Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
to find a number of advertisements of
which the following is a fair illustration:
EDWARD LYMAN BILL
Editor and Proprietor.
PUBLISHED
EVERY
SATURDAY
3 East 14th St.. New York
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage) United States and
Canada, $3.00 per year; Foreign Countries, $4.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per
Insertion. On q uarterly or yearly contracts L- special dis-
count is allowed.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should
tw made payable to Edward Lyman BilL
Bntertdmtth* New York Post Office as Second Cla.s Matter.
NEW YORK, MAY 23, 1896
••THE BUSINESS MAN'S PAPER."
HE editor of a local contemporary in
comparing the conditions which exist
in the bicycle trade with those of our own,
has considerable to say regarding contrast-
ing methods. After dilating upon the fact
that he has visited many bicycle factories
and has absorbed all the intricacies of the
inner circle of the bicycle bxisiness, the
editor in question says:
In going among the makers of the
cheaper grades, that is among those who
charge from $60 to $85 for a bicycle, I
found a precisely similar condition of
affairs existing. All had their prices and
terms, and stood by them.
T
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#
*
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I found, furthermore, that all the appli-
ances which go to make up a full bicycle
outfit, such as the bell, lamp, cyclometer
for recording distances, are all regularly
charged for. They are not "thrown in," as
the piano stool and cover are.
This is really good. It shows what
studied thought, careful a t t e n t i o n ,
thorough analysis of all the detail work
and absolute truth which our contemporary
imparts, because we only have to study the
columns of the daily papers of New York
IHUBRENTWmt complete with\
BI€YCLE
]Lamp&BelM
THE WINKER^Complete with)
BICYCLE } Lamp & Bell,)
FREE INSTRUCTIONS to intending Pur-
chasers on our cycle truck by
competent instructors.
This is only a specimen of the many ads
which are appearing in the daily papers all
over America in connection with the bicycle
business. It proves that our contemporary
could have gained all the information,
which it alleged to have absorbed by
simply scanning the columns of the daily
papers without all this wear and tear inci-
dent to interviewing bicycle manufacturers
and traveling innumerable miles through
the various factories. This is hard, par-
ticularly when the mercury is soaring into
the nineties, and when a man's avoirdupois
has passed beyond the 200 notch.
Besides, the truth and sincerity of the
article, or at least the weight of its com-
parisons, goes down with a dull, heavy
thud.
It is well enough for a man to pose as
authority in certain lines, but before he
attempts to pose before an intelligent audi-
ence, he should at least post himself in the
elementary principles surrounding that
upon which he proposes to instruct his con-
stituency.
The real facts in the case summed up in
few words, are these: The same conditions
prevail regarding the 'throwing in" of the
fixings, etc., in the bicycle business that
have existed in the piano trade for a long
time regarding the including of a stool and
scarf in the purchase of a piano.
The bicycle men have cut prices too, just
as largely as have piano men. The wheels
that are said to be held at a certain strict
valuation and a "uniform charge of $100,"
have been considerably reduced in price
by reason of special discounts.
Again, dealers have removed the obstacle
of a "fixed price" by running a $100 cycle
around the block, bringing it back, then it
becomes second-hand, and, of course, can
be sold as "just as good as new."
We know of instances where pianos
which have been lightly touched upon have
been advertised as "some second-hand
pianos of our own make, slightly used,"
etc.
Merely a change of environment does not
radically change human nature. Men who
are engaged in different lines of manufac-
ture adopt certain methods which commend
themselves to them as most feasible to dis-
pose of their wares. If a little elongation
of conscience is necessary to overcome
certain obstacles, the stretching necessary
is at once begun. It is all nonsense to talk
about different conditions in the bicycle
trade, and holding strictly to one price and
no "throwings in."
There is just as much of it in the bicycle
business as exists in the piano trade, and
then the bicycle trade is much younger in
years.
If the editor of our contemporary was
not suffering from myopic astigmatism of
many years standing, he might be able to
discern with a clearer faculty that the con-
ditions are not so different in the bicycle
trade than in the piano business.
That local jealousies in the former trade
are not entirely eliminated, and men will
perform all sorts of "tricks of the trade" in
order that they may dispose of certain
wheels in which they are pecuniarily in-
terested.
It is arrant rot as well as an insult to the
intelligence of our own trade for a man who
draws his sustenance from the music trade
to attempt to decry our own methods by
lauding those which are glaringly inconsis-
tent.
#
#
In these times of business stagnancy the
individual as well as a paper has public
duties to perform, and should use discrimi-
nating judgment in the dissemination of
rumors of such a nature that are calculated
to injure the business reputation or under-
mine the credit of an individual or corpo-
ration.
These are troublous times, and any
added weight through the circulation of
false rumors may poison public opinion so
that a collapse may be precipitated in cer-
tain instances where really there is no
cause for alarm.
The paths of many business men are not
plentifully strewn with roses in these times,
and it should be borne well in mind that it
is easy to give circulation to a report which
will injure, and after it has attained a
certain impetus, it is indeed difficult to
control it. Insidious slander is hard at all
times to successfully refute.
• #
#
It seems to us after glancing over a num-
ber of our exchanges that there has been
special animus directed toward the busi-
ness of Haines Bros. Co., incorporated.
Now, all of this is not only unjust, but it
is decidedly unfair journalism.
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW stands for the
right always, and while we with others for
particular reasons perhaps do not feel the
most cordial toward the old establishment
of Haines Bros., of which Napoleon J.
Haines was the founder as well as the
founderer, yet we think that as a paper we
have no right to indulge in any disreputable