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TH
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Execntlve and Reportorlal Stall:
QBO. B. KBLLBB,
W. H. D T K I I ,
R. W. SIMMONS.
L. B. BOWBBS,
B. BEITTAIN WILSON,
A. J. NICXMN,
AUGUST J. TIMPB.
CHICAGO OFFICE:
B. P. VAN HAKMNQBN, Room 806, 156 Wabaah Ave.
Telephone, Central 414.
MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL:
ST. LOUIS:
BOSTON OFFICE:
GLAD. W. HKNDEKSON.
PHILADELPHIA:
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ADOLT EDSTBN.
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SAN FRANCISCO: S. H. GHAT, 88 First Street
CINCINNATI, O.: JACOB W. WALTBBS.
BALTIMORE. MD.:
A. ROBERT FBBNCH.
LONDON. ENGLAND: 69 Baslnghall St., B.C.
W. LIONBL STDBDT, 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, $8.50; all other countries, $4.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per Insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount Is allowed. Adtertising Pages, $60.00; opposite
reading matter, $75.00.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill.
An
H / f l l c i { » ^S>i > i L lf*in
important feature of this publication is a complete sec-
lw*lS»*V S C W l V l l i tion devoted to the interests of music publishers and dealers.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Brand Prim
Paris Exposition, 1900 Silver Medal.Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma.Pan-American Exposition, 1901 Gold Medal
St. Louts Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal
Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905.
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES-NUMBERS 4677 and 4678 GRAMERCY
Connecting a l l Departments.
Cable a d d r e s s : "Elblll, N e w York."
NEW YORK, APRIL 2, 1910
EDITORIAL
T H E REVIEW DISCUSSION PLAN ENDORSED.
HORTLY after the appearance of the editorial in last week's
Review, condemning- the piano puzzle, coupon, check and bond
scheme a prominent manufacturer called at the offices of this pub-
lication and said: "I have come personally to extend to you my
congratulations upon the campaign which you have inaugurated in
reference to misleading piano selling schemes in various guises put
forth to confuse the public.
"I read your editorial utterances with extreme interest and I
believe that The Review is the paper best fitted to grapple with this
peculiar problem. Your paper is not only widely read, but it is
respected, and I trust you will not slacken your energies until the
whole scheme is routed wholly and completely from this trade. I
am with you heart and soul in this fight and I believe, as you have
stated, that if it continues along the same lines it will demoralize
the entire business and the standard makes of pianos will have
crumbled in the estimation of the public as well as the cheaper
brands.
"I am sure that if our people stop to think a moment of the
dangerous road they are traveling they will want to quit it."
The above utterances are well worth considering because they
come from a man whose words of wisdom have frequently been
heard in the councils of this trade.
We may say that along these lines we have received a great
many communications from men in all parts of the country en-
dorsing The Review campaign against the selling scheme practices.
Many of these are reproduced in another portion of this paper
and they will serve to show that some of our people at least consider
the seriousness of the condition which confronts us.
S
ILLEGITIMATE "CONTESTS" FOOL T H E PUBLIC.
H E R E is no question but that illegitimate schemes which have
a tendency to fool the public can have but one ultimate result,
not only upon those who have promulgated the schemes, but upon
T
REVIEW
all others connected with the industry. They must destroy public
confidence in values offered by everyone in the piano business.
The piano puzzle-contests—due bills, checks and bonds, et al.—
mean nothing more or less than a form of jugglery which is in-
jurious to the interests of the trade.
The puzzles and contests are calculated to delude the public.
Why should any dealer offer a coupon or due bill worth $ioo
or $200 for the solution of a problem which any ten-year-old child
could solve at a single glance?
Isn't it absurd when you think of it that reputable business men
can be engaged in such practices?
If the coupon is worth $ioo why should not the institution
which puts it forth pay something for it if the one who has received
it has actually earned something?
But no! It is not worth a five-dollar note or a one-dollar note
—it is absolutely worth nothing. It is simply a delusion and a
snare.
How can any concern claim to deal squarely with the public
when it is indulging in such practices?
Let us figure, for instance, that prices are not advanced to
cover this coupon scheme, which in some cases they have been—-
but let us give the merchant the benefit of the doubt.
Suppose a piano is priced, we will say, $400, and one party
who has solved a simple, foolish picture or guessing contest has
received a coupon or "consolation prize" of $100!
He calls and is informed that his coupon is applicable in the
purchase of any piano.
Very well!
He accepts the conditions and pays $300 and a coupon.
The next man has not studied the advertising columns of the
papers. He does not know the jungle animals or the stick-pin
scheme or any other plan.
He simply comes in the store where it is supposed he will
receive honest treatment and he is asked $400 for a piano and
pays it.
Has he not been robbed of $100.
Has the store engaging in that practice dealt right with the
public ?
How can any man square that sort of business with his con-
science?
PIANOS ARE PRICE STUFFED.
UPPOSE there is one first prize of a piano given away in order
to interest and to convince the public that the store manage-
ment is really sincere in its offer!
The name of an individual in big letters announcing that he
has received the prize is sent forth to influence others and a bunch
of bonds and coupons are sent ad. lib., to everyone who sends a
solution of some asinine puzzle.
They bring in their due bills and in most cases they find that
they will apply on the purchase of a piano which has been price
stuffed to meet the conditions.
In other words, a $200 piaifo has been advanced in price to
$250 or $350, and they are informed that this magnificent gift
coupon will apply on its sale.
What tommyrot!
The people instead of getting a reduction are in reality paying
more than if they went into a store and bought without bothering
with the grand puzzle schemes.
We have personal friends who have been engaged in this sort
of business, and patrons as well, but that doesn't make the slightest
difference to us, we are going ahead on this proposition for the best
interests of the industry, and we believe that the sentiments of the
trade will be with us in effectually exposing this scheme founda-
tion on which sections of the piano trade are being bolstered at the
present time.
S
We cannot accomplish it unless we have the trade support be-
hind us.
A paper is no stronger than its army of readers and support-
ers, and if the thousands of readers of The Review favor this cam-
paign which we have inaugurated to stamp out these infamous prac-
tices which are seeking deeper and deeper root in the trade, then
we shall succeed in doing what we have set out to accomplish, but
without that support we might just as well stop at the beginning.