The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1893-09-29
A COSTLY EXPERIMENT NO. Q.
EDITOR COLUMBIAN

EDITOR COLUMBIAN
In your issue of September 18th,
some one without the courage to dis
close his name but whose tracks !
recognized, endeavors to injure the
Of gentleman residing
several hundred miles distant, who
some years ago built a pipe organ for
the Lutheran church.
Now, just what interest the public
has in either the purchase or sale of
an organ by the Lutheran Church,
csunot see, and what motive induced
the writing andpublication q the arti-
Gle entitled "a Costly Experiment" IS
beyond my comprehension, unless it
was desire to injure the reputation
of the builder of the organ. If the
article was not a series of misrepre-
sentations from beginning to end !
would pay no attention to it. Now
what ere the facts in the case--some
eleven or twelve years ago, NJ. p.
MolleE of Hagerstcwn sent me aGraft
and specifications of pipe organ with
tuc o-atcHolt tual HS "OuA I'ttCC IL
in the church, let the congregation use
it, and if il was not satisfactory he
wov d remove 1t st his own expense,
il satisfactory they should pay him
seven hundred and seventy five dollars
tor it. / submitted his proposition to
the church council and after some
consideration they gave him permis-
sian 70 pvt the orgnn in, on the con
dItions he proposed. In due time the
organ YVES put In plEce, was tested by
Prof. Niles and Csc. f. Elweil and
po one else at the request of the
church a0d was nsed by the congrega-
tion every servioefOr about nine months,
daring which time the builder tuned it
once or twice, coming here 1t his own
expense. Then & vote of the oongre-
cation YVES taken upon the question of
purchase which resulted in favor of
purchase about ten to one-ahout a
dozen votes only being cast against
the purchase and about half of those
from one family. Then six hundred
and fifty dollars YVES paid on the or
gan in several payments, one hundred
aud twenty five dollars being retained
for one year by consent of the builder
as a guaranty that the organ should
prove good. At the expiration of
that time the balance was paid with
out interest.
The organ was used for about seven
years during which time not one dol.
lar was expeuded for repairs nor tun-
ing. whatever tuning was done, was
done by the builder grstuitously, and
for two years and six months it had
not been tuned, when the ceiling of
the church Immediately above the
organ became loose and some fell off.
A man who was employed to take
down what was loose and replace it,
in doing so put just sufficient boards
on top OF the organ to stand on, and
pushsaAof the plaster and let it fall
on top Of the organ, filling the pipes
and entire organ with the lime and
sand until it protruded from the
mouth of the pipes. The builder was
sent for and he and cleaned it out
as best we could, but particles of it
had gotten into the action where it
could not be entirely removed. For
his travelling expenses from Hagers-
town here and return, hotel bills and
two days and one evenings work he
charged them the enormous sum OF
twenty three dollars and | think seven.
ty-five cents, which was not paid until
nearly year afterwards. About that
time steam heat was introduced in the
church and run up to eighty and
ninety degrees and left there from one
Sunday until the next nearly the whole
winter, with radiator within about
ten feet of one end of the organ,
hot water coil under the steps close
to the other end, consequently many
OF the glue joints in the organ opened
and it had to be repaired. Yet he
says no one was to blame but the
builder The builder repaired it for
the small sum of fifty dollars. In
doing so he was compelled to take
down the entire organ and put it up
again and tune it, involving about
eight days work for one man and two
or three for second one, besides
travelling expenses and hotel bills. 1t
was then used until about two years
ago, when couple of pipes speaking
when not invited to do so "a thing
that could myself have remedied in
an hours time) and it was abandoned.
Recently Mr.. Moler made two
propositions. He would give five
hundred dollars for the organ in ex-
change for larger one, or he would
rebuild the organ, using such material
in this that is good, and supply new
where necessary for five hundred dol
lars which would cover all expenses of
freight to the factory and return.
Yet he says "the committee failed to