Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
other salesmen were very glad to pass the individual over to Mr.
Brown, who exhibited every courtesy to him. and after he had spent
about half an hour with the man he concluded to purchase one of
the best Chickering uprights. To the amazement of the wareroom
boys he pulled a plethoric purse from out of his overalls and
counted out a roll of several hundred dollars, which he handed to
Mr. Brown, who did not exhibit the slightest surprise upon closing
such a satisfactory cash sale with a person whose appearances would
not seem to indicate that he had to exceed the price of a glass of
beer in his pocket. It does not pay, however, to be deceived by
appearances.
A
NOTHER illustration along similar lines. We were near the
motor boats at the Sportsmen's Show in the Madison Square
(iarden, when a couple approached, who evidently from their out-
ward appearances were French Canadians. The man wore a cheap
fur cap, and his appearance did not indicate that he was enjoying
particularly pleasing financial conditions. The couple wandered
about, talking to each other in French, and seemed more interested
in the motor boats than anything else. They tried one after
another of the boats in the lagoon, and finally tried to get some
detailed information about one of the biggest of them. Neither
the man or the woman could speak English well enough to be
understood by any one who has not lived in French Canada; partly
because he could not tell just what he wanted, and also because
they did not seem prospective customers, the young man in charge
of the boat paid but little attention to them.
T
H E young fellow was more interested in a pretty girl who
stood nearby tapping her dainty foot with her parasol. •"Come
on," the French Canadian said to his wife in French, "they do not
seem to care whether they sell the boats or not."
The attention of the manager of the exhibit was then called to
the Canadian couple, and it happened that he could speak French,
and in about three minutes he was explaining all about the mechan-
ism of the engine to the strangers. Flalf an hour later the young
fellow who had obviously tried to snub the plainly dressed couple
was watching with bulging eyes the transfer of $1,500 in green-
backs from the fur-capped man's wallet to the manager's hand,
and the sale of a big boat was consummated.
Moral: You can't tell how much coin a man may have stowed
away in his clothes somewhere, even if he has an unkempt appear-
ance.
O
UR trade reports for the week indicate the best condition of
business in the middle West, although it may be truthfully
said that business has not been dull in other sections. Xew England
trade has shown some improvement since the beginning of the
month, and collections all around have been better during the last
ten days.
Activity is evident in every line of trade, and as the spring
advances it is believed that the money situation will be decidedly
easier. Nothing has definitely developed in any industry to change
the glowing forecast of three months ago. Those who, at the com-
ing in of the year, found occasion for tempering optimistic prophecv
concerning business for i<;on in the fact that the skies were so cloud-
less, have already been furnished with a catalogue of reasons for
conservative action. A reckless speculation was considered by many
to be the inevitable climax of the unparalleled prosperity of 10,05.
Such speculation has already been checked and the halt in the
upward movement of securities has given opportunity for a soberer
inventory of the underlying factors of strength in the industrial
situation.
T
HE country is not poorer than it was some weeks ago when
prices of stock were ten to forty points above the level of
to-day. It is richer in fact: manufacturing operations show no
slackening of pace that marked the coining in of the year. If there
is any change it is towards fuller employment.
In spite of a strike in a portion of the building- trades, work
in that line has kept thousands of men busy in the past two months
who ordinarily spend that part of the year in idleness.
Much was made, on the other baud, of the possibilities of crop
disaster following a comparatively snowless winter. Hut reports
of the past week indicate that the condition of winter wheat is not
appreciably worse to-day than ordinarily in March. The Russian
revolution caused much apprehension at the beginning of the year.
It has now gone back to a place of minor importance among inter-
ests bearing upon the immediate future of business in the United
States.
At home possible strikes and possible legislation engross atten-
tion. The long-drawn discussion of the harm that might come
from introducing a new factor in the railroad rate making has so
prepared the business world for some form of Federal regulation
that the shock of the early proposals of rate legislation has been
dissipated.
P
ROBABLY the observation most commonly made in recent dis-
cussions in the financial and business outlook is that there
appears not to be money enough in the country to carry on the
present volume of business and an active credit speculation at the
same time. The business world is not showing any uneasiness on
that account. As long as railroad and manufacturing profits in-
crease as they have done in recent months, the fear that there will
not be enough money to go around will not unsettle things. There
is to-day a freedom from wildcat schemes and from inflated trade
operations that argue for continued health in trade, and the dangers
from over-extension of credits seem to be small when the enormous
scale of business is considered.
Manufacturers and dealers in the piano trade have every reason
to look forward with confidence to a year's business which will
surpass that of J5. All departments of the industry seem busily
occupied, and there is an ever-increasing demand for the inside
piano players.
N
OTWITHSTANDING; the fact that the exposition has been
abandoned by the Dealers' National Association it is prob-
able that there \vi 11 be a number of sporadic exhibits made in the
Capitol City during convention days next .May.
There has been from the start considerable opposition to the
exposition idea. A goodly number of manufacturers have not been
able to figure that the returns would be anything near commensurate
with the outlay necessary to create and carrv to Washington an
impressive exhibit. But more than all that, some do not hesitate
to say that they do not believe in a music trade exposition as a
feature to advance the general trade interests. They hold that sneh
an exposition as was planned would not help to increase the retail
sales of pianos by a single instrument.
Jt is quite probable that some time within the near future an
exposition mav be planned on broad lines so that the general public
will be interested and that the first great music trade exposition
will be held in Madison Square (iarden. There are men who are
carefully considering a move of this kind, but it is too earlv to an-
nounce their plans or just when they feel that the time will be ripe
to handle an exposition with specially attractive features to interest
music lovers.
SUBSCRIBER, writing to The Review, says: "I was much
interested in your recent editorial regarding how some
dealers use high-grade pianos as a means of building up a reputa-
tion for their own instruments. We are not manufacturers, but
one of our local dealers has a small factory, and I know that ho
has sold some of his' pianos to the best people in his town, simply
by claiming that they were better than his leading make, which 's
one of the most renowned pianos in this country. If the makers of
these instruments knew how their pianos were being treated I do
not believe that they would feel satisfied."
No man who is selling the products of human brains and skill
is liable to overlook anything which he can use to his advantage.
When a piano dealer starts out to manufacture pianos on his own
account he is quite apt to use every point which lie can in helping
to establish in the minds of his customers the belief that he is
producing a little better piano than those he has been handling.
That is human nature, and manufacturers who are doing business
with those dealers must expect that such statements will be made
because the energies of every merchant will be used in exploiting
the sale of a product in which he has the greatest interest. There-
fore it is up to the manufacturer, whose agency the dealer controls,
to be watchful of his own interests. Of course it is manifestly un-
fair to the manufacturers of famous instruments that their pianos
should be the hoisting power to build up a reputation for the dealer's
own make in am localitv.
A