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THE MUSIC TRADE
and an unparalleled increase in wealth, commercial, industrial and
financial expansion accompanied by lavish expenditure in prac-
tically every department of life. The country has been going too
fast and must stop to take breath. The indications of the coming
reaction were seen by some who began curtailing enterprise early
in the year and made preparation for the reckoning to which there
has been so imperative and abrupt a summons.
W
ITH the great wealth which the country possesses, with its
resourcefulness and recuperative power, with its sound-
ness, monetary and commercial, it is not too much to hope for an
early return to normal conditions and the regular course of profit-
able trade. The cheerful tone of the advices of our correspondents
is notable and significant. They do not write as those who are
confronted with disaster, but rather as those who are looking out
upon a subsiding disturbance whose passing will leave better con-
ditions and renewed opportunities for enterprise and effort. A
good many write us that they expect to do a holiday trade in the
piano line of splendid proportions. They figure that while there
may not be such an accentuated demand for the higher priced in-
struments there will still be a good healthy call for pianos of the
intermediate class.
T
H E R E is no doubt that the parcel post will be a prominent
subject for discussion at the coming session of Congress and
that the Post Office Department will recommend action regarding
the carrying of merchandise in the mails on an increased scale.
The adoption of the system o'f the parcels post will have widely
different tendencies. On one side there is a conservative respect
for the public service giving increased facilities for the carriage of
packages in the mails and using the machinery of the Post Office
Department for the convenience of the people generally. When
the proposed change in the law becomes operative it will be then
that it will bring about new conditions in the delivery of merchan-
dise that will in our opinion operate to the disadvantage of local
merchants. The great mail order houses will profit materially by
the change. So far as it effects this industry it will place dealers
in the smaller towns who handle musical merchandise on the out-
side. In other words, the trade of the smaller towns will steadily
gravitate to the big mail order houses. Still the Piano Dealers'
Association does not seem to be worrying over the outcome. It's a
mighty sight easier to take these matters up for consideration before
the new law is enacted by Congress, because once in force it will
not be probable that it will be repealed for a term of years.
T
H E very few bank failures that have occurred even when those
institutions were subjected to the most persistent "runs" in
the history of finance, shows that general banking conditions are
sound and healthy.
The press has performed its work in this crisis in a most praise-
worthy manner. Its advice has been tempered by good judgment
and wisdom. By remaining calm when business men were fright-
ened nearly out of their wits, and by steadily advancing arguments
that showed the baselessness of the money scare the newspapers
have succeeded in turning the tide of panic. Confidence is now
being restored and within a few weeks, probably by January I,
business will be back in its normal condition.
I
N The Review of last week there was an item containing in-
formation which is well worth emphasizing. We refer to the
statement made that the Regina Company distributed as a Thanks-
giving gift to the employes of that concern over $8,000 in cash.
This was a voluntary act on the part of the directors of this com-
pany to share with their employes the profits of an excellent busi-
ness year, which is in striking contrast to the action of many
institutions throughout the land who at the first breath of the panic
began to cut down expenses and discharge men. Not so with the
Regina Company; instead of laying aside this sum as a reserve they
have paid it out so that their workmen may share in the good times
with them. It is truly an act deserving of highest praise and it
shows the broad spirit of the men behind the Regina enterprise.
The same week a double page advertisement of the Regina
wares appeared in the Saturday Evening Post. Here is a concern
that goes ahead and does business. General Manager Furber does
not believe in sitting down and crying pessimism, He does things.
More power to his elbow,
REVIEW
Don't bottle your enthusiasm.
Let it out.
Hot air and cold feet seem to go together nowadays.
There's a vast difference between merely talking and talking well.
The fact that a man turns you down abruptly doesn't prove that you
should never try him again.
Brains are of no value unless they are united with energy, grit and
a determination to succeed in face of all obstacles.
We can't expect to reap a big harvest unless we sow some seed and
you can't expect to do good business unless you do some advertising.
The trade newspaper man who prints rumors affecting the standing
of concerns nowadays is akin to a man who throws a bomb into a public
gathering.
The kind of a salesman who can go back after a man who has de-
liberately destroyed his card before his eyes and land him is the kind
that is wanted.
In these times of graft and exaggerated reports of graft it sometimes
seems as if all business were crooked and all men dishonest. Such a
conclusion, however, would be hasty and unwise.
Good salesmanship consists not only in knowing your proposition
and in making a clever and skilful approach, but in talking from the
other man's point of view about his interests and necessities.
This is a time when by pursuing a policy of moderation the workmen
of the country will hold up the hands of employers threatened on one
hand by prattling politicians and on the other by mercenary stock
gambling.
WELL POSTED.—"I represent the Anti-billboard League," announced
the stranger. "We wish to beautify American landscape. Are there many
people against billboards in this town?"
"Wai, I should say so," replied the postmaster of Bacon Ridge. "Go
over in the public square and you'll find a hundred against them now. If
it wasn't for the billboards the loafers wouldn't have any place to lean
against when they are tired from doing nothing."
CIRCULATION LACKING.—The doctor bent over the dying man and
took his hand.
"I'm afraid the end is approaching," he said. "Your circulation is at
a low ebb."
With a herculean effort, the man sat up in bed. "You're a liar!"
he shouted. "It went up to 80,000 last week, and I can show you the books
to prove it!"
And the Great Editor fell dead.
AN UNFORTUNATE LOAN.—"Lend my dress suit? Not on your
tintype," replied the head tuner in a big western piano house. "And get
it in.the neck the way Jackson did, eh?"
"What happened to Jackson?"
"Well, two years ago a fellow whom he knew slightly borrowed Jack-
sen's dress suit to go to a dance. Next thing Jackson heard was that the
fellow had dropped dead of heart disease. Jackson went to the funeral to
do the right thing. When he peeked into the casket he noticed the de-
ceased had on his dress suit. The undertaker had picked it out because
it was the only dark suit in the fellow's wardrobe. Jackson wept real
tears when he saw them lowering the coffin into the grave. That was his
first and last dress suit. He vowed he'd never get another."
TWO SPEED SINGER.—There was "no half-way work" about Abner
Riggs' praise for anything he approved. Consequently, the person who
asked him about his niece's musical ability was prepared for an enthu-
siastic answer.
"That gall is chock-full o' music," announced Mr. Riggs, "chock-full
and running over with it. In my opinion she will be the greatest
musician that's ever come out of New England, if not of these United
States.
"Sings like a bird, plays the piano, melodeon, pipe organ, banjo and
guitar. Most anything that can be played that girl plays it—right off,
as you might say. Lately she's taken up the fiddle and the cornet, and
she's doing fine work with both of 'em."
"She must be remarkably gifted," said the listener. "Is her voice
soprano or contralto?"
"Either," said Mr. Riggs promptly, "just according to what's wanted
and the nature of the song; she's got both qualities. And as for playing
—well now, I'll tell you, that girl can get more music out of an iron spoon
and a tin dipper than most could out of the best harmonica that was ever
made?"