Music Trade Review

Issue: 1908 Vol. 46 N. 20

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
HMIW
ffUJIC TIRADE
VOL. XLVI. No. 2 0 .
Published Every Saturday by Edward L?man Bill at 1 Madison Ave., New York, May 16, 1908.
FIVE STATES SUPPLIED
With Lauter Pianos on One Day, Monday Last
—Mission Cases Most Popular.
(Special to The Review.)
Newark, N. J., May 12, 1908.
If one had any doubts as to the popularity
of the Lauter piano a visit to the Lauter factory
would dispel them. That this instrument is in
remarkable demand from all parts of the coun-
try is shown by the fact that on Monday of this
week instruments were shipped to five different
States. The trade has surely come to recognize
that in this instrument the Lauter Co. manufac-
ture a player-piano of acknowledged excellence.
Dealers everywhere commend it not only because
of its delightful quality as a piano, but because
also of its wonderful durability and efficient
player mechanism.
The new Mission cases in uprights have been
in great demand since the announcement that
they were ready for shipment. These are espe-
cially suitable for summer camps and homes. A
number have been shipped to schools in different
parts of New Jersey. The finish is an ideal one,
for it is indestructible.
Frank C. Storck, of Red Bank, N. J.; E. A.
Fenstermacher, of Scranton, Pa., and other
Lauter dealers have been recent visitors here.
Horace E. Toms is making a brief trip through
the New England States.
SMART STORE SURROUNDINGS.
Learn How to Protect the Goods—Dust Should
Not Accumulate on Pianos.
Here's a little story on protecting the goods
cut from that smart little journal, Printer's Ink,
and it is well worth a close perusal by the music
dealers who have not fully learned the trade-
drawing powers of bright store environment—
of clean windows and clean stock: Not long
ago I happened to be in a central New York city
—Syracuse, to be exact, and wanting a cigar, I
stepped into one of the attractive tobacco stores
in Salina street. The window was nicely
trimmed in a manner calculated to bring trade
from a clientele of the best class. The interior
of the place was in accordance with the window.
The time was about 8 o'clock in the morning.
One well-dressed man, who was evidently a com-
mercial traveler, preceded me by a fraction of a
minute through the door. He walked directly to
a glass show case and examined a heavily ad-
vertised brand of a cigar displayed on the top
of the case. His examination lasted about
fifteen seconds. He bought three 10-cent cigars
of another make.
Somehow or other I could not resist the
temptation to ask him, more through idle curi-
osity than otherwise, why he passed the adver-
tised brand and bought another cigar of the same
price. Without a word he led me back to the
case.
"Do you see those cigars? Pick one up and
look at it. See that dust? See that boy back
there dusting?
"Last night, before going to the hotel, I was
SINGLE COPIES. 10 CENTS.
$2.00 PER YEAR.
in here and bought some cigars. The store was
filled with smokers and occasionally a man spat
upon the floor. Sometime since some one swept
this floor. The air was filled with that dust, but
no one covered the cigars that are offered here
for decent men to smoke. Would you buy one
covered with dust as you see these?"
I looked further and saw a well-known brand
of stogies exhibited the same way. They, too,
were covered with dust.
It does seem too bad, for the traveling man
mentioned was undoubtedly not the only one who
saw the dust, and that store was not the only
one in which this thing happens every night.
Go into almost any hardware store in the
smallest towns and you find horse blankets
thrown over the most widely advertised parlor
heater or kitchen range. It is the same in all
lines. I believe a far greater per cent, of sales
might be made of the advertised article as
against the non-advertised commodity, if the re-
tailers can be brought to see the import of really
protecting the goods after they have purchased
them, in anticipation of future business and
sales.
numbers of children under sixteen years of age
were glass; shirts, tobacco, cigars and cigarettes,
and the five textile industries. In the cotton in-
dustries the average weekly earnings of the chil-
dren were $3.21. For glass the average weekly
earnings were $4.22; for shirts, $2.31, and for
tobacco, cigars and cigarettes, $3.
The Southern States are generally conspicuous
for low average weekly earnings. The rank of
the several geographical divisions in respect to
the average earnings of all wage earners in-
cluded in this inquiry is as follows: Western,
$13.65; North Central, $10.62; North Atlantic,
$10.11; South Central, $8.33, and South Atlan-
tic, $7.31.
The leading States with respect to average
weekly earnings were: Montana, $18.19; Nevada,
$17.76; Arizona, $16.15, and Wyoming, $15.75.
New York was twenty-fifth, with $10.40; Pennsyl-.
vania, twenty-third,
with
$10.51;
Illinois
fifteenth, with $11.55; Ohio twentieth, with
$10.63, and Massachusetts thirty-second, with
$9.68; North Carolina, with $4.96, and South
Carolina, with $4.68, reported the lowest aver-
ages.
FIRST CENSUS OF AMERICAN WAGES.
PIANO DEALERS PLEASED
Statistics Gathered by Census Bureau Show
That $10.06 Is the Mean Figure—Diamond
Cutters Best Paid—New York Ranks Twenty-
Fifth in List of States with an Average of
$10.40.
Interesting statistics, showing the average
weekly earnings of the men, women and children
employed in the various manufacturing indus-
tries in the United States, have recently been
collected by the Census Bureau of the Depart-
ment of Commerce and Labor. This week the
results of the returns sent in by 123,703 manu-
facturing establishments throughout the country
were made public in the form of a bulletin
issued by the Census Bureau.
Of the 3,297,819 wage earners covered by the
present investigation 2,619,063, or 79.4 per cent.,
were men; 588,599, or 17.9 per cent., were
women, and 90,167, or 2.7 per cent., were chil-
dren. The payrolls of the 123,703 establish-
ments for the week covered amounted to $33,185,-
791, and of this the men received $29,240,287, or
88.1 per cent; the women, $3,633,481, or 11 per
cent., and the children, $312,023, or nine-tenths
of 1 per cent.
The figures show that in 1904 the average
wage earner employed in manufacturing received
$10.06 per week. The average man received
$11.16; the average woman, $6.17, and the av-
erage child under sixteen years of age, $3.46.
The highest average weekly earnings reported
for the men in any manufacturing industry were
$21.68, paid in conducting lapidary work.
The lowest average earnings for men in any
industry were $5.23, paid to those engaged in the
manufacture of turpentine and rosin.
The lowest average earnings for children were
$1.84 per week, received by the 106 children en-
gaged in the manufacture of pickles, preserves
and sauces.
The only industries employing considerable
With the New Bill Passed by the Ohio Legis-
lature Regarding Chattel Mortgages.
(Special to The Review.)
Cleveland, O., May 12, 1908.
Piano and furniture dealers of this city, who
do an instalment business, are well pleased that
the bill they advocated providing that chattel
mortgages be refiled every three years instead of
annually as heretofore, has been passed by the
legislature. They also hope that the body, before
adjourning, will pass another bill providing that
the party demanding a jury trial shall deposit
an amount sufficient to cover costs before the
case is tried. The latter bill will greatly sim-
plify many proceedings.
DEATH OF GEORGE F. DYER.
George F. Dyer, for many years in the Mason
& Hamlin factory and a stockholder of the com-
pany, died suddenly on Thursday, May 7, at his
home in Cambridge, Mass. The deceased was
highly respected by the officers of the Mason &
Hamlin Co. and his associates in the factory, and
his loss is deeply regretted by a host of friends.
CALDWELL PIANO CO. TAKES HOLD.
The Caldwell Piano Co. formally took over the
business of the Hallet & Davis Piano Co. branch
in Cleveland, O., on May 1, and have been doing
a pleasing amount of business from the first day.
The firm, through the president, B. T. Caldwell,
announce their intention of adhering strictly to
one-price principles.
The Story & Clark Piano Co. have entirely re-
modeled the Cleveland store and have turned it
into one large salesroom. The offices have alsq
been enlarged.

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE:
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILL ANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorial Staff:
GKO. It. KELLER,
L. E. BOWEUS,
W. H. DYKES,
F. H. THOMPSON,
J. HAYDEN CLARENDON,
B. BRITTAIN WILSON,
L». J. CHAMBERLIN,
A. J. NICKLIN.
BOSTON OFFICE:
CHICAGO OFFICE
ERNEST L. WAITT, 100 Bo.vlston St. K. 1". VAN HARLINGEN, Koom 80G, 156 Wabash Ave.
PHILADELPHIA:
MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL:
K. W. KAUFFMAN.
ADOLF EDSTEN.
ST. LOUIS:
CHAS. N. VAN BUKEN.
SAN FRANCISCO: S. II. GRAY, 2407 Sacramento St.
CINCINNATI, O.: BERNARD C. BOWEN.
BALTIMORE, MD.: A. ROBERT FRENCH.
LONDON, ENGLAND: GS) Kasinghall St., E. C.
W. LIONEL STURDX, 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;
Canada, .*p:i.r>U ; 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 other than currency form, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Jiill.
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
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 4677 and 4678 GRAMERCY
Connecting a l l Departments.
Cable a d d r e s s : "Elbill, N e w York."
NEW
YORK,
M A Y 16, 1 9 0 8
EDITORIAL
W
HILE the number of failures reported by mercantile agen-
cies during the month of April was extremely large, yet
an analysis of the causes leading up to the collapse of these con-
cerns shows that in the main they were over-capitalized and many
of them were not rated at all and but a small percentage as strong
commercial institutions. There will necessarily be a weeding out
of a good many concerns in every industry, some which have been
a menace to legitimate institutions. When corporations or indi-
viduals who are unworthy of credit, can through misrepresentation
secure merchandise to a considerable amount it follows as a
natural sequence that in order to tide over certain dangerous
periods that they will put out goods on all sorts of terms and prices,
thus demoralizing the trade which meets its obligations and pays
one hundred cents on the dollar. The fake concerns have neither
cash nor reputation at stake.
In the music trade some of the reputable, straightforward deal-
ers have had certain unfair and dishonest competition to meet, and
by no amount of argument can it be made clear that a man who
pays his bills can meet the kind of competition which does not. and
if many of the firms which have made it difficult for legitimate
trade to exist have been forced to surrender to the pressure which
has been brought to bear upon them, it is not and should not be
damaging to the sound business interests of the country. On the
whole the atmosphere is becoming clearer all the time, and it is a
fixed belief in the minds of the best business men of the country
that trade in all industries will be run on sounder, saner and safer
lines than heretofore. The sifting out process has been going on
for some time, and many of the weak concerns have been unable to
stand the tests which have been imposed upon them.
REVIEW
year ago were inclined to believe that there never would be a reduc-
tion in consumption or in the output of manufacturers East and
West. Some of them argued even that if one class of consumers
would not take their goods another would. The past six months,
however, have dissipated these beliefs and satisfactorily demon-
strated to all kinds of trades that it is impossible to disturb the
financial interests of the country or even the resources of the rich
without affecting the other classes.
T
HERE is no prospect of a boom in trade this year even with
good crops, but there is ample evidence of a good demand,
although somewhat irregular. There are many leading business
men in this country who take an optimistic view of the business
situation and believe that should Taft be nominated and the crop
report throughout the country turn out to be fully up to the present
indications there will not be enough goods in the hands of manu-
facturers and jobbers to supply the demands that will come for
them during the fall and winter. They base their theories on the
curtailment of production and the inability of manufacturers to turn
out goods on a few days notice. Also on the fact that manufac-
turers are not making up goods in advance of trade requirements.
There is no doubt as we view the general situation but that trade
is improving, but before we can have a general return of prosperity
there must be a reduction in the number of unemployed so that the
consumption can be increased. Wage earners are vast distributing
mediums and when they are unemployed there is necessarily a big
slowing up in demand.
T
HERE is a radical change in the matter of buying from the
conditions which have existed' during the past few years.
Few indeed are buying more than they absolutely require to meet
with immediate demands of their trade. Advance buying is light,
although it is somewhat better than it was a few weeks ago, and it
is now a case of the manufacturer being forced to carry a supply
in order to meet with the demands of the dealers as they come •
irregularly in upon them. Merchants are taking few chances on
the future. While this in some points is a sound position and is
in line with old time conservative methods of doing business, it puts
heavier expenses upon the manufacturer, as he is forced to carry a
stock to meet promptly the demands from the retailers.
T
HERE are, however, many elements steadily at work endeavor-
ing to better the present conditions, and the united force of
these is considerable. And there is nothing like a campaign of
cheerfulness to start things up. In St. Louis they have inaugurated
a National Prosperity Association. This association has for its ob-
ject the cultivation of optimism and sentiment, and plays a very
important part in material affairs. It will, however, require some-
thing more than a mere crusade of optimism to remove the pessimist
from the land and to again establish a complete reign of prosperity,
but the proper way to start recovery upon its course is laid down on
lines of cheerfulness. Given rest from the ceaseless disturbances
which have so unsettled the commercial and industrial community,
and given sunlight for the maturing harvests and confidence will
surely return and with the return of confidence comes prosperity.
There is lessened business activity everywhere, but it is certainly
relative. Upon any other occasion except that encompassed in the
last two years the measure of activity even now prevailing would
have been accounted most abundant. The country feels blue, prin-
cipally because we are making comparisons with last year or the
one immediately preceding. When we feel blue over present con-
ditions compare the volume of trade this year with three or four
years ago for instance.
W
HAT motives inspire a trade newspaper to devote columns
weekly for eight or ten consecutive issues to a dissection
of the internal affairs and business policies of certain non-adver-
tisers? What are the logical conclusions arrived at by the readers
as to motives who have had sufficient patience and interest to fol-
low the drift of the argument? Surely no one can be so blind as
T must be admitted that the music trade has stood up wonder-
fully well when compared with other industries, and one of to overlook the mercenary inspirations behind continuous insolent
criticism of methods adopted by business concerns. Then again
the most surprising features of the business situation is that some
of the factories are enjoying a spring trade which is quite up to when men are thus cowardly attacked other manufacturers are
not likely to stand calmly by while their confreres are held up to
normal times. There is an evident growth of a more hopeful senti-
ment everywhere. Of course, consumption has fallen off in all ridicule and abuse in the columns of an alleged music trade publica-
tion. Blackguardly trade journalism can only exist through ad-
lines and this change in trade conditions has been an educator, for
it has opened the eyes of many manufacturers and jobbers who a vertising support, and why should the men in any industry be
I

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