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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
and the class assignment would be made by the men who create
them; therefore it must be a just regulation of prices. The cheap,
or commercial piano, would go in its own class, and it could not long
be sold outside of its grade, if retail prices were generally placed
upon instruments by the manufacturers themselves. Of course it
would be necessary that certain agreements should be fairly entered
into by both dealers and manufacturers in order that the interests
of each should be fairly protected.
Piano manufacturers could, with advantage, take a lesson from
the talking machine trade in this particular. The rules governing
the sales of talking machines have worked out perfectly, and the
manufacturers have iron clad arrangements with their jobbers and
dealers. They have special discounts, and they have rules regulat-
ing the sale of shop-worn and second-hand machines, so that condi-
tions such as exist in the piano trade, where an entire line of
"slightly used" pianos is thrown upon the market, cannot exist.
T
ALKING machine dealers, if they desire to dispose of shop-
worn, or used machines, must inform the factory in writing
of their intention, together with the serial number of the machine
in question; then a special license is issued permitting the sale at a
reduced price, provided the necessary facts are established to the
satisfaction of the talking machine manufacturers. A new notice,
or label, bearing the serial number and conditions will go forward
with the permit which must be affixed to the bottom of the machine,
showing at the time of sale that this machine is second-hand, and
is licensed to be sold at a reduced price. If machines are put out,
unless these rules have been lived up to, the offending dealer is liable
to go on the suspended list and lose an agency.
There are a number of stipulations made in the talking machine
manufacturers' contracts, but we have talked with a great many
dealers and jobbers, and they find that these rules work out splen-
didly, and the trade on the whole is protected from incursions which
might be made into it by men who would feel disposed to slaughter
prices at certain seasons of the year.
P
IANO manufacturers do more in the way of guaranteeing their
product than any other line of manufacturers in the world,
and they have, too, more unjust demands made upon them to make
good alleged defects, than any other class of business men, there-
fore, why would it not be well for their own protection as
well as the legitimate dealers to have rules enforced whereby the
retail prices on their instruments are known to all? It would do
away with deception, and place the business on a proper footing.
I
T is recognized that conditions in this trade are ever changing,
and business methods must change with them. It therefore
becomes imperative for the piano man to adjust himself to changing
conditions, or he may be swept out of existence by keen competition,
which he is not meeting successfully. It is business that most men
desire, and it is pretty safe to assume that the men who are working
the hardest and along the most intelligent lines are the ones who are
reaping the biggest returns. There are three sayings that are
worthy to be classed together. Said David Harum, "Do unto others
as they would do unto you, but do them fust." Said Mrs. Means
in "The Hoosier Schoolmaster": "While you air a-gittin', git
plenty." Said a Quaker to his son : "My boy, get riches. Get them
honestly if thee can. But get them." The first is a satire on modern
business principles. The second an illustration of a class. The third
is a libel on Philadelohia.
B
USINESS faith! It is universal, and it is seldom discredited.
It is a splendid example of truism that the world was never
as good as it is now. It makes of the business man a bulwark of
public morals. It lays the foundation for individual and national
prosperity. We are a credit nation ; we receive every emigrant to
our shores in good faith and credit him with citizenship shortly after
landing. We give credit to individuals and firms which helps to
lay the foundaton for a great enterprise. Credit, after all, is
another name for confidence, and it is confidence that makes busi-
ness. The piano man who has no confidence in his own ability is
rarely ever successful, and there are a good many of them just at the
present time who have confidence in the future of the trade. They
are the ones who will help to make it big and great, but pessimists,
the men who are always crying about the limited environments of a
particular industry, are the men who, as a rule, are missing their
opportunities; they are not measuring up to the job. Their influence
is not healthful. But look at the good, big, broad minds, progressive
fellows, whose influence has helped to make this trade what it is
during the past decade. It is business stimulus and business energy.
One good, big, energetic man has the right influence which stimu-
lates others along the same line, and as a result, business goes ahead
with an energy which is truly American, and all profit thereby.
S
OME readers of The Review have suggested that the Piano
Travelers' Association follow out some systematic line of
publicity in order to get in more new members, and make the
organization a growing power for the good of the salesmen and for
the good of the trade. J. C. Amie, who was the first president,
accomplished some excellent results, and Hubert O. Fox, his suc-
cessor, continued the same excellent plan, and threw an energy
into association work which resulted in bringing in quite a few new
members. We do not know just exactly what the present officers
have outlined in the way of a progressive campaign, but it surely
would be an excellent occasion just now when the conventions are
coming on in Chicago to bring to the notice of the piano salesmen
generally the advantages which this organization has to offer to
the craft.
P
IANO dealers have invented many clever devices in order to
segregate people in certain towns who ought to have a new
piano. It is at all times a difficult proposition, but through word
contests, old pianos, and pianos which come near certain figures,
and a host of other schemes, they have been able to get hold of a
valuable list of names, and while to the average citizen it might
seem that these guessing and word building contests were a trifle
out of date, yet the time is not passed when all of these plans are
remunerative in a splendid degree. The country is a big one, and
there are a lot of people who are as yet unfamiliar with the object
back of these contests, so that it will be a long time before the piano
dealers will give up clever schemes in which to secure a lot of names
which may develop into paying prospects.
T
HE advertising man with a merchandising knowledge is the
one who is likely to arouse interest in his advertisements, and
a well-known critic the other day while studying various piano
advertisements in the magazines, expressed his astonishment at their
similarity. He felt that with such a splendid product of human
brains and skill as the piano that much could be said in its favor
to interest. He said that in almost every advertisement you could
substitute in place of the word piano, sewing machine, or some
other product, and the reading would be quite smooth and appro-
priate.
It is all very easy for the outsider to criticise, but the truth is,
some of the best advertising experts in the country have been
writing piano advertisements for some years, and what is more
they do not seem to have been iconoclastic in their schemes for
piano publicity. As a matter of fact, some of the best ideas in piano
advertising have come from the manufacturers themselves, and not
from advertising experts.
Speaking of experts. Here is one that is not bad:
"What is an expert, father?" "An expert, my son, is one who
gets the money, and the more money he gets the more expert he is."
HE manufacturer who wishes to extend his export relations
finds himself confronted with numerous complex problems,
some of them involving details so new and strange that he is dis-
posed to ridicule them. But every detail in the export business must
have careful attention, and the general rule guiding the conduct of a
successful export business may be expressed in one word—exacti-
tude. Probably no comment on American export business for the
last half century has been thought complete unless it included an
arraignment, more or less caustic, of the carelessness displayed by
most of our manufacturers regarding packing for ocean shipment.
When one sees the European pianos shipped in Mexico, Cuba
and South America, it will be observed that they come in zinc lined
cases, and other merchandise is shipped with just the same care, and
as a result these products reach their destination in good shape.
Not so with the American product; there is usually carelessness in
shipping, and as a result the merchandise suffers upon its delivery,
with the result that a very bad impression is created regarding our
products and our methods of doing business.
T