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THE
MUSIC TRADE
Hence, the necessity of the manufacturers to take up quality and
value of products and the ability to meet any kind of competition
which may materialize. It is a mistake to think because results
worked out satisfactorily in business a few years ago they will con-
tinue to do so at the present time. Conditions are changing and we
must change with them, and to-day the keenest business minds of
the country realize fully the necessity of keeping close to the
retailer, and supplementing the work of the salesmen by the right
kind of support from the factory and counting room.
I
N dealing with customers the salesman necessarily stands for the
house. On his character depends largely the concrete results,
for the trade, not only for this season, but for the next season. If
he possesses intelligence, personality and a knowledge of the busi-
ness, the house can safely trust its customers to his intelligence*
The square deal follows on his intelligence. The longer such a
man calls on dealers, the greater his influence becomes, and it is a
serious mistake to think that such a man can hold his customers at
a distance without frequent calls upon them. He cannot, because
his competitors are keen and salesmen who' are competing with him
are anxious to keep close to the good dealers all the time. It pays
to cater to the good dealer and the piano merchant learns to trust a
reliable, straightforward salesman as a friend and an adviser.
Sometimes he learns to' trade with the salesman rather than with
the firm he represents. Keep close to the trade, and when dealing
with a successful salesman, remember that the retailer is bound to
consider him an important factor in his relations with the firm. In
other words, the salesman who is doing conscientious work has
made himself so completely a part of the manufacturing machinery
that he is looked upon by the dealer as a business counselor.
T
H E R E have been all sorts of plans evolved by theorists and
thinkers along lines of profit-sharing. But few of these plans
have worked out satisfactorily because, while the employes were
willing to share the profits, they have not been willing to share the
losses. There is, however, a notable exception and the operators
in the huge Fall River cotton mills have accepted a wage-cutting
of 18 per cent., a reduction impossible in any other organized in-
dustry without a protracted and costly strike. This is incurred in
an agreement made in 1907 that wages should be adjusted twice a
year, on the basis of the average difference for the preceding six
months between the cost of materials and the price of staple cloth.
The reduction for the current half-year falls heavily on the hands
for the reason that the mills run on abo'ut half-time from November
to June, while wages at the time of the agreement were higher than
ever before. Despite this fact, the workers stand by their contract
and the industrial world is given an object lesson in the equitable
adjustment of wages and prices of products. Application of the
plan to 4 other industries may be impracticable for the present, but
the Fall River arrangement points to a scientific basis for the settle-
ment of labor disputes.
C
HEAPER and more convenient means of communication stim-
ulates trade between countries, and close upon the record-
breaking trips of the great ocean liners comes the announcement
that letter postage between Great Britain and the United States will
be reduced, on October 1st, frdm 5c. to 2c. an ounce. This is the
second radical reduction within twelve months, the International
Postal Union cutting the rate last year by doubling the weight a 5c.
stamp would carry and providing that each additional ounce should
pay but 3c. German merchants and manufacturers have already
petitioned their government to" duplicate the Anglo-American ar-
rangement with both England and the United States, and it is
likely that France in turn will follow suit. It shows how keenly
alive the progressive Germans are to the fact that cheap postage
means an aid to business, and they do not wish to see Great Britain
gaining on Germany in securing American trade. There is another
point to be considered, aside from cheap letter postage, for un-
doubtedly the lowering of rates will promote mail order methods in
foreign trade, and it should redound to the advantage of American
producers on account of their expertness in loVig range salesmanship.
Should a cheaper postage be extended to the principal foreign coun-
tries, the opportunities for increased selling by mail would be
greatly augmented. In the music trade line, the cheap postage
would have but little effect upon the merchandise—possibly talking
REVIEW
machine discs and music rolls—but it would have the effect of
developing trade by correspondence—in other words, the American
music trade man might be inclined to spend more money in cir-
cularizing Europe for business.
IN LIGHTER VEIN
SQUELCHED.—He—But the worst of you Americans is that you
have no leisure classes.
She—Indeed we have. We call them tramps!
INSURMOUNTABLE.—She—What a foolish reason!
marry you on account of your family.
He—No; and I only had a wife and one child.
So she wouldn't
NO USE FOR THEM.—Mr. Parvenu—They tell me if we sail now we
will have the benefit of the trade winds.
Mrs. Parvenu—Law sakes, John, we're out 0' trade now; we rton't
want nothin' so wulgar.
IN SELF-DEFENSE.—"Great soil you have around here."
"You bet."
"Your corn must be twenty feet high."
"And we have to plant a dwarf variety to hold it down to that."
ONE WAY TO LOOK AT IT.—"Gwain to lain your boy the fiddle, are
"ee?" asked one Cornishman of another.
"Iss," was the reply.
"He wain'L never play the fiddle 'tall."
"Ow shouldn't aw?"
"Cos his head's too big."
"Go on with 'ee! The bigger the head the more tunes he'll hold."
CURE FOR LOVE.—"I remember once," says Prof. Grange, "hear-
ing two very ordinary men, a bricklayer and a plumber, discuss love in
a smoking car.
'"I hold,' said the bricklayer, 'that if you are terribly in love, the
way to cure yourself is to run away.'
"The plumber shook his head and sneered.
" 'That will cure you,' he said, 'provided you run away with the girl.'"
HE GOT UP.—A well-known piano traveler, who put up for the night
at the leading hotel in a email town, had, before retiring, left explicit
instructions to be called for an early train. He was very much in earnest
about the matter, and threatened the clerk with all manner of punish-
ment if that duty was neglected.
Early in the morning the guest was disturbed by a lively tattoo
upon the door.
"Well?" he demanded, sleepily.
"I've got an important message for you," replied the boy.
The guest was up in an instant, opened the door, and received from
the boy a large envelope. He tore open the envelope hastily, and found
insMe a slip of paper, on which was written in large letters:
"Why don't you get up?"
He got up.
MUTUAL CONFESSIONS.—As the last chord of the "Wedding March"
filtered out of the church vestibule and away into the great beyond, the
driver of the nuptial chariot whipped up his animated cats' meat, and
the fair young bride within, flinging her arms around her newly-acquired
husband's neck, sobbed as though her little heart would break.
"Will you ever forgive me, Narcissus?"
"Forgive you, sweetest? What on earth for?" asked the astonished
bridegroom.
"There's lots, of things I ought to have t-told you and I h-h-haven't!"
"What things? For heaven's sake explain yourself, Ethelinde!"
"We-we-well, I«I-I've never told you I know scarcely anything about
cooking!"
"Is that all?" returned Narcissus, in tones of intense relief. "Then
calm yourself, my love, and don't worry about that. You seem to forget
that I'm a poet. There'll be precious little to cook!"
A BOY WITH A FUTURE.—Farmer Jeames was a skinflint. He
had already put by thirteen pounds in thirteen years, and confidently
expected to die a millionaire. One day he hired a country youth to help
him with his work, and as the boy turned up at 6 o'clock, he was at once
set down to breakfast.
After the boy had eaten his fill, the farmer suggested that while
they were at it they should eat dinner. The lad agreed, and managed
to get down a little more.
Seeing that his new helper was by this time quite replete, the foxy
Jeames suggested eating supper, and thus get the meals through and
done with.
"Righto!" murmured the boy, and swallowed half a crust of bread.
"And now," cried the happy farmer, flunking with glee of the saving
in food that he had just effected, "let's get to work."
"Oh, no," answered the boy slowly; "I never work after supper! I
go to bed!"