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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
cott threatened on all pianos which did not
bear the label of the piano makers union?
Things are coming to a fine pass when
matters of this kind are permitted to go
unchecked. Small wonder indeed that cap-
ital and industry are forced to unite them-
selves into gigantic organizations. Such
a move would be expedient if for no other
reason than that of self-protection against
the ridiculous and oftentimes dictatorial
demands made upon them by these labor
organizations which are too frequently
managed by individuals who have the cause
of self only at heart. Fomenting trouble,
to them, means fat salaries.
In the meanwhile more Chicago piano
manufacturers are quietly investigating
outside points for factory sites. More will
move. It is inevitable. The Chicago La-
bor Trust is striking the hands that feed
them. This cannot continue always. In-
dustry will not be throttled for long.
WHY THE STENCIL WILL DECLINE.
TO-DAY there is a manifest desire on
the part of all piano manufacturers
to associate either their own or corporate
names with the instruments which they
manufacture. At no time have they been
more keenly alive to the value of the ad-
vertising which lies in having their im-
print upon the instruments which they
send out, than to-day.
On account of the longevity of pianos, it
may be correctly stated that there is no
other manufactured article occupying a
high position in the household which pos-
sesses the advertising value of pianos,hence
it is small wonder that in this advertis-
ing age piano manufacturers should be
unwilling to place upon the nameboard of
their instruments other names than those of
the concerns which stand as sponsors for
them. They know that they are receiving
no advertising benefit for the instruments
which they are sending out under other
names, whereas every piano sent out with
their own stencil is assisting to build up a
reputation for the controlling powers be-
hind it.
We know of one manufacturer with
whom was placed an order recently for
200 pianos bearing a certain imprint of a
dealer. Four pianos per week from a re-
liable man was an order not to be passed
lightly by, but this manufacturer was not
won easily by temporary gain. He re-
fused to brand his instruments with other
than his own name, hence the dealer had
to go elsewhere. There will always be
pianos made and stencilled to order, yet
the tendency on the part of manufactur-
ers to-day to improve their instruments
also generates a desire to have their
own names associated with their product.
The ONLY music TRADE paper which
received any award at the Paris Exposi-
tion of 1900 was The Husic Trade Review
which was given the GRAND PRIX, the
HIGHEST official recognition obtainable
for any exhibit in any division of art, me-
chanics or industry.
the Pacific Coast export trade with our new
possessions and with Asia has been good.
California reports the large area planted in
grain helped by recent rains."
A DOUBLE TRIUMPH.
A DOUBLE triumph was won at Car-
negie Hall last Monday night.
Hence the made-to-order or stencil pianos
A triumph accorded Gabrilowitsch and
will naturally gravitate to a cheap source
an
artistic endorsement of the merits of
of manufacture. Gradually the stencil de-
partment of piano manufacturing will cen- the Everett piano, which for the first time
tralize among a certain class of manufac- made its debut in the great music palace of
turers and will be steadily lessened in New York.
Public criticism was passed then and
volume, not because men are growing bet-
ter, or because they believe the stencil there upon artist and instrument, and it is
business fraudulent, but because manufac- a notable fact in the annals of musical
turers themselves find that it is better to criticisms in this city that practically all of
sell under one brand than under many, the reviews appearing in the columns of
none of which, carry any advertising incre- the great daily papers relating to Gabrilo-
witsch might be construed as an endorse-
ment for them.
The dealers, too, will find that it is bet- ment of the instrument upon which the
ter far to exploit a well advertised legiti- artist played.
Never before has there been such an un-
mate product than it is to have a piano
that a competitor next door can put in un- animity of critical opinion upon the ap-
der his own trademark temporarily. For pearance of a new concert grand upon the
then the cutting and slashing of prices be- platform. This fact alone constitutes the
gins, and as a result the maker of that in- highest kind of endorsement for this new
strument has, to use the colloquial expres- contestant in the artistic field.
sion, a " rotten" reputation in that vicinity.
ADVERTISING SPELLS SUCCESS.
The stencil traffic has not only been the
open door to fraud, but it has been the T H E firms to-day which have been most
liberal patrons of the advertising col-
means through which piano knifing has
umns of the trade press are doing the best
been carried on in almost every centre in
business. It is a significant fact and well
this country.
worthy of the serious consideration of the
The piano manufacturer and dealer must
few who figure that every dollar they spend
be indeed affected with myopic astigmat-
in the columns of trade journals are so
ism who cannot see that indiscriminate
many dollars uselessly expended.
stencilling is affording but little profit for
A New York State manufacturer re-
to-day and still less for to-morrow.
marked while calling upon The Re-
We know of one manufacturer who sold
view, that he had found his business mate-
instruments under different brands to
rially increased by advertising in this pa-
four dealers in one town. He disposed of
per, and that he had found it the best of
a great many pianos and after awhile the
all trade mediums. He supported this
local piano feuds developed in open war-
statement by leaving an order for several
fare, and as an outcome his instruments
more full-page advertisements.
were knifed to the killing point and when
A business straw.
the flag of truce was declared his instru-
ments had no standing either with the T H E tonic effects of the settlement of the
local trade or with the public in that vi-
election have made themselves felt
cinity.
throughout the piano and organ trade. No
sooner was the community at rest before
IMPROVED TRADE CONDITIONS,
confidence began to assert itself in every
TN its last review of trade conditions
branch of business. Hurry orders have
Bradsteet says: "Hopefulness as to im-
been placed in this trade, and the position
provement in fall demand, now that the
of the industry is sound and healthy.
election is over and cold weather has ar-
rived, is reported in all sections, but no- T H E dealers who expect to have suffi-
where is the feeling of confidence so marked
cient pianos on hand for the holiday
as in the South. Despite the recent de- trade should look well to it that hurry or-
cline in cotton the feeling in that section is ders are placed now. There are plenty of
notably cheerful. In the West, dry goods, concerns working well into the night who
clothing, shoes, and hardware are moving have not been able to accumulate any man-
better. In the East, leather, shoes, wool, ufactured stock. The dealer will act wise-
tobacco, and coal are firm, and the outlook ly who secures his stock not three weeks
for business is regarded as favorable. On later, but right now.