Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
ter up his own publication, to belittle The Review, which he did not
hesitate to do in a most pronounced manner.
The gentleman whom he was endeavoring to convert had long
been a patron of the paper, and he remarked to our representative
when relating the incident, that he had secured excellent returns
direct and indirect from his investment in Review space, "and," he
added, "that young man could never get business from me, he is
too abusive. He insulted my intelligence, and no paper can ever
win support by running down a rival publication which has fairly
won a position of strength and influence."
And so it goes, no matter what the line, it pays to be fair; and
no man can succeed very long by trickery or fraud. He will be
found out and then confidence in him will be destroyed.
MANUFACTURER, while recently calling upon The Re-
view, spoke of the capital which he had invested in recent
years in labor-saving machinery, "and yet," he said, "that while we
spent a good many thousand dollars in special machinery during
the past few years, I am satisfied that every investment has been a
good one, and I do not see how some men who have antiquated
machinery can meet the kind of competition which lies in up-to-date
machines."
The people who have not given this subject investigation have
not a fair conception of the amount of money which the modern
manufacturers are compelled to invest yearly in machines.
Special machinery which cost many thousand dollars only a
few years ago is retired to-day as obsolete, out it goes into the scrap
iron heap, and investments aggregating many thousands must be
made yearly in order to keep up with the trade procession, for the
man who halts is lost.
There are few persons, indeed, who realize what an enormous
annual expense is this item of machinery, to manufacturers. Single
machines cost many thousands, and at best it must be a long time
before they pay for themselves. Before that time occurs, possibly
certain betterments may have been accomplished so that they have to
be relegated to the old iron yard. The matter of machinery cuts
a big figure nowadays in factory expenses.
A
HE practice of marking pianos in plain figures on the ware-
room floor is steadily growing in favor. It was only a short
time ago when the use of characters on price cards was almost
universal. Now, the plain figures have crept steadily in until lead-
ing dealers in every section emphasize the fact that all of their
instruments are ticketed with cards on which plain figures appear
instead of the blind characters of old.
This plan of merchandising has come to stay, and of course
there will be some who will refuse for a long time to join the great
majority in this particular, but after a while they will be forced to
succumb to healthful business influences.
T
T was many years ago, upon the occasion of our first visit to
San Francisco, that we noted that the great firm of Sherman,
Clay & Co. had every instrument on their various floors marked in
plain figures. This concern, we believe, was the first in the far West
to adopt this plan in all their departments, and Mr. Sherman re-
marked to us at the time that he had found the plan satisfactory
in every respect. He stated that he was satisfied that the people who
came in and saw the instruments all marked in plain figures had at
once confidence in the values offered.
This noted San Francisco house has never deviated from this
plan, which was put in operation years ago, and it must have been
helpful to their interest's, for it would be difficult indeed to locate
a concern which has won the confidence of the public to a larger
degree than this eminent Pacific Coast house.
I
UBLICITY in every line was never more appreciated than at
the present time, and it is expected that a new policy of com-
plete publicity in Panama Canal affairs will now be inaugurated.
Chairman Shouts proposes that each month a comprehensive report
will be made public not only of deaths, but recovery from yellow
fever, and health conditions generally, but of every phase of work
on the Canal.
It has been fairly demonstrated, it is said, that the stories which
have found their way into the newspapers, emanating mostly from
malcontents who have left the Isthmus, have, in many cases, been
grossly exaggerated, and their circulation among cheap labor
P
has done much to persuade these workrii£i> that; the canal zone is
no place for them. The health officials rtgdizb tha&.the work is gonig
to be seriously hampered by publication-eJLialstr reports, and they
propose to counteract them by inaugurating a plan of publicity
which will give people a correct impression of the whole Canal
situation.
T
HIS only goes to show what an enormous power publicity is
in modern every day "affairs. People read what will interest
them, and the public press may be depended upon to furnish that
reading, and the trade newspapers fill just as important a sphere in
supplying the news to special industrial lines as the daily newspaper
to the public.
It has another point decidely in its favor. It is clean, in most
cases, and it is not necessary to turn the hose on a trade newspaper
before bringing it home. The trade newspaper records the ad-
vance made in industrial lines, and it cuts out the scandals of modern
life. The soiled linen of the divorce courts is not washed in its
columns.
ND too, the trade paper has gone up materially in public esti-
mation during the past few years. It has been a steady pro-
cess of evolution, for some of the most successful papers to-day
had shady records years ago, and some of them started as simply
house organs. But there has been a better class of men—men with
clean methods, with high ideals who have been attracted to trade
newspaper work, and it has been such influence which has raised it
to its present position. Trade paper men may not win any of Car-
negie's hero medals, and they may not succeed in reforming the
world, and when they go up above, as of course they will, they may
not have their harp check paid for, but they will have at least to
their credit a lot of good, clean, sincere, conscientious work in be-
half of honest industry.
A
B
Y October 1st, it is probable that we will see the present num-
ber of inside piano players materially increased through
substantial additions to the list.
That name, inside player, seems to hang on tenaciously, but
it seems raw, crude, and inexpressive. Will not some one invent a
more pleasing title by which to designate the interior mechanism
which is used to operate a piano pneumatically ? But in lieu of a bet-
ter name, we will have to stick to the present term—inside player, and
it has the inside, not only in name, but in fact, for, at the present
time, all trade discussions along player lines gravitate as naturally
to the interior product as the power of Tammany is discussed dur-
ing a red hot New York political campaign.
T
HERE are now on the market, and still coming, a lot of new
inside players. Combination pianos, why not say, and cut out
the term inside, for it is apparent they are not located on the outside.
Now, when these combination players do get in full blast, and all
the manufacturers are bidding for trade patronage, there will be
some lively times ahead, and the emphasis which salesmen will place
upon the combination piano must result in forcing it to the very
forefront of pianodom.
T
HE combination piano is going to be advertised largely this
fall—more than ever before by a good many people, and the
result is that the cabinet player will be sidetracked for a while.
This whole player business has developed so phenomenally of
late, that a line of experts, capable of attending to the wants of the
retailers has not as yet been trained.
There is unquestionably a big field for player experts, and the
great number of combination pianos which will be sold this fall will
render imperative the creation of a large number of men who have
a fully equipped knowledge of all of the interior mechanism of
these instruments.
P
APERS containing the advertisements of piano merchants
have reached us during the past ten days from every city in
the Union. We may add that never before in trade history have the
retailers given such prominence to their wares in the public press
as they have during the present month of August. This publicity
must result in accentuating public interest in pianos and musical
accesories, because it is this everlastingly keeping at it that is going
to win, and the wide awake piano merchant will keep well to the
front in season and out.