The Arizona champion., 1890-10-25
DO YOU HIRE A PIANO?
If So Your Music Is Very Costly, at Lea
 So Says a Dealer in Pianos.

So Says a Dealer in Pianos.
 'The business of renting pianos is the most profitable one I know of, /" said Washington dealer in that line very frankly.
 ''In the first place, no really expen- sive piano IS ever rented; the risk would be too great for one thing. One could not afford to intrust to a stranger an instrument worth from $500 to $1, 800, which Is about the range for the finest makes. The pianos hired out are of a lower grade, worth from $500 to $500"
 But what is the charge2"
 Usually about $S month."
 That is nearly $10O a year. Pretty good interest, I should say, on $500 piano."
 Decidedly so. That is just the point of my remark. 1 don't know any other investment that pays from 9 to 30 per cent per annum. We have twenty pianos let all the time, and you can perceive that they must bring about $2, GOO year."
 "What is the life of pianoH"
 'Hifteen years, with fair usage. At the end of that time the instrument is not apt to be capable of further ser vice, but in the meantime we have cleared $1,000 or $1, 100 on it, so we are satisfied"
 Some people, though, probably give piano very unfair usage2"
 ''Often that occurs. It is source of loss to us unavoidably, but we can afford to endure it. You see, persons who rent pianos are not likely to be so careful of them as if they were their own property. They let their chil- dren bang upon them, and that is al ways very injurious. The keys are so carefully pivoted that if they are struck sideways instead of perpendicu- lar they are apt to be thrown out of gear. An active infant in this way and by pounding can do good deal of hurt to a piano in comparatively short time. And maybe the $8 a month won't pay for it. Or the ac- tion, which includes the keys and all those complicated inside works which make the communication between the keys and hammers, may be loosened, and then there is nothing to do but to send the piano back to the factory and have new action put in, which costs from $40 to $50. People have other ways besides this of injuring an instru- ment,
 Such as what, prayl"
 ''Why, they will subject piano to extremes of heat and cold. That is al- ways destructive. For example, on a cold winter day the servant will throw open the windows of the overloaded parlor and let the freezing air come in, and no member of the family will probably know any better than to do such thing. As consequence, the sounding board IS warped and cracked, and the wires are Fusted and other damage done. It would be a great deal less injurious if the domestic had poured several pailfuls of cold water into the instrument. There is a piano over in that corner which was in a house that caught fire, and afterward we pumped fourteen gallons of water out of it. Yet it has served very well ever since and has retained aremarka- ply good tone, Sometimes the case of the instrument is marred and scratch ed, but that does not amount to so much"
 Do people ever steal the pianos they rent from you and run away with them2"
 It has never happened to us, though such things are sometimes done, We have been very lucky in that way. The people we have more trouble with than those to whom we rent pianos are the buyers on install ments. Profit is ordinarily found in selling pianos that way, because neces- sarily a greater price is charged in such cases than if cash were paid. But often 1t happens that pianos so pur- chased come back on our hands after three or four months with a loosened action and other damage done that costs more to repair than we have received for the piano, the usual method being to pay something like $25 down and to give notes of hand for $10 each, falling due monthly, for the balance. It goes without saying that installment customers often de- fault in their payments, and then we simply grab the pianos. People who purchase ill that way never seem to be aware that ill law an article SO bought remains the property of the seller. un- til the last cent due has been paid. So, in order to have that little fact thor oYghly comprehended, we introduce it as part of the contract which the GUS toner is obliged to sign before he gets the theinstrument.-Washington Star.