Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE!
MU3IC
TRADE
new conditions present new problems, some of which are not of
easy solution. Tt is impossible to-day to make a splendid profit on
the sale of an individual piano at wholesale. The day of even
liberal profits is past. Nor is it possible to have a fine paying en-
terprise when manufacturing but a few pianos per week. The out-
put must be sufficiently large to make an imposing array of pianos
when totaling the annual output. In other words, it is bulk busi-
ness which counts and it is a modest profit on the bulk business
which a piano manufacturer counts at the end of the year. There
is perhaps no manufactured article of our times wherein as much
skill, care and energy is required to create which is sold at
wholesale for anything approximating the narrow margin which is
left to the piano manufacturer. Furniture men who cut out,
mortise and glue together pieces of wood make a much higher profit
than piano men who do all of the careful adjusting, regulating and
attend to every detail with an exactness which insures a perfect
instrument and in the end they make mighty little profit out of it.
REVIEW
solidations have crumbled. A business may look unusually strong
from the outside, but on the inside the structure shows great weak-
ness. The cement does not stick. It lacks the kind of men who
can successfully carry on every department of the business. It is
not always the great institutions on paper that succeed. It is usually
the men who have an accurate knowledge of the inner conditions
of the industry and pay the closest heed to its requirements who
win a niche in the business Temple of Fame. Competent men with
the necessary ability to successfully manage giant institutions are
rare. And without executive ability of a high order large enter-
prises sometimes balk and wither. There was never a time in the
industrial history of this country when real ability counted for more
than to-day.
Get out of the rut.
S
OME of the men who were trained in the old school cannot
understand why good profits should be eliminated, particularly
when piano making is an advanced mechanical art. They figure
that it should pay manufacturers a good profit on the capital which
is invested and which is supplemented by business skill of no low
degree. However, the younger men endowed with the commercial
spirit have helped to bring about a change in conditions and they
have successfully met those conditions. They have set about to find
some means of making" the most of the state of affairs which the
evolution and growth of the industry has prodliced. Of course
there are changes all the time coming on and variations are in
order to meet the ever-changing business environment in a success-
ful manner. There are things which naturally develop and seem
for a while to halt progress in manufacturing. A manufacturing
enterprise is built under the stress of necessity to meet the require-
ments of any situation. This is seen in the tremendous advance
which this country has made in every industry and the fortunes
which have been accumulated and the proud position attained by
America as a great manufacturing nation.
T
H E manufacturer first of all looks for a means of reducing
the cost of producing his goods, and at the same time in-
creasing the volume of the output. This same system to-day pre-
dominates every industry and piano manufacturers are looking
about to see what they can do in the matter of saving. This very
thought, developed along logical lines, means combinations. It
means the purchasing of materials in quantities. It means using
one governing head for a large amount of business. Factory
methods which are obsolete can be improved, and new manufactur-
ing and labor saving devices can be installed. In connection with
this there will gradually be introduced a careful regard for econo-
mies, because all things must be considered in the conduct of a big
manufacturing enterprise in our times. Industrial development is
going on at all times and the result of this development is a general
disposition to improve business methods. It has been brought home
to the manufacturer as business increased rapidly that he could not
as in former days assume the work throughout the factory and
oversee everything himself. In many cases formerly the head of a
manufacturing enterprise was financier, superintendent, buyer, sales-
man and correspondent all in one. Changed conditions, however,
necessitated a complete business organization. Good men, qualified
for positions of responsibility which they were required to fill, were
found. They were educated in accordance with the manufacturer's
methods of business and took from him the burden of detail.
In this way he retained the supervision which enabled him to keep
in touch with everything. Then little by little was introduced a
complete cost system, and the adoption of the most improved ac-
counting methods which have given him information as to what was
done in every department. He was then given information not only
as to the profit of the business as a whole, but as to the profit of
each department.
N
OTWITHSTANDING the progress which has been made the
end has not been reached. New problems are coming up
and new things are being encountered, and it is difficult to find just
the men capable of running the great business enterprises. Through
the failure to find the right men some of the largest business con-
"I didn't have time" is closely related to "I forgot."
The man with determination can cultivate almost, any quality he
wants.
A cheerful store and a bright store window is a great asset for a
business establishment.
Do you know of anyone who likes to do business with a man who
is not quite trustworthy? Do you like it yourself?
The man who is always stating what he would do if he were running
the business isn't veiy likely to get a chance to do so.
Keep close to the truth in recommending pianos. Be sure you don't
offer the "just as good" when you can sell the real thing.
Read about the success other men have made of their lives and you
will find yourself imbued with the spirit that made them winners.
WILLIE—Pa, what is a publisher?
Author—My son, a publisher is a squatter on the unearned increment
of thought.
You can't wait on a customer, properly until you have left the morn-
ing paper where it should be—out of sight. In some piano warerooms
the daily paper is not permitted.
Doctor Griffin—I must say the world is very ungrateful toward our
profession. How seldom one sees a public memorial erected to a doctor!
Mr. Golightly—How seldom! Oh! doctor, think of our cemeteries.
NOT NECESSARY.—"Kiss me, my dear," said her husband in a thick
tone of voice. .
"It isn't necessary," replied his wife. "I can tell you've been drinking
without that."
WHIST FOR HIGH STAKES.—"Well, where's that cook?" demanded
his wife. "Don't tell me that she wasn't on the train."
"She was on the train," timidly explained the commuter, "but T got to
playing cards and a Lonelyville man won her at whist."
"Oh," said his timid guest, "are you sure the motor will not break
down?"
"Positively," replied the owner, stonily.
"But how can you be sure?" she argued.
"Recaus? we have heaps of time," he answered.
AS TO OKLAHOMA.—"Speaking of tornadoes," observed the boarder
with the high forehead, "if the one that visited Oklahoma the other day-
had happened along a few months sooner there would have been a pro-
vision in the state constitution abolishing tornadoes. That's about the
only thing they overlooked."
LOOKING FOR THE FIFTH.—The leading lady passed down the
avenue with her speckled bull pup.
"That's the star," whispered the sweet singer.
'Star, eh?" laughed the low comedian. "Then I'd call her Jupiter.
Slu- has had four moons."
"Four moons?"
"Yes, honeymoons."
The late Bishop Coleman of Delaware was somewhat deaf. Once while
attending a banquet he was assigned to a young lady who did not know
of his affliction. In consequence, conversation was found to be somewhat
difficult. In a burst of enthusiasm the young lady inquired: "Bishop, do
you like bananas?"
At first the prelate did not reply, but upon the question being repeated
he admitted confidentially, "I must say I still prefer the old-fashioned
night gown."