1874. J 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
37 
Suggestions to Purchas- 
ers of Cabinet or 
Parlor Organs. 
Thb following considerations may save some 
from the disappointment of purchasing inferior 
organs at high prices: 
1. Good Organs are very difficult to make. 
An organ Is not n coarse machine wliich can be successfully 
made by any ordinary workman. It is an exceedingly deli- 
cate piece of mechanism ; a work of art. Its excellence de- 
pends on very nice conditions and extraordinary skill In 
workmanship; and its durability Call bo secured only by 
best possible material and construction. 
3. Difficulty of Selection. It is impossible lor an 
Inexperienced person to judge what is a good organ and 
what a poor one from alight comparisons. Even a poor 
quality of tone may please at first, from Its novelty, though 
it will soon become disagreeable. As to the durability of 
an organ no one era Judge certainly from mere examina- 
tion. Yet a poor organ will not last half as long as a good 
one, and eo is dear at half tne price, ou this account alone. 
3. Many poor Organs are made. There is great 
temptation to manufacturers to make poor, almost worth- 
less, organ*, because each can be made at halt the cost of 
the beat onus, and so will afford good profits even if sold at 
what appear to be low prices. Since the great popularity of 
these instruments the market is flooded with poor organs, 
which can indeed be sold at low prices but are very dear at 
that. 
4. Tin recommendations of dealers are 
likely to be prejudiced. Dealers are tempted to 
recommend and sell those organs on which the largest dis- 
count is made to them, and these are always the poorest and 
most cheaply made Instruments. Hitch allowance must be 
made therefore in listening to the representations of a 
dealer. Very often his judgment is biased by his pecuniary 
interests. 
5. An expedient to sell poororgans. Makers ot 
poor organs generally adopt the expedient of printing enor- 
mous prices in their price-li-ts, so that they can offer Luge 
discounts to purchasers, and thus make it appear that they 
are buying cheap ! The printed prices are frequently double 
the real prices. So far from proving that an organ is cheap " 
because a large discount is offered, there is reason to sus- 
pect that a maker who will misrepresent his price in his 
price-list will misrepresent his organ also in his description 
of U. There is always reason to suspect an article which is 
offered at a large discount. 
O. TUc lowest priced not cheapest. In articles 
of tliis kind. Id the manufacture of which there is so much 
opportunity to slight and cheapen, the lowest priced is almost 
never the cheapest. The poorest can be sold lowest, and al- 
most always will be, while the best is as often the cheapest. 
7. How to be sure of a good organ. There is a 
perfectly safe way to buy an organ, and to be sure of a good 
Instrument. This is to purchase only an instrument by the 
very best maker, whose reputation is so thoroughly estab- 
lished, whose work has \> ieo bo often proved best that there 
is no longer any question in the matter. 
Most readers will know that this is the fact in regard to 
the Mason & Hamlin Organ Co. The first to introduce this 
class of instruments, their work has always stood indis- 
putably at the head. Not only at HUNDREDS OF INDUS- 
TRIAL COMPETITION'S in America, but at the most Im- 
portant WORLD'S PAIRS ever held— that just closed at 
VIENNA, and that at PARIS, In 18G7— they have been 
awarded HIGHEST MEDALS for demonstrated superiority. 
They are the ONLV American Orgaus ever awarded any 
distinction at a World's Fair ; the ONLY ones which com- 
mand extensive sale in Europe, and the ONLY ones exten- 
sively recommended by both America u and European 
musicians of eminence. How generally musicians regard 
them as unrivaled may be Judged by any one who will look 
over the testimony of ONE THOUSAND in the TESTI- 
MONY CIRCULAR of the Company. 
8. Also the lowest price. The system of selling 
pursued by the Mason & Hamlin Co. secures fairness and 
the lowest price to every one. They print their lowest 
prices In their price-lists, which are therefore subject to no 
discount. These prices are not as low as those for which 
poor organs can sometimes be bought, but they are as low 
as organs of such excellence can be afforded by the makers 
having greatest facilities to make them cheapest. Those 
who have been offered organs at great discounts from prlc s 
Of the manufacturers should compare net prices with those 
of the Mason & Hamlin Organ. Remember that they offer 
five-octave, double-reed Organs of that extraordinary ex- 
cellence which characterizes all their work at $110 each. 
The exorbitant prices for very Inferior organs are from 
$170 to $325, and upwards. 
The Mason & Hamlin Organ Co. have just REDUCED the 
PRICES of many styles, and are Introducing new styles 
more beautiful and excellent than any they have made be- 
fore, at low prices rendered possible only by reduced cost 
of material and labor. 
Illustrated Catalogues and Price-Lists free. 
Address 
MASON & HAMLIN ORGAN CO., 
Boston, New York, or Chicago. 
GeoPKowei4(o. 
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