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THE: MUSIC TRADE:
REVIEW
in putting out advertising matter which amounts to a virulent abuse
of dealers and their methods of conducting business.
We have plenty of problems to solve and reckless, abusive state-
ments made in advertising are not calculated to help along a solution
of business problems. They create friction where harmony should
exist. If a manufacturer is marketing his entire product on the
"factory to home" plan, then he cannot be censured for emphasizing
the saving which the public can make by cutting out the middleman,
that is, the dealer, but we do not understand the consistency in the
plan of striving to annihilate the dealer in some sections of the
country, while bidding for his trade in other sections.
In the trade, therefore, papers containing these advertisements
can be scattered all over the land and dealers do not feel inclined
to push any particular product whose manufacturers assail the retail
element in their advertisements. This is a policy which seems un-
sound and it is a mighty difficult proposition for any business estab-
lishment to attack the dealer in one section and expect to win his
trade in another. It is carrying water on both shoulders in a man-
ner which is liable to produce disaster and breed trouble.
other until the man finds the deep wealth of his own possibilities.
History is full of the acts of men who discovered somewhat of their
own capacity; but history has yet to record the man who fully
discovered all that he might have been.
T
HE totals of fire losses in this country may signify little to the
average mind, but the comparative figures should mean much.
The figures issued by the National Board of Fire Underwriters show
that the average fire loss per capita in the United States for the last
five years was $3.02, against 33 cents for six European countries,
including France, Germany and Austria.
It may be objected perhaps that it is unfair to select this par-
ticular period for purposes of comparison, since both the Baltimore
fire of 1904, and the San Francisco fire of 1906, are included in it.
And yet if these two fires, representing about $350,000,000, were
deducted from the total fire loss of the country for the five years—
which is estimated at $1,257,716,955—the total would be reduced
by but little over a fourth, and the American per capita loss would
remain about six and one-half times larger than the European.
What is to blame for this great disparity? Are we so much
more careless than Europeans? Are European building codes, fire
departments and water supplies from six and a half to ten times
better than those found in the United States?
UP TO DAUGHTER.—"Yes; I am going to marry Mr. Bullion."
"Why, he is old enough to be your father "
"I know he is, but, unfortunately, he doesn't seem to care for
mother."
T
AS IT WILL BE SOON.—St. Peter—You were an American rail-
road president, weren't you?
New Arrival—Yes, sir.
St. Peter—You will step over and get an extra fine halo, and then
take your place in the first row of the martyrs' depaitment.
HERE are few, if any, rules of conduct more important and
yet more lightly neglected than that of promptness in keeping
appointments. Maybe you can waste your own time by being late
in keeping engagements and feel'that the loss, if any, is your own
affair. But it is also the affair of the man you keep waiting. You
waste his time, too. If your time is worthless, maybe his is not. He
may conclude that his time is worth more to him than you are.
We knew a young piano salesman who had an appointment with
a manufacturer with the object in view of securing a position. He
came in twenty minutes late and wondered why he did not secure
the position.
Only the idle and careless whose time is of the least value can
afford to waste it by looseness in keeping engagements. It may
be hard to acquire the fixed habit of always being on time, but it
can be-xlone and it is worth while to do it.
Great business men have this habit. Napoleon would not have
been Napoleon but for his unfailing promptness. Men of great
affairs whose time is most completely taken, are usually on time. It
is they who know best the value of time and the importance of sav-
ing it by being prompt.
I
T is a great day in a man's life when he truly begins to discover
himself. The latent capacities of every man are greater than
he realizes, and he may find them if he diligently seeks for them. A
man may own a tract of land for many years without knowing its
value. He may think of it as merely a pasture. But one day he
discovers evidences of coal and finds a rich vein beneath his land.
While mining and prospecting for coal he discovers deposits of
granite. In boring for water he strikes oil. Later he discovers a
vein of copper ore, and—after that, silver and gold. These things
were there all the time—even when he thought of his land merely
as a pasture. But, as Waldo I'endrav Warren savs, they have a
value only when they are discovered and utilized.
Not every pasture contains deposits of silver and gold, neither
oil nor granite, nor even coal. But beneath the surface of every
man there must be, in the nature of things, a latent capacity greater
than has yet been discovered. And one discovery must lead to an-
Hustle is a very close relation of luck.
The man who starts for nowhere gets nowhere.
An average brain and good, clear grit will win out.
Ambition makes plans—determination carries them out.
Loyalty is a word to tack up prominently on the business wall.
Tactfulness is one of the greatest assets which a salesman can possess.
To waste your own time is foolish and to waste your employer's time
is criminal.
HE KNEW.—"Miranda, I want to ask you to marry me and to
tell me
"
"Oh, George, this is so sudden!"
"To tell me what date you and your mother have decided on for
our wedding."
HERLOCK SHOMES.—"It is clear, Poston," said Herlock Shomes,
"that the farmer who raised the spring chicken was very tender-hearted."
"How in the world do you know that?" asked the astonished Poston.
"It's simple enough. The farmer hesitated so long before striking
the fatal blow."
A BOTHERSOME CONSCIENCE.—"I hope you came out of that
horse trade with a clear conscience."
"Yes," answered Si, smiling; "but it kind o' worries me. My con-
science is so onusually clear that I can't he'p feelin' I must 0' got the
wust 0' the trade."
INACCURATELY REPORTED.—In one of his burlesque sketches on
English history, Bill Nye spoke of Julius Caesar jumping into the water
as he approached the English coast, wading ashore, running up to Lon-
don and walking through Regent street.
"An acquaintance of mine told me," said Mr. Nye, "that he had
asked an Englishman how he liked the story. 'Not at all, not at all,'
was the reply. 'That fellow Nye doesn't know what he's talking about.
There wasn't any Regent street then, you know.' "
THE RETORT COURTEOUS.—The busy man stopped before an
office building and leaped from his carriage. At the same moment an
ambitious urchin ran forward and piped:
"Hey, mister, kin I hold yer horse?"
"No, you can't!" snapped the busy man.
"Won't charge y' much," insisted the urchin.
"I don't care about the charge," impatiently responded the man,
throwing a blanket over his bony steed. "My horse will not run away."
"Gee, mister, I didn't think he'd run away!"
"No?"
"No. I thought he might fall down."
An old American salesman who knows the ropes furnishes these
"tips" to youngsters, which are worth noting:
"Never approach a buyer without first accurately learning his name.
I once lost a customer named Schmidt by calling him Mr. Smith.
"When a buyer gives you especially intricate instructions as to
shipments, etc., get him to write it out personally, and deliver to you.
It takes a powerful nerve for a man to dispute you when his own
orders are there in cold ink.
"A merchant said to me once: 'My boy, you have the making of a
first-class salesman. But you ought to eat more salt on your food.' It
was a week before I tumbled to what he meant.
"There was a salesman who talked for three minutes. At the end
of that time he had made his sale. He talked two minutes more. The
customer began to change his mind. He talked four minutes more. The
sale was off for good-stalked to death.
"When you are waiting for an audience, never flirt with the stenog-
rapher. The boss may be jealous."