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THE MUSIC TRAUB REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN
Edltor 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, $3.90 per inch, single column, per
WMrtion. On quarterly or yearly contracts a special dis-
count is allowed.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should
to mad* payabl* to Edward Lyman BilL
Jktf*r*d*tth* New YtrkPltst Officeas Second-Class Mmttmr,
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 16, 1897.
TELEPHONE NUriBER. 1745.--EIGHTEENTH STREET.
THE KEYNOTE.
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 atrade
paper.
THE TRADE DIRECTORY.
The Trade Directory, which is a feature of
The Review each month, is complete. In it ap-
pear 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.
THE SPECIAL SALE.
HE evolution of the piano trade along
popular or commercial lines is quite
apparent in the growing frequency of the
use of special sales as a medium to boom
business. The advertising columns of the
daily papers in different parts of the coun-
try demonstrate that piano dealers are ap-
parently under the impression that the
special sale is a trade tonic, not confined to
times or seasons.
There was a time when dealers secured
trade without recourse to the methods of
the 99-cent counter stores, and somehow
as many pianos were sold then as now.
It is an open question whether the spe-
cial price sale, as conducted to-day, is not
a doubtful trade lever, and we are of the
opinion that unless different methods are
pursued it is destined to damage the deal-
ers' business standing and reputation.
Too free use, or the use at all, of special
sales is hardly calculated to dignify the
piano trade. It may be all right in the dry
goods or other lines, but, thank goodness,
pianos, unless they be the veriest rattle
boxes, are more entitled to the term "art"
than " commercial" products. They are
therefore worthy some special considera-
ion in this connection as opposed to "dress
T
goods " and a hundred and one other com-
modities usually advertised under the
special-sale heading.
Every sensible person who intends to
purchase a piano knows well enough that
no dealer can afford to sell his goods at fire-
sale prices and escape bankruptcy. Hence
the men who practice these methods are ig-
nored by that class of purchasers whose
custom and support is of value and profit,
not through any desire to save him from
the sheriff, but they doubt his statements
and his word; and here is where the piano
dealer who believes in this plan of trade
building is injured.
Of course the conduct of one's business
is purely a personal matter, but when the
means employed tend to injure the trade at
large, it then becomes the duty of a paper
to throw the searchlight of publicity on,
and if necessary to condemn,these methods.
In these remarks a distinction must be
clearly made between the legitimate and
bogus sale. There are too many of the latter,
and too few of the genuine, but the effect
in general is injurious.
We want less of these special sales in the
piano trade. They demoralize business
for the time being, and in the end injure
the dealer who inaugurates them and who
knows of no other way to win trade.
Now that good times are here it seems
to us that legitimate trade can be secured
by ordinary means, without indulging in
this questionable method of augmenting
business.
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#
THE GOVERNMENT LOSES.
The Government has lost its case before
the general appraisers concerning the time
at which the Dingley bill became a law.
The decision, written by General Apprais-
ers Henderson and Summerville and con-
curred in by the full board, was handed
down last Saturday. It involves a differ-
ence in duties of between $300,000 and
$400,000.
The Dingley bill was signed by Presi-
dent McKinley at 4:06 P.M. , Saturday, July
24, 1897. This was after the custom houses
of the Atlantic seaboard and about three-
fourths of the offices throughout the country
had closed for the day. The Government
held that it could not recognize fractions of
a day; that since the bill was signed on
July 24, it must take effect from the earliest
movment of that date, and that all entries
and withdrawals liquidated at the old rates
on July 24 must be reliquidated at the
higher Dingley duties.
Many notices of protest were filed by
importers who had paid the cheaper duties,
and all the contestants agreed to abide by
the decision in the appeal above decided.
The Government probably will appeal to
the United States Circuit Court, and event-
ually the case may reach the SupremeCourt,
as the retroactive contention has never been
passed upon by the latter court in a rev-
enue measure.
#
#
UNFAIR COMPETITION.
"Fake " advertising and other methods
which come under the heading of "un-
fair competition" have recently been
considered by the National Association of
Credit Men with the result that steps are
now being taken by that Association for
the protection of the honest retailer from
this particularly unfair mannerof conduct-
ing business.
A short time since a law relating to un-
fair competition went into force in Ger-
many designed to kill off the tricksters
and schemers who abound in the business
world over there. Something on similar
lines was attempted in the last session of
the Legislature of this State. The Amer-
ican people, however, do not take kindly
to legal enactments in a matter of this kind.
In European countries it may obtain suc-
cessfully but not here.
The action taken by the Credit Men's
Association will, meanwhile, exert a pow-
erful influence toward ridding the business
world of speculators who through false
statements and innumerable illegitimate
means fool the public to the injury of the
honest business man. We understand the
National Association will soon set the ne-
cessary machinery in motion; the move is
certain to receive the support of retailers
in all industries.
#
#
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT.
There are a great many would-be
philosophers who hold to the idea that
money has some mysterious power of itself,
and that great combinations of capital are
necessarily dangerous to the best interests
of the people. It is strange that these phil-
osophers can ignore the facts which prove
that capital is powerless unless there is the
managing business intelligence to use it.
One need only look at the records of busi-
ness failures for the evidence showing that
the mere possession of capital is only a
comparatively small factor, and that this
possession does not prevent nine out of
ten who start in business from failure and
ruin.
A striking example, adduced by the Law-
yer and Creditman of the weakness of
capital when management is lacking is the
recent history of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad. Here was a great massing of
capital and a virtual monopoly of trans-