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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Pointers for Exporters.
WHAT THE AMERICAN MANUFACTURER SHOULD
DO AND WHAT HE SHOULD NOT DO—THE IM-
PORTANCE OF A WELL-ESTABLISHED EX-
PORT TRADE K: MORE THOROUGHLY
REALIZED IN ALL QUARTERS
THAN EVE!' BEFORE.
There has never been a time in the
history of American industry when manu-
facturers realized more fully the import-
ance to them personally of a well-estab-
lished and developing export trade.
For years they have labored to meet the
demands of a rapidly increasing domestic
business, but their development and capa-
city have expanded so enormously that,
notwithstanding a home market of vast ex-
tent, they are able to produce more than is
required here.
This surplus, they have learned, can be
surely and profitably disposed of in export.
For a long time the cry of " cheap foreign
labor" restrained American manufactur-
ers from attempting the foreign field, but
the effects of labor-saving machinery, im-
proved methods and greatly reduced cost
of materials have more than off-set the dis-
advantage, and there is hardly a field of
any importance in which American made
goods do not now compete—and compete
successfully.
What would have been said a few years
ago if it had been predicted that American
cutlery would find a market in Sheffield,
and that American steel rails would win
their way in Brimingham? And yet to-
day these articles and thousand of others
are competing with success throughout the
world.
In foreign countries the people have
learned that American manufactures are
adapted to their needs, and in many instan-
ces have points of superiority over articles
of the same sort formerly sold in their
markets.
The great export trade which has been
developed in recent years has naturally
caused every manufacturer who has not
shared in its advantage to ask why he, too,
cannot come in for a part of this business.
In a general way it may be said that the
conditions governing export trade are the
same as those which govern the domestic
markets.
Some important differences,
however, must be understood and con-
sidered if the seeker after export business
is to succeed.
In export as in all trade the first thing
for the seller to do is to get in touch with
probable buyers, and the best methods of
doing this are the same in both domestic
and foreign business.
A salesman to be of value in a foreign
country must be a man of exceptional
ability, and many requirements enter into
the question of his success which are not
paramount at home. He must not only
understand the merits of his employer's
goods, but must at all times be familiar
with the general business conditions, the
customs, the wants and the language of the
people he is to visit.
In addition he must be energetic and a
man of good business habits, who has his
employer's interest at heart. This is of
prime importance. The foreign salesman
is frequently so placed that communication
w r ith the home office is rare, and the incen-
tive to effort must rest in the salesman
himself. An ambitious salesman can do
more to further the development of foreign
trade than any other means, and he repre-
sents one of the most potent factors that
enter into the question. The employment
of individual salesmen is expensive, and
firms who are making their first bids for
foreign patronage are frequently unwilling
or unable to bear such expense. Local
agents in foreign countries are of great
assistance in such cases, as indeed they are
to those whose trade is already established.
In the case of agents, the requirements are
much the same as in that of the salesman.
The agent must be wideawake and reliable,
or he is apt to prove expensive to the man-
ufacturer.
It is generally agreed by those who have
made a study of export trade that such
agents should not be given exclusive con-
trol of goods in any territory, except in
cases where they are able to guarantee ade-
quate returns. "Competition is the life
of trade," a fact which is as true of the
foreign market as of any other.
The manufacturer should reserve the
right to discontinue such agencies as are
found to handicap the trade or obstruct its
proper development.
LOOK AND LISTEN.
Yes, look at it and see an organ artistically made of the best
materials and with the greatest skill of the most experienced work-
men. Look it all over, from pedals
-, to music rack, and
it's just the same. ^
g 1 A But listen! Ah, if the
look pleased you,
^^
4 ^ £ 1 Iw \ ^ o w m u c h more the
tone? And yet, it \ {^
# fl {J^'M
\ i s n t strange that
fifty years of voicing \ ^ ^ Lw^**^
19
\ r e e c * s should result
in the sweet toned \ ^ ^ ^ # ^ ^
^
-
Estey, ever sweeter
and clearer with eachL__———~~~"
new instrument that comes
from the factory, else what were the uses of experience ?
SEND FOR CATALOGUE
ESTEY ORGAN CO-,
ERATTLEBORO, VT,
Why Not Enforce the Law ?
THIS WOULD AT LEAST PREVENT FALSE
STATEMENTS 15EING MADE WHICH INJURE
LEGITIMATE TRADE.
In his editorial on the department store
question in Music Trades last week, John
C. Freund very properly says the issue "is
not the department store, as such, but the
department store's methods, its false ad-
vertisements, its claim that it is giving the
public full value when, in reality, it is do-
ing nothing of the kind.
"What can be done? What should be
done?
"There is a law in this state against
fraudulent advertising.
Under this law
the piano manufacturers'associations should
engage counsel and cause the arrest of the
managers of all department stores making
fraudulent claims as to the instruments
they have to sell.
"This is what the Jewelers' Association
did when the department stores fraudulent-
ly advertised sterling silver.
"If the piano manufacturers' associations
do not take this action then they are not
worth the powder to blow them to Wash-
ington, New Jersey."
It is timely now to quote the provisions
of this act, aimed at "fake advertising,"
which became a law early in the year. It
is certaraly comprehensive enough to apply
to the department stores' methods of pub-
licity:
"Any firm, person, or partnership of
persons, or any employee of a firm, person,
or partnership of persons, who, either in
the newspapers or other periodicals of this
State, or in public advertisements, or in
communications intended for a large num-
ber of persons, knowingly make or dissem-
inate any statements or assertions of facts
with respect to his or her or their business
affairs, especially concerning the quantity,
the quality, the value, the price, the
method of production of manufacture, or
the fixing of the price of his, her, or their
merchandise or professional work; or the
manner or source of purchase of such mer-
chandise ; or the possession of awards, dis-
tinctions, or the motive or purpose of a
sale, intended to have the appearance of a
particularly advantageous offer, which are
untrue or calculated to mislead, shall be
guilty of a misdemeanor."
Celebrates Tenth Anniversary.
The store of E. Heuer & Co. had its
front finely decorated all day yesterday and
last night a blaze of electric light told the
public that the firm was ten years old, says
the Two Republics, of Mexico City, Mex.
Mr. Harry Heuer was busy all day receiv-
ing congratulations and was prepared with
his usual foresight to make everybody who
called feel as happy as people generally do,
when helping somebody else to celebrate
his birthday. Of course the pianos in the
store were kept busy too.
Andrew Nembach, Jr., manager of the
piano department of Ilsen & Co., Cincin-
nati, O., was last week honored by election
as Worshipful Master of Lafayette Lodge
of Masons.