Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
change has had a reflex effect upon trade
conditions so that the local merchants every-
where have slackened in their endeavor to
promote trade.
As a rule, they advertise less and push
their business with less energy at certain
EDWARD LYMAN BILL
periods of the year than formerly. It
Editor and Proprietor.
seems to be more of a concentrating of
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY energy in a short time, and a relaxing after
a certain period is past.
3 East 14th St.. New York
There is, as the population and purchas-
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage) United States and
Canada, $3.00 per year; Foreign Countries, $4.00.
ing power of the people grows, more busi-
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per
ness done in the whole year than ever.
Insertion. On quarterly or yearly contracts t - special dis-
count is allowed.
The periods of large sales are distributed
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should
*• made payable to Edward Lyman Bill.
over longer separated periods of trade ac-
Bnteredatthi New York Post Office as Second-Clans Mmtttr. tivity during the year. Only it is disap-
pointing to a merchant to find that he has
NEW YORK, AUGUST 22, 1896
done so poorly such and such months of the
TELEPHONE NUMBER 1745. — EIGHTEENTH 5TREET.
year. It has, perhaps, a depressing effect
or influence upon him, but it seems to be
"THE BUSINESS MAN'S PAPER."
the custom, and a difficult one to change.
Take in the retail piano trade. Dealers
expect comparatively small impetus to
their fall trade until about the first or mid-
dle of October, when the people shall have
returned from their vacations and trips
abroad, and have thoroughly renovated and
rearranged their household effects.
Take in New York, from say the middle
of October until the middle of November,
the great bulk of fall trade is transacted.
There is a slackening down until just before
the holidays, when naturally there is an in-
creased demand ; after that a relaxation un-
til the spring months—after May moving.
We have unconsciously drifted into these
habits, and it is a question whether we will
see any material change from these present
existing conditions during this generation.
Summer retail trade this year is light,
,'TRADE CHANGES-BUSINESS PROS-
PECTS.
some say, but what summer has there really
URING the past two decades the been a heavy retail trade?
As for manufacturing, there is no deny-
seasons of trade life have steadily
been undergoing constant changes, in that ing the fact that at the present time factor-
trade is concentrated more and more in ies should be busy—in fact, should be run-
one or two months in the spring and a ning full, if not overtime in their prepara-
like period during the fall. We particu- tion for the early fall trade.
larly allude to the retail trade in this state-
In piano manufacturing it is not easy to
ment.
fill orders with a desired promptitude un-
Let us cast a retrospective glance at the less there has been ample preparation made
trade in this city and elsewhere.
in the matter of accumulated stock.
Confronted, as he is, by the present de-
If we look back over a period of a decade
or more we find that the trade during the pressing conditions, there is indeed little
summer months was much better in all encouragement for the piano manufacturer
lines than it has been subsequently. Time to go ahead with his customary vim and
was when there was not such an exodus accumulate a large amount of manufact-
from the cities and towns during the va- ured stock. He figures, perhaps wisely,
cation period as at present. The old timer that trade at its best this year will be fit-
passed more of his time in the neighborhood ful, that there is no reliance to be placed on
of his business than during later years.
a steady demand for musical instruments.
There is a vast moving population during The market will be unsteady-—hence man-
the summer months which to a large extent ufacturing is curtailed.
are not purchasers. Then, again, this
The manufacture of a large number of
D
instruments during the next month means
a large outlay of money; it means an exten-
sive outlay in the matter of labor and ma-
terial.
Bourke Cockran says, "Every great in-
dustrial enterprise has for its chief credit-
ors its own laborers. The heaviest account
in every department of industry, whatever
it may be, is always the wages account."
As.the battle of the standards is being
waged with increased fierceness and inten-
sity, so the business enterprises of this
country halt, and the wheels of industry are,
through lack of confidence in our politico-
financial future, semi-paralyzed.
There is no need—in fact, it is better not
to look at the situation through rose-colored
glasses. Piano manufacturers would act
\mwisely were they to operate their factor-
ies to their fullest capacity in the accumu-
lation of manufactured stock. Because no
matter if one special industry may show
that it has confidence in the country's
future, it would do little good indeed to-
wards restoring general prosperity unless
its action were adopted by men of all trades
—men who deal in money—who control the
finances of the country, as well as the men
who control its manufactures. One is just
as necessary as the other in the mainten-
ance of the nation's prosperity and welfare,
and until confidence in this country's finan-
cial policy is fully restored—until the Pop-
ulist and Popocrat shall have been buried
together with his visionary schemes, under
an avalanche of votes next November, we
shall stagger and stumble along in an un-
certain and indecisive way.
Capital remains idle; its owners have lost
confidence in investments. It is earning
nothing for them ; labor is not employed;
hence stagnancy exists on all hands.
It is the activity of money that makes the
nation as well as the individual prosperous.
It is the hoarding of money which retards
enterprise.
It is true that as the weeks roll on the sil-
ver spectre behind which lurks the cloak of
anarchy—of repudiation—of national dis-
honor, may become less distinct. It is to be
hoped so, and it seems to be the duty of
every American who has the interest of his
country at heart to do all he can to enlighten
his fellow man who may be stumbling along
hugging the delicious belief that free silver
means prosperity—that the welfare of
America depends upon the facilities of the
Engraving Bureau to print bank notes by
the ton.
We do not wish to be misunderstood as
taking a pessimistic view of the present
conditions. We do believe, however, in
taking a serious view of the misfortunes