The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-05-07
THE PIPE ORGAN.
Further Deliberations Toward the
Purchase of the Instrument

The directors of the Topeka Pipe
Organ association met at the CONNER
cial club rooms last evening for the
purpose of awarding a contract for the
instrument, blfe@s4ere una bic to agree.
The votes at the close were practically
evenly divided between the Kimban
and the Hook and Hastings organ.
There are nineteen directors, and all
out two were present. The bylaws of
the association require that two-thirds,
that IS, thirteen, of the directors shall
agree before contract can be givenn-
me following were present:
Edward Wilder, Frank H. Foster, J.
II. Mulvane, Frank p. MacLennan, J.
w Going, 7. J. Anderson, Mrs. A. H.
Horton, Mrs. Eli G. Foster, Norman
Piass, J. B. Belts. George II. Whit
comb, Louis Heck, p. J. Monaghan,
MRS. George ". Parkhurst, Miss Ellen
Parkhurst, Albert T Reid and David
Bowie. The two absent members were
George NJ. Noble and Frank S. Crane.
The vote at the close of the meeting
stood KimbaH 8, Hook and Hastings s.
MI Crane and Mr.. Noble each wrote
letters saying that their first choice
was k1mban, but as the bylaws do not
permit the voting of directors by proxy,
no votes from them could not be court
ed The directors have tried to be fair
IN their deliberations and it was not
considered proper for a vote of an alb
sent member to be considered for the
the propositions of the different bidders
have been materially modified.
Yesterday afternoon the Hook and
Hastings people, through their repre-
sentative who was in the city, submit
ted proposition very different from
anything that had been presented be-
fore Prof Penny, who has gone
through the different bids and condi-
tons and made an exhaustive study of
the matter, read a report in which lie
referred to the excellencies of the four
different pipe organs but said in view
OF revised offer made by the Hook
and Hastings people that afternoon he
was bound to regard their proposition
as overwhelming. He stated that Hook
ana Hastings had agreed to duplicate
plans which had recently been
filed by another firm for $4,000.
Prof. Penny's Report.
The following is Prof. Pennys re-
Topeka. Kas., May 6, 1904.
To the Directors of the Auditorium
Pipe Organ association:
Ladies and Gentlemen have at
your request made an exhaustive
study OF the specifications submitted
and the conditions which should con-
troll the placing of a pipe organ in
the city Auditorium, and hereby pre-
sent to you the results of my best
judgment.
The four leading organ builders of
America have submitted specifica-
UOIS E4dCn DullQeT mas D66n repre-
sented by either the head of the firm,
by a member of the firm, or by an ex-
pert representative.
All four of the specifications have
appealed very strongly to me in diff
ferent ways and in ways that were
common to two or more of the
builders.
Those of the KirnbaH company, of
Chicago, because of the splendid
scheme proposed, containing more
stops than were offered by any other
company, because of my regard for its
local representative Mr. Roehr, and
his expert opinions, and because of
the merits of the ORGANS made by this
firm, upon which I have played
Those of the HJHtchings & Votey
company of Boston, because of the
firms brilliant achievements in organ
building, which have easily made this
company the "Steinway" of organ
builders; furthermore, because of its
absolute relia bility, its positive leader
ship in the opinion of all organists,
and the fact that many of the great
organs recently placed in concert halls
of the east were made by this firm.
The Austin company, of Hartford,
Conn.,. quite won my heart and head
with the only specifications submitted
of decidedly concert character (dif-
fering essentially from those of the
other makes. which were practically
church organs,) containing ali six of
the organs called for in our plan in
echo The high opinion of the firm
held by Organists generally seemed to
verify all the claims of this company
for its organ and the new inventions
which it embodied.
For the Hook & Hastings company,
of Boston, 1 have always held the
highest regard, because of the fact
that they were the Oldest makers in
America, always reliable and success
tul, and with not one failure in the
thousands of organs turned out by
them in the past eighty years, and
because it was the make upon whose
organs 1 have played most, both east
and west. As two smaller organs built
by them are still doing excellent serv-
ice in the CONGREGATIONAL and Epis-
copal churches of Topeka after some
twenty-five years of service, the ele-
ment of dura bility was established
right here in our midst. I felt how
ever, that the first Hook & Hastings
specifications, as well as the present
Kimbau specifications, were mad
equate in some particulars, especially
for concert organ, although the
Hook & Hastings contained from the
beginning more pipes than was Of
fered by any other firm. These objec-
tions have now been wholly removed
by a specification submitted TODAY
which is so far ahead of all the 9TH
ers that 1 give it my unqualified en-
dorsement and would recommend it's
acceptance by your committee, assur-
ing you that in doing so you would
have the finest concert organ in
America, one that would be a pride to
the city and a delight to the greatest
of the worlds organists, whether Gull
mant of Paris, Bridge of London.
Eddy of Chicago, or Lemaire of Pitts
burg.
These latest specifications are the
full equivalent of the Carnegie organ
In P1ttsburg- They contain As stops
the highest number yet submitted;
they contain 3,091 pipes. 229 more than
the Kimball. 1872 more than the Hutch
ings, and 1900 more than the Austin
With its cOupleEs and accessories, the
organ will have rs stops Its electric
daNicas Of thn Iatnst hast