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THE MUSIC TRADE
posing the exposition exists. It is presumed that his sources of
information may not be as complete or as direct as those at the
disposal of a trade publication which has on its weekly payroll
more than fifty news gatherers, and which through its extensive
organization is in touch at all times with every section of the
country.
R. WERLEIN admits that the move should be carefully con-
sidered before entering enthusiastically upon it. He fur-
ther supports the argument which has been made by The Review
that it is possible to create a great music trade exposition which
might be held in Madison Square annually and believes the pro-
posed exhibit in Washington might be an initial move in this di-
rection. He figures that the expense incident to preparing and
making an exhibit would be more than balanced by the advantage
which would accrue to the manufacturer making the show of his
instruments. He reasons that the sale of special exhibition pianos
too would cause a boom from one end of the United States to the
other.
There are many other points made in Mr. Werlein's communica-
tion which should be carefully read, and it was the intention of
The Review in starting this movement to create a fair discussion,
and it is gratifying to know that the publicity thus far given it
has been instrumental in bringing about healthy and helpful argu-
ments. •
M
I
T is fitting too that matters of this kind which effect the entire
industry should be carefully sifted in the columns of repre-
sentative trade publications. We then would be more apt to sepa-
rate the wheat from the chaff and get down to the situation as it
actually is, brushing asicle superfluities, or impossible theories con-
nected with it.
We should be glad indeed to hear from other members of the
trade, whether connected with the two organizations or aot. We
have in separate issues presented the views of the chief executives
of the manufacturers and dealers associations. We have also
received many communications from others who have requested
that their names be not used in connection with the matter. There
is no necessity, however, to evade the question; it is either good,
or it is not. If it is good, if the end justifies the expenditures, let
us all stand together and make it the greatest success of any event
in music-trade history. If it is demonstrated that the possible
benefits fall far short of a monetary success then it certainly would
be wise to discontinue the project.
Thus far our own sources of information do not indicate a
desire on the part of the manufacturers to hold a large trade exhibit.
The exhibits promise to be rather sporadic than centralized, but
there is plenty of time to argue the matter from every viewpoint.
T
HE directory of piano manufacturing firms and corporations
which has appeared weekly in The Review for some years
past has been found on many occasions to have been of great ad-
vantage to piano merchants everywhere. For proof of this we
have received many letters from piano men stating how useful the
directory is to them.
Otto Geitner, of New Brunswick, N. ]., writes: "This summer
a stranger came into my store saying, T am from Missouri, business
brought me East. I will go back in a few weeks. I received this
morning a letter from my daughter in which she says she intends
to buy a certain piano, but I think it is only a stencil piano. Do
you know that name?' I did not. We looked in The Review
manufacturers' list and found that name mentioned among the
New Yorkers. The man has been satisfied and said: T will write
home to-day and advise my daughter to buy the piano.' "
A number of similar communications frequently reach this office
showing that The Review list is useful in protecting the best
interests of the trade.
T
RADE papers in every department of industry are found to
be more and more useful, and it is gratifying to know that
The Review, is better understood to-day than ever and that its
influence is a strong power for trade good.
A. B. Smith, the well known dealer of Akron, O., says, in en-
closing a subscription to The Review: "We like the true attitude
of your paper, of attending to your business as editor, aiming to
do that which is best for the manufacturer and dealer both, without
dictating to either one, considering the interests of one equal to
_
REVIEW
that of the other." A trade paper should be helpful to all divisions
of trade which it represents, and the aim of The Review has been
to not only accurately present the news of the day, but to truth-
fully portray trade conditions so that the paper shall stand as a
force for general good in the industry.
D
OES the pessimist win success? The twentieth century thought
has too firmly established the belief that we receive what
we are looking for to permit the pessimist to build successfully,
and when you hear a man condemning every part of the piano
business he is pretty sure to be a pessimist, and he hasn't sized up
the business situation correctly. He has not fully realized the im-
portance of this industry, and the possibilities which it contains
for progressive, optimistic men.
Success is never attained when a business is dropped through
lack of achievement, and another selected through accident. If the
greatest possible success has been attained in selling matches then
a man is ready to sell iron bridges successfully.
We see so many young men who simply drift instead of fight-
ing against conditions, and then they complain about ill luck and
the lack of possibilities which the piano trade possesses for them.
When you hear a man who is always complaining you can make
up your mind, rightly too, that he has not sized up conditions prop-
erly. There is something wrong in his own make up rather than
in trade conditions, and the man who produces from an unpromis-
ing line, is the man to entrust with important propositions, because
he has made the most out of conditions around him.
HP* HERE could be many legitimate reasons advanced why a man
-L might change his business for larger opportunities, better
fields, more promising outlooks. A few conditions could turn one
into a new channel, but if a man hasn't achieved some success when
conditions were not wholly to his liking, it is pretty safe to wager
that he would not win with better surroundings, for the men who
have won the most distinguished success in their- line of trade did
not fall into it by sheer luck. Back of this so-called luck is plenty
of enterprise, will power, energy, vitalizing force.
W
E see some men in this trade who expect to find a little
sack of gold inside of every piano, and because the big
money does not materialize at once, they say there is a rope around
their neck holding them back from success. They say luck is against
them, and business is worthless. All of those things are lame and
apologetic explanations of a man's own inability, for before the
throne chair of success is occupied there is a long road to travel,
filled with thorns too. But Lord bless you, when a man can talk
nothing but pessimism, can see nothing but black inky clouds when
sunshine is all about him, it is pretty safe to assume that he couldn't
make a success in any line. He might possibly pick up a few nug-
gets in the gold field, if they were dug out and placed where he is
bound to stub his toes against them, but there is no future for any
such man in this business. It demands sharp, keen, progressive
business men, and many of the new men who are coming in are
bringing with them useful attributes, and the more good business
men that we can get in the industry the better it will be for it.
N
EARLY every one concedes that price-cutting is an evil that
must be avoided by himself and discontinued by his neigh-
bors, and yet price-cutting goes on in all localities.
Suppose that the maximum prices on leading pianos are estab-
lished by manufacturers, would the price-cutting evil be indulged in
to the same extent that it is to-day ?
Hardly. And there is no single move that could be made that
would lend price stability to pianos like the establishment of a maxi-
mum retail price by the manufacturers.
The worst part of this price-cutting is that when once started it
is hard to stop. It is like an avalanche which starts far up a moun-
tain side with a mere handful of stone and gravel plunging down
in its mad career sweeps away the houses in the valley. It seems a
small thing for the retailer to cut the price on merchandise in order
that he may win business. But, after all, when the price-cutting once
becomes dominant in a store there is no stability to the business. It
is any old price for any instrument, and the salesmen are continually
running back to the manager's or employer's desk asking if such and
such a price can be made on a particular instrument. .
No wonder some of them get nervous prostration under such
conditions. One price, the right price, insures the merchant at least
a modicum of pleasure in the conduct of his business.