Music Trade Review

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M
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
of our country for pianos, and that last to meet the complacent reception among dry
winter during the unprecedented spell of goods men that has been awarded them in
cold weather, the surface of thousands of other lines. The continual price-cutting on
instruments in the South was injured dur- sugar and a few other commodities con-
ing- the cold snap. But for a dealer to ship trolled by trusts and carried on by the gro-
back five instruments out during a period of cery departments of large department stores
from four months to two years in such is not viewed by the combines that make the
condition is the sort of action we fail to goods with unalloyed pleasure. Perhaps it
understand as belonging to the appreciative is going to be the department store that
class. The manufacturer wrote the dealer, will be the Moses to lead the consuming
stating fairly that he did not consider him- public out of the wilderness of trusts and
self liable for damage caused to instru- monopolies, and those who were quickest
ments by the atmospheric changes and to condemn the department store will rise
exposure to the elements, neither did he up and bless it.
believe any other manufacturer would. He
DOTS AND DASHES.
. asked the dealer to name one manufacturer,
he would appoint another, while the two T H E policy of strict silence is maintained
by our once formidable, now discred-
would appoint a third who would adjust
ited,
contemporary as long as an adver-
the matter, and that he would abide by
tiser continues to pay the price, but the
their decision, be it what it may.
moment he refuses to acquiesce in the de-
To this the dealer demurred. He wished
mands of the editor and withdraws his ad-
all or nothing, no board of adjustment
vertisement, a bombardment of abuse at
would satisfy him. He claimed deductions,
once is inaugurated. "The rotten stencil"
and what is more he took them, and the
only affords a thin pretext for attack. If
result is, the manufacturer has on his
there were sincerity behind these attacks,
hands five instruments of uncertain worth
let us ask why those firms who are pro-
and has lost his representative as well.
nounced stencillers and who continue to ad-
Such incidents are certainly very trying,
vertise in the columns of our once formida-
and if they are to be carried to such con-
ble are free entirely from personal attacks?
clusion it is difficult indeed to determine just
Let any one who has a knowledge of
where the manufacturer's profit comes in.
trade conditions consult the columns of
. Another instance in mind: A gentleman
our contemporary and he will quickly real-
had purchased a piano of a well-known
ize that well-known stencillers still are rep-
New York make some five years ago. Last
resented in its pages, and they are given
winter he was away South with his family
immunity from abuse.
during the cold spell, and there was no fire
What are the deductions that we shall
in the room in which the piano was located.
draw
from this ?
When he came back in the Spring a rousing
Simply this: That our once formidable
fire was built for his reception, and a few
has
never for one moment been anything
days after to his astonishment he discov-
else
than hypocritical upon the stencil mat-
ered that the varnish on the piano, which
by the way was near the fire, had blistered. ter. It is true it has frequently referred
A closer examination showed that the to it in abusive terms, but only when some
strings were rusted. He at once reported advertiser refused to comply with its de-
the condition of his instrument to the man- mands. It is a disgrace and a blot upon
ufacturers and claimed according to his this trade that such conditions exist where
honorable, and reputable firms are sub-
warranty a new instrument.
jected to violent abuse simply through an
Think of that. And still there are those
expressed desire on their part to conduct
who claim that the piano-maker's paths are
their business as they chose.
those of peace and quietude. Well, they
Members of the National Piano Manufac-
may be, but the fact is not conspicuously
turers' Association are interested in this
apparent as we view it.
matter and every one in the trade is;
whether they manufacture stencil pianos
DEPARTMENT STORE ATTITUDE,
or not, there is at stake a vital issue which
L J E R E is an item which will interest
none can afford to overlook.
those who have been condemning de-
partment stores and their methods:
T H A T the leadership of the United States
in commercial and industrial matters is
The thread trust is being openly defied
in Chicago. Last week the Boston Store coming to be recognized by the more
of that city came out boldly and said that thoughtful men of Europe there is a grow-
the trust had refused to sell them, but ing amount of evidence to prove. The
that they would still continue to offer the latest dictum on this head is found in an
standard brands at 2 cents per spool. Evi- interview cabled to New York from Lon-
dently the trade combinations are not going don this week which a reporter had with
Lord Revelstoke, who is a director of the
Bank of England and a member of the
banking house of Baring Brothers & Co.,
Limited, and who has just returned from
a visit to the United States. The
last statement of the interview is as
full of meat as the postscript of a girl's let-
ter. "A visit to America," was Lord
Revelstoke's concluding remark, "is an
education in itself." In the course of ex-
pressing his views as to trusts Lord Revel-
stoke said:
"America probably will make things ex-
tremely uncomfortable, for British in-
dustry, but it is not through the trust idea
that America's greatness is coming. In
my own opinion this great and almost
fabulous consolidation of interests will re-
sult in the near future in a series of crashes,
from which it will take our cousins across
the water a long time to recover. While
consolidation holds some elements of
strength over individuals, yet it can be
carried to such an extreme point that it
at once becomes dangerous."
A MONG the recent important plays upon
the trade chess-board we may reckon
that of Knabe-Starr. It insures the Starr
piano a splendid representation in the East
in the cities of New York, Philadelphia,
Baltimore and Washington, and through-
out that vast territory in which the Jesse
French Co. operate the Knabe will be re-
presented by that concern in important
southern and western strongholds. This
will necessarily mean a transference of the
Knabe agency from some of the old ad-
herents to the Jesse French Co. The Starr
product will have a splendid foothold in
the East where it is rapidly gaining a strong
line of followers.
T F a piano stock is kept dusty and not well
displayed, or a window is dirty and
there is a general dilapidated and unkempt
appearance about the store, how in the
world do men suppose that an jesthetic
clientele will be attracted to such an estab-
lishment?
If a thorough and systematic attention
were given to the arrangement of ware-
rooms it would result, in our opinion, in a
much larger trade. Places which appeal
to public patronage must be kept neat and
attractive, and it pays a business establish-
ment to adopt some excellent rules and
business habits in relation to stock keeping.
Grand Larceny Charged.
William Tunstall, in the employ of the
Mutual Life Insurance Company, has been
arrested at Syracuse, N. Y., on a warrant
charging him with grand larceny. The
complainant is a member of the firm of
Leiter Bros., piano dealers.