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THE MUSIC TRADE
JfflEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
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ni aWAa » P U H A and
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all «|iics
rlfljCr~rlflllU
flllU
tions of
a technical nature relating to the tuning, rcRii-
latin
l W k n l « » * l IfeonarfntOntc
B a n t i '"^pairing of i)ianos and player-pianos arc
ICCDUlCal I f C l l a r i l l l C I l l S . ^ealt w ith, will be found in another section of tins
paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information concerning which
will be cheerfully given upon request.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
l'aris Exposition, 1900
Silver Medal. . .Charleston Exposition, I'.MIL 1
Diploma
Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, I «.J;»4
Gold Medal. .Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905
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YORK,
OCTOBER
11, 1913
EDITORIAL
N
OTWITHSTANDING the lung-fought campaign along one-
price lines in the piano trade, it is really surprising at the
number of merchants who will sell pianos, if not at a loss, without
making a profit. These people seem to lose sight of all else but
the mere fact of making a sale and beating a competitor to a cus-
tomer. When a customer comes along and says he can get a piano
as good, if not better, at Skinems for less money, the merchant does
not take time to investigate, but believes what is told him, and in
his eagerness to head a competitor off, will cut the price and make
a sale, arid in so doing loses what little profit he might have made
It may have been true that a competitor has a similar product that
he offers for less, but it might be of vastly poorer quality.
The selling at or below cost not only deprives the seller of his
profit, but lowers the price on the same article of a competitor, and
is educating the buying public to peddle prices and never buy at the
price first asked. Why is it that a merchant will do this? Is it
because he doesn't want to make money, or is it because he delights
in defeating a competitor to his own loss.
Would he not be much better off in the long run, if he were to
maintain a price at which he would make a reasonable profit on his
goods, and let the public learn that that was what he was in busi-
ness for, and that at his store they would get values without mis-
representation? We believe so. Nevertheless, while the educa-
tional campaign is slow, every year sees a larger number of converts
to the right idea in piano merchandising.
I
This week the Patent Office handed down a decision, which,
while of direct interest to the drygoods trade, has a much wider
significance and applies to the conduct of business men. in the
music trade, as well as other industries.
The case at issue was the "Fruit of the Loom" trade-mark of
P>. & R. Knight, which they claim was infringed by the Kent Manu-
facturing Co., who tried to register the "Pride of the Ix>om" as its
mark. The decision of the Patent Office in the matter was signed
by H. E. Stuffer, Examiner of Interferences, and read as follows:
"This court has adopted a strict rule in refusing registration
in all cases where the apparent similarity would lead to confusion
in trade, holding that the field of selection for marks is so broad
that no necessity exists' for the invasion of one trader upon even
the apparent rights of another, and that the broadest protection will
be afforded the purchasing, consuming public by the courts. The
opposition is sustained and it is adjudged that the applicant, the
Kent Manufacturing Co., is not entitled to register its mark.
DETROIT, MICH.: MORRIS .1. WHITE.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND» STANLEY II. SMITH.
MILWAUKEE, W I S . : L. E. MEYER.
LONDON. ENGLAND: 1 (Jreshain Buildings, Basingliall St., E. C.
NEW
REVIEW
T is evident from recent decisions that the courts are unanimous
in supporting the rights of manufacturers who have estab-
lished a value for their trade-marks and trade names through years
of use.
This is also the attitude of the Patent Office, which is making
every effort to prevent manufacturers or dealers registering names
or trade-marks that are somewhat similar to those of long-estab-
lished concerns.
r
\ HE influence of tariff changes on general business, as well as
J.
the position of the country's foreign trade, are thus dis-
cussed by the Fourth National Bank of New York City, which
makes a specialty of mercantile credits:
Advices from any important trade centers tell of very good
orders being received for most classes of merchandise. The in-
terior merchant is in an especially strong position owing to his ad-
herence to the policy of hand-to-mouth buying. The purchasing
power of the agricultural sections is relatively large, notwithstand-
ing the damage done to corn and other crops through the preva-
lence of very high temperatures during a portion of July and
August. The new tariff law is now in effect, and within a short
time it may be possible to see whether or not the reduced duties,
and the new conditions which develop from them, cause any gen-
eral slowing down of trade. The situation in this respect is most
interesting since it is never possible to tell in advance the precise
effect upon general business conditions of the enactment of a law
reducing tariff duties long in force.
Hut the outlook is highly satisfactory because of the soundness
of underlying conditions, and the really extraordinary position of
our foreign trade. It must be remembered also that our indebted-
ness to Europe stands to-day at a level much below the total at this
season of ordinary years. Instead of selling a large volume of
securities to Europe, we have been engaged for a year or more in
taking back immense blocks of American shares that had been long
held on the other side. This liquidation has been quietly going on
for months, until it has reached a point where the floating supply
of American securities in foreign markets is probably far below
what it has been at this date in any year since the P>oer war.
The position of our foreign trade, as disclosed by the Govern-
ment figures for August, is most striking. The official figures re-
flected an increase of exports over imports for the month of $50,-
108,000. This was the largest export excess ever shown in the
month of August. P>ut the figures for the eight completed months
of the fiscal year ending with August reveal a more remarkable
condition which is bound to exert a powerful influence upon finan-
cial conditions from now on. The export excess for that period
amounted to $358,510,000, as against an export excess for the same
period last year of only $228,271,000. In other words, our foreign
trade to date has given this country an international trade balance
which is $130,239,000 greater than was shown in the same period a
year ago.
What is more significant, however, is that this year's total is
within one million dollars of the export excess of 1901, which was
the largest ever shown in the United States, except for the un-
precedented total of 1908, when the striking enlargement of our
foreign trade was due to the wholly unusual operations attending
the after-panic recovery. The extraordinary situation of this year
has resulted partly from the $17,052,000 falling off in August im-
ports, due to the natural disinclination to import goods just before
the tariff duties were to be lowered, and to the unprecedented out-
ward movement of breadstuffs, which footed up $28,687,600 for the
month of August. The present position of our foreign trade, there-
fore, is most extraordinary and, considering its broad application
to the money market outlook, especially as regards our abilitv- to
obtain gold from Europe later on in the year, it is of the very hi
est importance.