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THE!
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorlal Stall:
OBO. B. KBIXBR,
L. D. BOWKHS,
W. H. DYKES,
F.H.THOMPSON,
J. HATDBN CLABBNDON,
B. BRITTAIN WILSON,
L. J. CHAMBERLIN,
A. J. NICXLIN.
CHICAGO OFFICE
BOSTON OFFICE:
BRNBST L. WAITT, 100 Boylston St.B. P. VAN HARLINGEN, Room 806, 156 Waba»h Ave.
Telephone, Central 414.
MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL:
ST. LOUIS:
PHILADELPHIA:
R. W. KAUFFMAN.
ADOLF EDSTBN.
CHAS. N. VAN BDRKN.
SAN FRANCISCO: S. H. GRAY, 2407 Sacramento St.
CINCINNATI. O.: BERNARD C. BOWBN.
BALTIMORE, MD.: A. ROBERT FRENCH.
LONDON. ENGLAND: 69 Basinghall St., E. C.
W. LIONEL STURDY, Manager.
Published Every Saturday at 1 Madison Avenue, New York
REVIEW
credit and such relative prosperity is that the trade has been estab-
lished on a cash basis.
It is true that the unexpected happened, the demand for most
classes of machines having been so well maintained that business
instead of falling off, was impelled along. Yet where a sharp
competition e-xists in a trade where there is a strenuous striving
after business, the natural tendency is to conduct business on a
credit basis.
Had this been done in the automobile industry, it would not
to-day have been in the position which it is. There arc indeed few
cases on record of a trade as a whole agreeing to do a cash business
and holding to it. In the automobile industry, the customer must
make a substantial cash deposit to bind his order and must pay the
balance upon delivery, the delivery of the machine being made only
on payment in full of the bill.
Such a condition must seem almost Utopian to manufacturers
in other trades. In fact, the contrast between conditions in the
automobile industry and others has been so sharply defined as to
attract universal attention. The result is that in many other trades,
credits are being pared down, and business is getting gradually
nearer to a cash basis, though in the average it has still a long ways
to go before that condition is reached.
Entered at the New York Post OMce as Second Class Matter.
SUBSCRIPTION, (including postage), United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year;
Canada, $3.50 ; 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 Hill.
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 all Departments.
Cable address: "Elblll, New York."
NEW
YORK,
NOVEMBER
7, 1 9 0 8
EDITORIAL
N
OW that the struggle for 1'residential honors has ended in
the election of Mr. Taft, business men everywhere can put
in full time on trade development, without the diverting element
of politics being constantly introduced. There is every reason
to believe that under the guidance of Mr. Taft the business
affairs of the country will imove on uninterruptedly. Probably there
has never been in the entire history of American Presidents a man
who has been more eminently fitted to fulfill the duties of the high
office than the one who was elected last Tuesday. His wide range
of experience in governmental affairs has given him training which
will be of vast advantage to him when he becomes head of the
Nation, and the people will profit by that knowledge. Mr. Taft
possesses the judicial temperament, and it can be safely predicted
that sensationalism will not be a part of President Taft's programme.
The country is indeed fortunate in having a man of such splendid
intellectual and moral equipment at the head of the Nation. May
the country prosper under President Taft!
Business will not be disturbed over a radical readjustment of
the tariff. When President Taft summons Congress for a special
session to deal with the tariff it will be found that every preparation
has been made to handle this matter in a more exhaustive and in-
telligent manner than ever before in the tariff history of the Nation.
For months experts have been preparing data in the various coun-
tries throughout Europe, so that there will be a fund of informa-
tion and statistics in the hands of Congress which has never before
been available. With such preparations it is but reasonable to be-
lieve that the tariff schedules will be fair and equitable, and the
business conditions will not be disturbed when Congress convenes
for the purpose of its readjustment.
S
OME trades are specially favored by conditions which permit
men to work along lines which closely approximate cash pay-
ments and one of the chief reasons why the automobile industry has
withstood the business depression with such few breakdowns of
Y
ET the tendency towards a cash basis exists and seems to grow
stronger. The long credits which used to be in practice are
no longer tolerated save under exceptional circumstances, and
almost always with a security of some sort to guard against con-
tingencies. There is a belief in the minds of many business men
that credits will be more and more restricted as time goes on and
the experience of the automobile trade is having an important in-
fluence in this direction.
Certainly in the piano industry it is more difficult for the un-
deserving to obtain credit than ever before. We do not have to
go back so many years before we find that dealers could get thou-
sands of dollars worth of pianos on credit and yet they could not
obtain from their local tailor a suit of clothes on credit. Their
reputation was not good enough and these men formed a competing
influence against the reputable dealer who had capital in his busi-
ness.
Now all that kind of competition is cut out. Credits are
carefully watched and it is impossible for the undeserving to get
credit in the same way that it was possible in days agone, because
the piano credits have been scanned more closely during the past
few years is one of the reasons why the music trade industry has
stood up surprisingly well under the terrific strain of the past twelve
months.
A bank official, while recently discussing the solidity of music
trade affairs with The Review, remarked that he had been surprised
to note the financial strength which had been exhibited by the piano
industry. He said that the showing which it had made during the
past year had surprised him and his associates. It has been due
simply to the fact that piano men, both manufacturers and re-
tailers, have been more careful of their credits. They have watched
their collections, they have kept up their business on better lines
than ever before. The loose-jointed system of conducting business
has been replaced by systematic work and credit to-day is based
more on character than ever before.
S
OME of the advertising which has been sent to this office with-
in the last ten days is not calculated to create harmony in music
trade circles. The Pennsylvania dealers do not take kindly to the
"factory to home" plan, as set forth in the advertising of some
manufacturers, who are seeking to develop trade in that State.
One dealer does not hesitate in enclosing some advertising
matter which has recently been put forth in a well-known Pennsyl-
vania town, to bitterly censure manufacturers for putting out ad-
vertising which has a tendency to create the belief in the minds of
the public that they are being systematically robbed by music
dealers.
In this particular we are in sympathy entirely with the local
dealers, and we do not understand how any manufacturers can hope
to build up a trade following when they are striking directly at the
dealer in their public announcements. It is not calculated to help
business in any particular and simply the fact that manufacturers
were not able to secure local representation does not justify them