Music Trade Review

Issue: 1901 Vol. 33 N. 9

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
mm
TWENTY-THIRD YEAR.
EDWARD LYMAN BILL,
EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.
J . B. S P I L L A N E , MANAGING EDITOR.
Executive Staff:
THOS. CAMPBELL-COPELAND
WALDO E. LADD
GEO. W. QUERIPEL
A. J. NICKLIN
PnHHsteM Every Saturday at 3 East 14m Street, New Yorfc.
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage). United States, Mexico
and Canada, $2.00 per year; all other countries, $4.00.
ADVERTlSEflENTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per
insertion. On quarterly or yearly contracts a special discount
is allowed. Advertising Pages $ 0.00, opposite reading matter,
$75.00.
REniTTANCES, in other than currency form, should be
made payable to Edward Lyman Bill.
Entered at the Ne-w York Post Office as Second Class Matter
N E W YORK, AUGUST 3 1 , 1901.
TELEPHONE NUMBER, 1745-E1QHTEENTH STREET.
THE
On the first Saturday of each
ARTISTS'
month The Review contains in its
DEPARTMENT " Artists' Department" all the cur-
rent musical news. This is effected
without in any way trespassing on the size or ser-
vice of the trade section of the paper. It has a
special circulation, and therefore augments mater-
ially the value of The Review to advertisers.
DIRECTORY OF
MANUFACTURERS
The directory of piano manu-
facturing firms and corporations
f m m d
o n p a g e 2O w i U b e o f g r e a t
value as a reference for dealers and others.
A directory of all advertisers
DIRECTORY OF
in The Review will be found on
ADVERTISERS
page 5.
EDITORIAL,
NON-APPRECIATION OF PET PLANS.
DECENTLY a well-
known manufac-
turer remarked to The
Review: "I have a lit-
I tie plan which I con-
sider, when developed, will be instrumental
in creating a better feeling among the men
in my factory. They will be satisfied that
I am trying to do something special for them
in order to advance them."
Another manufacturer, also discussing
labor problems with The Review remarked:
"I am inclined to the belief that all of these
theories regarding profit-sharing benefits,
and all that, are not appreciated by the work-
men, and in the end do not produce the re-
sults which the generous promoters often
desire. As for myself, I observe advanced
lines of hygiene in my factory equipments.
I give the men well lighted and aired rooms,
and reasonably good surroundings in every
way, and pay them as well as I can afford
to; beyond that I would not move a step,
for, while one man may appreciate the devel-
opment of fancy theories, a hundred will
not, and criticise you for your acts rather
than applaud you."
History bears out the statement of the
latter manufacturer, for, as a matter of fact,
nearly all of the ideal schemes of profit shar-
ing advanced both in the old world and the
new, have come to naught. Perhaps the
model factory institution of the world is
Are the profit-shar-
ing and other p e t
schemes to benefit the
laboring man appre-
ciated?—History says
No—Plans in progress
by piano men
located at Dayton, O. Its employees were
given free libraries, baths, gymnasium, land
to cultivate and adorn with flowers, and all
of that, and as a result of all of this exceed-
ing fostering care on the part of the employ-
ers, a strike was inaugurated there last
spring which tied up that institution for
many months, wholly on account of the fact
that the free towels which were furnished
in the baths and lavatories were washed by
women who were not members of a laundry
union. In another case it was found that
the compressed air springs on the doors were
made by a non-union factory in the Nutmeg
State.
In spite of these facts, Albert Krell and
his associates, according to reports, are go-
ing to inaugurate the model system in their
big piano factory at Springfield. They are
going to put in baths, reading rooms, gym-
nasiums ; in other words, all the frills which
are supposed to be useful in advancing
the physical as well as mental development
of the men. It shows exceeding generos-
ity on their part, but we question the wis-
dom of the move, and when the slightest
disagreement occurs, we are inclined to the
opinion that all of these free health and ed-
ucational accessories will be passed by un-
heeded by the men.
This is a practical age, and it pays the
manufacturer best to pay what he can af-
ford for labor, and let the obligation end
at that point, rather than to build beautiful
theories which go tumbling down, as in the
Dayton case, at the first sweep.
The Dayton people—we mean the Nation-
al Cash Register Co.—have now new trou-
bles on their hands, because it is said that
there are some ten or twenty thousand bar-
keepers who now will refuse to handle
change through their cash registers, all on
account of sympathetic relations with the
men who were using free towels in Dayton.
The A. B. Chase Co., Norwalk, O., have
for two years offered cash prizes for orig-
inal ideas which could be applied with sat-
isfactory results to the manufacture of pia-
nos. Their plan has worked admirably.
They have paid good money for good sug-
gestions and have encouraged the men to
think for themselves.
That is a keenly practical plan.
It may be that, in years to come, a pen-
sion fund will be developed to such a point
that it may be adopted generally by great
industrial institutions.
Everyone knows that the American work-
man to-day earns higher wages than any
paid in any other country. This condition
has been made possible not wholly because
the American employer is any more liberal
than his European competitor, but because
the American workman produces more, and
he produces more because he has been sup-
plied with the most perfect system of labor-
saving machinery on earth. The American
manufacturer has fairly fulfilled his obliga-
tions to his men.
REFERRING TO THE PRIZE ESSAY.
N a neighboring
A co m p o s i t i o n
which should be read
page of this issue
by all salesmen—The
third of The Review
appears the essay which
series—The next one
particularly interest- has
won the third
ing—All invited.
prize in The Review
series. The contributions upon the subject,
"What are the Necessary Requirements of
the Modern Piano Salesman?" have estab-
lished the fact beyond criticism, judging
from the variety and clearness of thought
expressed in the articles sent in for com-
petition, that the piano salesmen can write
as well as talk, for their ideas are forcibly
expressed upon paper.
The prize article, submitted by Mr. Heine-
kamp, of Baltimore, is the most complete
as to details and thoroughly practical as
to application of any sent in. It embodies
important essentials necessary in the make-
up of the successful piano salesman of to-
day, and should be perused by every young
salesman in America, for from it can be
gleaned much that is of value and import-
ance. It will bear reading not only once,
but twice, and several times, for it is replete
with common-sense arguments which must
appeal in no uncertain manner to the sales-
men who are looking for practical sugges-
tions which may be instrumental in creat-
ing advance for them. The article is ex-
tremely logical, and is written by a sales-
man who has long made a comprehensive
study of the art—for it is an art—of sell-
ing pianos.
We may state that the third line of the
series has brought forth most interesting sug-
gestions and ideas, as will be seen by the
different essays which will be presented in
weeks to come. A number of competing
essays for prize No. 4, the next of the series,
have already been sent in. The subject is,
'What Would Be the Effect of a Piano
Trust Upon the Industry?"
The presentation of this topic at the pres-
ent time, when so much discussion has been
rampant concerning the possible effect of
a trust upon the industry, should prove of
more than ordinary interest.
The result of The Review prize series has
been to stimulate healthy thought along
lines which are of obvious benefit to the in-
dustry. We have selected subjects which
affect manufacturer, dealer and salesman.
Other topics will be announced later; in
the meanwhile, there is twenty-five dollars
awaiting the man who sends in the best es'
O
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
say telling how the industry would be either
benefited or demoralized if a piano trust
were to become an established fact.
ADVANTAGE OF EARLY ORDERS.
W I T of H
the passing
Schaffer's
strike, considerable dan-
ger is removed and the
possibility of labor trou-
bles to this and other industries is now re-
mote. Everything points now to a fall full
of business promise. Very shortly now, the
busy season will actually open up in the
retail lines as well as the wholesale. Many
dealers have considered it to their advant-
age to place orders early, and for them the
situation is very satisfactory, for they are
assured of securing stock without delay.
We repeat, our advice to many who have
written us and who have been holding back
on account of crops and possible labor trou-
bles, is to conclude their arrangements for
stock as speedily as possible. There is going
to be a demand which will shortly manifest
itself in no uncertain manner for all kinds
of pianos, and it will not be so easy to get
just what is desired on rush orders later.
Our advices during the past week, ex-
cepting in sections, happily small in area,
where crops have been pretty well destroyed,
is that dealers are anticipating a big trade
this fall, and a good many of them are back-
ing up their opinions by placing substan-
tial orders. Extreme caution in a fall like
this is not particularly desirable, for, while
men have the strongest kind of a belief
in a good season to come, they would be
doing nothing that savors of plunging by
getting in substantial orders at once, and
getting ready to capture trade in generous
slices.
A big b u s i n e s s
counted upon now that
the strike is adjusted
—The person plans
wisely who places or-
ders now—Ready for
business.
ently a greater necessity among the ranks
of retailers, particularly among piano men,
where feuds and fights have existed for
many, many years. As Colonel Hollenberg
remarked at the meeting in New York, it
is not expected that the Dealers' Associa-
tion would revolutionize the industry, or
would attempt the impossible, but would
work along for mutual betterment and ulti-
mately would be of material good to all
piano men.
As a matter of fact, local organizations
will be of more assistance to the individual
than will the national dealers' organization,
with which, of course, there will be a natural
sympathetic relation.
Following out other lines of organization
work, each retail association in the various
cities should elect delegates to the National
Dealers' Convention, which will be held next
year in Baltimore. It will be impossible
for every one of the members of that organ-
ization to be present, but if principal cities
are represented through local organizations
who have their own delegates, it will be a
decided move in the right direction. They
cannot all go on to extend their pedal ex-
tremities under Baltimore's mahogany and
eat terrapin, but they can furnish able-bodied
representatives who will give a good ac-
count of themselves.
M EW ORLEANS is
FEEDS AMBITION'S FIRE.
'"T HIS industry has
One of our devel-
opments to competi-
made tremendous
tion—The spur to am-
bition—The chance for progress, brought about
the independent man-
in the main by com-
ufacturer n e v e r so
good as to-day.
petition. The progress
of the world in everything has been made
keen by competition; in schools as well
as in industries. Men need the stimulus
of competition to do their business. To it
we owe our developments. It is the fuel
which feeds the fire of ambition, and up to
a certain point it is a good thing if the com-
petition is intelligent rather than ignorant.
But, like almost any other good thing, it
can be abused. There must always be com-
petition. To stamp it out, were such a
thing possible, would mean business stag-
nation. It would mean that there was no
progress, and it is no compliment to the in-
telligence of the business men who have
done so much for the progress of the busi-
ness world, to suggest even that they are so
short-sighted as to believe that business it-
self would prosper if competition were prac-
tically eliminated.
the latest of our
important piano distri-
buting points to declare
itself in favor of a lo-
cal organization among piano dealers. Slow-
ly but surely this idea is gaining ground,
and organization becomes each day appar-
If there were no prizes to be obtained
men would cease to put forth the effort
which stands for progress and growth. If
there were no larger prizes ahead of a young
man than simply a day laborer's wages,
the likelihood is that a good many would
not put forth the effort necessary to become
Personal observation, too, tells us that
retail lines are down to a comparatively low
point, and there is no reason why immediate
steps should not be taken by those who have
been holding back to verify their business
position.
This is going to be a year of good business
and good profits, because when times are
good, people are always liberal buyers, and
the retail profits on pianos should not be
like Bob Sawyer's profits, "So small that
at the end of the year you could put 'em
in a wineglass and cover 'em over with a
gooseberry leaf."
ORGANIZATION~~GERM THRIVING.
Dealers' organiza-
tions increasing — A
move in the right di-
rection—Trade hatch-
ets to be buried and
an era of harmony in-
augurated—I n t e r e s t
aroused.
9
anything more than a day laborer; but be-
cause there are prizes to be gained by com-
petition, men are willing to become prac-
tically slaves to their business or profession,
and in gaining those prizes for themselves
they make large contributions to the sum
of human progress and happiness.
We need competition if we would grow,
but it ought to be honest and intelligent
competition.
The way to meet competition is not to
abuse the man who creates it, but to meet
it. Without a healthy competition this in-
dustry would not have reached its present
stage of development; and the future of the
intelligently progressive independent piano
man never was so full of brilliant promise
as to-day.
Brains never received higher wages than
now.
WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY APPLIED.
Piano men may read
papers at sea—Jour-
nals published on the
ocean may be the next
novelty introduced—
What leading m e n
may do.
r \ VER-BURDENED
piano men have
hitherto looked upon a
sea voyage as a sure
escape to days of rest,
and many annually journey across the water
each season for the recuperative effects of
the sea air and ocean rest; but wireless
telegraphy now opens up the possibility of
daily papers printed upon ocean steamships,
and receiving news from both going and
coming ships.
The ocean then will afford no rest for the
weary business man, because he will be stu-
dying the ocean papers with the same in-
terest that enthused him while on shore.
Chas. H. Steinway, who, perhaps, has
crossed the ocean more times than any other
member of the industry, while steaming
across will be able to read of new royal
honors bestowed upon Steinway & Sons,
and through wireless telegraphy may be
enabled to send some instructions back to
the home office some days before he lands
in Europe.
W. W. Kimball will, perhaps, while re-
turning from one of his European trips,
learn that another Kimball plant has been
completed some little time before he steps
upon American shores.
Wireless telegraphy opens up such possi-
bilities that the business man will be tempt-
ed almost to keep up an unbroken system
of communication with the home office while
on his way across the seas for rest and re-
cuperation.
\\7
HERE shall we look for smaller men
than those who, having achieved,
much prominence through the courtesy, gen-
erosity and good nature of newspaper men,
turn upon them, sneer at their work, and
go out of their way to insult the entire craft ?

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