Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1903 Vol. 37 N. 26

Page 8 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
8
tificial demand created by the Crimean War and England, France
and Germany were equally affected with the United States. The
crisis of 1873 was an industrial rather than a financial one.
EDWARD LYMAN BILL,
Editor and Proprietor.
J. B. SPILLANE. Managing Editor.
EXECVTIVC STAFF:
GEO.
THOS. CAMPBELL-COPELAND,
A. EDMUND HANSON,
B. KELLER,
A, J. NlCKLIN,
BOSTON OFFICE :
W. MURDOCH LIND, 694 Tremont St.
GEO.
EMILIE FRANCES BAUER
W. QUERIPKL.
CHICAdO OFFICE:
E. P. VAN HARLINGEN, 36 La Salic St,
PHILADELPHIA OFFICE : R. W. KAUFFMAN.
Published Every Saturday at 1 Madison Avenue, New York.
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage), United States, Mexico and Canada, $2.00 per
yenr; all other countries, $4.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount is allowed. Advertising Pages $50.00; opposite reading
matter, $75.00.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill.
THE ARTISTS'
DEPARTMENT
On the first Saturday of each month The Review contains in its
"Artists' Department" all the current musical news. This is effected
without in any way trespassing on the size or service of the trade
section of the paper. It has a special circulation, and therefore aug-
ments materially the value of The Review to advertisers.
n i D r r T n o v «r >iiNn
£»Vi,J\rTi7»r»«
MANUFACTURERS
directory
f o u The
nd o
n a e
of piano manufacturing firms and corporations
P B 85 will be of great value as a reference for
dealers and others.
YONG DISTANCE TELEfHONE-NVMBER 1745-E1GHTCENTH STREET.
NEW YORK. DECEMBER 26, 19O3.
EDITORIAL
X~2 OR some time past reports from principal retail piano centers
*•
in the East have not been encouraging, and it cannot be de-
nied that holiday trade in several important cities has been in
many ways disappointing.
Observations made through recent journey ings in the West
show that in that section of the country ideal business conditions do
not exist. In a number of Western piano strongholds, dealers have
informed us that the holiday trade was not up to their expectations.
*~P* HE crisis of 1893 was so recent as to be fresh in the minds of
most of us. It was due, as we all know, to distrust of our
currency system. The fear that paper money and silver would not
be maintained at a parity with gold led to the hoarding of the yellow
metal and the contraction of credit.
It cannot be denied that the recent troubles in Wall Street are
local in their nature, due to the adoption of dishonest methods by
men who have been regarded as great and honorable financiers.
The Wall Street conditions of to-day are not a reflex of the busi-
ness conditions of the country, but may truthfully be described as
the boomerang of rascally stock jobbing, and every piano merchant
over America has suffered to a greater or less extent as the result
of the action of the buccaneers of Wall Street.
T has been as we predicted, some two months ago, when looking
over trade conditions in the West, that before the first of the
year that section of the country would feel the advancing wave of
depression from the East. There is, however, in the present situa-
tion not enough to discourage or dishearten anyone, but to say that
times are booming and that holiday trade has been extremely satis-
fying in all parts of the country would be to express an untruth, and
The Review is not catering to win a reputation of that kind. We
should not blind ourselves to facts, and it is better to look at the
matter squarely than to affirm that conditions are what they are
not.
I
P ) EPORTS now being received by The Review from special rep-
*• ^ resentatives and from piano merchants in various sections of
the country indicate that no further reaction is anticipated. The
country is generally prosperous, and while manufacturing enter-
prises and retail piano sales may not be forging ahead quite as
rapidly as in the past, there is absolutely no occasion for apprehen-
sion.
The West unquestionably is feeling the effects of the Wall street
We should prepare for the new year, and make such prepara-
depression, which has proved detrimental to the piano business and
tions that we can take care of a goodly volume of trade. There is
other high class trade in important centers in the East. In the
really a healthful anticipation for business, practically everywhere,
smaller towns conditions have been much more pleasing.
the few exceptions being due to causes that are local and can be
I T must be conceded that the West, and by that we mean more
readily explained.
* particularly the agricultural sections, are in a highly prosperous
f
~T* HERE is no reason to view the business outlook through
condition. It is also recognized that the South, thanks to the high
*
indigo-hued glasses. Indications are not lacking which point
prices of cotton, will have more money than in any previous period.
towards a steady betterment in business conditions. As an offset to
There is, however, a tendency, according to the expressions of
the present tendency towards stagnation more strenuous efforts have
well informed piano merchants to look for dull times in those sec-
to be put forth by piano men in order to win satisfactory results.
tions on the ground that previous slumps in the financial center have
During the past two weeks we had opportunities of studying
exerted a powerfully pessimistic influence throughout the country.
trade conditions in a number of important cities, and while we have
Admitting that this was true in certain instances, it does not neces-
found disappointment in most instances we have also learned that
sarily follow that the depression will be of long duration. The pros-
the men who have been unceasing in their business aggressiveness
perity is too well grounded to be disturbed for any length of time.
have been rewarded by bringing the volume of business up to that
F we look back to the great commercial and financial crises of
of last vear.
former years, we will find that some of them had their origin out-
SUBSCRIBER asks if the cost of doing business in the retail
side, rather than within the Wall street center. In other words the
piano field is not out of proportion to the volume of busi-
contributary causes were national, or even world-wide rather than
ness transacted.
local. The crisis of 1836 is attributed to the unsound organization
That depends upon methods of the individual or concern.
of banks in different parts of the country. That of 1857 affected
all countries. I t was due somewhat to the slackening up of the ar- There is no doubt but that some institutions have heavy selling ex-
I
A

Page 9 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
penses, too heavy when we consider the figures representing the
total amount of their yearly business.
But again the man who makes reasonable expenditures and is
careful in what way they are distributed, is usually rewarded by a
corresponding increase in business.
One of the notable features of retailing on a large scale in any
line is the increase in recent years of the cost of doing business.
There has been a steady and constant expansion in store equipment,
and in the provision of conveniences for customers, while the in-
crease in the area of piano stores and in some cases the erection of
costly, new buildings have created a very large rent and interest
account.
I ^ I A N O establishments to-day in the various cities compare favor-
*
ably with those in other lines. There is no class of merchants
who are more progressive in their methods than piano men, and
it is this very progressiveness which has steadily kept the output
of pianos on the increase.
Piano men appreciate the value more and more of good stores,
convenient and artistically arranged rooms. There is greater space
devoted to piano selling than ever before, and every special line of
merchandise must continue to show wareroom betterments in
order to successfully compete with the great department stores
which are adding auditoriums, art galleries and other attractions.
E may say that according to estimates made, it costs the
average department store in New York about thirty per
cent, of the gross receipts to do business. This rate per cent, is
considerably higher than that which prevails in some other large
centers, and very much in excess of what it costs to do business
in the smaller towns. Indications are not wanting, moreover, that
such expenses in the metropolis will increase rather than lessen,
and that as a consequence renewed efforts will have to be made by
the department managers in order to make a profitable showing of
their business.
W
It should not cost more to conduct a piano store at retail than
many other special lines.
HE music trade association which exists in Chicago is a credit
to the enterprise and broadness of the men of that great town.
The organization is carrying on practical work which has been noted
in The Review, and there is no doubt as time goes on piano retailers
in other sections throughout the country will recognize the advan-
tage to be obtained from that helpful kind of Chicago co-opera-
tion.
T
There is no city in the country where that healthful spirit of
camaraderie exists to such an extent as is noticeable in piano trade
circles in Chicago. Trade there is composed of large men, not only
physically, but mentally, the kind of men who are quick to grasp
the advantages of the business situation, and who are also quick
to condemn unrighteous deeds when resorted to by local competitors.
T will be difficult to locate another city in the Union where mem-
bers of the piano trade call up their competitors and advise them
that they have received pianos regularly handled by them in the
course of exchanges, and if they wish to purchase the instruments
they can secure them at fair prices before they are placed on the
bargain counter or slaughtered by alluring advertisements.
I
9
Such methods are a credit to the fairmindedness of the men of
the Chicago trade. Last week we heard one well known Chicago
man call up a distinguished rival on the 'phone and announce
the fact that his men had taken two pianos of his make in exchange,
and that if he desired to secure them to come over and get them at
a fair valuation—to place his own price upon them.
Now such methods are wholesome, they build the trade, they
add to the pleasure of doing business, no question about that, and
they are not financial losers by pursuing such methods, for Wabash
avenue continues to be the largest retail piano distributing center
in the world.
Good, big, broadminded, hustling fellows, those Westerners!
HE healthful feeling which pervades the trade was fully in
evidence at the recent trade banquet in that city. While some
other men might be fondling dealers' six months promissory notes
and at frequent intervals estimating how many weeks and days must
elapse before they actually could finger the money, that type of men
who were present at that bountiful repast would have sold a thou-
sand pianos. They would not have waited for the bank to be
strangely dilatory in sending in notice that the note had been re-
turned stamped not paid. They would have been on the ground
obtaining security for old indebtedness and sold a new bill of goods.
There would have been no necessity for a sub-cellar to use as a
swearing room. They would be marching a quick time to progress.
It is not difficult to see why some men succeed, and others who
have ample capital behind them do not advance beyond a position
of mediocrity in the industrial world. While they are counting the
number of trade papefs the other men are using them. This is a
keen, practical age, and the Chicago men understand it pretty thor-
oughly.
T
HIS is the last time The Review will appear in 1903. It is
therefore fitting while extending to our patrons, hearty
wishes for the New Year, to express to them our appreciation of
the patronage which has been extended to this journal during 1903.
In both the subscription and advertising departments of the
paper there has been an increase which would seem almost phe-
nomenal.
This growth may be accounted for, not on sentimental grounds,
but purely for the best of business reasons—that the paper has
afforded a larger value to its constituency than e.ver before.
T
\ A / ITH us it has not been a question of promises and bombastic
* * utterances as to what we were going to do. We have pro-
duced a paper every week which many have believed creditable
alike to the industry and to journalism; we have eschewed person-
alities, leaving all that for the small journals; but making the inter-
ests of our clients our own, and for the best business reasons in the
world The Review has succeeded.
We may say to our friends that plans are now sufficiently
matured to warrant saying that this institution will next year be
able to offer increased values in each department for all its clients.
Before we turn the page for the New Year, The Review de-
sires to extend hearty greetings to its readers in every clime. May
Dame Fortune—that sometimes fickle jade—have for them a pleas-
ing tale to unfold for the New Year!

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