Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
MEW
EDWARD LYMAN DILL,
J. B. SPILLANE,
Editor and Proprietor.
-i& E d i t o r .
EXECVTIVE STAFF:
THOS. CAMPBKLL-COPBLAND,
GKO. B. KKLLKR,
W. MUKDOCH LlND,
A. J. NlCKLIH,
BOSTON OFFICE:
E i N i n L. WAITT, 255 Washington St.
PHILADELPHIA OFFICE:
R. W. KAUFFMAN.
EMILIK FRANCIS BAUER,
Gxo. W. QuMirmi..
CMICAQO OFFICE:
E. P. VAN HARLINGKN, 80 La Salle St.
MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL:
R. J. LEFEBVRS.
SAN FRANCISCO OFFICE:
ST. LOUIS OFFICE :
CHAS. N. VAN BUREN.
ALFRED METZGER, 425-427 Front S t
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
year; 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.
m i I T T A D V ^ K , . u n The directory of piano manufacturing firms and corporations
UlK.LtlUKl «T riANU f o t l n d o n ,, age 3 6 w i n b e o f g r e a t v a i u e > a s a reference for
MANUFACTURERS
dealers and others.
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONE-NUMBER 1745 GRAMERCY.
NEW YORK, OCT. &, 1904.
EDITORIAL
T
HAT piano merchants, as well as a great many other business
men, are swayed at times by impulses wholly sentimental and
at variance with the dictates of one's judgment and experience, is
apparsnt from the various advertising wars which one perceives
when looking through exchanges which reach us from all parts of
the country. It is an old saving that ''There is no sentiment in busi-
ness," but this describes an ideal rather than an actual condition.
That there ought to be no sentiment in business is self-evident, but
we face facts, not theories.
From time to time we see piano men, usually cool and calculat-
ing, throw reason to the winds and at times engage in contests in
which both parties of necessity must be losers. It must be admitted
that the sensational price-cutting and bargain "roughhouse" which
almost every city has at one time or another witnessed has nothing
of "business"' about it. It is a personal duel, with prices for weapons.
Acrimony and spite spur the courage of the principals; each has to
go the other one better, no matter how disastrous the outcome.
T
O sentiment also are attributable the advertisements that con-
tain flings and innuendoes against a competitor. Any suc-
cessful merchant, when in a normal frame of mind, knows that to
talk about his competitor is the worst possible policy—to say nothing
of taste. Yet, if his feelings get the better of him, he will expend
costly advertising space in relieving them. At times the "cracks"
at "the other fellow" are direct. In such case the public is apt to
run counter to the statements made or arguments presented and
sympathize with the attacked, to the detriment of the assailant.
V
ERY often the merchant, who wants to hit his neighbor tries
to do so covertly. So veiled, so mysterious, however, is his
language that the reader wholly fails to catch his point and the gun,
so carefully loaded, misses its aim. Needless to say, a dignified,
broad-minded policy would be far preferable to this attitude. It
could not fail to gain the respect and admiration alike of competitor
and public. The influence of commercial conflicts is similar to that
of physical struggles, and it is for this reason, doubtless, that when
sentiment is permitted to intrude on business, it so frequently as-
sumes the form of personal animosity. To illustrate these remarks
a number of recent occurrences might be adduced, but it serves no
good purpose to revive them here.
I
N last week's Review reference was made to the organization of
the local piano salesmen under the title of the Piano Men's
Club of Greater New York. This is a step in the right direction. It
would be difficult to locate in any industry men of keener intelli-
gence who are better equipped for an all-round battle of the world
than piano salesmen. Salesmanship is the quality in a man. It is
true this may be partly inherent and partly acquired; but it is a
quality the possession of which enables the man to successfully
create interest in a prospective customer.
Now the ability to sell goods in a straightforward manner with
satisfactory results to all requires a well balanced, all-round men-
tality of no mean order. Salesmanship is a science of putting into
work honesty of speech, loyalty to employer, the hustle of modern
civilization and at all times being a gentleman. A society composed
of such men must be helpful not onlv to themselves, but to the
industry.
We trust that the society will not merely be confined to the
social side of things, but that there will be an interchange of ideas
weekly upon vital topics of interest to their profession.
T
HERE is one point, however, we believe many salesmen
overlook, and that is the value of an intimate technical knowl-
edge of the instruments which they offer to the public. As by the
study of the science of anatomy a doctor is enabled to successfully
practice the art of surgery, as an artist absorbs the knowledge of
the science of architecture in order to perfect himself in certain
branches in the art of painting, so should a piano salesman acquaint
himself with the intricacies of the instrument which he sells, and
which seems to be part of his daily life. In this connection he will
find The Review's technical department, which made its initial ap-
pearance last week, a decided aid. By the way, we have received
many favorable comments on the inauguration of this department
which we trust will not be helpful merely to the practical worker,
but to all engaged in the retailing and manufacturing of pianos.
T
HE different way in which retail business is conducted in the
United States and England is admirably set forth in a story
published in the daily papers of Sunday last, and in which it is stated
that the proprietors of London "shops" have placed this sign over
their doors:
"American visitors—this is not a museum, but a shop."
The reason for this astonishing proclamation is a feeling that
Americans are given to examining stock without purchasing. A
person walking into a "shop" in London is expected to buy, and room
is provided only for customers. There, as in Paris, a visitor who
"walks about" is constantly assailed by requests to buy. Therefore
to "shop," as it is known in this country, is impossible except to people
of adamantine nerves.
I
T is difficult to realize such an antiquated system as applied to
retailing. If everybody who entered a piano wareroom in New
York or elsewhere was expected to buy without investigation we
fear there would be few callers. Perhaps there is no country in
the world where the people are afforded such a scope in the matter
of examining proposed purchases as in the United States. This is
true of the piano business as of other lines, and it has lead unques-
tionably to enlarged trade. While the salesmen's time is taken up
to some extent, yet interest is stimulated in pianos generally, and
these salesmen as well as pianos are placed in competition with each
other.
The London "shops" emphasize that their place is not a mu-
seum. Why shouldn't a retail store be a museum at least of the
special lines to which that house caters. Evidently it has never
occurred to some London merchants that there may be merit in such
a system. In some of our great department stores a lady may
wander, if she will, from top to bottom of the establishment
seeing interesting things on every hand. There are waiting rooms,
parlors and a good restaurant at disposal, and no one is annoyed
with importunities.
I
S not this a more progressive and sensible plan of conducting
business than that in vogue in London, where people are afraid
to enter the store unless they are prepared to buy? One implies a