Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
EDWARD LVMAN
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
ertion. On quarterly
q
insertion.
or yearly contracts a special 1
count is allowec
ed.
REMITTANCES, to other than currency form, should
%• made payable to Edward Lyman Bill.
Entered at th* New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
NEW YORK, HARCH 27, 1897.
TELEPHONE NUMBER 1745. — EIQHTEENTH STREET.
The first week of each month, The Review
will contain a supplement embodying the liter-
ary and musical features which have heretofore
appeared in The Keynote. This amalgamation
will be effected without in any way trespassing
on our regular news service. The Review will
continue to remain, as before, essentially a trade
paper.
The Trade Directory, which is a feature of
The Review each month, is complete. In it ap-
pears the names and addresses of all firms en=
gaged in the manufacture of musical instruments
and the allied trades. The Review is sent to
the United States Consulates throughout the
world, and is on file in the reading rooms of the
principal hotels in America.
T
HE increased demand for mechanical
contrivances or attachments for musical
instruments which remove the difficulty of
learning or entirely replace the performer,
or afford a number of effects whereby the
tone is colored and the monotony relieved,
has been so pronounced during the past
year as to invite comment; and from all
reports, the demand is still growing.
With the growth in popularity of the
autoharps and other instruments of the
same class in the string family, it was pre-
dicted by some wiseacres that the small
goods trade in banjos, mandolins, and
other string instruments not so easily man-
ipulated would suffer. The contrary has
been the case, however.
Automatic attachments for instruments,
including pianos and organs, act largely as
educators, and are in a great measure pur-
chased by a class of people who never have
had or probably never would have a musi-
cal instrument in their home, were extra-
ordinary skill or pains necessary to manipu-
late it.
The many advantages of musical instru-
ments of the automatic family is that any
one can master them after a little practice,
while their repertoire is unlimited and the
effects delightful. Thus the automatic
age, now upon us, is not without its ad-
vantages. As far as it relates to musical
instruments, a great influence for good is
disseminated among the masses; a deeper
love for music is inculcated. The result
is an increased demand for musical pro-
ducts of all kinds. Those musically in-
clined will be prone, as heretofore, to bring
forth the charms of a musical instrument
without automatic aid; on the other hand,
a big army of people, not so patient, yet
not less appreciative, will bless their stars
that they are living in times when results
that are as satisfactor)' as they are wonder-
ful are possible without years of effort.
The main point which we wish to empha-
size in connection with these generaliza-
tions is that the number of automatic
improvements making their appearance
week after week are not or will not injure
the standard product in the trade field.
The automatic instruments have a mission,
and they are filling it to the advantage of
all the other musical instruments. In the
end all are benefited.
of our patrons. Occupied as we are in the
legitimate pursuit of journalism we have
little time and less inclination to criticise
the works of our contemporaries as long as
they are confined in the main to decency.
We are interested in the success of The
Review, and in order to maintain the pres-
tige which it has fairly won, we can hardly
see the necessity of criticizing the positions
held by our contemporaries. Judgment is
passed upon them according to the evidence
presented by their own deeds, and not
what we, who possibly would be influenced
by personal motives, may say of them.
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The basis of profits is an interesting
question to every business man, particu-
larly so owing to the marked change during
the past few years in our commercial
methods. It is the general opinion held
to-day by a large portion of the community
that wealthy manufacturers acquire their
fortunes by charging exorbitant prices for
their products. This is a mistake, and it
is very cleverly shown herewith by The
Hardware Trade: Profits are made in two
ways: by economy of production and by
a profit on the sale. Economy of produc-
tion does not mean that low wages are paid
for labor, but it means that a sharp lookout
has been kept against waste. There has
been economy of shipment, economy of
service in the traveling field, economy and
good judgment in the purchase of supplies;
these are the factors that, carefully watched,
mean a profit to the maker of the goods,
without any trespass on good wages.
Then in the sale of goods only a small
profit is charged. Competition is too sharp
to permit of any other practice. The sur-
plus is not made up from a large profit on
a few articles sold, but from a small profit
on many articles sold. The consumer is
seldom wronged in the matter of profit on
merchandise of any class. The dealer who
sells 10,000 articles at a profit of ten cents
each has made more money than the dealer
who sold 3,000 articles at a profit of twenty-
five cents each. This is the principle on
which Vanderbilt laid the foundation of
his great fortune. When he opened his
freight line into Chicago, he cut freight
rates squarely in two to begin with. This
gave the shipper a big saving, but it at the
same time made very much more money
for Yanderbilt than if the old rate had
been maintained. More people could buy
goods because of the reduction this differ-
ence afforded.
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One of our local contemporaries devotes
considerable space to alleged interviews
with manufacturers regarding the status of
the different trade papers. Of course it is
generally understood that the interviews
are purely a fake, but it reveals a peculiar
condition existing in the affairs of the paper
which may be interpreted as meaning that
it feels severely the competition of its con-
temporaries and seeks by every means to
belittle them.
Clouds of smoke usually denote the ex-
istence of fire.
It is a truth that no newspaper has ever
been injured by the malicious attacks of a
rival. It ceases to exist by reason of the
fact that it fails to produce that which meets
with popular approval.
We never have believed in devoting any
of our time or space in a general way to
the affairs of our contemporaries; in fact
we have believed that the trade cares very
little what our opinion may be of any of
the men who are engaged in the same
vocation as ourselves. What they do
care about is this—our ability to produce a
paper that has real merit—that is of value
—and whose utterances carry weight. We
are of the opinion that our policy is the
correct one, substantial evidence of which
may be seen in the steadily increasing ad-
vertising patronage placed with The Re-
view notwithstanding the general depres-
sion of the times. There is evidence ir-
refutable in that of the real esteem in which
a paper is held by its constituency.
The abuse of a contemporary is all tom-
myrot. A paper is weighed by the intelli-
Advocates of the National bankruptcy
gent class of readers who peruse it, and we law have been much encouraged by the in-
are always willing to abide by the decision terest manifested in the bankruptcy ques-