Music Trade Review

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THE
MUSIC TRADE
W
E know one instance a while ago where a salesman had
made an appointment with a manager for a certain hour.
The position open was an excellent one and afforded opportunities
for substantial advance. The salesman was five minutes late. That
settled it. He lost the position.
It pays to be prompt and always on the spot.
A man who is seeking a position and does not keep his ap-
pointment is acting unwisely. A business man who does not keep
his appointment isn't a business man. A man who does not keep
his word isn't a business man, and never deserves half he gets,
whatever that figure is.
A man who appoints certain hours of days for traveling men
to call and then fails to be on the spot ready to receive them isn't a
good business man.
The time of the traveling man is worth money, a fact of which
some buyers seem perfectly oblivious.
It is the small things, after all, in life that make a man re-
spected in his work, and the man in business who fails to keep his
appointments, lacks consideration for his fellow men. He is care-
less and thoughtless to such an extent that he forgets that a sales-
man's time is worth money.
Promptness and exactness in all things count.
P
IANO men are interested in the question: will freight rates go
up? If so, then there will be an advance made in the retail
prices of pianos to cover the increased costs. A secret conference was
held recently in this city by about a dozen prominent railroad presi-
dents. It was understood they discussed an advance of freight rates.
Private secretaries who knew of the meeting were warned not to
let the fact that it was held become known. One of these secretaries
said that he could not say anything more about the matter except
that it had to do with rates. One of the presidents who attended
the conference said there would be a general advance in freight rates
very shortly. It is proposed to put them up about 10 per cent.
This action is defended on the grounds that the railroads are unable
to sell securities to raise money for needed improvements.
The advance of 10 per cent, is expected to yield about $200,-
000,000, and this money will be expended for improvements. The
advance of rates is bitterly opposed by associations of manufacturers
throughout the country, and the reported action of this conference
will stir up the freight rates dispute once more.
Owing to the election, the railroad presidents have kept quiet
for several weeks, and it was believed they had abandoned the plan
to advance rates. The conference was very exclusive, nobody under
the rank of president being at it. The meeting of the railroad
magnates is commonly interpreted as meaning that there will be
"something doing" in freight rates.
T
HE issue between the shippers of the country and the railroads,
which, broadly, is said to be whether the plough follows the
locomotive or the locomotive the plough, was referred to the annual
banquet in Chicago of the Illinois Manufacturers' Association last
Tuesday night.
W. C. Brown, senior vice-president of the New York Central
lines, delivered an elaborate plea for the participation of the rail-
roads in the country's prosperity, while Ohio C. Barber, president
of the Diamond Match Company, vehemently asserted that instead
of contemplating increased freight rates, which perhaps ultimately
would go, through some American heiress, to "enrich foreign
noblemen," the roads should be calculating how great a reduction
they should in fairness make to shippers.
Mr. Brown presented a careful review of the increase in the
price of every commodity within the last ten years, save alone
freight rates which he said had lagged behind. He said that if the
expenditures of the railroads for 1907 could have been made at
prices obtaining in 1897 the railroads of the country would have
saved $676,000,000. He stated that during the last ten months
the railroads had been making the most painstaking investigation
and analysis of their own condition ever made. He confirmed the
charge made a year ago that from 1898 to 1908 freight rates had
been advanced on 897 articles, but he added that in the same time
they had been reduced on 876 articles, and that the net result was a
reduction in rates of 10.69 per cent. Mr. Brown added:
"It seems to me that this unusual phenomenon of steadily ris-
ing values in the face of a long succession of bountiful crops is one
REVIEW
of the most interesting problems that confront the political econo-
mist to-day, and to its solution may well be directed the most earnest
consideration of every thoughtful man.
"I do not dispute the right of the Nation or the States to
regulate the corporations they have created. I do not question the
right and duty of your association and kindred organizations to
most minutely scan and closely inquire into changes that may affect
your interests; but I want to urge upon this association, upon the
Nation and the States the all important necessity of exercising
power with conservatism and wisdom. Samson possessed power—
the ruins of the temple attest the fact—but I fail to find in any his-
tory, sacred or profane, a suggestion that that power was wisely
exercised.
"You may build your great manufacturing plants, equip
them with the most modern machinery, and man them with the
most skilful artisans; you may build your great jobbing houses,
grand and imposing in their architecture, perfectly appointed and
completely stocked; but without transportation facilities, without
the railroad, all you have done would be as worthless as though the
manufacturing plants and the great marts of commerce you have
builded were merely paintings on a canvas.
"I say to you that, in my opinion, the limit of cheapening cost
of operation by more powerful locomotives, larger cars, reduced
grades and improved facilities has practically been reached, at least
in the territory east of Chicago."
The Piano Mover—Think I can gft it through this door?
Mrs. Reed-Piper—Oh, my. yes! We take in the Sunday paper here,
regularly.
A BRUTAL HUSBAND.—She—I divorced him because of his cruelty.
He—I'm surprised.
She—Yes; the way he used to beat my poor dog forced me to it.
Musical Manager—"Now, candidly, talking of the performance of Wag-
nerian opera, what do you think of our company's execution?"
Candid Critic—"It is not execution, my friend; it is assassination."—
Baltimore American.
PUTTING NOBODY WISE.—"I'm sure," said the interviewer, "the
public would be interested to know the secret of your success."
"Well, young man," replied the captain of industry, "the secret of my
success has been my ability to keep it a secret."
THERE NOW.—First Little Girl—Your papa and mamma are not real
parents. They adopted you.
Second Little Girl—Well, that makes it all the more satisfactory. My
parents picked me out, and yours had to take you just as you came.
BEATING HIS RIVAL.—"What are you crowing about? Griggsby's
airship showed itself superior to your's in every respect."
"Yes; but as mine was tested on a fine day the photographs turned out
perfect, and Griggsby made his ascent when it was too dark even for a
time exposure."—Puck.
OF COURSE.—"And have you heard the latest?"
"No. What is it?"
"Why, in Ireland they can't hang a man with a wooden leg."
"Never! What do they do then?"
"Why, they just hang him with a rope."
The sequel: "Have you 'The Transgression of an Angel?'" inquired
a demure young woman of a clerk in a certain bookstore. "No, miss,"
responded the solemn-faced clerk, "but we have the sequel to it." "What
is the book?" inquired the woman. " T h e Heavenly Twins,'" said the
clerk.—New York Evening Sun.
RIGHT ABOUT THE BRICK.—At a certain dinner in Philadelphia
recently it was found that every one had contributed to the evening's
entertainment save a certain Dr. MacDonald.
"Come, come, Dr. MacDonald," said the chairman, "we cannot let you
escape."
The doctor protested that he could not sing.
"My voice is altogether unmusical and resembles the sound caused
ty the act of rubbing a brick along the panels of a door."
The company attributed this to the doctor's modesty.
"Very well." asserted the doctor, "if you can stand it I will sing."
Long before he had finished his audience was uneasy. There was a
painful silence as the doctor sat down, broken at length by the voice of a
braw Scot at the end of the table.
"Mon," he exclaimed, "your singing's no' up to much, but your ver-
acity's just awful. You're richt about that brick!"