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THE
RENEW
ffUilC TIRADE
VOL. XLIV. No. 2 1 . Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 1 Madison kvc, New York, May 25, 1907
LOOK OUT FOR THE LEAKS.
The Merchants Who Desire to Succeed and
Aim to Get Full Returns for Every Dollar
Invested, Must See That All Losses Are Re-
duced to the Smallest Possible Proportions—
Some Important Pointers in This Connection
Which Are Worth Considering in These Days
of Close Competition.
$632,225, divided as follows: Pianos, $505,455;
organs and harmoniums, $28,665, and all others,
including materials, $98,115. Of these instru
ments, Germany, furnished $245,735 worth; the
United Kingdom, $359,250; the United States,
$27,240. The tariff duty is 30 per cent, ad va-
lorem for all countries but the United Kingdom
and the British possessions, which is 20 per cent.
PIANOS DESTROYED IN FIRE.
The successful piano dealer — successful
whether he makes annual profits of $10,000 or
fiCO.OOO—is he who sees that his business is
properly rounded, that he gets full returns for
every dollar invested and that the leaks, inevita-
ble in every line of trade, are reduced to the
smallest proportions. Better, far better, run a
small business on this plan than have a large
establishment loosely conducted. The one is
firmly based and sure to develop; the other is
rooted in sand and doomed to dry up and wither.
If you have superannuated employes, retained
in their positions because you feel you are in
duty bound to take care of them after years of
honest, faithful work, pension them. Don't let
them create weak spots in your store service.
No machinery can be safely and successfully run
unless every part is efficient and in the best con-
dition. Help that does not earn its salary means
greater selling cost, and consequently a propor-
tionate decrease in profits.
Similarly with store rent. If your store is not
properly located you are missing opportunities of
getting trade, or, if in the right location, the
dealer may, if he looks into the matter, find him-
self paying high rent for dark nooks and unavail-
able corners. No one can afford to have these
unproductive expenses around him.
Cheap and trashy decorations and fittings rep-
resent another source of waste. The store must
be attractive both outside and in. Narrow aisles,
lack of. seats, insufficient light—these all signify
a disregard for patrons' comfort that they are
quick to resent. Some people may tolerate such
inconveniences, but desirable trade won't for any
length of time, and such business lost is hard to
regain.
If this policy of getting a dividend from every
dollar invested in rent, help, fittings of various
kinds and other expenses is faithfully carried
out, then it is nece?sary to have stock, the ap-
pearance of which will coincide with high ideas.
Careful dusting, frequent polishing and attract-
ive and original arrangement, all go toward mak-
ing stock more salable, and the interest of the
public is more readily centered on it.
With such a policy, conscientiously, ruthlessly
carried out, the present and future success of a
store is assured. The little store that is work-
ing along these lines is in a ten times better
position than the big one that has alowed itself
to outgrow or forget its allegiance to these meth-
ods, for the little store thus conducted is a suc-
cess, while the big store that lives on its past
reputation is only a has been.
IMPORTS INTO NEW ZEALAND.
Consul-General W. A. Prichett writes from
Auckland that the imports of musical instru-
ments into New Zealand during 1905 amounted to
SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS.
$2.00 PER YEAR.
of musical instruments carried by him at his es-
tablishment, 1742 Seventh street, N. W., Wash-
ington, D. C, and the business in future will be
conducted under the name of Helbig Bros.
KANSAS' TAX ON PIANOS.
Piano Dealers Want the Ordinance of $25.00
a Day Enforced So as to Prevent Visiting
Dealers Operating to Their Detriment.
(Special to The Review.)
In a fire which partly destroyed the University
Building, Ninth and Locust streets, Kansas City,
Mo., twenty-three pianos used by musicians hav-
ing studios in the building and belonging to va-
rious piano companies were destroyed. The J.
W. Jenkins' Sons Music Co. lost fifteen pianos,
including two Steinways, all uninsured, and the
Carl Hoffman Music Co. lost five, among them
two Chickerings.
JULIAN T. MAYER TO BECOME A BENEDICT
On Wednesday the 29th inst. Julian T. Mayer,
secretary of J. & C. Fischer, will be married to
Miss Agnes E. Meyer. The wedding, which will
occur at the home of the bride, 194 Riverside
Drive, will be a very quiet home wedding, on ac-
count of the recent death of Miss Meyer's father.
NOW HELBIG BROS.
Fred W. Helbig, Jr., and Harold H. Helbig have
bought from Fred W. Helbig, Sr., the entire stock
Iola, Kan., May 18, 1907.
The occupation tax is getting an airing at the
city clerk's office this afternoon. A representa-
tive of the Carl Hoffman Piano Co., of Kansas
City, wants to sell pianos in the city for several
days in East Madison street. The representative
was here recently and was told that the tax was
$2 per day. But when he appeared at the city
clerk's office for a license Mr. Wendorf thought
his license came under another ordinance, making
it $25 per day. To this the representative ob-
jected, and was this afternoon trying to show
that the clerk was unjust. City Attorney Oyler
was sent for to interpret the law, and several
local piano dealers insisted that the representa-
tive should not have a special rate. The result is
that the occupation tax ordinance is undergoing
a thorough discussion.
The Milton Piano Co., which, as reported in
last week's Review, has been organized with
A. H. Kayton as president, with a capital of $50,-
000, expect to ship pianos early in July.
SHIPMENT OF GABLER PIANOS FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF SYRACUSE.
We present herewith an illustration of a ship-
ment of sixteen expensive Gabler pianos made
by Ernest Gabler & Bro., of New York, to Geo.
W. Clark, t^ie well-known dealer of Syracuse,
N. Y., for the musical department of the Univer-
sity of Syracuse. The selection of these instru-
ments in the fac« of unusual competition is a dis-
tinct tribute to the musical and constructive ex-
cellence of the Gabler pianos. It is in line with
the splendid reputation which they have enjoyed
for many long years since this business was
founded by Emil Gabler. The traditions of the
past are being
splendid-
ly maintained
in the present
under the able
management af
Emil G a b l e r
and his asso-
ciates. George
W. Clark has
also reason to
feel proud of
the selection of
t h e s e instru-
ments by one
of the leading
universities of
the State. Mr.
Clark is build-
ing up a splen-
did business in
Syracuse and
vicinity by his
up-to-date
methods.
The W. F. Frederick Co., recently incorporated,
will shortly open a branch of their Johnstown,
Pa., house in Windber.