Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REMFW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorial Staff:
W. H. DYKES,
F.H.THOMPSON,
J. HAYDEN CLARENDON,
B. BRITTAIN WILSON,
L. J. CHAMBERLIN,
A. J. NICKLIN.
GEO. B. KKI.I-KK,
L. E. BOWERS,
BOSTON OFFICE:
CHICAGO OFFICE
ERNEST L. WAITT, 100 Uoylston St.B. P. VAN HARLINGEN, Room 806. 156 Wnbnsh Ave.
Telephone, Central 414.
PHILADELPHIA:
MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL:
ST. LOUIS:
H. \V. KAUFFMAN.
ADOLF KDSTEN.
SAN FRANCISCO:
CHAS. N. VAN BUBHN.
S. II. GRAY, 2407 Sacramento St.
CINCINNATI. O.: BERNARD C. BOWEN.
BALTIMORE, MD.: A. KOBERT FRENCH.
LONDON, ENGLAND: 69 Baslnghall St., E. C.
W. LIONEL STURDY, Manager.
Published Every Saturday at 1 Madison Avenue, New York
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
SUBSCRIPTION, (Including postage), United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year;
Canada, $:j.5u ; 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 Bill.
Music Publishers'
An Interesting feature of this publication Is a special depart-
Department V 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, 1004
Gold Medal
Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905.
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES-NUMBERS 4677 and 4678 GRAMERCY
Connecting all Departments.
Cable address: "Elblll, New York."
NEW YORK, JULY
25, 1908
EDITORIAL
T
HERE is, indeed, a marked contrast in the conditions which
prevailed a year ago and those under which we entered upon
the second half of 1908. In July, 1907, merchants and manufac-
turers were congratulating themselves on the exceptionally satisfac-
tory six months, with its great volume of business, a special feature
of the situation being the large number of unfilled contracts on the
books. There were then to be noted only occasional and uncertain
indications that a slackening of the business might be expected.
The present July closes with reasons for regarding the half-year
past with satisfaction, not so much on account of the volume of
business transacted as for the dangers which have been escaped
and the fair movement of merchandise which has been enjoyed.
The outlook far the crops appears to be excellent and the prosperity
of the farming communities assured. All conditions will little by
little tend to increase the welfare of the industrial and commercial
classes by whom the benefits will be enjoyed. There is a general
prevalence of the spirit of economy. Labor, especially in the manu-
facturing towns, is not fully employed. Then the presidential elec-
tion disturbs the attention and energies of many persons.
E have fallen into the rut, so to speak, of saying that busi-
ness will be poor during the year when we elect a Presi-
dent, and having gotten into the rut it seems difficult to pull
ourselves out of it. We still hold to* the belief, and there is no
denying the fact that business will slacken until the people have
decided what man will preside over the destinies of the nation for
the next four years. However, when we figure up all the various
elements, it must be conceded that business is moving along reason-
able and healthful lines. Things are certainly improving with the
prospect o'f better conditions, commercially and industrially, coming
to us before long. There are many who believe like Col. E. S.
Conway that it will take a long time before we have reached a
complete recovery from the recent financial panic. But then we
were not so very sick and we have been building up for the past
nine months and the general conditions o'f the country indicate that
W
REVIEW
it is not going to take such a great while longer before we get back
to reasonably good times. Naturally there has been a big shrinkage
in the piano output. It could not be expected to be otherwise, but
the eyes af the piano trade will be on the great agricultural west,
and there is where the battles will be fought for trade patronage
in the early fall. The farmers will have the easy money and there
will be plenty of salesmen who will be keenly alive to that fact.
PROMINENT financier, while discussing the business situa-
A
tion recently with The Review, remarked that business
conditions looked brighter than they had for a year, and predicted
that after the gathering of the great crops and the election there
would be a resumption o'f business that would gratify even the
most pessimistic. Theo. W. Myers, who was a former Comptroller
of New York, said just before leaving for Europe: "Never before
in all my experience in the financial world have I ever seen business
prospects so favorable. Time was when we had to* depend entirely
upon crops, which this year promise to be very large, but now we
are one of the largest producers of gold and other metals in the
world. We are either ultra-conservative or extremely radical in
times of financial stringency, and I believe the financial panic fro'm
which we have safely emerged was caused by overprosperity, over-
speculation and overcapitalization. However, now our factories
are again running full time our large jobbers and retailers are forced
to restock, and this means the dawning of a prosperity such as the
country has never before known. Railroad stocks are firm, and are
selling on a higher basis here than abroad and with more purchasers.
Confidence has been completely restored, and a long era of continued
prosperity is assured."
While mere statements do not make business, yet as a matter
of fact when there is optimistic talk in the land men go ahead, men
plan for business, so, after all, talk goes a lo'ng way toward helping
to bring about better conditions. Men who are pessimistic are the
ones who are helping to hold back prosperity. They are the ones
who are casting gloom all about them, and if they are strong enough
intellectually to impress others, they then are helping to hold others
back. Let us get out of the pessimistic vein. It is a dangerous
mood to get into and no goo'd can come from it.
J
UST at the present time men who deal in summer-weight gar-
ments and in cooling drinks are getting their innings, but there
is business all right in every line for the man who never lets up. A
piano dealer who was in our offices recently remarked that he had
continued to make fair sales during July, simply by keeping his
men everlastingly at sales making. Most o'f us set the gauge at a
lower pressure on the safety valve and give ourselves and attaches
a breathing period during some part of the hot term. We need it,
no doubt about that. It helps us to get in shape to respond to what-
ever pressure may be brought upon us and to do' full justice to the
fall business harvest, which promises nicely, from the present out-
look, but in almost every establishment there are men on the summer
staff" who can continue the everlasting hustle for business even dur-
ing the summer months. There are some business plums to be
picked up and unless the salesmen are on the alert they miss them.
S
ALESMEN being human are imitators and accept their cue
fro'm their employers. If the employer is a man who believes
in the square deal policy, his salesmen will add to the reputation
of the establishment, but if he leans over a trifle the other way, the
salesmen will lean there with him. If he believes in selling the
"just as good" piano instead of the real thing, you can depend the
salesmen will always push the substitute.
HERE are peculiar laws in various countries relative to trade-
marks and American manufacturers intending to do business
in foreign co'untries should look into these matters carefully. In
Japan there is not the slightest consideration shown for trade-
marks, and the man who registers the trade-mark, no matter
whether he is the proprietor or not, can control the field, and right
here at our own doors in Cuba practically the same condition exists.
In Peru the law permits the registration of any trade-mark or trade
name not previously registered in that country. The effect of this
is that any person could register a mark or a name that he has no
proprietary interest in to the exclusion o'f the real owner, provided
he is first in making application. Review readers who contemplate
T