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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
ducts, carefully planned, carefully placed, establishes a name, creates
a demand and proves a sure foundation for the upbuilding of any
business.
in the enormous outlay of these corporations who secure money in
the shape of a direct tax on the people for the maintenance and
operation of the roads.
P
R
TANO manufacturers are planning for an increased output dur-
ing the present year, and it is said that new capital will be
introduced in the trade attracted by the allurements of good profits
in piano making. As a matter of fact, large profits are not in evi-
dence, and small concerns in this trade will find it indeed difficult
to make substantial advance against the tremendous forces of large
corporations who control great wealth. The small men in piano
making, as in other industries, will have harder work all of the time
to hold their positions. A large number of new manufacturing
enterprises are now in process of formation all over the United
States. These never would have been thought of during any ordi-
nary period of good business conditions, but the remarkable success
that is attending nearly every line of industry must naturally attract
men to them, that they will go and do likewise and reap a rich har-
vest in money.
T
HIS is a very excellent and natural ambition, and doubtless one
that in many instances will be carried to at least partial fulfill-
ment. • But many others will fail, because they are basing their esti-
mates of success upon present conditions. Some of them are
neglecting the lessons which a careful scrutiny of the past will reveal,
and without looking into the future to the time when manufacturers
will have much less to do, and when the margins of profit will be
much smaller. And every piano manufacturer knows how thin the
margins of profit have become.
A well-known piano man told The Review last week that his
business had amounted to—well, something less than a million dol-
lars, and on this immense business he had only cleared a few thou-
sand dollars net profit.
T
HERE is a belief on the outside that there are large profits in
piano making as'well as in piano selling. A careful and in-
telligent examination of conditions as they exist in any line of manu-
facture should precede the investment of money in a new industry,
and if this rule were carefullv followed there would be not a few
who would hesitate to make up their minds to enter the competitive
field. Admitting that there is room for progressive manufacturers
in almost any field that can be named, provided that these new' in-
dustries could spring into fully equipped and perfectly manned
existence, even within a twelvemonth, there is, however, the future
to consider.
W
H E N the time comes for the demand to fall off, prices will
go down, and prices will be smaller on a lessened volume
of business; then the newcomer in the field will be likely to feel the
business depression more acutely than his competitors wiio have been
established for years. New concerns will hurt the old, because they
will disturb conditions; in order to secure trade they will probably
cut prices.
We have seen this too frequently in the piano business, and
only last week a large sale was made of pianos to a well-known
dealer, and in the sales contest three or four of the manufacturers
of commercial pianos were fighting for the trade plum. It was
positively stated that the man who carried off the honors secured the
business on a net price of $2.50 per piano.
T
H E R E are solid nuggets of wisdom in the speech delivered by
Colonel Conway at the music trade banquet in Chicago last
week, in which he proves by logical argument the advantage of
natural waterways to commerce and to the public. In his line of
argument Colonel Conway emphasized how vitally the people are
interested in the proper management of our railroad corporations,
and that the cry of the hour is more railways, better equipped and
better managed, in order that the public may be more efficiently
served.
The readers of The Review will .agree with Mr. Conway in his
statement, and never before has public sentiment been so thoroughly
aroused regarding the railroad question as at the present time. The
speaker went on to show that every dollar which the railroads secure
for all of their expenses, from the salaries of the highest officials
down to freight handlers, is paid direct by the people into their
treasury, henge it is but right that the people should, fee} interested
AILROADS, however, have failed to develop with tlie times,
and business interests have been greatly injured by reason of
the inadequate facilities for handling freight. Mr. Conway made
some interesting comparisons regarding the cost of conveying heavy
freight by rail and by sea in his summing up in favor of a deep
waterway from the Lakes to the Gulf, which he believes is certain
to be in operation within the next five years. There is no doubt
that the Chicago drainage canal was but the inceptive move in a
great internal development of the country's commerce, which ere
long will result in making a way for the transportation of products
of the interior by water-to the Gulf, and thence to European ports.
Whether it will come in five years or not remains to be seen. We
are rather inclined to think, however, that with the many things
which the Government has on hand at the present time, the time
limit set by Mr. Conway will be somewhat exceeded. But it will
come, and it will be of vast benefit to the entire country. It will
help not only the West, but the East as well, and be the greatest
possible boon to New Orleans, which it will help to make one of
the greatest seaport cities in the world. The heavier products of
the country will move along the easiest lines of resistance to the
sea, and not across the Allegheiiies, which necessitates a long and
expensive haul overland.
W
ORKMEN and the general public have little conception of
what it means to build up a large and successfully con-
ducted business. In this connection we may say that almost in the
center of the Essen works stand the original Krupp factory and
family house, both maintained intact in accordance with the direc-
tions of Alfred Krupp, the founder. There is an inscription on the
house, signed with the founder's name, part of which reads:
"Fifty years ago this cottage was the home of my parents. May
none of our workmen have to go through the struggle which the
building up of these works has cost us. The success which now so
splendidly has rewarded our faith, our anxiety and our effort was
doubtful during twenty-five long years. Let this example serve as
an encouragement to others in difficulties. May it increase respect
for the many small homes and the great sorrows which often dwell
in them."
This remarkable statement is one that will apply to many insti-
tutions—in fact, to most large institutions—because the outsider
never knows of the tremendous struggles which are required to build
commercial enterprises from the ground up.
H
ERE is what "Elbertus" Hubbard has to say regarding the law
of wages: "Every employe pays for superintendence and
inspection. Some pay more and some less. That is to say, a dollar-
a-day man would receive two dollars a day were it not for the fact
that some one has to think for him, look after him and supply the
will that holds him to his task. The result is that he contributes to
the support of those who superintendent him. Make no mistake
about this: incompetence and disinclination require supervision, and
they pay for it and no one else does. The less you require looking
after, the more able you arc to stand alone and complete your tasks,
the greater your reward. Then, if you cannot only do your own
work, but direct intelligently and effectively the efforts of others,
your reward is in exact ratio, and the more people you direct and
the higher intelligence you can rightly lend, the more valuable is
your life.
"The Law of Wages is as sure and exact in its working as the
Law of the Standard of Life. You can go to the very top and take
Edison, for instance, who sets a vast army at work and wins not
only deathless fame, but a fortune, great beyond the dreams of
avarice. And going down the scale, you can find men who will not
only work of themselves and no one can make them work, and so
their lives are worth nothing, and they are a tax and a burden on
the community. Do your work so well that it will require no super-
vision, and by doing your own thinking you will save the expense of
hiring some one to think for you."
And speaking of the wage question brings to mind that George
P. Bent, at the Music Trade Banquet in Chicago last week, made
one of the most interesting and remarkable speeches on the labor
question, that has been heard in many a day.