Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1912 Vol. 54 N. 18

Page 4 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MU3IC TRADE
RENEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorlal Staff:
GLAD. HENDERSON,
A. J. NICKLIN,
II. E. JAMASON,
AUGUST J. TIMFE,
BOSTON OFFICE:
JOHN IT. WILSON, 324 Washington St.
Telephone, Main 0950.
PHILADELPHIA:
K. W. KAUIIMAN.
C. CHACE,
B. BRITTAIN WILSON,
WM. B. WHITE,
L. E. BOWERS.
CHICAGO OFFICE;
E. P. VAN TIARLINCEN, 37 South Wabash Ave.
Telephone, Central 414.
Room 806.
MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL:
ST. LOUIS:
ADOLF EDSTEN.
CLYDE JENNINGS
SAN FRANCISCO: S. IT. GRAY, RR First Street.
CINCINNATI, O.: JACOB W. WALTERS.
BALTIMORE, MD.i A. ROBERT FRENCH.
LONDON, ENGLAND: 1 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall St.-, E. C.
Published Every Saturday at 373 Fourtb 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,
$3.50; all other countries, $4.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.50 per inch, single column, per insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts, a special discount is allowed. Advertising Pages, $75.00.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency forms, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill.
And
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques
allll
tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning, regu-
H0nQl*fmi>ntc lating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos are
VCfKll I l l i e i l O . health with, will be found in another section of this
paper. We also publish a number of reliable tecnical works, information concerning which
will he cheerfully given upon request.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900
Silver Medal. . .Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma. .. .Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal. .L.ewis-Clark Exposition, 1905
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES NUMBERS 5982-5983 MADISON SQUARE
Connecting all Departments.
Cable address" "Elblll. N e w York."
NEW YORK, MAY 4, 1912.
EDITORIAL
T)ROGRESSIVE piano men are giving serious consideration
J-
these days to efficiency in manufacturing—in other words,
to the securing of a maximum of results at a minimum of cost. We
know of one plant in the music trade industry where thousands
of dollars have been saved annually by the reorganization of its
administrative, production and cost departments, with the result
that not a single detail of. the business escapes those in control.
In view of the keen competition in all lines of trade, the study oi
the fundamentals in efficient manufacturing becomes a duty. Some
very interesting remarks covering the foregoing subject were made
at the recent meeting of the Efficiency Society in New York, by
Melville W. Mix, John Calder and Dr. Schuyler S. Wheeler—
men prominent in the manufacturing world.
Mr. Mix discussed the efficiency of the administration. This,
he said, reflects the efficiency of the dominating executive and the
departments he represents. A greater percentage of inefficiency
exists in the administrative heads of business, he remarked, than
in the factory and in the shop. The deficiencies of the administra-
tive department he analyzed as follows:
1. Failure of a business to secure adequate return. Fifteen per
cent, after deduction of fixed charges and maintenance should be
expected. A grave defect is that a business is operated for the
benefit of the speculator rather than for the stockholder.
2. Failure to build business for a permanent future. Some
well-known trademarks, e. g., Steinway, Tiffany, Sapolio, Castoria,
are in the nature of an investment rather than an operating ex-
pense in publicity promotion. Failure to maintain proper standards
is a breach of trust and is a far greater menace to capital than
a slight lowering of the dividend rate.
3. Failure to appreciate duty toward the public. It is a duty
to place goods in the hands of the public at a reasonable price.
Inefficiency of this sort leads to a demand for government owner-
ship. The public should not stand for a higher price than that
which will return a reasonable return and a reasonable wage.
REVIEW
These deficiencies are due to the lack of knowledge, intelli-
gence, training, ability, judgment, character. The majority of
executives are satisfied with ordinary results rather than eager to
push ahead to unusual success. They content themselves with wnat
others have done rather than to push ahead with some new idea,
some nw line of activity. •
Mr. Calder discussed production. Tracing the history of the
division of labor from the days of Adam Smith, 136 years ago,
labor has shown little disposition to improve the trade. Little has
been done in time study except in a few simple elementary in-
stances. There are a variety of systems directed, as a whole, to
obtain the greatest productive capacity. They are classed as divi-
sional and departmental. The military or divisional system has its
difficulty in human limitations as the plant grows. As to the func-
tional system, in actual practice, shop management is an art and
not a practice. The departmental system splits up the shop into
units of suitable size, holding the heads of the department strictly
accountable for the best development. True scientific management
relates to facts and not to theories.
The best type of shop system is evolved through the shop
itself; a busy and prosperous administration should always be on
the lookout for better methods. The best method is that which will
co-ordinate the efforts of all and draw out and suitably reward all
concerned, even the employers. For instance: a. Have a well con-
sidered system for all. b. See that a perfect understanding of it
exists, c. Make connections clear through a chart, d. Have as
little system and few forms as possible, e. Do not treat system as
a teacher, f. Do not fail to note cost of system, g. Be always
on the lookout for improvements.
Dr. Wheeler discussed the indispensability of accurate and re-
liable knowledge of costs in a competitive business. Some of the
points brought out in his paper were the following: Material must
be represented by the actual value on the books; material and labor
should be kept on a double entry system. If stage money, say,
were supplied to foremen for their use in buying material from the
storerooms and in buying labor this would be an exact cost system.
Miscellaneous or general expenses must be included and distributed
to productive work. The total general expense for the month, say,
should be found, and a distribution should be made, part on labor
and part on material. The division should cover manufacturing
and general expenses. One department is sometimes a greater
expense than others. Some involve little floor space and small
tools; others large floor space and large, expensive tools. The
cost of selling should not be included in the value of material.
A collection of memoranda of costs, each of which is estimated
cost, or all that the foreman remembers to put on sheets, is the
usual procedure, whether kept on tags or cards or in books or on
sheets in the office. This is an attempt at single entry bookkeeping,
an unstable method. There is far more danger in failure to keep
material values straight than in failure to keep cash straight.
T
HIS trade newspaper is at all times endeavoring to perform a
greater service for all departments of the industry. In line
with our fixed policy we shall begin next week to print "Want"
advertisements under classified heads free of cost. That is, a
minimum advertisement of four lines will be inserted without
charge. Any space in excess of that, or set in bold-faced type, will
be at the rate of 25 cents per agate line. This policy, we believe,
will be the means of bringing the people who desire help in contact
with the men whose services are for sale quicker than any other
way.
If you desire salesmen, tuners, factory men, or if any position
in the music trade is desired, send an advertisement setting forth
your needs so that it will go in four lines and it will be inserted
free of charge and replies will be mailed without cost to the indi-
vidual forwarding the advertisement.
This is simply one of the several lines of co-operative work
taken up by this trade newspaper institution.
S
OMEBODY has asked when advertising can be stopped. Well,
just when buyers forget to forget—when competition ceases
to compete—when every actual and prospective customer has been
convinced that your product is the best of its kind and nothing
better can be produced? Even then, it will not be safe to get along
without advertising.

Page 5 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC TRADE
I
T is often hard to change customs—to abolish business practises
which are acknowledgedly wrong. Take the matter of long-
time credits between manufacturers and dealers, which have been
discussed in these columns recently, and it must be admitted that
here is a condition which sadly needs reform. In view of the cam-
paign under way in mostly all lines of business for efficient and
scientific management, it certainly seems as if it were time the
competition in the matter of long-time credits in the piano trade
should be considered. It is impossible for any one manufacturer
to take action. There must be co-operation and an understanding
on the part of all, so that a reasonable time limit be placed on piano
credits. It is not fair for the piano merchant who pays his bill to
have a competitor in the same town, using the manufacturer's
money for the purpose of exploiting pianos at absurd prices. The
latter has little to lose and much to gain. He is trading on the
capital of the manufacturer and gives the matter of credits but
a very superficial consideration. Such a type of piano merchant is
very apt to sell pianos at retail on such ridiculous and unbusiness-
like terms as to make it hard for others in the business. Moreover,
he gives a false idea of the methods which should prevail in any
well conducted piano business. It is a most difficult matter, of
course, to get manufacturers as a body to act in this matter, but
the enlightened views which now prevail regarding the conduct
of business, and the splendid work of great organizations like that
controlled by the credit men of the country, must eventually bring
about sane views and needed reform in this matter of long-time
paper. Such a move will inure to the benefit of the entire trade,
even to the very piano merchants and manufacturers who now
indulge in these practises.
N enthusiastic piano man from a Western city in chatting with
The Review last week stated that he is making a hobby
of being energetic. He naturally wants to get all he can in the
way of work into the few hours each day allotted to him. He
wants people to get the greatest amount of satisfaction out of
trading at his establishment and he knows that the instruments he
handles are such as will make friends for him Now there is some-
thing to think about in making a "hobbv" of business, in getting
a new conception of the requirements of the public—in broadening
one's influence and in making one's establishment a musical center,
so to speak. This is particularly effective in the smaller cities. As
a matter of fact, every business man can exercise a decided in-
fluence in his community. He can make an impression in many
ways if he only starts right. Enthusiasm about business that
bubbles over with good fellowship gives the impression that the
merchant enjoys his business and must be making something out
of it. People like to trade with him. The merchant who dresses in
good taste, though not expensively, will create the impression that
he has taste and people will be more willing to take his advice.
The merchant who has bought an especially nice stock of goods
will have better appreciation of the ones who have taste and judg-
ment because of the goods he has bought and what they represent.
They are silent suggestions that are appreciated by many people.
When the man has shown his good taste in dress or stock and com-
bined it with enthusiasm about his business there will be many
who believe in him, and his published announcements will be the
more appreciated as a consequence. If stock and surroundings and
merchant all show good taste and fair judgment, the buyers of that
community will listen attentively to what he says, will read inter-
estedly what he publishes, and will buy with confidence what he
offers. The merchant must first have a reputation before people
will believe what he says. He must get the confidence of the
people by showing his right to that confidence. He must found
his business on merit and fair.treatment to inspire the people of
his community to look to him for ideas and suggestions. That is
the stock that gives the merchant profit and makes the store pros-
perous. There are all sorts of ways to make suggestions, but the
best way is to have the confidence of the folks about you and use
that confidence fairly.
'
A
HOSE interested in the musical advancement of New York
should make note that the highest grade of music produced
in Germany, namely, orchestral presentations by the famous Berlin
Philharmonic Society,' is to be furnished in the summer and autumn
under municipal auspices and at popular prices. The city of Berlin,
T
REVIEW
Legal Questions Answered for the
Benefit of Review Readers
have opened a Department wherein legal
questions, which have direct bearing on music
trade affairs, will be answered free of charge.
CjThis Department is under the supervision of
Messrs. Wentworth, Lowenstein & Stern, attor-
neys at law, of 60 Wall Street, New York.
^Matter intended for this Department should be
addressed plainly, Legal Department, The Music
Trade Review.
as a return for the annual subsidy of $15,000 toward the main-
tenance of the orchestra, will offer to the people concerts by the
Philharmonic organization at a cost of 7 ^ cents apiece for the best
seats. The concerts, which will be forty in number, will be given
in the largest halls in the city and will be distributed so that all
sections may benefit in turn. Several concerts will be given in
breweries. Classical programmes will predominate. Nikisch, who
has just returned to Europe after a tour of this country, leads
the Philharmonic regularly in Berlin.
I
N many of the States pianos and organs are taxable and the
question" of how much the tax should be is left largely to the
tender mercies of the local assessor. Thus we note in one locality
that the average value of the pianos in that district is calculated as
$20 or $30, while in another district it may approach the hundred
mark. Not long ago a western assessor taxed a number of reed
organs at a higher valuation than an equal number of pianos, and
so it goes on with no definite basis upon which to determine a set
valuation. In certain States the assessors have taxed, or sought
to tax, the instruments themselves and also the instalment contract
held by the dealers. In other States the assessors have sought to
tax the purchasers of the pianos as being in physical possession
of the instruments and also the dealers as holding title to the pianos
under instalment leases. A report comes from Los Angeles that
the assessors have attempted to collect taxes on pianos from the
parties who have purchased the instruments, from the dealers who
hold the contracts and from the banks who have loaned money on
the paper. In other words, the single property is expected to pay
taxes three separate times. The assessors are now waiting for an
opinion from the city attorney before proceeding, and if it is un-
favorable to the dealers they announce that they will fight. It is
naturally not to be expected that the assessors can pass expert
judgment upon the value of a piano, for it is often difficult for a
piano man to place a valuation upon a used instrument, but there
should be some attempt to carry out a single tax system and also
to secure more or less expert advice in determining values for
assessment. The piano man cannot be the goat forever.
HE passage of legislation during the present session which
will relieve co-operative business of the incubus resulting
from the uncertainty in rp^rard to the meaning and application of
the Sherman Anti-Trust Law. is the basis of a memorial placed
before Congress bv the Merchants' Association. The Board of
Directors of the Association, in special meeting:, after discussing an
argument prepared bv President Towne and previously submitted
to them for their consideration, unanimously adopted a strong
nnr>eal for action bv Congress, embodvinsr the argument in this
appeal. They unre sunplementarv legislation based on the Canadian
"Combines Investigation Act." which facilitates a speedy determi-
nation of the le^al status of any special form of business associa-
tion. The memorial has been sent to the President of the Senate,
t^e Speaker of the House and the Chairmen of the appropriate
Congressional Committees. Copies of it have been placed in the
hands of every member of Congress, and also sent to a large num-
ber of commercial organizations throughout the country, with the
idea of enlisting their co-operation.
T

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