Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
• »-EDWARD LYMAN
minds of many with inactivity and insecurity.
But all that is past. We are dealing with the
new South to-day, composed of a people that
will in due time be as powerful factors in the
great industrial development of this country
as their confreres in the North and West.
Editor and Proprietor
week a call at various manufacturing
points in New England has brought to view
~
the evidence that while certain parts of New
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage), United States,
Mexico and Canada, fa.00 per year ; all other countries,
England are suffering from strikes, yet as a
$3-00.
ADVERTISEnFNTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per
whole
that portion of the country is in a
insertion. On quarterly or yearly contracts a special dis-
count is allowed. Advertising Pages $50.00, opposite read-
prosperous
condition. The strike of the
ing matter $75.00.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should
mill operatives is purely local, and there is at
be made payable to Edward Lyman Bill.
the
bottom of it natural causes which threaten
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Clast Matter.
the destruction of certain lines of manufact-
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 12, 1898.
ures in New England.
TELEPHONE NUMBER, 1745-.EIQHTEEl\Tr! STREET.
Southern competition in special brands of
THE KEYNOTE.
manufactured goods has become a formidable
The first week of each month, The Review will
contain a supplement embodying the literary
factor. Every day the South is gaining in the
and musical features which have heretofore
manufacture of certain grades of cotton goods.
appeared in The Keynote. This amalgamation
will be effected without in any way trespassing
But as far as business in this trade goes, in a
on our regular news service. The Review will
continue to remain, as before, essentially a
national way, the New England strike does not
trade paper.
affect it in the slightest. If there is a slack-
Owing to Lincoln's Birthday falling on our ening of trade in New England there is a cor-
publication day, The Review appears this week responding increase in output in the South,
one day earlier than usual.
or some other specially favored region.
Of course trade in Boston and tributary
OUT FROM THE THAW.
points has been seriously crippled by rea-
THE growth of manufacturing enterprises in son of the recent storm which completely cut
the South within a comparatively short off that section of the country from the rest
period of years has evidently been unnoticed of the world.
in the North, judging from the publicity which
Occasionally nature takes it into its head
the matter is getting these days, due no doubt to remind man that he is only a pigmy after
to the strike of operatives in the cotton mills all, and that his works are the merest toys
of New Bedford, the cause of which is laid to when compared with natural forces. How-
Southern competition.
ever, most of the citizens of New England
The people of the South have apparently have now fairly dug themselves out from
awakened from their lethargy and are forging under the snow banks where they were over-
their way ahead along industrial lines at a topped, and business has resumed its normal
tremendous pace. Only this week manufac- conditions.
turers from all parts of Georgia, representing
every industry in that State, assembled in \UE had occasion recently to interview a
convention at Atlanta, for the purpose of in-
number of manufacturers regarding the good
augurating a movement for an amendment to to be derived by joining the National Piano
the State constitution, which will permit Manufacturers' Association. There is no mis-
municipalities to exempt manufacturing enter- taking the fact that the national association
prises from taxation for a term of years. This idea has taken a firm root in certain sections
policy has been in vogue in a number of of this country. Many manufacturers are of
Southern States, and their progress in manu- the opinion that by organization they can
facture has been remarkable.
eliminate many of the disagreeable features
In the retail field throughout the South which are closely allied with modern trade
there has been a development within a recent methods.
To-day the business man, in order to be
period almost as great as in manufacturing,
and it is worthy of remark that Western manu- successful, must study every detail of his af-
facturers, including those of the music trade fairs with careful scrutiny. There are, how-
industry, have catered actively for this trade, ever, some features which it is difficult to
while Eastern firms have practically ignored overcome or remove. If he can get his com-
this section of the country. As a consequence petitor to agree with him on certain lines of
the piano men of the West are controlling a procedure, then the removal becomes much
splendid trade throughout the Southern States, easier than if he goes it alone, so to speak.
while the business transacted with the East is
Another thing men are figuring on now is
comparatively insignificant.
how to cut off unnecessary expense in the
Somehow the South is associated in the manufacturing and marketing of their wares.
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY
3 East 14th St., New York
A good many this year are paring the rind
very close, and as we have mentioned a good
many believe that by consolidation they can
materially reduce expenses, make profits
greater, and at the same time run their busi-
ness with less loss. Competition, that is if it
is of the right kind, stimulates business activ-
ity. It compels studious management, prunes
expenses where they should be cut and in
every way aids the merchant and manufac-
turer.
QO long as many houses compete for the
same trade so long will bitter competition
exist, but it makes a vast difference whether
men compete who bear an ill-will to each
other, who hate each other, who each claim
superiority over the other, who are extremely
jealous of each other's advancement or pre-
ferment, or when they compete on a liberal,
tolerant and friendly basis.
There is a great deal of work to be done
by associations that cannot be done by in-
dividuals, and which if properly attended to,
would ultimately place our business on a
more profitable basis. It is a misconception
to figure everything from the selfish, sub-
jective standpoint and to lose sight of the
great benefits to be derived by co-operative
work simply because we lose a bill or because
one member displays a little more smartness,
activity, push or energy than is displayed by
others.
IT was four years ago that The Review rep-
resentative personally toured Mexico,
shortly after which an edition of The Review
was published in Spanish, reaching the entire
trade in Mexico, Cuba, Central and South
America.
Our action at that time did much toward
stimulating trade relations with the countries
in Latin America, and it gave The Review a
recognized position in all of these countries.
One thing, however, which we learned
at that time by personal travel and corre-
spondence, was, that the music trade
dealers in the main throughout all Spanish
America are either Germans or of English
descent, and that they speak and read Eng-
lish fluently, therefore it is of no particular
object to publish papers in Spanish, when the
trade readers in these countries speak and
read English quite as easily as the language
of the Dons. If others will investigate the
field as closely as we have, they probably will
arrive at the same conclusion.
THE already large family of trusts in the
United States appears to be steadily in-
creasing, and criticisms of the "trust" princi-
ple in industrial affairs by the press and the
investigation and the enactment of laws by
legislative authority seem impotent to check
the tendency towards combination in business