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THE
mSIC TIRADE
V O L . LIII. N o . 16
I
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 1 Madison Ave., New York, Oct. 21,1911
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T is said that the author of the "Get-Rich-Ouick-Wallingford" stories became so impressed with the
persuasive plausibility of a piano man whom he met years ago in Iowa that he made him the central
figure in his stories which have acquired such widespread popularity.
The Iowa piano man came East when it seemed as if everything he touched he was able to turn into
wealth for himself.
The "get-rich-quick" plans of making fortunes which prevailed years ago are now so discredited that
the man who undertakes to win success by irregular means might just as well make up his mind to strike
his head against the stone wall of public opposition or the stone wall of a jail.
We have undergone many changes since that time in history when no particular attention was paid
to the laws of the land by a class of men who rode rough shod over everything that formed an obstacle
in their path; yes there has been a change amounting to almost a revolution in this respect; and, some of
the men who once occupied the highest places in the financial world are now regaling themselves on prison
fare and there are others who have been convicted at the bar of public opinion and are no longer looked up
to as examples of business shrewdness.
We are no longer satisfied to accept a man simply because he can have large checks honored at his
banks.
We ma}' still be interested in him because he has money; but, that interest has slackened very mate-
rially during the past decade.
The people are more interested in clean business methods than ever before and the fact that men are
using their influence to have evils eradicated helps the good work along very materially.
Money that is legitimately invested assists business, but money that is thrown into the coffers of the
swindler is not only removed from legitimate channels, but has the effect of discouraging safe investments.
In this trade there is an unmistakable trend towards better things. There are more men striving to
place the piano business on a better basis than ever before; so that the sum total of the work of such men is
considerable.
There is nothing that indicates the change that has taken place in business methods more clearly than
the improvement in advertising. Most of us can remember the time when the main object of the advertiser
was to get people to his store.
In order to accomplish this many.absurd propositions were made. The people were fooled; but, to-day
the advertisements of merchants of all kinds show a spirit of fairness.
The advertisers court investigation. Their plan is not merely to get people into their establishments,
'but they intend to live up to the spirit of their advertising when they get them there.
They are not endeavoring to mislead customers, but rather to please them, because they know that the
pleased customer is a distinct asset to the business establishment; and it is permanency which the wise
merchant is desirous of building, because he knows that he has something that he can rely upon.
It is so in the piano trade. Misleading schemes—sensational advertising—no longer dominate the
advertising pages of the papers throughout the land, and the wise men of the trade realize there must be
no misleading in public announcements. In other words, there is a spirit of fairness growing all the time.
Of course, we have a long road to travel before we will get entirely out of the region of misrepresen-
tation and fraud; but, we are moving rapidly and the environment is constantly changing.
Personally, I have no sympathy with the men who are making all kinds of dire predictions as to the
future of trade.
.
.
The end is above and not below!
"