in which they have been directly organized by them. They may lose money on the tour itself, but they make money out of the extra sales of pianos. Then they are obliged to pay commissions to music stores and to music teachers who recommend their wares and effect sales, and frequently to persons totally unconnected with musical matters, such as upholsterers, carpenters, and friends of the families where pianos are bought. I know an instance wherein a man who was paying attention to a young lady received two hundred and fifty dollars from a piano dealer for turning the attention of his loved one from the instrument of Stiggins to that of Wiggins. He accompanied her to the store, where she made her purchase; her papa sent his check next morning, and in the afternoon her dear Charles Augustus called for and obtained his commission. And he is not the only society man, by a long way, who makes something out of the piano dealers.
The daughter of a wealthy citizen not long ago wanted a piano, and the wealthy citizen told her to select one. The house was undergoing some repairs and alterations, and the carpenters and upholsterers were at work there. Maria was taking music lessons, and appealed to her teacher for advice; the latter recommended a Muggins, and in the course of a week or so the piano was bought and sent home. The teacher was suddenly called out of town, and did not visit Muggins until ten or twelve days after the purchase. When he asked for his commission, Muggins told him it was already paid.
“To whom?” was the question, with emphasis of astonishment.
“To Reps & Co., upholsterers.”
TRICK OF REPS AND COMPANY.
“What right had they to it?”