Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Discusses flail Order Houses.
Chas. F. Thompson Considers that the ( nly
Remedy in the flatter of flail Order House
Competition is to Educate the People to the
Difference in Quality Between the Commer-
cial and the Artistic Pianos.
Chas. F. Thompson, of the Thompson Mu-
sic Co., Clarksburg, W. Va., writes us the
following" interesting letter, under date of
May 13th:
We notice your editorial regarding cata-
logue or mail order houses. We also notice
the different remedies suggested by dealers
from different parts of the United States.
Many of the people of West Virginia use
the catalogue from one or more department
stores as their guide in making all pur-
chases. They are governed by the prices
laid down therein, in making purchases, and
because they can get sugar or coffee from
the mail order house that compares favor-
ably with that they buy of the country mer-
chant, they think they can buy a piano of
them that will compare with one they can
buy from their home dealer. They take it
for granted that a piano is a piano, and the
only comparison they make is size and finish
of the case.
Now, we think the only remedy is to get
the people educated as to the difference in
quality between the commercial piano and
the artistic piano, and that there is a mate-
rial difference in the guarantee given by a
firm hundreds of miles away and the one
given by their home dealer. We think peo-
ple generally would prefer to patronize home
dealers if they understood that they could
get as good value for their money at home
as abroad. Then, is it not our fault ? These
facts should be presented to our trade in
such a way that they cannot help but un-
derstand that we, as dealers, can save them
money from prices given them by catalogue
houses.
Only a few days ago the writer called
on a customer, and after presenting my
card, I was informed that I was too late.
The lady said that they had arranged to
buy direct from the factory. I said to her,
as their mind was fully made up, would she
tell me what instrument she expected to
buy. Whereupon she produced the catalogue
and personal letters (which are familiar to
every salesman) telling her how they could
save her from $100 to $200 from the agent's
profit, etc. I simply said, "Would you take
this same piano from me at $25 less money?"
She gave me the order, and our profit was
sufficient.
We think it a case of "wake up, dealer,
and get there first." Don't let the mail
order houses get ahead. Show our cus-
tomers that we can. furnish same class of
instruments, if they must have them, and
that we can save them money from the
quoted prices, and that they are only de-
ceived when they are led to believe by their
Bible (the catalogue) that a piano is a pia-
no, no matter what it cost.
We cannot ask the mail order houses to
stop selling pianos, but they should repre-
sent them fairly—not by saying: This is a
$500 piano; our price, $150. This is clearly
a misrepresentation. And the trade gener-
ally should get after such people in every
legitimate way, and we think their trade
would soon be as light as manufacturers
who a few years ago made a specialty of
selling direct.
A Ludwig Talk.
Dealers Appreciate Ludwig Enterprise and Lud-
wig Values—An Interesting Chat with R.
C. Rogers.
R. C. Rogers, Ludwig traveling represen-
tative, who has made several lengthy trips
in the Ludwig interests since the season be-
gan, said to The Review on Tuesday, when
asked if the Ludwig dealers visited by him
appreciated the Ludwig progress and enter-
prise, as evidenced in the exhibit at Paris,
at Buffalo, and in many other ways:
"Indeed they do appreciate what the firm
have accomplished and what they are now
accomplishing.
"There is a most encouraging spirit of
loyalty and progressiveness among them.
Most of our dealers have handled the Lud-
wig piano for a long time, and have learned
its merits and strong selling features. , Let-
ters are constantly being received, too, from
Ludwig agents showing conclusively that
confidence in the Ludwig products, always
strong, is continually growing."
The following was received recently at the
Ludwig factory:
New York Military Academy,
S. C. Jones, C. E., Supt.
Cornwall-on-Hudson, May 7, 1901.
Mr. W. F. Conkling,
Manager of the Ludwig Piano Co.,
Newburgh, N. Y.
Dear Sir:—You will remember that about
two years ago I bought of you for use in this
institution, a Ludwig upright piano. I have
found that this piano stands the hard wear
of school use better than any piano we have
ever owned, that it has retained its full and
sweet tone, the action is firm and quick, and
that, as a whole, the piano seems as good as
new.
As we now find ourselves obliged to pur-
chase another piano, I shall be glad to have
you duplicate our first order, as I feel sure
that no other make of piano can give us any
better—if as good—service.
I am, very truly yours,
S. C. Jones, Sup't.
Impressions—Past and Present.
Some Thoughts which come to the Surface in
Connection with the Reunion of the Piano
Men at the Association Convention this
week-What has been Achieved from Hum-
ble Beginnings—The Situation To-Day as
Compared with the Past—As Battles were
Won in the Past They Can Be Won To-
day—What of the Future ?
The gathering of piano manufacturers and
dealers in the city this week superinduces
reflections on the past and present. Many
of the men with whom The Review has
talked have, from small beginnings, worked
up to a position of eminence in the industry.
And, indeed, the history of the piano trade
is more or less a tale of small beginnings.
With scarcely an exception, the many great
piano businesses that are carried on in this
and other cities of the Union grew grad-
ually from modest, and, in many instances,
insignificant origins.
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What the piano man needs in these mod-
ern times is pluck and determination, and
these provide a capital that is beyond com-
putation. Possessed of them, and with a
full sense of the requirements of the times,
opportunities will come and be used to ad-
vantage.
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Few of large manufacturers were blessed
with large capital to back their early en-
deavors, and records show where one or
two small rooms served as a place of man-
ufacture, and at times these embryo busi-
nesses stagnated until the sale of one or
more instruments, which had been made
largely by hand, produced the funds to
purchase the necessary raw material for the
manufacture of others.
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There are scores of examples that testify
to the marvelous rise of great piano manu-
facturing concerns from humble surround-
ings to the prosperity that marks their pres-
ent establshments. But the fact that the
material exists for such a review points in
no uncertain manner to the success that
may be won by determined men in a field
that offers opportunity.
And this development from small begin-
nings also characterizes the retail piano
stores throughout the country. Visit any
one of them and you will probably be told
with pride that the business grew from a
very small nucleus—ten, twenty or thirty
years ago.
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These facts should afford the greatest
stimulus to manufacturers and merchants
alike. What one has done another can do.
However, the question naturally arises—are
the conditions for growth as favorable to-day
as they were in earlier years? And we an-
swer emphatically, "Yes." Fortune's smile
is as freely bestowed on men now as it was
on their fathers. But the fickle goddess
smiles, as Bulwer says, "on those who roll
up their sleeves and put their shoulders to
the wheel; upon men who are not afraid of
dreary, irksome drudgery; men of nerve
and grit, who do not turn aside for dirt and
detail."
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Circumstances have rarely favored suc-
cessful men. They have achieved their ends
by persistently opposing obstacle^. The
manufacturer or dealer of a decade or more
ago fought his battles and won the success
we witness to-day by hard work The same
conditions under which he fought ^re now
existing; the same field is open.
Bauer Again Engaged.
From H. L. Mason, who is now in Europe
in the interests of Mason & Hamlin, comes
the news that definite arrangements have
been made for a tour of Harold Bauer, to
begin Jan. 2, 1902, in New York.
The "Apollo" Opening.
According to the present condition of
affairs, the warerooms of the Apollo self-
player will be open for business June 1st
at 101 Fifth avenue. Melville Clark ex-
pressed much gratification at the outlook.
The report of Behr Bros, for the week
shows satisfactory trade conditions. The
output, so far, during the present month,
has been up to expectations.
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