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THE: MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
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Quo. B. K'T»T.T.TIIII J
W . H. DYKES,
F. H. THOMPSON.
EMILIB FBANCHS BAUHJR,
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Directory ol P I M O
The directory of piano manufacturing firms and corporations
-Z
;
r
found on another page will be of great value, as a reference
MimUetertri
f o P dealers and others.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Chrand Prim
Paris Exposition, 1900
Silver Medal.Charleston Exposition 1902
Diploma.Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal.. . S t Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold M edal. . . . Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905.
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES-NUMBERS 4677 and 4878 6RAMERCY
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NEW YORK,
OCTOBER
19, 1907
EDITORIAL
READER of The Review says: "I was much interested in
your editorial of last week in which you asked, 'What consti-
A
tutes a legitimate profit?' To my mind that is a hard nut to crack.
What may be a fair profit to a man under certain conditions is not
viewed by another dealer in another section of the country in the
same way. I should like to see this subject ventilated in the col-
umns of The Review for the benefit of your readers."
Well, we have thrashed many a question in these columns and
we are very glad indeed to take up the subject of what constitutes a
legitimate profit. It is after all by discussion which tends to bring
out intelligent argument that certain reforms are accomplished.
Some of our contemporaries seem prone to rush into print with
startling headlines and lurid announcements in which denunciation
of the entire trade is made. Now, such frothy presentations amount
to nothing save to show the incompetency of the editors who in-
dulge in wordy pyrotechnics when they should deal logically with
the great questions of the day.
We have always held to the old-fashioned belief that no on-
ward step was ever won by abuse, and in discussing either price
problems or the special brand piano we may as well use reason,
and at the same time use temperate language in describing con-
ditions.
FTER all the giving of what constitutes a legitimate profit
must be settled by rules which are observed in general mer-
chandising. We cannot take as an example to follow one man
who is willing to sell goods on a low margin of profit, neither can
we take another who makes an abnormal profit on regular lines of
merchandise as a safe guide to follow. We must somehow or
other strike an intermediate class when we desire to figure out a
fair average.
Referring to this trade directly, in some small towns where a
dealer has low rent and does practically all his own selling, his
selling expenses chargeable to each piano are very slight and he
can afford to do business on a low margin of profit. Now he can,
under certain conditions, afford to sell a piano at a price which is
A
REVIEW
low when compared with other standards, yet he makes what to
him is a satisfactory profit. In another case a man who pays high
rents and has perhaps abnormal selling expenses may easily figure
out a selling cost of $ioo on each piano, and if the wholesale cost
price of the piano is $ioo and his selling expenses $ioo, all of
which is cash, it virtually costs him $200 before it is delivered to
his customer, and if he charges $100 profit and takes chances on
three years' payments, is he charging a robbery price?
W
HEN viewed from the ordinary standpoint, without investi-
gation, a man who buys regular merchandise for $100 and
sells for $300 is often accused of charging too much. The local
conditions surrounding individual merchants make a very material
difference in moulding one's opinion as to what constitutes a legiti-
mate profit. We must figure the profits somewhat by the actions
of the representative men in every industry and let their actions
be in a degree a guide to us. That certainly would be the fairest
way after all. If we take the leading houses in the music trade,
East, West, North and South and investigate their rules governing
piano pricing, we will have approached somewhat near a pretty
safe basis on which to compute profits. We should, however, not
take radicals in any line as examples. Neither the remote country
dealer or the man who runs in some city a showy establishment
under enormous expenses. We have got to strike an average on
selling expenses, we have got to observe the attitude of other mer-
chants on what constitutes legitimate profits. With such examples
daily before us set by the leaders of finance it would seem that if the
piano men were to take such men as examples and follow them
they would be justified in charging almost any prices for pianos.
And still these men have occupied high positions in financial circles,
and many of them have won eminent places in the State and in
social circles. They sell stock at 1,000 per cent, profit and calmly
pocket the coin while the innocent purchaser of this watered stock
stows away valueless paper in return for his good coin of the realm.
How can a legitimate profit govern such action?
H
ERE is another instance: Suppose a man invents some
specialty which seems to possess great selling force, and
as it is his brain fruit is he entitled to charge what he thinks he can
get for it consistently? As a rule he never figures on a fair profit,
but rather on what he can get from the public. Now is it not
reasonable to presume that a man who has been engaged in the
sale of special brand pianos for years has been influenced somewhat
by the example set before him in other lines? A discussion as to
what constitutes a fair profit may be a good thing for the industry.
There is one thing, however, that should not be overlooked
in the discussion of the prices of special brand pianos which are
interesting so many to-day and that is the incalculable value of the
great names of the piano trade, the splendid service of the men who
have held undeviatingly to a single name. They have helped not
only to dignify the industry, but to maintain it on a high plane.
Strike out the leading names, the artistic class, and pianos would
descend in a very short time in the estimation of the public to the
level of sewing machines or other manufactured articles. We owe
a debt to the great makers and to the men who have always looked
upon piano making as an art. Now r , as in days agone, this body
of men has been a sheet anchor to the trade. But have they been
treated fairly? Have not too often some of these great names
been used simply as a drawing card by dealers to bring customers
in their stores who have been attracted by the golden lettering
on the windows announcing that such and such distinguished pianos
are on sale within? Frequently customers upon entering these
establishments have been shifted, through the policy of the manage-
ment, to the "just as good" pianos. These "just as good" instru-
ments, sometimes bearing the dealer's patronymic, have been offered
at prices which should have secured the purchasers high grade in-
struments, but there again is where the question of legitimate price
comes in.
P
OSSIBLY these dealers have an elastic conscience and view
the question of profit broadly. They figure that they are
entitled under the laws of the country to get what they can in the
way of profits.
We have taken the view, however, for some time past that the
men best qualified to settle this question as to what constitutes a
legitimate profit were the manufacturers themselves, and by estab-