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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
would end there, if properly handled, because a dealer could easily
satisfy customers that they had no legitimate reasons for finding
fault. It would be found, too, in many instances, that the custom-
ers had given unfair treatment to the piano—a sensitive product
of human hands and skill.
A piano, made up as it is of many parts, many woods, many
metals, wires and felts, and it is about the most sensitive combina-
tion that could be named, and one most susceptible to climatic
changes. Yet there are people who believe that the guarantee will
save them exercising any care in the housing of their instruments.
They place them in damp rooms, by open windows, in overheated
rooms and in freezing rooms, and they expect that there will be no
checking of the highly polished surface, no rusting of strings, no
cracking of soundboards—in fact, that the instrument will stand a
thing of beauty and a joy forever.
T
H E claim department needs remodeling. It is antiquated and
full of ridiculous traditions. We have educated the people
the wrong way. A positive stand should be taken, and dealers
themselves should meet every complaint with a reasonable argu-
ment and fair investigation. It will be found in many cases if this
course were adopted throughout the land that the complaints would
diminish rather than increase. It would be a saving of wear and
tear to the dealer; it would enable him to devote more time to his
business, and it would save tens of thousands of dollars annually
to both dealers and manufacturers. Let us educate the people not
tion, with consistency and with firmness. If complaints are just,
manufacturers are only too glad to make good every defect, and it
only takes a brief time indeed to sift the matter of complaints and
claims down to a very small amount indeed. They will simmer
down in time to mere nothingness.
GAIN, this general plan of listening to every complaint and
accepting it as just and putting it up to the manufacturer has
been the cause of another grave trouble, which has reached to a
po.'nt in some cases of petty blackmail.
We have known of a number of cases where dealers have made
certain claims upon manufacturers and have compelled them to dis-
count certain amounts from their bills through fear of losing what
seemed to be a valuable agency.
This is not a general condition, however, for most of the piano
merchants are fair men, but in every trade and industry there are
some who make unjust demands, and use their position in an unfair
manner. If a piano is defective it should be sent back to its makers
so that the heads of the concern may have the opportunity of ex-
amining their instruments and note wherein the inherent defects
A
lie.
T
H E R E are many claims made which should not be allowed, and
if correct, businesslike methods were adopted in both depart-
ments, the claim department would soon be out of the business.
In no other line of manufactures do firms stand back of their
products like piano men. If a beautiful piece of furniture, a side-
board, a chiffonier, or any article is purchased, its makers do not
agree to stand good for any wear and tear to which it may be sub-
jected in a few years. They do not agree to guarantee a beautiful
mahogany table immunity from damage from hot dishes being
placed upon it, and why should piano manufacturers make good for
climatic changes, for hammer dents, or for all other things to which
the unfortunate instrument may be subjected.
W
E have demolished in later years a lot of the absurd traditions
which clung to piano selling, and the complaint department
needs attention so that it can be brought up to date.
The commission business is reduced to-day to a system, and
there are but few concerns to-day who pay for alleged influences.
The majority must see good, tangible results directly traceable to
the party who claims the commission before they deliver good coin
of the realm.
New we all know what an unfortunate state of affairs existed
in the commission department a few years ago. We may add also
that the use of pianos in the studios of musicians was also a great
expense to the manufacturers. However, in the cold light of mod-
ern business it is up to the professional to pay for a piano the same
as an ordinary person, and if his influence is directly along channels
which produces results he is reimbursed for his work, but there is
no more indiscriminate loaning of pianos to every one who claims
to be an "artist"' simply on account of the marvelous "influence" that
can be turned in favor of a piano.
A
GREAT many manufacturers found that they were loaning
pianos to certain professionals, and the artists themselves
were sending their pupils elsewhere for business. In other words,
the ones whose influence they believed were in their favor were
found to be playing a double game.
Practically all of that sort of business has been cut out, and
there is no reason why the complaint department should not be re-
organized and put on just as good, healthy and up-to-date basis.
It was only last week that we saw a communication from a man
who had purchased a certain piano eight years ago, and he de-
manded an amount of work which would practically rehabilitate his
instrument, free, from the manufacturer. Else, he added as an im-
plied threat, that he should tell his friends that the R
piano
was one to avoid.
Imagine a man going to a tailor after he had worn out a suit
of clothes and demanding a new suit for the old one with the threat
that he should tell everybody that the tailor's garments were of the
kind that would wear out.
There is just about as much reason in one case as in the other,
for it can not be denied that manufacturers have submitted to a lot
of these ridiculous and absurd claims for years.
/ " ^ H A N G E S in the wholesale salesmen's staff for the new year
V_^ thus far have been comparatively light. There are, however,
in each January some transfers, but the present year has been
marked by no great changes in the selling staff of the industry. The
longer a salesman stays with a house the more he is worth to that
concern, and presumably with the passing of the years his money
making qualities improve.
E
VERY man in business requires some stimulating environment,
else he may get into a rut and stay there. Then there is
danger. There must be variety in his work. He must know what
his competitors are doing, and he must know everything in con-
nection with the product which he is endeavoring to sell.
It pays, too, to promote friendly rivalry among the salesmen.
This all redounds to the benefit of all concerned.
There must be, too, variety to a man's work. He cannot have
the same old things served up to him, hot and cold and warmed
over, three hundred and sixty days in the year. He must have new
ideas, and who is better able to furnish them than the man who
stands at the head of a business ? He is supposed to be the creating
and directing force, therefore he should act as an inspiration to the
salesmen and always be in touch with them.
IVERSIFICATION pays in everything. Without it we grow
stale.
If the contents of a trade paper become stale and monotonous
its effect upon the trade is ruined. It is the aim of this newspaper
institution to produce matter of a widely diversified nature, in all
departments, with an eye to being of interest in some manner,
directly or implied to each division of trade.
We have editorial and reportorial comments, news gained by
our correspondents from many cities throughout the Union, special
departments, embracing news of the supply industry, music pub-
lishing, small goodi's, talking machines, a technical department,
which is competent to answer every question relating to the prac-
tical side of the industry, and many other specialties.
They all assist to make a paper helpful. We realize the im-
possibility of pleasing all the men all the time, and still we know
from observation that the paper accomplishes its purpose, which is,
to keep the men in the music trade interested in their product, and
in the progress which is being made in each department, as well as
supplying news of general information and of a helpful nature.
All of this must be served up fresh, snappy, up-to-date and as
far from monotony as possible, so that it will be read by our readers
in San Francisco with just the same interest that it is in Maine, or
in Minnesota, or in Texas. The aim of all of us, after all, no
matter what the business, is to keep our clientele interested and to
keep their enthusiasm up to concert pitch if possible.
D