The Washington herald., 1908-03-15
By FREDERIC J. HASkIM.

The recent installation of a giant pipe
organ in the College of the City Of New
York is another proof Of American
progress. not only in 'oye Of music. but
In ability 10 constru, the instruments
on which the music is rendered. This
organ, one Of the largest in the world.
has 1900 pipes, the longest one being
thirty vo feet, and the shortest three
quarters OF an inch. When completed, the
organ will have a thirty-two FOOT reed
lombard which viii enable the organist
TO give a Wagner music drama with all
the essential tone coloring. The cost
was $26.900
The organ builders of America have
made great progress in the past half
century, and may now lay claim to the
largest. most expensive, and most COM
plete organs in the world With all this,
they have succeeded in producing as
perfectly toned instruments as those of
Europe The largest organ in the world
is In Convention Hall. at Kansas City.
and was built by an American organ
maker It has 1900 pipes, the two largest
OF which are thirty-twO feet long. They
are so large that a Shetland pony can
stand I'm either of them. The smallest
pipe IS so microscopic that its sound
is but the softest sigh. There are 100
miles Of wire in the instrument. and over
$1,000 feet Of lumber 1t contains 1900
magnets, has 40 stops, weighs l25 ton,
and cost S61 900. This organ was the one
used at the St. Louis Exposition and
millions listened to its titantic voice as
called forth by some of the greatest or
ganlsts OF the world Organ makers un-
hesitatingly declare that IL will be many
q year before this great organ is eX-
celled. Its 1890 pipes and its 40 stops
enable il TO initiate almost every sound
that falls upon the human ear. 1t has
the electro-pneumatic action. the idea fol-
lowed being much the same that is
found in the elecTo-pneumatic switching
apparatus used by railroads, and il re-
quires two i l-2-hOrsepOweT motors and
one 2-hOrsepOWer motor 10 operate it.
When il was moved from st. Louis to
Kansas City ten freight cars We're re-
quired TO haul it.
The next largest organ in the world is
the one in the town hall at Sydney, Aus
tralia. 1t contains 5000 pipes and 12S
stops. II occupies 1900 square feet Of
floor space Prior to the building Of the
big Worlds Fair organ for St Louis the
Sidney organ was the largest in the world,
and had held that distinction for many
years. Next in size. and it is said with
out a peer in the whole world in tone, is
the one in the Chicago Auditorium. This
organ has over 1900 pipes.
It is said that the Seattle Exposition is
10 have a very fine organ; the jamestown
Exposition had a fine one, and the other
worlds fairs have had ample equipment
in this line. Perhaps the finest church
organ in the world is the one in the Nor
mon Temple in Salt Lake City. Ii is said
to be more perfectly adjusted 10 the ac-
cOustics of the auditorium than is any
other organ TO be hound any where One
OF the most interesting organs ever built
was one constructed by a Virginian named
Myers. 1t was an elaborate pipe organ.
but all Of the pipes were made of paper
II did service in a church at Dayton. Va,
for several years. and was afterWard sold
10 school. The quality of its tone was
favOrably commented upon. yet the build
er had not had great deal of experience
in such work, having been nothing more
than a country music teacher. The
pathetic part OF il was that he died Of
tuberculosis but a few weeks after his
organ was installed, and that on it his
requiem was played
Church organs had a long fight for a
footing in America In little old ST.
Johns Church, Portsmouth, n. H.. stands
to this day the famous old BrattIe organ.
This organ was imported by Thomas
Brattle, treasurer OF Harvard University.
about the year 170S He intended It for
the Brattle Square Congregation, but they
refused to accept it. 1t was afterward
given or sold 10 Kings Chapel. and finally
landed in St. Johns. IL played requiem
10 Queen Anne, who gave the pipes and
had Haydn select them. and at Jne age
Of eighty-fOur years il sounded a dirge
for George Washington. Seyenty-seven
years after the Brdttle Square COngre-
cation had rejected the Brattle organ. it
decided that it could no longer resist the
march Of progress and ordered a rather
expensive organ from Europe In due
time it arrived in Boston Harbor Even
a that late date the arrival caused much
dissent in the congregation. and one
wealthy member offered to pay every
cent 1t had cost and 10 give in addition
a like amount 20 the poor Of Boston if
they would dump it overheard in the
harbor. But the offer was refused, and
the organ installed
There are still quite a number of re-
ligious sects in the United States who do
not believe in instrumental music in the
churches. The Quakers do not believe in
ii. The Dunkards and the Mennonites,
numbering nearly 100000 communicants
each, are as much opposed to il as ever
the Scots were who called a pipe organ a
"<ist O whistles" or the Puritans. who
called it the devils bagpipe." and there
are mtny other sects which share these
views They look upon the church organ
as profaning the temple of GOD and de-
stroying the true spirit OF worship among
the people. They hold 10 the views of
the Puritans in the days Of Cromwell,
who petitioned that all cathedraIs
wherein services to God are most griev-
iously abused by the piping of organs, the
ringing of bells the singing and trowling
OF chants from one side of the choir to
the other, with squeaking and chanting
choir boys and such like offenses which
are an abomination to the Lord be put
down. In this connection. it is also inter
esting 10 note that these same congrega-
uOns DO not belleNe In church bells. All
told. there are in the United States per
haps a half million adherents to those
sects which do not believe in bells and
organs.
Organ building began early i'll the
United States. The nrst one was made
by John Clark in 174S. for the Episcopal
Church at Salem. Mass. In 1906, w II.
Goodrich began building organs on