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. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorlal Staff:
GEO. B. KELLER,
L. B. BOWERS,
W. H. DYKES,
P. H. THOMPSON,
J. HAYDEN CLARENDON,
B. BRITTAIN WILSON,
L. J. CHAIIISERLIN,
A. J. NICKUN.
BOSTON OFFICE:
CHICAGO OFFICE
ERNEST L. WAITT, 100 Boylston St.M P. VAN HARI.INGEN, Room 806, 156 Wabash Ave.
PHILADELPHIA:
Telephone, Central 414.
MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL:
ST. LOUIS:
R. W. KAUFFMAK.
ADOLF EDSTEN.
CHAS. N. VAN BUREN.
SAN FRANCISCO: S. H. GRAY, 2407 Sacramento St.
CINCINNATI. O.: BERNARD C. BOWHN.
BALTIMORE, MD.: A. ROBERT FRENCH.
LONDON. ENGLAND: 09 Basinghall St., R. 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;
Canada. $3.50 ; all other countries, !M.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS. $2,00 per Inch, single column, per Insertion. On quarterly or
yearly coutracts a special discount is allowed. Advertising l'ages, $60.00 ; opposite
rending matter. $75.00.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should be made payable to Edwanl
l.ymnn r.ill.
Music Publishers'
An interesting feature of this publication Is a special depart-
Department ^ 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, JUNE 27, 1908
EDITORIAL
T
H E record of June is HOT: altogether satisfactory in a business
sense even compared with former years, for trade has been
of a moderate volume and, of course, now at the close of the month
it is beginning to feel the effect of the summer quiet. The big music
trade conventions in New York helped things out however quite a
bit in a business way, for there were some substantial orders left as
a result of the meetings in our city. One thing is certain in con-
nection with trade conventions and that is that the special piano
exhibitions have come to stay, and each year they will grow in
variety and magnitude. There is no doubt whatever that Detroit
will be well filled with music trade exhibits during the Convention
next year. A good many manufacturers view the annual conven-
tions as opportunities for the cultivation of business. For a while
the commercial spirit was frowned down upon by the men of the
industry, but like the special brand piano it is still here and it is
difficult to dislodge it. A number of manufacturers have not hesi-
tated to say to The Review that they propose to get all the business
they can out of the trade meetings, and some of them secured good
slices of business during convention time in New York.
I
T cannot be expected now that trade will be anything else but
quiet for some weeks and yet indications point to early orders
being placed for the fall. Naturally enough there is some uncer-
tainty as to the business outlook, but manufactured products of all
kinds are not quickly available. Manufacturers have not been pil-
ing up reserves in any line. On the contrary, they have been
drawing on stocks which have been held in branches and depots at
various points in the country to supply demands rather than to
create new stock. This applies to almost every line and such cor-
porations as the Pullman Car Co. have been using up reserve stocks
in various depots instead of buying new stocks, the rule which is
followed under ordinary conditions. It is the same with the rail-
roads. In fact, some of the great railroad corporations have en-
tirely dismantled unused engines to obtain repairing parts rather
than to place orders for new engines. Now when business does
REVIEW
come it's coming with a rush in a good many trades. With the big
crops throughout the great agricultural West and South which are
now practically assured there seems to be I D reason why business
should not be of a formidable character this fall.
O
F course everyone says go slow during Presidential election
year and that naturally affects wholesale purchases as well as
retail, for when that admonition is handed <>ut so Irequently people
feel that it is well to go slow and unsafe to proceed at any other
gait. Merchants are buying only very carefully and in quantities
to cover their immediate requirements and many of them are even
advising their customers to pursue the same policy in outside pur-
chases. There has been a manifest desire in all lines during the'
past few months to exhaust stocks. If a merchant does not have in
stock just what a customer desires he tries harder than ever before,
through his salesmen, to sell a substitute rather than order new
stock. This same practice is followed in all lines. All business
men deem it a part of wisdom to sacrifice present sales rather than
load up with goods in excess to their actual needs. As a result of
this generally conservative plan, stocks as a rule are being kept
pretty small. While it would be gratifying to report a quickened
demand there is no doubt that the conservative policy followed so
generally by the manufacturers and by wholesale and retail mer-
chants in the purchase of materials is making excellent preparation
for a return of normal demand and bettered conditions.
I
T is a fact that merchants have not had their liabilities for years
reduced to such a low ebb as to-day, and the reason is that
they have not been adding to them largely during the past few
months. There is danger of excessive caution, for when we take
into consideration the splendid promise of the crops it must at once
mean that we should have our business houses in order if we are to
capture the early comers. It seems to us that it would be well for
piano manufacturers to prepare sufficient stock to meet with sudden
demands which mav be made upon them. When trade comes it
will come quickly and some will not be prepared to take care of it.
The manufacturers who have the stock on hand and can meet the
immediate demand from retailers will be the ones naturally who will
profit largely by the trade breeze when it strikes.
T
H E papers all over the land still continue to comment upon the
recently formed "piano trust," and, judging from a good
many editorial comments contained in the papers which have been
forwarded to this office, it is certain that the belief exists in the
minds of many that the recent big merger in this industry is a trust,
pure and simple. The writers are unfamiliar with the inner con-
ditions of the music industry.
O
RGANIZATION is a strong factor which makes for business
success. The stress of competition and the special call for
ingenuity and invention and for the adoption of progressive busi-
ness methods are influences which have contributed much to the
extraordinary development of the American manufacturing inter-
ests. This is particularly true of the piano industry and there is
no country in the world which can boast of such systematically
organized piano producing institutions as we have in this country.
In fact, Europeans are amazed when they view some of these mar-
velous American plants. No such system is in vogue oversea, and
the piano manufacturers of our time certainly deserve great credit
for the great industrial organizations which they have evolved. It
has not been easy to climb to the present position. Rather, it has
been a long hard battle. Every step of it has been attended by
peculiar difficulties. In the early days of the business when profits
were proportionately large and the volume of business was
correspondingly small the piano manufacturer found a hungry line
of dealers coming to town clamoring eagerly for his stock and he
could make a royally good profit on every piano sold at wholesale,
but he did not sell many for the entire output of the country for
years after the Civil War did not run into big figures.
W
HEN, however, the piano making began to feel the inspiring
effect of modern business conditions the line of competi-
tion at once became intensified and consequently the margin of
profit was narrowed all the time. That was the inevitable result.
There are some to-day who have been unable to realize the changing
conditions, and that the old regime has gone forever and that the