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THE
REVLW
fflJJIC TIRADE
VOL. XLIII. No. 4.
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman BUI at 1 KUdison Ave., New York, July 28, 1906.
HOT SHOT FOR THE "KICKERS."
That Is Those Dealers Who Complain of Cata-
logue House Competition, But Who do Noth-
ing to Combat It—Better Use Same Brand of
Ammunition as the Cataloguers.
Catalogue house competition is a subject which
is enlisting the consideration of many eminent
minds in the music trade industry these days.
In a chat with a prominent member of the trade
the other day he remarked that he had been
long studying this competition and how best to
meet it, and read a letter he had just forwarded
to a friend who had sought his advice on how
liest to fight the catalogue houses. It was as fol-
lows, and is a notable contribution worth close
reading:
"There are several ways by which the cata-
logue house might be put out of existence. Pass
a law wiping them out. But under the Constitu-
tion of the United States this cannot te done.
Enlist an army of retailers and sack their places.
But that would land us all in jail. Sit down and
argue with them, and ask them in Christian
charity to shut up their stores and go out of
business. But while we were talking with them
their agents would be going through our clothes
seeking the latest lists of our customers. I have
thought these things over carefully, and while
the remedies look easy and pleasant, every one of
them will have to be given up. They won't do.
"Consider the situation, and see if there is not
some real method of improving it. There are
those who have solved the question to their own
satisfaction; the competition of the catalogue
house does not keep them in the sweat box for
one little minute.
"The catalogue house, as the very basis of it,?
business, has a list of persons who, if approached
properly and with sufficient inducement, might
be persuaded to buy goods. These lists are not
of men who died year before last; of those in
the penitentiaries or insane asylums; of paupers
or schoolboys who do not buy musical instru-
ments. They are not the names of a' few men
in Arizona or Connecticut or Florida, or some
other place picked up haphazard. On the con
trary, on their lists are the names of all the pos-
sible customers right in your own neighborhood.
The names of the men who would be the most
likely to buy musical specialties of you.
'Mr Dealer, have you any such list?
'"Have you the names and addresses of all the
people who are near enough to you to become
your natural customers? One dealer out of a
thousand may have it, but as to the other nine
hundred and ninety-nine, I doubt it. The cata-
logue house spends a pile of money to get this
list. You can make it up in leisure hours, at no
expense at all. Then, when they get the list, they
keep pounding away for trade. Do you?
"Let me,tell you of a case. There is a town
in the Middle West, in which a music dealer told
mo he did not spend $50 a year in directly ap-
proaching what would naturally be called his
neighbors. And yet the catalogue houses spent
ten times that sum in reaching these same peo-
ple. And when I saw him last he was complain-
ing bitterly of their 'underhanded' competition.
They simply took a gun and went out for the
game. He didn't.
"No man can do a good business, or build up a
business, without spending something upon it.
How much business could any catalogue house
do in your neighborhood if it did not have a list
of your neighbors? Not one, for on the cata-
logue it sends them, it depends solely for the
sale of the r,rods. It is the only salesman th2>
have.
"You are on the ground. You have a claim
on them, that of local pride and interest, that
these strangers do not have. You can sell the
goods in person. Is not your brains, your en-
ergy, better for results than a printed book? Do
you admit that a book alone can do more than
you can—and you on the ground in person?
"Get a list of all the people you ought to reach.
Then pound away at them with as much energy
as is shown by the catalogue. Keep at it as the
catalogue fellows do. Never let up. Go out
after them. Keep your statements under their
noses. Do not admit that a little book sent
through the mails is a better salesman than you
are."
MARKED REVIVAL OF ORDERS
Reported by a New York Manufacturer This
Week—Many Come by Wire and the Out-
look This Month Will Exceed Any Previous
July—Collections Much Improved.
The past week has been marked with a revival
of orders from all sections of the country, and
the prospects are that the total volume of busi-
ness done by the manufacturers in this city will
exceed that of any previous July. Remarkable
it certainly is, but mail and telegraphic orders
have been the rule, and but few dealers have
paid their respects to the trade. There are but
few salesmen on the road at the present time,
and those are looking after the nearby trade.
From all indications, they will be later than
usual in starting their fall campaign in order
to give their factories a chance to get even with
present orders. So far as can be learned, there
is but little surplus stock on hand, and that con-
fined to a half dozen factories. Collections have
been exceptionally good, and from general re-
ports, the amount of paper being carried by the
manufacturers is considerably less than In for-
mer years, and much shorter credits are being
asked. This is due to the fact that pianos are
hard to obtain on immediate delivery orders,
and dealers are aware that the cash customer gets
the preference, and in many cases remit a draft
with order, where formerly they took from four
to six months in which to make a settlement.
MR. HEINTZMAN FAVORS "ART" FINISH.
Armand Heintzman, superintendent of the
Gerard Heintzman Co.'s factories, is very strong-
ly in favor of the adoption of the "art" finish by
Canadian piano manufacturers. He gives his
reasons in part in the following letter to the
Canadian Music Trades Journal:
"The durability of the case would be so much
greater, that is to say, the usage to which the
ease is subjected in the average home, finger
SINGLE COPIES. 10 CENTS.
$2.00 PER YEAR.
marks, knocks, etc., would not have the same ef-
fect upon the appearance. So far as the cost of
production is concerned, there would be, all told,
very little difference. The tendency of the times
is toward dull finish in furniture, and it is just
as necessary for the piano man to cater to this
disposition as it is for any maker of present-day
furniture. When the style is so desirable a
one to the manufacturer it is especially necessary
that he should do all he can to foster its growth.
It is not only truly artistic but meritorious from
the standpoint of durability as well."
INCREASE CAPITAL TO $500,000.
The Melville Clark Piano Co. Take This Step
to Meet Tremendous Growth of Their Busi-
ness in the Automatic Field.
(Special to The Keview.)
Chicago, 111., July 21, 1906.
The Melville Clark Piano Co., at the adjourned
annual meeting of the stockholders, held on Mon-
day, voted to increase the capital stock of the
company from $130,000 to $500,000. About $250,-
000 of this increase represents capital of which
the company has already had the use, and the re-
mainder is needed to take care of their increas-
ing business, which has been offered more rapidly
than the officers have felt it prudent to accept.
The present stockholders will probably absorb
the greater part of the new issue, as the present
earnings of the company are sufficient to insure
good dividends on the entire amount from the
first.
It is understood that a very large amount of
capital has been placed at the disposal of the
company, and that the prospects are particularly
good for its rapid development to a position sec-
ond to none in the country in a very short time.
Indeed, this action may be said to be the initial
step toward making tne Melville Clark Piano Co.
a power in the automatic instrument industry of
the world.
PLACING A TAXjON INDUSTRY.
Four Chicago Piano Companies Must Pay a
Higher Taxation, Their Assessment Having
Been Increased.
The tax on four piano companies doing busi-
ness in Chicago was increased by the Cook
County Board of Review last week as follows:
Strohber Piano Co.., assessment, $16,630, new val-
uation, $20,000; Williams Organ & Piano Co., as-
sessment, $7,500, new valuation, $14,590; Bush &
Gerts Piano Co., assessment, $77,500, new valua-
tion, $87,000; Smith & Barnes Piano Co., assess-
ment, $75,000, new valuation, $85,000.
There is no end of protest against the system
of taxing in vogue in Chicago. Some of the lead-
ing industries have been taxed out of all propor-
tion, while others, more favored, escape with a
very minor sum. It looks as if the politicians
were inclined to tax industry these days.
In view of the fact that some kind friend of
the South Chicago, 111., fire company presented
them with a fine piano, the members of the
company have petitioned the Mayor to assign a
fireman to their company who can play the in-
strument.