Daily Yellowstone journal., 1890-04-26
DO YOU HIRE A PIANO.
II so Your Music Is Very Costly. at Least
so Says u Dealer In Pianos.

The business OF renting pianos Is
the most profitable one | know of,
said Washington dealer in that line
very frankly.
I'm the first place, no really eXpen-
slve piano u ever rented; the risk
would br too great for one thing. One
could not afford 10 mrrusl 10
stranger im Instrument worth from
$500 10 Il 500 which Is about the range
for the finest makes. The piano, hired
out are oi lower grade, worth from
$500 Ia $500
But what is the charge"
II sGa.ly about = month.
That Is nearly 800 year. Pretty
good interest, | should say, on a $500
piano
Decidedly SO. That is just the
point of my remark. don't know
any other investment that pays from
25 Ia 30 per cent. per annum. We
have twenty pianos let all the time,
and you can perceive tnat they must
bring about 81, 600 year"
What is the life of pianof'
Fifteen years. with fair usage. At
the end of that time the instrument Is
not apt 10 he capable of further SER
cleared $1,000 or 81, 100 on it, SO we
are satisfied.
Some people, though, probably
give piano very unfair usageF
Often that occurs. Ii is source
of loss To US unavoidably, but we can
afford To endure il. You see. persons
who rent pianos are not likely To be 50
careful of them as if they were their
own property. They let their chill
dren bang upon them, and that is al
ways very injurious. The keys are 50
carefully pivoted that if they are
struck sideways instead of perpendicu-
lar they are apt 10 be- thrown out Of
gear. An active infant ia thi, way
and by pounding can do II good deal
N hurt la a piano n a comparatively
short time And maybe tine IS a
month won't pay for ii. Or the ac-
tion, which includes the keys and all
those eomplicate, inside works which
make the cuumu lIcatiun between the
keys and hamm rs. may bc looscned,
aud then there l. nothing 10 do but 10
send tie piano Lack To the factory and
have new action put IN. which costs
from ~ 10 $50. People have other
ways besides lis OF iujuring an lnstru-
ment
SUCH as what, pray
why. tn y will subject piano 10
extremes of eat and cold That is al
ways destructive. For example. on a
cold winter day the servant will throw
open the windows of the overheated
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 a consequence, the
sounding board Is warped and cracked,
and the wires are rusted and other
damage done. Ii would be "A great
deal less injurious if the domestic had
poured several pailfuls of cold water
INTO the instrument. There is piano
over in that corner which was in
house that caught fire. and afterward
we pumped fourteen gallons of water
out of IL. Yet it has served very well
ever since and has retained remarka-
bly, 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
aey rent from you and run away with
theml'
1t 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 10 whom We
rent pianos are the buyers on install.
ments. Profit is ordinarily found in
selling pianos that way, because neces.
sarily IA greater price is charged in
such cases than If cash were paid. But
often II happens that piano, 50 pur.
chased come back on our hands
after three or four months with
a loosencd action and other damage
done that costs more 10 repair than We
have received for the piano. the usl al
method lelng To pay something like
s25 down and 10 give notes of hand
for 80 each, falling due monthly. for
the balarce. Ii goes without saying
that installment customers often de-
fault ia their payments, and then we
simply grab the pianos. People who
purchase in that way never seem 10 be
aware that IN law an article 80 bought
remains the property of the seller un-
I'll the last cent due has been paid. So,
in order to have that little fact thor
oughIy ~ comprehended. We introduce it
as part of the contract which the Gus
toner is Obliged to sign before he gets
the Washington Star