Music Trade Review

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THE
MUSIC TRADE
new and important branch of the music trade industry.
We know of no other trade in the world wherein the advantages
of fixed prices—good profits and a practical consignment of mer-
chandise are extended by manufacturers to dealers.
It would be difficult to locate another business where goods
are taken back at full prices.
Then, again, in the talking machine trade the commission evil
has never been allowed to creep in.
Stock is turned frequently and the sale of records creates a
continuous trade and a steady profit.
In the talking machine trade manufacturers have been enormous
advertisers, thus creating a home demand for their product.
In addition to this great campaign of publicity which accrues
to the dealer's interests, there are always trained men employed
whose business it is to instruct merchants regarding the handling
of trade in this special industry.
The talking- machine industry has grown to such a degree
that few, unless posted upon this condition, have any idea of its
extent.
Its artistic tendency has become more and more marked and the
great companies employ high-salaried scientists, laboratory mana-
gers and distinguished artists to improve and engage in all manner
of research in order to constantly bring out the best that the world
affords in music.
No expense has been spared by the big concerns, and all of
this experience—capital—skill and progressiveness—is turned to the
best advantage of the men who are handling the talking machine
products.
I
T is well, however, for men who contemplate taking on talking
machines to give the subject the attention which it deserves
and not to go at it in a half-hearted way.
We all know of the early experience of the men who took on
piano-players.
They were not successful.
They had to be taught how to exploit the players properly and
the men who learned the lesson profited immediately in a pecuniary
sense.
Now, the men who have learned the talking machine lesson
have been successful in business building. Sound-proof rooms must
be created. Business must be handled intelligently and progres-
sively.
Concerts should be given and musical people interested because
the talking machine is in the truest sense a musical entertainer and
educator, and when it is handled properly it forms a most valuable
asset for the music trade merchant?
A point worth emphasizing in this connection:
It was stated in a recent issue of The Review that the distin-
guished house of Ditson sold $35,000 worth of talking machines
during the month of December from its Boston headquarters.
That means some sales and it shows at a glance the possibilities
which the talking machine business has for business men.
I
T is a common claim of labor leaders that the unions are entitled
to use extraordinary measures to bring all wage workers into
their ranks. In support of this claim, it is urged that the unions
have wrung from unwilling employers all that labor has gained since
the factory system was established. The argument has been so
often stated that it has found no little acceptance. It has often
done service in support of the demand for a closed shop, in spite
of the fact that but a small percentage of the wage earners of the
country are members of-labor unions. It has been used to veil
the real intent of the closed shop, which is the control by the union
of the instruments of production, and thus of the rate of production
and the price per unit of output. It has been brought forward
again in connection with the waist makers' strike in New York
City, the claim being made that only by "recognition of the union"
could the conditions sought be continued after having once been
gained.
Sympathy with a body, of workers who doubtless have grievances
has led in this case to the support of the strikers' demands as a whole
by persons who have less knowledge than the average manufacturer
of the sinister things that lie behind that apparently harmless word
"recognition." Conference by employers with union representa-
tives is not "recognition" in the union sense, nor is collective bar-
gaining, nor the granting of the right to organize.
REVIEW
The most effective and practical answer employers can make to
the arguments of the unions in favor of the closed shop is the pay-
ment of higher wages and the establishment of better shop condi-
tions than the unions have been able to secure for their members.
Granting that the unions have benefited their members, and that
they have helped to establish standards in many trades that have
been of advantage to non-union workers, it is going far beyond the
bounds of truth to say that only by the closed shop can fair con-
ditions be maintained. The employers who have formed associa-
tions in certain of the metal trades in late years have done nothing
greater and nothing more effectually exposing the fallacy of many
union claims than to pay higher wages, and in other particulars to
give employes a larger return than the union secures under col-
lective bargaining. The average efficiency in a capably managed
open shop being naturally higher than in a closed shop makes
possible a better return both to the workman and the proprietor.
No other development in the factory labor situation in recent
years is more important than this which far-seeing and broad-
minded employers have done so much to forward. Unionism has
been so in the habit of claiming credit for all betterment, that many
onlookers in labor contests have overlooked what invention has
done, added to wise management, improved shop organization and
all the ameliorating influences that have grown so active, not only
in industry, but in all human endeavor in the past decade. Em-
ployers have been finding out without any help from the unions
that well paid labor is the cheapest, that good shop conditions pay,
and that dissatisfied workmen arc not efficient. It is not surprising
that the closed shop is losing ground, since it more and more means
the closing of the door of opportunity against the workman within
as well as the workman without. The arguments in its favor have
less and less weight as the conditions they conceal become better
understood.
IN LIGHTER VEIN
Irish Boots—"Beg pardon, sorr, the clock has stopped, an' would ye
plaze look at your watch an' tell me if it is time to wake ye?"
OUR ENVIOUS NEIGHBORS.—"What do you think of New York?"
"Why, it's the biggest nickelodeon I've ever been in."—St. Ijouis Post.
LARGE ASSISTANCE.—Post Office Clerk—You've put two penny
stamps on your letter. The postage" is only one penny.
Old Irishwoman—Sure, nivir mind. My son's in the post office, so it'll
all hilp towards his wages.
LIMITED EXPERIENCE.—Gentleman (hiring valet)—Then I under-
stand you to have some knowledge of barbering. You've cut hair, off
and on?
Applicant—Off, sir, but never on.—Boston Transcript.
HIS POINT WELL TAKEN.—The owner of a good library solemnly
warned a friend against the practice of lending books. To punctuate his
advice he showed his friend the well-stocked shelves. "There," said he,
"every one of those books was lent me!"
A LONG JOB.—"Where have you been for so long?" asked the head
man of the menagerie.
"Been watching one of the animals clear his throat, sir," replied the
attendant.
"But does it take half an hour for an animal to clear its throat?"
"Yes, sir; it was the giraffe, sir!"—Yonkers Statesman.
PAVED THE WAY.—The Father—It was a noble deed, young man,
to plunge into the raging waters after my daughter. I suppose you
realized the awful risk that you were running?
The Hero (modestly)—Yes, sir. I did, sir.
The Father—Good. Then you will readily appreciate the necessity
of having a policy in the life insurance company for which I am the
chief solicitor.—Puck.
LONDON WEATHER.—"Yes, this is bad weather," said Senator Till-
man on a day of rain and sleet. "It is nothing to London, though.
"Once, on a dripping winter day in London, a sulphur-brown or pea-
soup fog in the air, and everybody drenched to the skin, I sat on a 'bus
top beside a Parsee in a red fez.
"When the Parsee got off, the driver of the 'bus, touching his hat
with his whip, said to me:
" "Would you mind tellin' me, sir. wot sort 0' chap that is?'
" 'He's a Parsee,' said I. 'An Indian, you know; a sun worshipper.'
" 'Worships the sun, does he, sir?' said the wet and shivering driver.
'1 suppose he's come 'ere to 'ave a rest?'"