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THE
MUSIC TRADE
TALL TOWEL.
U n d e r THE
I
N offering testimony disproving certain statements made in some
advertising announcing a> sale of used pianos taken in ex-
change, a piano manufacturer and dealer in an eastern city inci-
dentally dug up some statistics regarding the depreciation in value
of pianos that should prove interesting to the trade as a whole.
The piano man in question sent a salesman to the competing store
and secured the numbers of the instruments of his make offered
for sale, which he looked up in his records and traced from the
U.ve of their original sale. The results of the investigation were
decidedly interesting not only to the manufacturer, but to all those
who make a study of piano values. One instrument had been sold
eight years ago for $225 and was offered as a used piano at special
sale for $150, a depreciation of only 33}$ per cent, in value during
the eight years. Another piano which was sold as a used piano
nearly nine years ago for $225 cash and an allowance of $75, was
offered at the sale for $175, a depreciation of approximately 42 per
cent, during nine years in the case of a second-hand instrument.
Such information should, and in fact did, make decidedly striking
and convincing advertising copy and gave real proof of the staying
qualities of a well made piano. It would seem as though other
manufacturers could dig up some telling quality arguments by
watching for instances where second-hand instruments of their re-
spective makes are offered for sale and by tracing the instruments
through the numbers in an effort to discover how long the instru-
ments have been in use and the percentage of depreciation. Such
statements of facts carry much weight with the man who desires
to purchase an instrument that will retain its value in a manner to
make its purchase a good investment.
m, *, *
N the educational field it is a noteworthy fact that many of the
technical colleges are beginning to realize that education for
factory management must include a broader training than at the
present time. In this connection Mr. Hugo Diemer, a well-known
authority, in discussing this subject, said: We are beginning to
realize that although we must give great credit and a rightful place
to machinery invention and the development of power generating
devices, the industrial manager has to cope with other economic
factors equally as important, if not more so. The writer ventures
to say that further recognition will be given by colleges and uni-
versities within the next few years to the more inclusive field of
industrial engineering than has hitherto been accorded to it. The
schools of business administration have developed courses in gen-
eral accounting, insurance, banking, transportation and ebns'ular
service, but have not treated in an inclusive, comprehensive way
the field of manufacturing. The past year's agitation has .brought
home to many educators the realization of this fact. Among the
industries we find a decided tendency toward introspection or self-
stiidyj accompanied by a considerably increased demand for the
service of professional engineers and accountants. With the in-
creased demand for such services, we must expect that services
will be offered by persons incapable of accomplishing desired re-
sults, a condition which may in individual cases cause a reactionary
tendency. The attitude of organized labor has thus far not been
friendly to the movement. It is noteworthy, however, that the
attitude of labor in plants where scientifically correct improvements
have been installed is decidedly friendly. • .
I
n n n
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NE of the many important questions to be taken up by Con-
gress is Postmaster-General Hitchcock's recommendation
for the establishment of a parcels post. He desires legislative
authority to start parcels post not only in rural routes, but also
for such service in cities and towns having delivery by carrier.
He also suggests that after the organization of such limited parcels
post service is completed its extension to include railway and other
transportation can be more readily accomplished without impeding
•the handling of ordinary mail. To this end he has inserted in the
estimates of the parcels post service three kerns of $50,000 to cover
O
REVIEW
the initial expense along the lines suggested. He desires that Con-
gress shall act speedily, so that the experiment may be followed by
a fuller development within a year of the plan for the establish-
ment of a general parcels post. Opinion is greatly divided in this
country as to the establishment of a parcels post, and while it is
true that it is a great 1 success in Germany and England, it may be
far from desirable in the United States. The matter of parcels
post rates in a country so expansive and apparently so sparsely
settled as our own is a problem far more difficult of solution than
it is abroad. In the smaller cities and towns merchants in all lines
of trade are opposed to parcels post, as they fear the competition
of the big mail order houses and department stores in the larger
cities. At the present time the small merchants are having their
hands full fighting the mail order houses. On the other hand, there
is a large army of merchants who believe that the parcels post would
be a helpful institution to the business of the country—that it would
end the monopoly in express rates now controlled by private cor-
porations, and would be helpful all around. It is time for those
who are honestly impressed with the difficulties and dangers sur-
rounding the parcels post in the United States to make their views
known to Congress. While the members of Congress, irrespective
of party, are willing to vote millions for pensions, yet they may
hesitate to incur any vast outlay which the establishment and main-
tenance of a parcels post would necessitate, provided those who
oppose it are willing to make the effort of transmitting their views
for the enlightenment of this body of legislators.
H
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H
CCORDING to an authoritative source, 1,300 pianos were sold
during December by Wanamaker's New York store. These
A
figures may seem a little large to the dealer who considers that
10 per cent, of this month's business is Jarge for a whole year.
And when you think of it there was a time when a dealer who
sold 130 pianos a year, and sold them right, considered he had a
fine little business. Then multiply 130 by ten and it would seem
that Wanamaker sold in December what would be a good busi-
ness for ten dealers for a year. If Wanamaker can dispose of
1,300 instruments, and we understand a third of this number were
sold for cash, it shows that the piano business hasn't gone to the
eternal bow-bows. Far from it. It is just up to the hustler to
go and get it. One thousand three hundred pianos is a good out-
put for many piano factories on an annual basis; a bunch of fac-
tories do not turn out that number; perhaps they never will unless
they .revolutionize their policies on business promotion. So if
Wanamaker maintained that selling speed from month to month,
it would consume the output of twelve factories of the 1,300 a
year output or twenty-five factories of the fifty a month produc-
tion. Figuring out 1,300 pianos for the month of December, the
hoi\se sold 52 pianos a day, which is at the rate of seven an hour,
or a piano for every nine minutes.
H * *
INE minutes for selling a piano is rather quick work, notwith-
standing we are getting accustomed to see time-honored speed
records continuously smashed in all ways. Placing these 1,300
pianos on end it would cover an approximate distance of over a
mile and a half, and if they were piled one on top of each other,
the piano pillar would be approximately 5,850 feet high, about
eight times as high as the famous tower of the Metropolitan Build-
ing of New York, where The Review offices are located. If 1,300
performers played the same composition on these instruments per-
haps the volume of tonal sound might wake up some of those trade
members who are wearing three buttons on their business coat just
because their ancestors did. The total amount involved in this
monthly sale of 1,300 pianos would run anywhere from a third to
a half million dollars. Then add what was sold by other depart-
ment stores, piano dealers, manufacturers and agents, and one can
realize that the retail piano business in New York during December
totaled a stupendous sum.
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