Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1908 Vol. 47 N. 2

Page 4 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
TH
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorial Stall:
GEO. B. KBI.LKR,
L. B. BOWEBS,
W. H. DYKES,
F. H. THOMPSON,
J. HATDBN CLARENDON,
I.l. BBITTAIN WILSON,
L. J. CHAMBKELIN,
A. J. NICKLIN.
BOSTON OFFICE:
CHICAGO OFFICE
BRNEST L. WAITT, 100 Boylston St.E. P. VAN HARLINGEN, Room 806. 156 Wabash Ave.
PHILADELPHIA:
R. W. KAUITMAN.
Telephone, Central 414.
MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL:
ST. LOUIS:
ADOLF EDSTHN.
CBAS. N. VAN BUBBN.
SAN FRANCISCO: S. H. GRAY, 2407 Sacramento St.
CINCINNATI. O.: BERNARD C. BOWEN.
BALTIMORE. MD.: A. ROBERT FRENCH.
LONDON. ENGLAND: 61) BaHlnghall St., E. C.' W. LIONEL STURDY, Manager.
Published Every Saturday at 1 Madison Avenue, New York
Entered at the New York Post Ofhce as Second Class Matter.
SUBSCRIPTION, (including postage), United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year;
< aiiHila, $3.50; all other countries, $4.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS. $2,00 per Inch, single column, per insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount !• allowed. Adyertlslng Pages, $60.00; opposite
reading matter, $75.00.
REMITTANCES. In other than currency form, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill.
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 a d d r e s s : "Elblll. N e w York."
NEW YORK,
JULY
11, 1 9 0 8
EDITORIAL
N
ATURALLY there is a slowing up in the retail trade at this
season of the year. People are not inclined to spend their
time indoors with musical instruments when there is the charm
of mountains, field and shore to attract them. Still there is business
to be captured during the heated term. The rental business is par-
ticularly large and there are always some sales to be made. Tn this
city we expect dull trade during the summer, but the trade in the
smaller towns does not suffer on account of so many people leaving
for European trips and lengthy periods of absence such as the New
York merchant has to figure on, but then there is business to be
won and expenses are going on during the summer with slight
curtailment. It therefore behooves every man to use every legiti-
mate method to secure business during the summer months. There
is a lot of stock that can be moved if a good, active policy is decided
upon. There are always some instruments which have moved slowly
and the summer affords plenty of time to locate such stock so that
novel methods can be devised to inject a little quick travel into this
stock.
Again, the store environment can be brightened up a bit. a
summery effect can be introduced and with slight changes it will be
found that a wareroom treatment may be adopted which will give
an impetus to business. The man who works hard for business dur-
ing the summer will secure some of it no doubt. Of course, there
is a usual diminution in the number of wareroom attachees during
the summer, for an opportunity should be given for a reasonable
relief and a period of rehabilitation for staff workers. They should
be given an opportunity to devote a reasonable time to pay homage
to Dame Nature. We are all benefited by a rest and the store will
be managed all the better next fall on account of the rest and
change given the employes. But for those who remain there are
always opportunities to put in their time to excellent advantage.
S
TORES and business establishments have character. They
reflect the standing of a head of the business, and it is neces-
sary for every employe of a retail establishment to live up to the
REVIEW
standard set by the head of the house. There are some establish-
ments which have won well deserved positions on account of a strict
adherence to high minded business principles. There are others
which are decidedly short on character, and their transactions have
an odor of suspicion which repels rather than attracts trade. It is
just as easy for a merchant to build a reputation for solidity and
honesty as to build an undesirable reputation. In any line he will
make more out of a character reputation than in any other way.
It will pay the salesmen to follow out in all of their statements
the principles laid down by the head of the house. The salesmen
of to-day are the sales managers of to-morrow, and the proprietors
of the next day. They should strive to build up a reputation which
will be worth money to them later on.
The ideal salesman is usually sketched by the aid of a dozen
adjectives. However, allowing that character, optimism, deter-
mination and personality are necessary qualifications for a successful ~
salesman, there are other paints to consider; but when they hold
close to the character line they cannot get very far away from
success.
I
NDICATIONS now point to a good business during the fall,
and, according to the opinions of many, the demand will begin
early in the season for manufactured products of all kinds. The
nomination of Mr. Taft has created a feeling of optimism among
business men throughout the country, and while the army of un-
employed may be fairly large during the fall, yet the fact remains
that intelligent men know that the wheels of commerce will start
when the men who control the business of the country feel confi-
dence in going ahead, and will they feel that confidence with
•Rryanism and its attendant -theories, speculative and otherwise, in
the saddle at Washington? Confidence will be restored by those
who have something to lose. It must be built up by those whose
business interests are at stake, and there is plenty of time to carry
on a good campaign of argument. So far as we are able to deter-
mine the business interests of the country stand strongly and en-
thusiastically for Taft, whose experience well fits him for the as-
sumption of presidential duties.
With a man of such judicial
temperament as chief executive of this country, confidence would be
quickly restored.
Then, too. the financial situation is materially improved. The
new Currency Reform Law will safeguard the country against any
return of the conditions which were forced upon us last fall when
Senator Altlrich early in the year introduced a bill permitting the
temporary issue of currency by national banks. He then admitted
that the measure was inadequate as a form of the currency system;
that there was no indication that the country was ready for any more
radical legislation. The debates on the bill in and out of Congress
indicated that there was a lively interest in the subject, much more
lively than was formerly supposed. However, as a result of the
discussion the Aldrich bill was passed by the Senate. Another and
very different bill was passed by the House and finally at the very
close of the session a compromise measure embodying some of the
features of both bills was agreed to' by both the parties of Congress
and was approved by the President.
HE new 7 currency law. which is of great interest to piano manu-
facturers and dealers, goes much further than the original
Aldrich bill, as it permits the issue of bank notes secured by com-
mercial paper as well as by State and Municipal bonds. This intro-
duction of the principle on which asset currency is based is a most
remarkable feature of the new law, for it marks a departure from
the old established custom and advocates a currency reform that
was urged for years. SucIT changes in the law will enable the
national banks to* use their own resources as a security for circulat-
ing notes, an arrangement which will make it possible to provide
currency in any volume whenever needed.
Until the present there has been a feeling that commercial paper
or notes of private citizens held by a bank were not sufficient
security for currency. Now all this is changed and if the reform
works well it may be an important feature in the new currency
system which a commissicfn has been appointed to devise. The new
law is to remain in force six years and it is hoped that the commis-
sion will by that time have drafted a measure of fundamental
reform intended to put the circulating medium of the nation on a
security basis. All agree that the present system is bad, but Con-
gress has not acted hitherto because the country was seemingly
T

Page 5 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC TRADE
indifferent, but now there is a deep interest in the subject,
and there is more knowledge of it arising from the study
of finances and the people through their experience re-
alize that there must be some additional safeguard. The
well informed men believe that the safeguard will be supplied
in the new currency bill, and certainly it enables the banks now to
prevent a recurrence of the money panic which existed in this
country last fall. The fear of that once removed will help mater-
ially to restore confidence. It should help every piano man through-
out this country and be a powerful aid and stimulus to business
L
O
ET the doctrine of optimism be intelligently spread through-
out the land, and let us all aid in the complete restoration of
confidence.
NE of the best indications that the music trade of this country
has in a large degree thrown off the thraldom of abusive
trade journalism is evidenced in the fact that the principal violator
of piano peace and the most pronounced exponent of unclean jour-
nalism has steadily declined in strength and influence. The ousting
of the abusive sheet from its vantage ground of by-gone years shows
how the music trade has strengthened itself against the attacks of
venal journalism during the past decade. Ten years ago a cold
shiver would run down the backs of certain members of the trade
when the decadent journalist cracked his whip. They did not know
who was next in line to be attacked, to feel the sting of the lash,
and it was easier to come to an "understanding" than to submit
to continuous and perverted attacks. There was no denying the fact
that there were many men in this industry who feared that kind of
journalism which has always fattened upon the weaknesses of men.
It must be admitted that the growth of clean trade journalism acted
as a powerful repellant force against the form of journalism which
had so long terrorized manufacturers. When the reputable papers
became stronger as a natural sequence the hold-up papers became
weaker. Manufacturers found in the straightforward journals
exponents which commanded the respect and were entitled to the
support of the trade. As a result the honestly conducted papers
were destined to grow stronger while the journals that adhered to
the hold-up methods of old could only grow weaker from every
view point. Year by year they lost their influence until to-day the
chief exponent o'f the abusive form of journalism is tottering well
down the line. A complete extinguishment in this case is not ex-
pected and from time to time we may expect that there will be
sporadic campaigns of abuse carried on. all of which shows that
the leopard never changes his spots, and that that form of journal-
ism dies hard.
There are few concerns to-day that will walk up to the cap-
tain's office and settle as in days agone. They know full well that
a paper without a reputation—without character, has no influence,
and whether its columns contain praise or defamation it amounts to
one and the same thing. A limited number of readers only occasion-
ally turn the pages of a paper to' see who is next in line of attack,
and in so doing are actuated purely by curiosity.
T
\
HE intelligent members of the trade know the utterances of a
paper of unclean history have no power in moulding trade opin-
ion on any particular subject. Such papers may devote columns upon
columns to abuse of such great houses as the Aeolian Co., and others
and their ravings fall as harmless as the popping of a pea shooter
against an iron clad. The only effect is to have the one who insti-
gates such attacks sink still lower in the mire, and if it were possible,
still further down in trade estimation, an object of derision and
scorn. The wdnder grows how any business man can willingly
• support any kind of a trade journal which indulges in malignant
abuse of competitors. Such a policy to-day is an insult to the in-
telligence of the industry and any man who indulges in it should
be unceremoniously kicked out of every decent music trade estab-
lishment. In no other trade would such conditions be tolerated,
and while we boast about the beauties of the music trade industry
we permit a form of journalism to fatten upon the vitals of the
industry for many years and to'-day are allowing, partly through
fear and partly through good nature, a sustaining substance to be
extracted from this trade. In other words, in a limited form to-day
we are still paying a premium on journalistic dishonesty. Can any
intelligent man believe that any trade paper with a blackened record
can mould in the slightest degree trade opinion upon any particular
instrument? To believe it is to further insult the intelligence of an
industry in which honesty and integrity m a d a m s an important part.
REVIEW
POSITIVE CURB FOR SEASICKNESS.—Remain on dry land.
What is that about a stream of opportunities going by? Let us look
for the stream.
The heat has pretty effectually knocked out business during the past
week.
"Your wife doesn't sing now. Did she lose her voice?"
"No, she found her senses."
s
Reprove a salesman as quickly for an error in your favor as for one
in favor of a customer.
A THOUGHTFUL FAMILY.—"Does your father know I love you?"
"No. Papa isn't very well, and we've kept it from him."
The National Association of Talking Machine Jobbers had a warm
time at Atlantic City this week, and that's no joke.
'
HER LITTLE SLIP.—Departing Guest—We've had a simply de-
lightful time.
Hostess—I'm so glad. At the same time I regret that the storm kept
alJ of our best people away.
A NEAR DANGER.—He—I would like to get next to Gladys to-day.
She—You had better not.
He—Why not?
She—Because she is beside herself.
A REAL FIGHT.—Subbubs—My wife and I were discussing house-
hold affairs the other night, and we got into a regular fight.
Citiman—Really, you don't mean it?
Subbubs—Yes, the servant girl overheard us.
THE DIFFERENCE.—"Young men are not as earnest as they were
in our day," said the reminiscent citizen.
"No," answered Mr. Sirius Barker. "Instead of burning the midnight
oil they put in all their time exploding gasoline."
When you find an alleged journalist who is pounding individuals in
any particular industry, you can make up your mind that he has not
made a success of his profession, and, better still, he has chosen a wrong
vocation. He should have been in with men of burglarious intent.
BLESSING FREE.—"And will you give us your blessing?" asked the
eloping bride, returning to the parental, roof.
"Freely," replied the old man. "No trouble about the blessing, but
board and lodging will be at regular rates."
TIME IN A TAXICAB.—Cleverton (who has hired a taximeter cab
to propose in)—Say "Yes," darling.
Miss Calumet—Give me time to think.
"Heavens! But not in here! Consider the expense!"
X-RAIMENT.—"Look at Miss Perlmutter's X-raiment; isn't it ex-
quisite?"
"What do you mean by her X-raiment?"
"Hang it, man, can't you see through it? Ain't you got no eyes?"
SUCCESSFUL SPECULATION.—"Did you ever make any money in
stocks?" asked the gloomy optimist.
"Yes," answered the cheerful pessimist, "I made a thousand dollars
last week when I thought of buying 100 shares on margin, but didn't."
A MODERN SONG-POEM.
When evening gilds the western sky and all have gone to rest,
When cares have fled and fancy roams afar,
I live again that night I held you fondly to my breast,
And doing so I broke my last cigar.
SHE KNEW HIM.—"Mrs. Kutely has finally convinced her husband
that it's sinful to play golf, especially on Sunday."
"Why, she plays herself."
"Exactly, and that was the only way she could induce her husband
to play with her."
ONLY VOLUNTARILY INERT.—Lawyer—The defendant in this
case is a lazy, worthless fellow, isn't he?
Witness—Well, sir, I don't want to do the man an injustice. I won't
go so far as to say he's lazy, but if it required any voluntary work on
his part to digest his victuals he would have died of a lack of nourish-
ment fifteen years ago.
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR.—Self-control is being able to cuss
before the children without letting them hear it.
A mother ip always afraid that her child's mind is so active it will
stunt its body.
The reason more men don't sleep during the sermon is the pews
are so uncomfortable.
A girl always has an idea that if she knew any dukes most of them
would want to marry her.
The worst about women talking scandal is not what they do that
way, but the things at home they neglect while they are doing it.

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