The good old days

It is generally conceded that the use of brass musical instruments has greatly increased in this country during the last ten years. Few persons, however, have any accurate idea of the appalling progress which this terrible vice has made. There is probably not a village in the whole country without its habitual and shameless player on the cornet, while the number of those who are addicted to brass instruments, either openly and to an extent which they call "moderate," or secretly and to a ruinous excess, is estimated by trustworthy statisticians to amount to fully 3 per cent of our entire adult population. In comparison with these figures the prevalence of drunkenness becomes insignificant and opium-eating hardly deserves notice.
Brass Instrument Habit, NYT 7/28/1880 on New York Times site or Scribd

Another worthy read: American Brass Band, NYT 8/25/1880 on NYT site or Scribd