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THE
MUSIC TRADE
merchandise is so heavy as to make it difficult to get cars for big
pieces of heavy- merchandise like machinery and lumber. What
remains', therefore, of the disposition of merchants to order in
small lots, particularly in cotton goods, where the market for the
staple creates uncertainty, along with tariff possibilities, is in a
way a good thing, although it increases costs to consumers.
Legal Questions Answered for the
Benefit of Review Readers
questions, which have direct bearing on music
trade affairs, will be answered free of charge.
•iThis Department is under the supervision of
Messrs. Wentworth, Lowenstein & Stern, attor-
neys at law, of 60 Wall Street, New York.
W
HILE piano manufacturers have had to face the rising tide
in prices for every article which enters into the construc-
tion of a piano, they have apparently been unwilling to ask the in-
crease in prices of pianos which the augmented cost of manufac-
ture should entitle them to receive from piano merchants. It is
true some manufacturers have had sufficient courage to come out
boldly and mark their instruments up to the figures which the in-
creased cost of manufacture entitles them to receive. Others have
been holding off for fear of offending their representatives.
It is obvious that the manufacturing and selling prices must
conform to the changed conditions. They cannot in justice to all
concerned continue on the same lines as heretofore. The hardware
men, the lumber men, the veneer men, have been compelled to
raise their prices, owing to the cost of raw material and labor.
They are not as considerate of the feelings of their customers as
thj average piano manufacturer. And why should they!
The relations between this branch of the trade in the matter
of prices are conducted along ordinary, commercial lines, but this
very ordinary and proper conception of things does not seem to
enter into consideration when piano manufacturers take up the
matter of prices with their dealers.
This is a rather peculiar situation. It cannot be laid entirely
at the doors of the piano merchants. They are keen, shrewd, busi-
ness men, and it is only necessary to present the matter to them
in the proper light to have this matter of prices receive due con-
sideration. Piano merchants will not object to an increase in the
cost of pianos, provided it is demonstrated that the increased
charge is legitimate and proper.
I
T is said upon excellent authority that there is considerable un-
easiness manifested in the headquarters of abusive journalism
just at the present time.
It is said, too, that the fear amounts to almost a panic as the
time draws nearer when the violators of journalistic peace must
be called upon to show justification of a long and continuous line
of abusive attacks aimed at a prominent manufacturer.
It is further said, too, upon good authority, that so great
is the fear that various influences have been set in motion whereby
pressure is brought to bear so that the legal machinery .will be
eased a trifle in its pressure.
In other words, the. journalistic jackals who are being brought
closer and closer to the day of reckoning begin to shiver—they
dread the relentless crushing of the legal machinery.
They realize more than ever perhaps in their lives the terrible
position which confronts them.
They have betn afforded an opportunity to think over what
an attack upon a reputable business means and what a continuous
onslaught upon the principles—the methods—the morals—the
family life—the personal acts of a great business builder means.
They begin to realize when they are being driven closer and
closer into a corner that there is no escape—that stern and inexor-
able laws demand the guilty ones shall be punished.
Sympathy for such a gang of misfits?
Better sympathy for the man who has been forced to stand
up under months and months of merciless attacks—for the man
whose character has been vilified; whose methods have been
maligned; whose life has been distorted and torn into shreds out
of which a garment of base abuse has been woven.
Sympathy for the men who have willingly and maliciously
planned and executed these things?
Sympathy for the man who in the height of some passion
commits a crime, but hardly sympathy for a gang of men whose
entire business lives have blended harmoniously with the prin-
ciples of abuse?
Sympathy for men whose acts have defamed and lowered a
. noble profession; for men whose ignoble methods have stabbed a
splendid industry to its very vitals?
Sympathy for men whose whole lives have been one series
of plotting and planning?
REVIEW
^Matter intended for this Department should be
addressed plainly, Legal Department, The Music
Trade Review.
Sympathy for men who have never hesitated to maliciously
abuse men of noble principles; who'have never hesitated to distort
in the most glaring manner the unselfish acts of individuals?
Sympathy for men who have abused the living and maligned
the dead?
Sympathy for men who extorted unwilling dollars from the
pockets of men whose business and pecuniary position has brought
down upon them showers of insolent and defamatory abuse ?
Sympathy? Might as well talk about extending sympathy to
the gang of crooks who have so long infested this great city of
ours.
The only way to make a legal cure effective is to crush out
the entire gang of men who have lowered the journalistic standard
to such a degree that it will take twenty-five years of decent work
to raise it to the high position to which it rightfully belongs.
Sympathy—yes, sympathy for the men who have been abused
and who have endured the cruel shafts of malice and venom for
years; but no sympathy for the shivering, cowardly outfit who
now exhibit palsied fear as the day of doom draws near.
I
T is well to bear in mind that correct advertising always gives
character to a piano and raises it in a competitive sense. Cut-
ting off advertising reduces it to purely a price competition—that
is, it places it uppn purely a bulk basis.
This is something, too many manufacturers overlook in prac-
tising economy.
Advertising to-day is as important an essential in the success
of a business, particularly where it is conducted along dignified
lines, and with an appeal to the best class of trade, as any depart-
ment—barring none.
•It is an investment that pays good dividends, but the publicity
must be persistent, must be properly presented and placed in the
right medium.
Piano manufacturers and piano merchants who have given
the matter of advertising the thought and attention which it re-
quires have won the largest measure of success.
This is a matter of record, and if there is any moral, it is
that others should do likewise.
During the past few years there has been undoubtedly a
marked improvement in piano advertising in the retail field, but
there is still ample room for further advancement along the same
lines.
The advertising field is a large one, and there is excellent
opportunities for the engagement of fertile minds in the never-
solved problem of how best to reach and interest the public.
L
ABCTR. whether manual or clerical, whether the labor of the
trechanic or that of "sales manager, is reducible to terms of
dollars and cents. However we may prefer to express it—this fact
remains the same. For dollars and cents are the basis of every
engagement and the more a man draws the more he must make
good upon.
EVELOPMENTS in the strike situation in New York early
this week indicate an early ending of labor troubles. Fac-
tories report that many of the men have returned to their work,
and it is expected that others will follow suit.
D