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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
although three years ago it was declared throughout Great Britain
that the wheel trade was over, but when a systematic line of pub-
licity was decided upon, new life was pumped into the bicycle body
and it sprang at once into an activity which some believed it inca-
paJble of ever assuming.
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T only shows the power of publicity. If piano manufacturers
and dealers should decide to withdraw from all avenues of
publicity, the piano business would soon be in its decadence. It is
publicity which creates and no man in business to-day, no matter
how firmly he may be entrenched behind walls of patronage, can
afford to say that he can stop advertising, that his position is as-
sured. Some of the large concerns in this country have tried this
in their respective lines, but they have found that it cost them several
times more to regain their lost ground than they had spent in years
of public advertising before. Advertising of all kinds is profitable.
We might say of advertising as the Kentuckian said of the famous
product of the Blue Grass State, that there is no poor whiskey, but
some is better than others. Now all advertising helps, but some
helps a powerful sight more than others.
S far as trade paper work is concerned, it should be helpful in
a large degree to both departments of the industry. The in-
terests of manufacturer and dealer are closely interwoven and the
natural medium between the two is the trade newspaper. It has
been the aim of this newspaper institution to be in the highest degree
a helpful adjunct to both departments. One New York manufac-
turer this week remarked, "I consider that there is no paper in this
country which commands greater respect, or has a wider line
of readers than the Review. We have found our advertising help-
ful, directly and indirectly." The Chas. E. Hatt Co., Grand Rapids,
Mich., write "I want to say to you that 1 think the Review is the
paper to use. I have received a pile of answers to my advertisement,
in fact, 1 could not begin to fill the orders for samples that 1 re-
ceived through your publication. I shall use your paper steadily."
Philip Werlein, President of the Dealers' National Association, says,
"The work of the Music Trade Review in furthering the interests
of the music trade has been particularly worthy of note for its mag-
nificent editorials. I read them with a great deal of interest. The
trade paper is almost as important to a trade as capital, as an ex-
change of ideas is made readily possible, and in consequence, the
tradesman is wonderfully broadened and his capacity for doing
business considerably increased by keeping up with the events of
his trade. The trade paper is more important than an association,
as the intention of the entire trade is obtained through the trade
paper and the necessity of associated action is made evident."
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PECIAL reports received from Review correspondents in vari-
ous sections of the country indicate a fall business of unusual
proportions. The fine outlook for fall crops is of course the great
cause of the confidence in the business future felt by financiers,
manufacturers and merchants. Corn promises a bumper yield,
wheat will run above the average of recent years and all other
products are over the ordinary except cotton, while in the case of
that staple, the prevailing prices will make full compensation for
the shortage. The commercial reports indicate a very cheerful con-
dition of affairs and state that business continues to expand in a
wholesome manner which promises well for the future. The weekly
reports of bankers and brokers are also pitched in a most confident
key. One of them quotes a prominent Chicago financier as saying
that the agricultural and industrial conditions are the best in the
history of the country. Another circular, issued by a most reputable
Wall street firm, claims that there are at least two years of pros-
perity for the steel companies, which we quote simply as a specimen
of the optimism now prevailing.
ROM a recent table which compares the gross earnings of
eighteen railroad systems of the United States, for the year
ending June 30, 1905, with the gross earnings of the same railroads
for the year ending June 30, 1902, it appears that in three years the
gross earnings have increased 21 per cent. The railroads embraced
in the comparison were territorially representative and included
about one-third of the total mileage of the country. There is little
doubt that the percentage of increase for all the railroads is approxi-
mately as large as for the eighteen selected ones. , Certainly the
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showing of railroad prosperity is a magnificent one, and as the 1905
crops promise to be the largest in the country's history, there is no
indication of an ebb in the tide.
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OR obvious reasons gross earnings are the best single test of
general railroad conditions. They are superior to net earn-
ings inasmuch as net earnings are often unduly decreased by extra-
ordinary expenditures in good years for betterments, and unduly
increased in bad years through failure to provide proper main-
tenance. Gross earnings represent the volume of business done,
and other things being at all equal, actual profit increases a little
faster than their total. In gross earnings we have a reflex of those
abiding conditions which are the basis of railroad as well as all
other prosperity. When we reflect, therefore, that in three years
something like $345,000,000 has been added to the sum annually
earned by the railroads, making the present total almost $2,100,000,-
000, we see at a glance on how broad a foundation railroad pros-
perity rests. Amazement grows when we contemplate that this
enormous addition has been made with practically no increase in
the ton-mile rate for freight and an actual decrease in the mile rate
for passengers. The new millions that have come to the railroad
treasuries are from new business and betoken the material growth of
the country—an expansion so vast that those who live in its shadow
fail justly to appreciate it.
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PEAKING of piano territory and the possibilities of output
by some of the far Western trade, as a matter of fact, New
York is the finest piano territory in the world. With its four mil-
lions of people, it affords opportunities which are not equaled by
any other section of the country. Then when we consider the pur-
chasing power of our people it must be admitted that there is afforded
here an opportunity for piano selling in a magnitude unapproached
by any other section. Wanamaker has learned this, and has demon-
strated the power of organization and advertising in developing
the piano business in this locality.
Without doubt, this is still undeveloped territory, and when
we consider it, the wholesale trade within a day's run from New
York is certainly very encouraging as far as prospects are con-
cerned.
One manufacturer remarked recently to The Review: "I have
concluded that territory lying near us has never been worked in
the manner that it should have been, when we consider that we
solicit trade from far away sections at great expense, and many of
us have neglected to pay proper attention to that which lies within
speaking distance, almost."
Worth thinking over, is it not?
WELL-KNOWN western dealer, while calling upon the
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Review this week remarked. "There is a good deal said
about the commercial piano. Now 1 have sold a good many of
them, and 1 must say they have been strong factors in building up
my business. Understand I do not mean worthless goods, but I mean
a commercial piano sold at a fair price. The trouble with the cheap
piano in many cases is that it has been sold as "a just as good,"
and I have been much interested in the editorials which have ap-
peared in the Review denouncing this plan. I believe that, as the
Review has stated, the true status of every instrument may be
quickly reached by the manufacturers naming the maximum prices
at which their instruments may be sold. That is the crux of the sit-
uation." The cheap piano fills its own sphere and there is a fixed
and steady demand for them, but as our friend remarks, the evil
has been in selling a cheap piano at a price which should have en-
titled the customer to become the owner of a high-grade instrument.
No man, however, has earned a lasting reputation by dealing ex-
clusively in cheap goods. It is the high-grade instruments which
give standing and character to piano business.
NUMBER of the members of the trade have taken advantage
of the summer dulness, and combined a pleasure and business
trip including far away points on the Pacific Coast. We have re-
ceived communications from some who have praised The Review
exhibit at the Lewis and Clark Exposition in the warmest terms.
They do not hesitate to class it as that kind of newspaper enter-
prise which ,is beneficial to the entire industry, and they rightly
figure that expenses in conjunction with such work reach large
figures.
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