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THE:
MUSIC TRADE: REVIEW
man in this country who is honest enough to handle a vast impersonal
fund. The only one who can be trusted to honestly direct the uses of
these vast impersonal funds would be the great Nazarene. I never
have taken out life insurance policies for this reason. I never have
doubted the individual honesty of certain men, and at the same time
I never have doubted the corrupting power of these vast impersonal
funds which certainly dull the moral sensibilities of the directors who
become lost to the feelings of responsibility.''
In this trade there has been no feeling between the manufacturer
and retail branches of the trade. There are no intermediate forces,
because jobbing in the piano line is practically extinct.
L
We have on file many letters which we have received from
influential piano merchants all over the country who have denounced
the special brand business in no uncertain manner. They realize
that sooner or later this must be a menace to the legitimate interests
of the trade and will have to be met.
C
A
ERTAINLY Colonel Conway's words are worthy of careful
consideration, and presumably an expose of the other life in-
surance companies would show a condition of affairs possibly equal
to that of the Equitable. It is difficult at this time to estimate the
full effect of the Equitable revelations, but that the more intimate
knowledge furnished of the methods of high finance has made a deep
impression throughout the country is something that admits of no
question. The public, too, will surely assume, and with good reason,
that the Equitable methods are typical of those ruling in other great
financial or industrial institutions.
No one can overlook the former standing of the Society, the hun-
dreds of millions it controls, the trust companies and banks which
it has created, the power that it wields throughout the financial
world, and the standing of its former directors, all of whom have
been regarded as pillars, not merely of society, to use Ibsen's term,
but of the country's business structure. Is Colonel Conway not right
when he says that the source of the evil may be traced to the cor-
rupting influences resulting from the handling of a vast impersonal
fund running into hundreds of millions?
H
OW can the confidence, which is the very life blood of com-
merce, exist if the officers and directors of institutions, whose
primary character is so purely a fiduciary one are to be found untrust-
worthy? What is the remedy?
We need to awaken public sentiment. We are too tolerant of
many things in these days of money-grabbing; we are too careless of
the means employed in the causes of the wealth; we need a higher
standard, a higher range of thought on the part of all the people of
this country. We must punish grafters, no matter how respectable
their position. If we fail to do this, then some day there will be
imposed upon us a terrible retribution.
O
NE of the commendable things about the piano trade is its cheer-
fulness. One might expect this from the nature of the busi-
ness, and it would be difficult to locate a more hopeful, optimistic
line of men than are in evidence at the music trade conventions. If
there is a ray of sunshine anywhere they are sure to see it, and they
do not get discouraged over an attractive menu which proves to be a
delusion and a snare. If there are a few drops of w r ater falling they
do not hunt up an umbrella, but begin to search for the rainbow, and
if there is none in sight they imagine they can see one. In other
words, whenever we get a number of piano men together there is at
once a healthy optimism which is charming. The association gather-
ings are good fellowship breeders, and no mistake.
A
GREAT many state meetings of hardware men were held
during the month of June, and the one dominating topic was
the discussion of special brands.
The Hardware National Association has given this increasingly
interesting topic very careful consideration, and, as a result of re-
peated conferences, a^ set of resolutions was adopted declaring in
clear and unmistakable language that the manufacturers view the
special brands as being so injurious to their interests as well as to
those of the trade and the public as to require some earnest and ener-
getic action.
Rather of an interesting condition has arisen from this agitation.
The jobbers insist upon carrying special brands. They propose to
fight the hardware manufacturers in an aggressive manner.
A
LEAD ING hardware manufacturer remarked to T H E REVIEW
that the question for them is a serious one, and they should
have grappled the problem earlier, but they propose now to defend
their business interests with vigor. They are appealing to the deal-
ers now and will not be outdone by the jobbers in the character and
detail of their presentation of the matter to the retail merchants of
the country.
WELL-KNOWN music trade merchant of the West s.aid to
T H E REVIEW: "I believe with you that if the parcels-post
bill becomes a law the power of the catalogue houses will be quad-
rupled."'
There can be no doubt of that condition, and if all the merchants
affected by this law would concentrate their forces they could defeat
the passage of this measure. In other words, there must be con-
certed effort, but in this line in which there can be many deliveries
made in the small goods line, by parcels-post, there has been no effort
made to prevent this bill from becoming a law. If dealers them-
selves would write letters to their Congressmen protesting against the
measure, it would be helpful.
E
NGLISH manufacturers have had many obstacles to face dur-
ing the past few years, and now they are having a series of
freak legislation which is liable to increase the liability of the em-
ployer to a vast extent.
American manufacturers have an interest in English labor laws
because they are pretty apt to crop up in our State legislatures,
inspired either by labor interests, which are continually advocating
freak legislation, affecting relations of employer and employe, or
by the well meaning but poorly informed reformer who acts entirely
on theory, and knows nothing about practice.
In England they propose by legislation to make the employer
liable for the sickness of an employe, where that sickness has re-
sulted from his employment.
I; , ; I;
' j , ;
T
H E raising of such a question would seem to promise almost
innumerable cases for the courts, resulting from claims for
sickness, where doubt existed as to the real source of the disease,
whether in the shop or outside the shop.
Even the suggestion of such a liability seems absurd, yet the
attempt is being made to amend the new workmen's compensation
bill now before the British Parliament, so that the employer would
be liable for compensation, or illness contracted in the course of the
employe's work.
I
E this becomes a law it will breed infinite trouble. One can
easily see the claims that would arise where the sick workman
or his family would be assisted by the speculating lawyer, the hunter
of accident claims, and also by the more recent addition to the
enemies of the employer, the physician who lends himself to the
speculation on the basis of a percentage of the award in cases where
damages are obtained. A good many American manufacturers have
been compelled to defend suits which have been brought by men who
have been injured while in their employ. Vast possibilities of black-
mail have been opened in this connection, and in the piano trade a
number of employers have been held up by scheming lawyers, so that
to-day most of them prefer to pay an annual sum to a security com-
pany, thus relieving themselves of any obligations beyond the pay-
ment of an annual sum to the company which guarantees security
from claims of this nature.
M
ANY a great business concern owes its success to the per-
sonal reputation of its proprietors or managers. The repu-
tation of a business man is his most priceless possession, and the
only man who can destroy it is the owner. Jealous competitors may
attempt all kinds of abuse, but after all, that abuse is harmless
against the background of a spotless reputation. It takes years to
build up a reputation for correct and honest business methods, and
after all, its value is greater than any other advertisement. No
matter how much money may be spent in printers' ink, unless the
people have confidence in the merchant or manufacturer, it does not
go nearly as far as it would if the honesty and integrity of the
advertisers were unquestioned.