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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
question of an income tax seems to be coming into the
X
foreground again. It will be remembered that the President
in his annual message took the ground that if an income tax could
be devised which would be constitutional it would certainly be desir-
able. He seemed, however, to take the view that the tax should
be imposed by national authority.
In New York the special tax commission has been considering
the desirability of an income tax in this city, but the rich piano men
need not be alarmed, and plan to take up their residences in Jersey,
because the probabilities are that an act establishing a state income
tax will never be brought before the New York Legislature. It
must be by national move, if ever it is done.
It may seem hard, but then we must say it: one of the great
troubles with the income tax will be the fact that it will afford many
grafting and many blackmailing opportunities for men who are
not disposed to take an honest view of public matters.
T
HERE is enough graft now in many of the departments of life
without introducing through the enforcement of an income
tax wider and more enticing possibilities for the men who are look-
ing about them for some new way in which to prey upon the weak-
nesses of their fellowman. There is no denying the fact that graft
is rampant everywhere in this country.
In this state there was recently passed a law which is commonly
known as the "Anti-Tipping Law" which is in itself a measure sup-
posed to prevent the bribing of employes by outsiders. It is said
that the managers of great mercantile emporiums received monetary
considerations from the firms from which they purchased goods,
and that this is considered as a legitimate perquisite of their posi-
tion. It is said that so common is the practice that it is looked upon
as a right of the manager to accept money for handling certain
brands of manufactured goods. This system of graft extends to
great office buildings, and the automobile trade is rife with it.
T
H E limit is not reached in any line. The piano business, too,
is not exempt, and Hubert O. Fox, the retiring presid*ent of
the Travelers' Association, made some caustic remarks just before
he tendered his resignation, in which he stated that he had positive
proof that certain salesmen were subsidized to sell certain pianos.
Of course, it is well, if possible, to kill every form of graft
because if this idea of bribing salesmen, by outsiders, who perform
a duty for which their employers pay them, then the value of
merit ceases to become a factor in the purchase of goods. It is a
question of how much the buyer will give, or the salesman will get,
for selling a certain article. Values will be done away with entirely,
and it will be simply a question of graft.
This new Anti-Graft Law in New York has now been tested,
and it will interest readers to know that a manufacturer has been
found guilty and fined in the Court of Special Sessions on a charge
of violating the Saxe Anti-Tipping Law. The manager of a de-
partment store on West Fourteenth street alleged that the manu-
facturer wrote the buyer in his store, offering him five per cent, on
all purchases made for the store from this manufacturer's firm. The
result of this case will be received with considerable interest, as it
is the first test of this new law.
I
T is said that the varnish department of the piano industry has
developed more forms of graft than any other branch of manu-
facturing. Many are the stories told concerning how utterly de-
void of merit some varnish is until the departmental manager has
seen things in a golden light. Then the despised varnish is the best
ever. The Travelers' Association will do well to take up this mat-
ter and deal with any erring one in a most convincing manner. It
will not only give the organization a splendid standing in the eyes
of all, but it will show to the entire music trade world that the
Travelers' Association stands for cleanness and does not propose
that grafting practices shall be encouraged by the traveling piano
men's organization.
T
HE percentage of past due instalment accounts should now be
smaller than at any time for years past. The average man
has more money, and he should be held up closely to meet his piano
payments. Dealers sometimes are too easy in this respect, because
many of their customers are personal friends, and they are loath
to press them for monthly payments, and if a man's account gets a
little old it seems always difficult to catch up.
5
The collection end of the business is an extremely important
one, and one which should be watched with the greatest care in
these times. One thing is certain, if a business firm has its collec-
tions well in hand, and does not permit its past due accounts to
accumulate, it will be in splendid condition to meet any depression
which may come.
Of course, it may be said that there is no business cloud on
the horizon which indicates any kind of depression. That is true,
but people are asking each other how long will the good times last,
and there really is too much talking about the good times. If times
are so good, then collections should be fully in accord with the
times, and there should not be a large percentage of piano paper
past due.
I
T is better for the dealer to have the money in bank to meet his
maturing obligations than to have it out among the good fel-
lows who owe him a considerable amount of money on past due
piano paper. A few dollars which the individual owes does not
seem very much, but when you scan the total it amounts to a good
bit, and how many concerns are there to-day that are carrying their
profits in past due accounts.
In other lines of trade it is a fixed principle to keep well up
with monthly payments. Some of the largest book concerns in the
country, who have been conducting a business of millions on the
instalment basis, told us that they make it an invariable rule not
to permit a man to owe beyond two months' instalment at any one
time. They find some way in which to make him come to time,
and they do not think that it is good business to permit an instal-
ment account to grow old. It is one of the things that does not
improve under usage, to appropriate the Hardman phrase, and it
pays every dealer to scan closely his instalment list. A close ex-
amination will invariably reveal a greater percentage of past due
accounts than he at first imagined. Just investigate and see if the
results shown by an examination of the books does not prove the
truth of this statement.
I
N a ringing speech, delivered at a banquet last week, at the Hotel
Astor, Chancellor James A. Day, of Syracuse University, made
a stinging reply to those who had preceded him with addresses on
socialism. In his boldest terms, Dr. Day made a daring defence
of men of capital and corporations, denounced labor unions as the
greatest despotism since the beginning of the world, and said that
instead of being underpaid and oppressed workingmen were in
many instances overpaid and invariably seeking to do as little as
possible and to get as much as possible for it. These remarks
caused a sensation among the listeners, all members of the New
York alumni of Syracuse University.
Dr. Day has some very decided views on the labor question.
He said in part: "I have contemplated the labor problem. I find
men combine to do just as little as they can and to get as much as
they can for doing it. They won't hurry to their work. When
they get to it they move leisurely about. The laboring man is the
quickest man in the world to hear the blow of the whistle to stop
work. It is no longer a question of how much one can do, but how
little, and how much he can get for it. "Almost all are getting
wages for all they do and a great percentage is overpaid. Look
at both sides of the subject. These oppressed workingmen can
support 10,000 saloons between Harlem and the Battery. Among
them you will find shiftlessness and intemperance and I am not
going to charge it to corporations or to hard-hearted corporation
men. I don't exonerate these workingmen. If we would bring
about the great uplifting described we must instill into them a sense
of duty.
"It is stipulated in the rules that apprentices must not be em-
ployed, and why? Because they will learn the trade. Mechanics,
for instance, are no more allowed to be made. I know what I am
speaking about. I have studied the question. I say there is no
greater despotism that rules or reigns on this earth than labor
unionism and I know what I am saying."
Pausing a moment, as if weighing his words, and speaking
with sharp emphasis, the speaker continued:
"I believe to-day the corporations are not nearly large enough
and that the corporation engines are not powerful enough. Instead
of being discouraged they should be encouraged, and we should
demand that large men should have the opportunity to do large
things.