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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
AST week a manufacturer wrote to this paper, stating that a
a
party in a Southern town had written in, asking the price of
a certain piano, which he advertised in a magazine. He replied to
the inquiry by stating the regular price of the instrument, and
referred the lady to the dealer in whose territory she resided. He
found out later that the dealer had asked an excessive price for
this same instrument, and had been trying to sell the party one of
his own special brands—in fact he had done everything to dissuade
her from purchasing the instrument which she desired, first, by
placing a valuation upon it far exceeding the manufacturer's price,
thus widening the price gap between his special brand, and the reput-
able instrument which the party desired.
L
PECIAL brands will find their own level, if the manufacturers
of well known instruments fix their own price for their
products.
There are a number of distinguished concerns who have adopted
this policy with splendid results. Willard A. Vose, head of the
great Vose concern of Boston,while recently discussing trade mat-
ters in the offices of The Review, remarked that he was a firm
believer in the policy of the manufacturer placing the retail prices
upon his instrument. That was the policy of his concern, he said,
and it had been productive of excellent results. It established the
line of demarcation clearly between instruments of the reliable and
reputable class, and pianos of the nondescript variety. It helped
materially towards establishing piano stability.
S
" 1 OR months The Review has been calling the attention of both
manufacturers and dealers to the importance of manufac-
turers establishing the retail prices at which their pianos shall be
offered, and it is, therefore, with gratification that we note that the
Dealers' Association have adopted our suggestion that this be one
of the topics for discussion at the forthcoming convention at Put-
In-Bay. It is certainly a victory for The Review to have pushed
this matter into such prominence that it now comes up for Associa-
tion consideration.
F
I
T seems that Chas. Dold, who figured as the director of the Piano
and Organ Workers' Union during troublous times in Chicago,
some years ago, is again figuring prominently in the strike in that
city. He is president of the Chicago division of the American Federa-
tion of Labor and he announced some time ago that to win the
strike he would, if necessary, call out every man, woman and child
belonging to any labor union working in Chicago, but later recon-
sidered this radical move. Much violence has resulted from the
strike already, and hundreds of brutal assaults with some fatal
results are reported.
The Employers' Association, and employers generally have
made up their minds that this must be a fight to the finish, and they
are determined to wipe out of existence a union which has been
used as a club by all other unions to enforce its demands, dictating
terms to employers who were dependent upon teams for transfer of
materials.
The American Federation of Labor on the other hand is
equally insistent that it shall be a finish fight, no matter what it
costs in men or money, it must be won. Meanwhile the piano manu-
facturers who have been establishing plants at points far distant
enough from Chicago to be removed from interference of labor
troubles are not passing any time in regretful contemplation of their
developed plans.
SALESMAN writes to The Review, "I have been in this busi-
ness long enough to believe that it takes pretty hard work on
the part of a man to succeed. The hours are long, and to make sales
I am compelled frequently to make calls at night upon possible
customers. Do you really think that the selling of pianos has much
of a future for a man of my ability?"
Candidly, we do not, because we are inclined to the belief that
the writer belongs to the class of men who are forever watching the
clock, and waiting for the closing hours to come rather than to see
how good results may be accomplished by displaying a little more
energy before closing time.
A
HERE is a sentiment in the communication which is suggestive
of discontent and weariness, and we believe that our friend
is inclined to see how little work he can do instead of how much,
with consequent results.
T
9
For the young man who is figuring on such a basis, there is
very little in the piano business to encourage him, and there is no
probability that in years to come he will become a distinguished suc-
cess. We have known some of the men who have risen to great
prominence in the business life, when they were not so rich, and not
quite so successful, and in those days when fortune had not smiled
upon them, they were hard workers—in fact after business hours
they could be frequently found hard at work, either in office or
salesroom getting things in readiness for the next day's battle.
OME timely remarks along these lines come to mind which
were recently uttered by John Nelson, the millionaire grocer,
who has built the town of La Claire, 111. He was recently asked
what he considered real success in life and how best to achieve it?
He answered:
"The real success in life is to make a useful man. And the best
way to attain it is always to do the work in hand the very best one
knows how. Jt matters not what the work, how humble, how insig-
nificant, how seemingly unimportant, if it be done with this thought
ever uppermost it will bring success to any man. And it will be
the kind worth having.
"All large employers of men and women are all the ti,me in need
of just such men, and promotion to them is easy. That's a fact. I
have seen that proven many times in this very house in the twenty-
five years that 1 have been at its head.
"The worker who is content with mere mediocrity, or doing his
work just well enough to hold his job, has not the elements of suc-
cess in his makeup. He is not a useful man, and never will be while
he holds to such an ideal. I am a believer in common things. If
a man does common things well he is capable of doing equally well
things that are not so common.
"That man or woman who works only under the spur of neces-
sity, works from an unworthy motive. He or she should work
because work is good, because it will make him useful to himself and
useful to society, because it is the law of his being and may not
rightfully be evaded."
S
OME merchants have adopted the window auction plan with
satisfactory results. The scheme is as follows; and could be
easiiy applied to the piano trade:
Place a piano in the window with a card over it, stating that
the instrument will be sold to the highest bidder, naming the date
at which the sale will occur. Small cards to be filled out can be
secured in the store, and each one who bids drops his card in a box
which is opened upon the date set by the merchant.
That is one form. Another could easily be arranged to change
the bid each day, raising the price as each card is passed in, having
a boy in the window to mark the highest bid to date on the placard.
The scheme must surely excite a great deal of curiosity on the
part of passers by, and the people get in the habit of looking in the
window to see what the latest bid amounts to.
It might not be a bad suggestion to try this plan on a single
piano and see how it operates. It is new, and never to our knowl-
edge has been tried in this trade. It will make an establishment
talked about.
S
A NOTHER suggestion which might be worked over with profit
l\
would be to send out a lot of postals to names which could
be easily secured in adjoining towns. The information conveyed
by the postals would be to the effect that the piano merchant had
"something special" at his store and that he wished the farmer
would come in and investigate when he came to town. This, of
course, could only be worked in smaller towns, principally among
the farmers, but we know of one man who mailed a good many
postals one week, and received a surprisingly large percentage of
returns in the way of calls at his store. The people thus invited
came in to see him for particulars, and he succeeded in interesting
them and turning their visit to his own profit.
This same man had a novel scheme last summer. He issued
invitations every month to his former customers to have dinner with
him on a certain day, taking ocasion at the same time to intimate that
he would have a special sale on that day. An appetizing lunch was
served at the tables, which had been attractively decorated, and these
lunches proved to be a magnet as well as a medium through which
a large amount of goods was disposed of.