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THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
guine expectations, and he had made not only good retail sales but
had closed arrangements with two good wholesale representatives.
F
EW people have an adequate idea of the extent of the business
carried on by such a trade newspaper institution as this. To
illustrate: we placed this week an order with one paper company
for two thousand five hundred reams of inside paper, and with
other concerns orders for special cover and supplement paper which
brings the total close to three thousand reams, amounting to over
270,000 pounds, all of which must be delivered, according to con-
tract, within a few months.
The paper representatives say that we are among the largest
consumers of white paper in the trade paper line in this country,
and we might remark this paper is neither eaten nor burned. It is
used for printing papers and every copy is mailed to someone
directly interested in the wares which we advertise. In a statement
of the amount of paper consumed there is interesting information
for advertisers.
S
PEAKER CANNON, in his famous statement that "This coun-
try is a hell of a success," may not have fully appreciated the
ambiguity of his remark. While he doubtless intended to infer that
the country was a great success, yet the successes of his "Satanic
Majesty" have usually been accomplished at the expense of man-
kind. In this respect many unreliable advertisers have made a
success, but, fortunately, it has as a rule been short-lived, and the
chance of an unreliable advertiser making a success grows less and
less. As the proprietors of articles of real merit have come to
appreciate the great power of advertising, their campaigns have
blazed the way through the jungles of doubt to the broad, fertile
plains of confidence, so that now no proprietor of a "good" article
need have fear as to the results that will accrue to him from judic-
ious and intelligently planned advertising.
One thing is certain: The country is still in a prosperous con-
dition, and the indications all make for a continued state of pros-
perity.
The volume of advertising has never been so great as now,
and the fall season will probably see the greatest advertising expen-
diture ever made.
It behooves the manufacturer and retailer to "sit up and take
notice," else they will not secure their share of good things.
A
CCURATE information is the keynote of success in advertise-
ment writing.
When people run across an important piece of information they
are always interested in it; and if an advertisement tells them
something really worth knowing about an article—something that
shows its desirability from their standpoint—they may be counted
upon to at least make an investigation.
The different characteristics of worthy articles are all of par-
ticular interest to prospective buyers, and there is generally one
special feature that appeals strongly to many people. Therefore,
it is the part of freedom to make a series of advertisements convey
definite information regarding each and every feature, so that finally
the appealing feature will be brought to the attention.
Each advertiser of a special product finds it at times somewhat
difficult to repeat an interesting story. One advertising critic, how-
ever, said that piano advertising in the magazines is not in line with
the artistic product which is exploited. He said that if you remove
the word piano, and substitute the name sewing machine, the adver-
tisements would read just as appropriately.
It is a fact that most of the writers of advertisements know
little or nothing about a piano, and therefore they fail to speak of it
intelligently in all of their advertising matter.
T
RAVELING men who have gone West have sent in goodly
orders to the various manufacturers since their departure. It
seems that the Middle West will be the trade battleground during
the early fall and winter, and that the prospects for a lively business
are excellent in that specially favored section of the country. The
demand for piano players is keeping up splendidly, and shows a
decided growth. The player is being advertised broadly, and as a
result of this publicity, interest is being steadily accentuated in all
parts of the country. The player to-day is a strong factor in mak-
ing piano sales.
Unambitious men are always weak kneed.
The great work of to-day is not war, but commerce.
Men with ambition are always scheming to beat to-day's business with
to-morrow's.
Do not allow yourself to get discouraged.
equivalent to money in the bank.
Good cheer is a moral
The really ambitious man doesn't want the earth but he wants all
the business on it within reach of him.
A satisfied customer is as good an advertisement as a house can have
and as good a recommendation as a salesman can ask for.
Have a little backbone, when you meet the price question. Do not
weaken. Faith in your own price goes a good ways towards closing a sale.
Nothing gladdens the "Old Man's" heart like the sight of a pile of
orders. They are not so pretty to look at as pictures of Italian sunsets,
but they look good.
A man doesn't have to be in the king business or wear the shoulder
knots of a military man, or the silk hat of a modern statesman in order
to exercise the same quality of ambition that distinguished Alexander,
Napoleon, Disraeli and the rest of their immortal band.
The ambitious man keeps moving up a peg every day. He's like a
pole vaulter who wants to excel. Having astonished the spectators by
clearing the bar at a good height, he indulges for only the space of a
few pulse beats in the futile sentiment of self-appreciation. He pushes
the bar up another notch or two and clears it again.
When you run over the orders of a salesman who doesn't know his
business very well and who hasn't confidence in himself you will find
that many are interlined with concessions which he has made to secure
the order. He will cut prices at the request of a customer as obligingly
as a young lady at a lawn fete cuts cake when asked to do so.
HANDY WITH THE KING'S ENGLISH.—"Have you sold your coun-
try villa yet?"
"No; I'm not going to sell it now."
"How's that?"
"Well, I gave instructions to an agent to advertise it for sale, and the
description he wrote of it was so enchanting that I couldn't make up my'
mind to part with it."
TO BE EXACT.—"What's that sign you're making there?" asked the
grocer.
" 'Fresh Eggs,' " replied the new clerk.
"H'm! Make it read 'Fresh-laid Eggs' while you're about it."
"What for? Everybody knows the eggs were fresh when they were
laid."
"Just so, and that's all it's safe for us to say about them."
CORRECTED.—It was on a street car in the city of Washington. Two
colored women in cheaply gorgeous splendor were talking and one chanced
to mention a Mr. "Jinks" in her conversation.
"Excuse me," said the other woman, "but his name is not 'Jinks. 1 It
is Mr. Jenks.' "
"Oh, I sees," said the other woman complaisantly. "I sees that you
puts de access on de pronoun."
EXPLAINED.—Andrew Carnegie tells of an old Scotch lady who had
no great liking for modern church music. One day she was expressing
her dislike of the singing of an anthem in her own church, when a friend
•said:
"Why, that anthem is a very ancient one. David sang it to Saul."
"Weel, weel!" said the old woman. "I noo for the first time under-
stan' why Saul threw his javelin at David when the lad sang for him."—
Lippincott's.
UNADULTERATED SAND.—"The late Thomas Beecham," said an ad-
vertising agent, "spent over half a million a year on ads. He wrote, up
to the age of 75, his best ads. himself. He was a witty old gentleman.
They tell a story about him and a grocer.
"The grocer was guilty of some rather sharp practice on Mr. Beecham
one day and the latter stamped out of the shop roaring:
" 'You're a swindler, and I'll never enter your doors again.'
"Next day, though, he came back and bought five pounds of sugar.
" 'Dear me,' said the grocer, smiling in a forgiving way, 'I thought
you were never going to enter my doors again.'
" 'Well, I didn't mean to,' said Mr. Beecham, 'but yours is the only
shop in the place where I can get what I want. You see, I am going to
pot some bulbs and I need sand,' -
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