<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1458" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: = Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=rol= e_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV> <DIV>In a message dated 12/11/2004 10:25:34 A.M. Central Standard Time, Erwinspiano@aol.com writes:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><= FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size= =3><FONT size=3>Speaking of ethical questions If you think the price was high for= the Poor Elephants. I've heard the death toll to the indigenous tribes who wer= e kidnapped to haul it out to the coast was about 6 people per LB or several= people per keyboard or some such. Very gruesome. It was a barbarous busine= ss. There is a book out that document this & the name of it escapes me rig= ht now but I was shocked. Makes one  think!</FONT></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV>There was an article in the Journal about this back in the late 80's, a= nd someone gave a class on ivories at the convention in 1987 in St. Louis.</DIV= > <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>You're right, it was a gruesome event. One curious thing I remember. The action maker Pratt Reed started out as in the ivory business back in the 1700 and 1800's, making combs, and such. The= y got their ivory after the slaves were dropped off in the south. But what was= ironic is that either Mr. Pratt or Mr. Reed was an abolitionist.  </DIV= > <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Wim <DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"= >Willem Blees, RPT<BR>Piano Technician<BR>School of Music<BR>University of Alabama</FONT></DIV></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>