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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
cent, less than Boston prices." The adver-
tisement also contains the words, " Piano-
fortes to let,"so that it is clearly proven
that even the renting of pianofortes was
not confined wholly, even in the early days,
to the great cities of Boston, New York
and Philadelphia. Dealers in smaller towns
who offered pianofortes for sale offered also
to rent them. It has been a feature of the
industry and so will continue, reports to
the contrary notwithstanding.
the keynote when, years ago, he began an
educational form of advertising showing
by clever argument the necessity of musi-
cal instruments in the environments of
home.
The idea could be elaborated upon to al-
most any extent, but the fundamental law
of education and showing up in a catchy
manner the charm of music in the home is
assuredly a strong point in the establish-
ment of a great piano business.
How much better the man who does this
FLOTSAM AND JETSAM.
T H E furniture trust has not material- for the industry than the fellow who sells
on the five dollar down and a dollar a month
ized.
It would seem as if the options which plan!
have been given on certain veneer plants ITOW many traveling men have been
practically withdrawn from the road
until Jan. i will expire without the forma-
during the past month, owing to the fact
tion of that trust.
The abortive attempt to form a piano that manufacturers were unable to take on
trust has now become history, and every any new business?
one seems happy.
How many, too, have been paying
In the meanwhile Europe is materially friendly visits to their agents in order to
agitated over the trust matter and in Aus- keep them good-natured until such times
tria the Minister of Commerce has sug- arrive when their orders could be filled
gested remedial legislation by the intro- with promptness and despatch?
duction of a bill which requires the pub-
It shows a pretty fair condition of the
lication of the terms of the agreement industry, does it not? The piano industry
which constitutes the basis of specified has unquestionably great possibilities for
trusts. Trust accounts must be also sub- the men who show a comprehensive grasp
mitted to an official auditor. In the of the modern piano situation.
event of any trust raising the price of
any article to a sum that seriously affects \ 1 7 E are in constant receipt of daily pa-
pers and other media from different
the interests of consumers, the Govern-
parts
of
the country wherein excerpts from
ment may suspend or abolish the import
duty on this particular article. The Min- The Review relating to certain institutions
ister of Commerce also may take over appear.
This is an excellent work on the part of
the control of the trust whose operations
the
dealers to use quotations endorsing
are injurious to the interests at stake, and
in cases of great urgency the Government certain instruments locally. The men
may absolutely confiscate the whole trust, who do this show not only their apprecia-
compensating the individual firms and then tion of the paper which they quote, but
running the industry as an adjunct to the also that they know a good thing when
they see it.
state department.
The people of this country demonstrated
by their votes last November that they
took no stock in the trust growth as the
outcome of any particular political affilia-
tion. Clearly concentration and expansion
are the order of the day in all things, and
trusts in many cases are the direct outcome
of changing economic conditions. There
are, however, combinations which are in-
jurious to the people's interests and for
that matter there will probably always
exist certain combinations which are formed
primarily upon the basis of selfishness and
greed, and a desire to squeeze the under-
man.
\ 1 7E have at hand some splendid illustra-
tions of dealers' advertising which
unquestionably bring about satisfactory re-
sults. Piano merchants have certainly ex-
hibited great advance in their advertising
over that of former years. Heppe struck
T^ALK about pirates! There is one of
the large and well-developed variety
living in Elmira known by the name of
M. Doyle Marks. He issues a paper which
he calls The Keynote, and to cap his au-
dacity and piracy he sends a sample copy
addressed to "The Keynote, New York."
This fellow Marks is walking on ex-
tremely thin ice which will be liable to
precipitate him into legal difficulties with-
in the near future. The title, copyright
and good will of The Keynote was pur-
chased by the editor of this paper who has
expended thousands of dollars in making
it a well-known name in every part of the
coimtry. Furthermore we propose to pro-
tect it against such marauders as Marks
of Elmira.
1VJOW that local retail trade has shown
the exhilarating influences of the cold
snap it is now up to the "Vaudeville Ex-
tra" to give us another blast upon the
enormous output of a certain department
store. This time the weekly output should
reach at least five hundred. We are credi-
bly informed that one department store in
New York sold thirty pianos last week
upon the five dollars down and a dollar a
week plan.
TT was not so many years ago that there
was considerable of a ripple created on
the surface of the retail trade in New York
by reason of certain disclosures in regard
to salesmen turning sales to different
houses from those in which they were
regularly employed.
It would seem from certain reports which
have reached us that there are some il-
lustrations of this kind where rank disloy-
alty is believed to exist on the part of
certain salesmen who are connected with
well-known houses. A salesman who will
deliberately use his influence to turn trade
away from his house to another salesman
from whom he secures a cash commission
is not only guilty of rank disloyalty but
his traitorous conduct should be rewarded
every time by a dimissal.
T H E maddest, merriest rant against the
stencil does not seem to change ma-
terially the existing status. Manufactur-
ers are not so easily swayed by abuse as
heretofore, but they are won, however, by
the cold logic of facts, and that is that the
stencil branch of the business, while satis-
fying a temporary demand, does not hold
rose-colored hues for the future of a house
which purveys largely to the stencil trade.
\ I 7E have been in receipt of a number
of communications endorsing the
position of The Review in criticising the
recent decision of Judge Cowan in giving
judicial endorsement to the class of people
who purchase pianos from dealers on the
installment plan and sell them after hav-
ing made one or two payments.
We have evidence at hand which shows
conclusively
that this scheme has
been worked to a greater degree than
many would believe. In New York City
alone there are perhaps hundreds of cases
where piano dealers have been defrauded
by people who make a systematic business
of securing pianos and disposing of them
in this way. Remedial action should be
speedily taken so that it would be impos-
sible for this system of thievery to be
continued in our midst.
stated in The Review of last week
A S legal
complications are beginning to
gather around certain piano players which
suggest the close advent of a battle of no
mean dimensipns,' .