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THE: MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorlal Staff:
GEO. B. KEIJLEB,
W. H. DYKES,
F. H. THOMPSON.
BMILIB FRANCOS BAUHR,
L. B. BOWERS, B. BBITTAIN WILSON, WM. B. WHITE, L. J. CHAMBERLIN, A. J. NICXLIN.
CHICAGO OFFICE:
E. P. VAN HARLINGEN, 195-197 Wabash Ave.
TELEPHONES : Central 414; Automatic 8643
„ MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL t
ST. LOUIS:
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ERNEST L. WAITT, 278A Tremont S t
PHILADELPHIA :
R. W. KAurFMAN.
ADOLF EDSTEN.
CHAS. N. VAN BURBN.
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CINCINNATI. O.: NINA PUGH-SMITH.
BALTIMORE, MD.: A. ROBERT FRENCH.
LONDON, ENGLAND:
69 Basinghall St., E, C.
W. Lionel Sturdy, Manager.
Published Every Saturday at 1 Madison Avenue, New York.
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter,
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ADVERTISEMENTS. $2.00 per Inch, single column, per Insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount Is allowed. Advertising Pages, $60.00; opposite
reading matter, $75.00.
REMITTANCES, In other than currency form, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill.
Directory of Plaao
The directory of piano manufacturing firms and corporations
_:
: ~
found on another page will be of great value, as a reference
M»nultelnrer»
f o r dealers and others.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900
Silver Medal.Charleston Exposition 1902
Diploma.Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal.. .St Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal. .. .Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905.
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES-NUMBERS 174S and 1761 GRAMERCY
Connecting all Departments.
Cable address: "Elblll New York."
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 21, 1907
EDITORIAL
"\ X 7HETHER justly or unjustly among the shortcomings at-
V V tributed to the average New Yorker is his inability to
readily grasp the fact that his city, great though it be, is by no
means the United States. We have had in this city for years a class
of men belonging to the idle rich who make annual pilgrimages to
Europe who are not in touch with the developments of the great
West and South. As a result of this narrowness" of view which
has reached active business channels there are a great many people
who come to the metropolis from other sections of the country who
have difficulty in understanding New York, and not unfrequently
this lack of understanding of the conditions which surround the
visitor acts to the detriment of the New Yorker.
The recent serious depression in Wall Street perhaps alarmed
New Yorkers to considerable extent and in a degree which was not
approached by any other section of the country. This condition of
alarm, when the rest of the country is so prosperous, is not neces-
sary, but perhaps we are too near the seething maelstrom of Wall
Street not to be infected with its poison.
The anomalous nature of the situation was recently portrayed
in an emphatic manner in a cartoon in the Evening Mail of this
city, in which the artist depicted "Uncle Sam" reclining in ease and
tranquility amid great sheaves of wheat, and holding between his
fingers that emblem of good luck, a four-leaf clover. The cartoon
was headed, and aptly so, "A Panic in Wall Street."
B
ECAUSE the price of certain stocks has declined some New
Yorkers have worked themselves up to the delusion that the
whole country is on the down grade, and because they are so un-
fortunate as to be unable to rid their minds of this error, they seek
relief by telling their forebodings to everyone around, including
out-of-town buyers. As a matter of fact, some piano men who
have been in these offices recently, came to this market enthusiastic
over the outlook in their particular section, but they have listened
to pessimistic tales poured forth here and have read the New York
papers, which are more or less charged with pessimism, an.d as a.
REVIEW
result have bought in smaller quantities than they had originally
planned, and will go home not as enthusiastic as they came, and
what is a mighty sight worse they will spread abroad in their re-
spective cities the fact that New Yorkers seem afraid of the business
outlook.
N
OW the best possible,advice that can be given to pessimistic
manufacturers, merchants and salesmen, is to become ac-
quainted with the actual conditions outside of their own immediate
environment. All those who do this will surely speedily emerge
from the gloom into which they have unwisely permitted themselves
to drift, and they will become as optimistic as they had been previ-
ously down-hearted. As a matter of fact if a man must discuss busi-
ness conditions with his customers, it is better to confine himself to
general conditions, and if he knows nothing more 'of them than he
has imbibed from the sensational reports from the Street he had
better remain quiet. It isn't the time for croakers. New Yorkers
should look over this vast country, study its boundless resources and
get busy. The great West and South will form splendid markets
for pianos during the next three months. There is unquestionably
a good brisk trade ahead of us and the way to win it is by the
adoption of optimistic methods and getting away from pessimism as
far as possible.
M
OST active brains work overtime. Most of a man's planning
and figuring and real head work must be done outside of
regular business hours. Thousands of men neglect the opportunity
of doing a little thinking, because they are employes and expect the
boss to do the planning. There's the rub. Such a man thinks he
is working for the boss instead of for himself. The biggest mis-
take an employe can make is to deceive himself with the idea that
he is simply working for someone else for so much a day. Every
employe, whether a one thousand or ten-thousand-dollar-a-year man
or a dollar-a-day man, is first of all working for himself, and when
he concludes that he is working for the boss and lets the boss do his
planning, he is giving himself a life sentence at hard, disagreeable
labor and small pay. It pays to take a personal pride in adding to
your skill. Be a part of the institution. If you have a boss give
him the benefit of all the planning you can; he needs it. And, be-
sides, it gives you practice in planning. Some day you may be at
the head of an institution yourself. What then ?
T
HE parcels post men are active and that leads us to ask what is
being done in this trade to counteract the influence of the
organization supporting the proposed parcels post legislation? If
this bill once becomes a law musical merchandise dealers all over
the land will feel its effect. It would seem that with the splendid
dealers' association, an organization representing hundreds of men
in every part of the country, considerable force could be brought to
bear against the passage of this bill. Possibly the officers of the
association have not acquainted themselves with just what effect this
bill would have upon the music trades of this country. Depend
upon it its effect would be far-reaching and harmful.
P
OSTMASTER-GENERAL MEYER'S recent declaration of
his intention to recommend to Congress the authorization of
an experimental parcels post has already begun to bear fruit, and
it is a foregone conclusion that the coming session of Congress will
witness the most spirited contest on this question that has ever
marked this paternalistic movement. That the parcels post pro-
moters are fairly well organized and provided with a considerable
fund is evidenced by the work they have done since General Meyer
made his original declaration at Nantasket Point, Mass., some few
weeks ago. The press reports of his speech on that occasion and
the interviews which he subsequently gave in New York have been
reproduced in facsimile by photolithography and are being widely
circulated, accompanied by copies of bills pending in the late two
congresses designed to carry out various features of the Postmaster-
General's, recently announced policy.
Thus far this parcels post literature has been circulated anony-
mously, but its form and appearance show conclusively that it ema-
nates from a common source, although the envelopes containing the
matter received here are variously postmarked to indicate that they
were mailed at New York, Boston and Washington. The fact that
none of this literature appears to emanate from Chicago is interest-
ing, but to those familiar with this movement indicates merely that