St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-10-21
Formation of a Union to Keep
Up the Scale Of
Wages.
The Man in tho Tuba and
Cymbals Clasher Paid
Alike.

great majority of them are known only
in their functional capacities.
The bandsman's life is in some re-
spects peculiar one, for while he labors
to gain livelihood in common with the
rest of toiling mankind, greater por-
| ton of the time he is as free to do as he
| pleases as the bloated bondholder and
| ariStOcrat. He gets up at any time in
the morning that suits his taste, and is
man of leisure in every sense OF the
term until such time in the afternoon or
evening as he may have all engagement
to fill. Frequently he has engagements
| that require his professional services at
! other times, but as a rule his hours OF
work are regular, and not until after
dinner is he accustomed to change his
every day clothes for his
BRIGHT AND NATTY UNIFORM.
While his hours of work are easy and
he is reasonably independent, bands
mans life is not necessarily happy
one. 1t is full of the ills and comforts
of this earthly existence about evenly
divided. OF the 200 to $50 men who go
to swell the ranks of the musical organ
izations of the city, some are artists of
the first water, and are able to command
big salaries as directors, while many
others are only plain, everyday "toot-
erS," who are richer in wind and muscle
than simon pure music. But all muSl-
clans in band get the same pay-a fact
which often causes the accomplished
artist to muse very much over the eter-
nal unftness of things. Then there are
the contra basSOOniSt and trombOniStS,
who, on street parade, wear themselves
out carrying dead weight of brass and
full stock of wind necessary to make
their machines go as they ought to, and
are obliged to plod along over uneven
roads, bemoaning the fact that they are
not getting cent more than the man
who pounds the cymbalS. Not so with
the men who play the flute, piccOlo, and
some of the harmony horns; when
|. the music comes their way and
they have long rest, they
/ are able to tuck thier inStru-
!, ments under their arms and walk along
with ease, viewing all that is to be seen.
and while the wind which they are
| obliged to use may be of finer quality,
they can get along with much smaller
stock than the tuba man, the chap who
is obliged to worm himself into the
huge, shining brass coil with an end
that looks like a locomotive funnel.
This latter gentleman is by all odds the
rightful heir to any sympathy that
may be
SHED ON A BRASS BAND.
Besides the drawbacks mentioned. he,
in common with the man who carries
the big drum, is sure to be set upon by
the leader in case the music is out of
i order, ana he has to blow every note
On his sheet or spoil the whole thing.
As to the hardest instrument to play,
the question will never be settled if the
world depends upon the musicians
themselves to solve the problem. Every
member of band will claim his own to
be the most difficult, and outsiders must
decide for themselves. There are some
Instruments, though, that are undOubt-
edly easier to play than others, and it
is perhaps only fair to say that the alto
and tenor horns, clariOnetS and second
comets have no reason to complain of
being tired if the other members of the
band are cOntented at the conclusion of
a long programme.
The wages of musicians in st. Paul
vary, as there is as yet no regularly eS-
tablished scale of prices by which the
bands of the city are governed. This
will soon be different, however. as the
bandsmen are now perfecting an organ
iZation to be known as the \ uSicians'
Mutual Aid association, of which John
Frick. the well-known solo cornetist. is
temporary president and John Nc
Carly secretary. The object of the asso-
citation is to establish
UNIFORM SCALE OF WAGES,
after which an attempt will be made to
confine the membership of the bands of
the city to members of the organization.
About sixty musicians have so far
Joined the body.
There are in the city four leading
musical organizations and probably a
dozen smaller bands. OF the former
there is the Great Western. George Sci
bert leader; the First Regiment band,
Henry Stein leader; Fred Wills band,
Fred Will leader, and the Second Regi-
ment band, John Safranek leader. Each
of these bands is composed of twenty to
| twenty-five members, but not always of
the same men, as bandSmen change
about great deal, and leaders are fire.
quently in desperate straits to secure
| men to fill their bands. New men are
hunted up and provided with uniforms,
and in an emelg ency No. 4 man is
often logged out in No. 10 form.
fact which does not add materially to
his appearance in parade, NO matter
how fine the quality of his music may
be or how majestically he may walk.
The musical profession, like all other
avocations of the Gay, is not without its
so-called ''scabs," for whom the ''regu-
Iars'' have nothing but undissembled
! contempt. Prominent among this class
are the little "Deitcher' band that plays
on back streets and in saloons, the
s'arteesLS" OF sunny Italy who jerk dis
cordant music from their harps and
| violins on the street corners and collect
with '.de monks such offerings as are
| cast them, the mendicants who grind
out familiar airs from wheezy old hand
organs and music boxes, and, in fact,
the whole migratory
TRIBE OF BEGGING MUSICIANS,
who come North in summer and in the
t5winter seek the milder chimes of the
EsMany of these itinerantS are musical
lsartiSts of more than ordinary ability,
1sbut the greater IO-tion of them, to use
Isthe words of an Old st. Paul bandman,
lH.scan't play for cent. Then they are
nothing but beggars of the lowest order,
and its downright Shame that they are
| allowed to degrade the regular profess
sion as they do" Why" he contin-
ued, 1.-The cheap Italians and the rest of
| these snide players have even less mu-
sic in their souls than they have princi-
| pie, and the government should do
| something to prohibit their coming to
this country TO torture law-abiding citi-
zens and at the same time keep good
musicians out of work. They are often
engaged TO play for little or nothing.
when otherwise good musicians would
get the work at good pay.'
They are nothing more than contract
| laborers,'' he said when questioned as
| to how the government could prohibit
! their immigration. ''who are brought
over here by padrones. These fellows
have agents in Europe vine go about
seeking out INDECENT musicians of a
| rowing turn of mind who are induced to
H.. AH.., L.. isa-- thai..