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THE
MU3IC TRADE
REVIEW
I
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorlal Stall:
B. BmiTTAiK WiLSOM,
A. J. NicKLiN,
CAKLETON CHACB.
AUGUST J. T I M P I ,
L. M. ROBINSON,
W M . B. W H I T E ,
GLAD HENDERSON,
L. E. B o w n i .
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CHICAGO OFFICE:
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Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900
Silver Medal.. .Charleston Exposition, 1901
Diploma.... Pan-American Exposition, 1001
Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal..Lewis-Clark
Exposition, 1906
LONG DISTANCE T E L E P H O N E S - N U M B E R S S 9 8 2 - 5 9 8 S MADISON SQUARE
Connecting all Departments.
Cable address •• "ElbUL New York."
NEW
YORK, FEBRUARY
15, 1913
EDITORIAL
M
ANY business men make the mistake of weighing adver-
tising by what it costs. It is impossible to pay too much
for advertising—if it pays. Nothing is cheaper than advertising
that brings big, profitable returns. Nothing is more expensive
than "cheap" advertising that brings no results. If a paper
charges you 50 cents a line, and every line brings you a dollar,
you have struck a paying proposition—a veritable gold mine. If
a paper charges 50 cents a square foot, and you never hear from
it, you are pouring money into a rat hole. Advertising is mer-
chandise, and when the right mediums are selected a profit can
be made on it, no matter what it costs.
Some merchants say they do not believe in advertising, for-
getting the fact, whether they believe in it or not, they are adver-
tisers. A man's store, his dress, his manner, his expression are
advertisements. All these things have an influence on the minds
of the people with whom one comes in contact.
It is not really a question whether a man in business should
be an advertiser. He is one, and can't help it. The only question
that any business man has to decide is whether he will do effec-
tive advertising or ineffective advertising—whether he will ad-
vertise along correct, progressive lines, avoiding misleading
methods, which may tend to undermine the confidence of the
public in his store and in the line of goods which he handles, or
indulge in a hackneyed, poorly prepared, vacillating or mislead-
ing publicity that does not invite consideration or support.
Advertising is a most important factor in modern business.
Many piano merchants have given it too little consideration, and
some that have are under the impression that the public can be
fooled, forgetting that old familiar saying of Lincoln's. Adver-
ising interests equally the man who makes the goods as well as
the man who sells them, and to both advertising is all important
and vital. No business in this electric age can succeed without
it. It may vary in form, but whether by printer's ink or word
of mouth advertising must be done.
S a buyer entitled to credit when he refuses point blank to
divulge his financial resources, or to make a definite state-
ment showing relation of assets to liabilities? This is somewhat
of a pertinent question, and the individual or business concern
which is forced to call upon others for a loan of goods that profits
may be secured from a resale of the goods must admit that he or
it should be willing, first of all, to prove ability and purpose
to pay for the goods at expiration of limit to which credit is run.
Assuming that the prospective debtor comes forward with
such a statement, would it not be wise for the creditor to insist
that the statement be in writing, properly dated, and bearing the
signature of the debtor? To go a step further, is it possible to
establish a uniform statement system in every branch of the
music trade industry, and secure for it—as a fundamental prin-
ciple—the support and recognition of the creditor class?
The creditor would certainly be the gainer, the honest
debtor who is addicted to "plunging" would be properly curbed
and held down by the creditor, but, best of all, the man who
deliberately plans to steal your products would be forced to show
his hand, and in the event of his making" a false statement you
not only have good ground for proceeding criminally against
him, but in many States if your goods have been delivered and
attached by a second creditor your replevin writ would take pre-
cedence over his writ of attachment. There are decisions, also,
which hold that where the vendee has secured possession of your
goods through fraud, you may recover them from an innocent
mortgagee to whom this questionable title has been transferred
as security for a pre-existing debt. Are there any objections to
the plan?
HE election of the officers of The Cable Company, re-
corded in last week's Review, illustrates how faithful
and efficient service is recognized and rewarded. The gentle-
men selected to direct the operations of this great company have
all risen from the ranks, so to speak, and they demonstrated their
capability to fill the important positions to which they have
been elected by years of service in various departments..
The election of Geo. J. Dowling to the presidency was not
unexpected. He was the first vice-president of the company, and
is splendidly fitted by natural qualifications and business experi-
ence to be the official head of the great piano-producing corpora-
tion. His entire business life has been passed in the piano trade.
He has had experience in almost every department, learning,
while a very young man, the practical and mechanical side in Bos-
ton. Then an experience as a wareroom salesman, as traveling
man, as manager of a branch house in Chicago, in which he was
brought in close contact with dealers everywhere; and then, lat-
terly, his association with The Cable Company as vice-president,
during which he kept in close touch with the progress of affairs
the country over.
Mr. Dowling is, therefore, eminently qualified to fill, with
signal ability, the duties of the office to which his business asso-
ciates have elected him. He is a man of action and not words,
and surrounded as he is by a splendid directorate there can be no
question as to the success of his administration.
T
Y
OU cannot ship pianos by parcel post, but you can ship a
lot of small goods and musical accessories.
The way the American people have utilized the parcel post
is amazing. With a record of 40,000,000 packages handled in the
first four weeks of operation without delaying the mails, the
parcel post may claim to have passed the stage of experiment. It
appears, however, there is a further test to come. The service is
growing by leaps and bounds. The number of packages carried
in the second fortnight exceeded those of the first by more than
5,000,000. And the country patronage is just beginning to come
into play.
From the more remote sections of the country postmasters
report that merchants are extending their fields of service to the
rural districts through the system, while the farmers are learn-
ing its possibilities and preparing to make experiments in ship-
ping their products to neighboring cities and towns.
Chicago merchants have made a prompter use of the new
service than those of other cities, and as a consequence the
number of parcels handled there exceeds that of New York itself.