Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC TRADE
doing an export business should look carefully into the trade-mark
laws of the various countries because unless they protect themselves,
they may find that after they have worked up a trade in some coun-
try that someone has registered their own trade-mark and they are
consequently barred out.
HARLES H. STEINWAY has written far the July "System"
an article which well portrays the analytical and constructive
mind of the head of Steinway & Sons. This story appears in an-
other portion of this publication. Mr, Steinway's theory in building
a successful business is to make every man a producer and from
the head of the business down to the humblest employe there should
be a producing force which, when properly measured, should be
compensated accordingly. That men who are not producers are
worse than useless and it is a poor business philosophy to admit
that non-producing employes must accumulate at all. He says
that the business of Steinway & Sons is a democracy and that he
does not segregate himself from those about him. His desk is in
the midst of the office staff and he is in constant and personal touch
with every department of the business. In this way he is able to
judge of the capacity of each employe. He is not a believer in red
tape but he says that in order to transform a useless man into a real
power his self-interest must be aroused, for men are not working
as philanthropists any more than the employer is hiring them for
philanthropic reasons. Mr. Steinway says: "The chief incentive
for production of any sort is hope for the future. It is the motive
which animates you in your business and it is the motive which
must animate your employes." How many men overlook this splen-
did principle? Mr. Steinway goes on to expound the policy of his
house, which is to weed out non-producers and to advance the
producing element, and it is never the policy o'f the Steinway house
to go outside of their own organization to find good men. They
advance the young men whom they have trained to positions of
greater trust and responsibility. In the Steinway establishment, a
man is a new-comer almost who has not been with the house fifteen
or twenty years.
Mr. Steinway has contributed a splendid business article—he
has advanced sound theories which are well worthy of the closest
perusal by all business men, and one does not wonder after a
perusal of it that the present head of Steinway & Sons has made
such a distinguished success of the direction of the great business
enterprise under his direction. To sum up, Mr. Steinway does not
believe in any artificial plan for making men producers. His theory
is that they will advance through self-interest and when they are
keenly alive to the fact that higher positions await them when their
ability has been clearly proven on the lower rungs of the ladder.
T
HE American Piano Co. has now completed its official roster
and the directorate, as will be found by referring to another
column, includes men of high executive and business ability. This
combination of the Knabe, Chickering and Foster-Armstrong forces
must result in large accomplishments. At the present time, while
nothing official is given out regarding the plans of this great corpo-
ration, yet it is understood that a programme is being carefully
mapped Out which will attract a great deal of attention when for-
mally announced. This big corporation is prepared to do things
in the broadest possible manner and its future moves will be watched
by the trade with exceeding interest.
I
T is refreshing in these times to find that men who go ahead to
do business usually succeed in accomplishing considerable even
if the times are dull. Geo. J. Birkel Co., of Los Angeles, Cal.,
announced last week that they had succeeded in disposing of $10,-
ooo worth of Steinway pianos in one week. This progressive con-
cern said that this extraordinarily large sale was the result only of
regular business efforts. In other words, they kept everlastingly at
it and Mr. Birkel remarked that it was a splendid sign of returning
business activity. It is the kind of a sign that many business men
would like to see prominently displayed. It is the kind of a sign
most of us like to read and many business men can get a closer view
of this sign if they will hustle for it. There is nothing to be gained
and very much to be lost by inactivity, and it is to be observed that
the dealers on the Pacific coast belong to that class which keeps
everlastingly at it. In this connection it may be well to remark
that the dealers who hustle are the ones who are forging ahead.
REVIEW
The pleased customer is a walking advertisement for a piano estab-
lishment.
Even the very best salesman cannot clinch his sale every time. It's
too much to expect that.
If you are not already familiar with every detail of your business it
might pay to begin a study of it.
Vacation time. Everyone needs a rest for all work and no play makes
Jack or any other boy a dull boy and it isn't the dull boys that sell pianos.
WHAT'S THE USE?—Wellington Waggles—Dey say dat money talks.
Henry Hobo—But what's de use when it's at de other end of de 'phone.
You can never tell how far a frog can jump by the appearance of the
frog, nor can you tell just what the ability a man may possess until he has
been put to a test.
Is it not time to call a halt on abuse of trade policies? Because one
man does not agree with another in the conduct of his business furnishes
no reason why he should refer to his competitor as a crook.
HIS GLOAT.—"Lively times at Chicago."
"They are so," assented the acrid citizen. "And I note with pleasure
that one gentleman who habitually hands out gag medicine has had to
swallow a liberal dose."
WILL SOON BE WITH US.—In a few weeks reports will be coming
in about the lifelong Democrats and Republicans who are so indignant
that they intend to break away and vote the opposition ticket. No cam-
paign is complete without them.
NATURE STUDENT.—"Papa, will you tell me one thing?"
"Yes, my son."
"If crows were to hold a meeting and swear a t one another, would
that be what they call a caw-cuss?"
FASHION
strikingly new
"No. You
Denver all the
AND THE TIMES.—"There does not seem to be anything
or original about the current styles."
see, on account of the national meetings at Chicago and
fashions are conventional."
LIKE FIGHTING LIKE.—"On the new sheath skirts"—suggested
the fashionable dressmaker, tentatively.
The police official, stern in his sense of duty, frowned.
"It is war to the knife," he declared.
REAL CROOK.—"That man over there is the biggest skin in the city."
"Rob you, would he?"
"Rob! Say, if I had to shake hands with that fellow I wouldn't feel
sure I had all my fingers until I'd counted 'em."
THE TIRELESS PACE.—"You Americans don't take enough exer-
cise!" said the foreign physician.
"Great Scott!" replied the young man with a sun-burned nose. "You
ought to see us on the boardwalk at a summer resort."
REVERSING THE RULES.—"You must watch my feet closely," said
the ballet teacher to her pupil, "for when your turn comes, I tell you, you
will have to toe the mark."
"Then," said the intelligent pupil, "you go ahead and I will mark the
toe."
A RESENTMENT.—"What made you draw yoh razzer when dat man
said he didn't have no kind o' soda water flavorin' 'ceppin' chocolate?"
inquired Miss Miami Brown.
"I's tired of hearin' 'bout drawin' de color line," answered Mr. Erastus
Pinkley. "I wanted to give notice dat I ain' gwineter stand foh no Jim
Crow soda fountains."
THE SORROW OF IT.—"It's too bad," observed the man who seemed
to be thinking aloud.
"What's too bad?" queried the party who had overheard the observa-
tion.
"That our neighbors always know when we have fried onions for sup-
per, but never get next when we have strawberries and ice cream," ex-
plained the noisy thinker.
AN AGE OF BIGNESS.—"Sir, 1,764 people were injured in the
United States on last Fourth of July."
"What of it?"
"Doesn't that figure startle you?"
"Not a startle. I would have guessed it at treble your statement."
"Figures in all lines is gitting' too durned big in this country," com-
plained the party of the first part as he moved away. "Got so you hafter
kill off half the population to arouse a little passin' interest."