Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC TRADE
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorial Stall:
GEO. H. KEI.LEK,
L. E. BOWERS,
VV. II. DVKKS,
F. H. THOMPSON,
J. HAYDKN CLARENDON,
B. BHITTAIN WILSON,
L. J._CHAMBEHLIN,
A. J. NICKLIN.
CHICAGO OFFICE:
E. P. VAN HARLINGEN, 195-197 Wabash Ave.
TELEPHONES : Central 414 ; Automatic 804o.
MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL:
ST. LOUIS:
BOSTON OFFICE:
KRNEST L. WAITT, 100 Boylston St.
PHILADELPHIA:
H. W. KAUFFMAN.
ADOLF EDSTEN.
CHAS. N. VAN BUREN.
SAN FRANCISCO: S. II. GRAY, 2407 Sacramento St.
CINCINNATI,©.: NINA PUGII-SMITH.
BALTIMORE, MO.: A. ROBERT FRENCH.
LONDON, ENGLAND: 00 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.
SUBSCRIPTION, (including.postage). United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year;
i'anuda. ^IJ.TiO ; all other countries, $4.00.
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 dther than currency form, Bhould be made payable to Edward
l.yaian Bill.
Music Publishers'
An interesting feature of this publication is a special depart-
Department V» v* ment devoted exclusively to the world of music publishing.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
X*. I'rix
Paris Exposition, 1900 Silver A/ectaJ. Charleston Exposition, 1902
wwjo.Pan-American Exposition, 1001
Gold Medal. ...St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal
Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905.
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES-NUMBERS 4677 and 4678 GRAMERCY
Connecting all Departments.
Cable a d d r e s s : "Elbill, New York."
NEW YORK,
A P R I L 11, 1 9 0 8
EDITORIAL
A
WELL-KNOWN piano manufacturer, while discussing trade
conditions with The Review recently, remarked: "I have
been led into making two grades of pianos simply because I have
become convinced that my dealers were not doing full justice to
my high grade instruments. As you know, our pianos have not
only age behind them, but they have character and reputation and
I know that the dealers instead of using the proper energy in push-
ing them have placed their selling force on lesser priced pianos.
Now, why should I permit trade to go by me to some other manu-
facturer when I can just as well hold that trade myself? If dealers
are going to substitute why should I not be one of the substituters
instead of one of those whose product is substituted?"
Practically these same thoughts have come to many piano
manufacturers who have held undeviatingly to high grade, one-
name instruments during the past decade. We have listened to
many preachments to the retailer on ethical texts showing the folly
of substitution and no doubt every manufacturer: of high grade in-
struments has suffered, more or less through substitution of the
"just as good" piano and the whole thing if divested of all superflui-
ties resolves itself down into this question—why does the retail
piano merchant substitute? The answer is plain. On the standard
make his profit is fair, but it is within certain limits and on the
"just as good" he can ask what he pleases, and by this course of
procedure largely increase his profit. The retail merchant substi-
tutes simply because he can make more money out of substitution,
even though the purchaser shows a decided preference for a well-
known make of piano.
S
UBSTITUTION has been an evil which has crept into many
trades and until piano manufacturers come out squarely and
place upon every instrument they make a fixed retail price, substi-
tution will be more or less in evidence. The cheap piano, that is,
the special brand piano, which many dealers allege are made
specially for them according to certain patents and specifications of
their own, is nothing more or less than an instrument which opens
the door to fraud. We do not mean by this that all special brand
pianos are sold out of their proper class, but it cannot be success-
REVIEW
fully denied that a large proportion of them are sold at prices which
should entitle the purchasers to become owners of reputable, high
grade instruments.
Substitution in the piano trade should not be permitted and
when a manufacturer who has been engaged in making one brand
of pianos for years adds another to his line it may mean, just as
in the case which we have cited above, that he is tired of having
his instruments used as drawing cards to a w r arer-oom only to have
some other "just as good" instrument urged upon the customer.
If a purchaser reaches a wareroom with a wavering determination
that he will accept something "just as good" he is an easy mark for
the salesman. Substitution in this trade could' be reduced if the
manufacturers would determine to place their own retail prices
upon their products.
No special pleading with the dealers is going to cause these
conditions to be changed; no raising of ethical question will enter
into it in the slightest and no passing of resolutions even if they
be as long as from Hartford to Hades will affect conditions in the
slightest. Ethics will not be permitted to enter into this question
of substitution. It is a plain matter of business. The dealer to-day
is profiting by substitution. Now the way to reduce the substitu-
tion evil into a state of innocuousness is to make the line of demarca-
tion clear between well known brands and the "just as good." The
values should be fixed so that piano purchasers in every wareroom
throughout the land may buy pianos with the satisfaction of know-
ing that no matter in what class they buy they are purchasing in-'
struments which honestly belong to that grade.
T
HIS trade newspaper institution has earned a reputation for the.
publication of reliable technical literature and following our
established plan we have now produced the first book ever put forth
covering in comprehensive detail the entire range of player me-
chanics.
This volume has been the result of careful study and research
and without doubt the reputation of this publishing business will be
fully sustained by this new technical work. Dealers, salesmen and
repairers and owners of players for that matter will find it a most
valuable volume to have within easy reach.
An exhaustive analysis of the player is made in this book and
a vast fund of valuable information is placed within reach of read-
ers. The title of the volume is: "A Technical Treatise on Piano
Player Mechanism," and if reference is made to our advertising
columns a further description will be found of this latest addition
to music trade literature.
T
H E small merchants in every line must wake up. The trouble
with the small man as a general thing is that he spends his
time sitting around cussing city competition instead of meeting it.
In the meantime his store is suffering for want o'f management.
Goods are poorly displayed and no forward movement evidenced in
the conduct of his affairs. Then when the country merchant is
enterprising enough to keep the right sort of gefods, he contents
himself with that and goes no further. He, acts upon the principle
that the community owes him its patronage. He feels that the
people ought to come in and find out that he has the right sort of
stock and is selling goods at the prices they can afford to pay. In
the meantime men in the city by judicious advertising gather in
the shekels. The home merchant feels offended because his neigh-
bors and friends send their money away from him instead of spend-
ing it with him, and this feeling is a natural one, but the country
merchant must come to realize that he must advertise, get busy or
go under. The city department stores continue to increase their
mail Order trade all the time, and if they maintain the same ratio
of increase in five years at least 25 per cent, of the small country
merchants will be forced out of business.
A
PROPOS of the above, recently an article appeared in a Buf-
falo paper which contained the following: "The town of
Bolivar has 1,200 population and is the trading center for about
4,000 people. In the past eleven months $10,000 worth ai goods
from Chicago and New York department stores have been received
at the freight and express depots. In addition hundreds of dollars'
worth of goods came through the mails. It is believed that not less
than $100,000 of Allegany county money found its way to New
York and Chicago department stores. In one town the merchants
trv to meet this competition by selling at catalog prices. The