Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1914 Vol. 58 N. 12

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorial Stall:
B. BBITTAIM WILSON,
A. J. NICKLIN,
CAKLBTON CHACE,
AUGUST J. TIMPE,
L. M. ROBINSON,
WM. B. WHITE,
GLAD HENDERSON,
L. E. BOWERS.
BOSTON OFFICE:
CHICAGO OFFICE:
E p VAN
, . _ „ TT Winow 894 Wuhinrton St
- -
HARLINGEN, Consumers' Building.
JOHN H WILSON, 884 Washington bt.
^ T e l e p h o n C j Wabash 5774.
M() g o & ^ ^
Telephone, Main 0950.
HENRY S. KINGWILL, Associate,
PHILADELPHIA:
MINNEAPOLIS a n d ST. PAUL:
^ ST. LOUIS :
R. W. KAUFFMAN.
ADOLF EDITEM.
CLYDB JENNINGS,
SAN FRANCISCO: S. H. GRAY, 88 First St.
DETROIT MICH.: MORRIS J. WHITE.
CINCINNATI, O.: JACOB W. WALTER*
BALTIMORE, M D . : A. ROBERT FRENCH.
INDIANAPOLIS,IND.: STANLEY H. SMITH.
MILWAUKEE, W I S . : L. E. MEYER.
KANSAS CITY, MO.: E. P. ALLEN.
PITTSBURG, PA.: GEORGE G. SNYDER.
LONDON, ENGLAND: 1 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall St., E. C.
Published Every Saturday at 373 Fourth 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, $5.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $8.00 per inch, single column t per insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts, a special discount is allowed. Advertising pages $90.00.
REMITTANCES, In other than currency forms, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill.
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
j o n s o f a technical nature relating to the tuning, regu-
lating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos are
itXlllllldl
d e a l t w i t h i w i l ] b e f o u n d i n a n o t h e r i e c t jon of this
paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information concerning which
will be cheerfully given upon request.
PiflIIA
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Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Diploma
Paris Exposition, 1900
Silver Medal. • .Charleston Exposition, 1908
Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal. .Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905
ILOITO DISTANCE TELEFHOITES—OTTMBERS 5982—5983 MADISON BQ.
Connecting' all Departments
Cable address: "Elbill, N e w T o r i . "
NEW
YORK,
MARCH
21,
1914
industrial enterprises, there is reason to expect a further revival
of trade; but a point has been reached where it will be necessary
for legislators to keep hands off and to aid rather than hamper the
upbuilding of business in the United States.
"This is not a question of politics, but of plain common sense,
as the people are beginning to realize. Corporations of heavy capi-
talization are to-day public institutions in the sense that their
ownership is widely scattered through the distribution of stock
among the largest number of individual shareholders whose
fortunes were ever similarly joined in such undertakings.
"Recent developments at Washington have indicated rather
plainly that a certain element in Congress is still bent upon an anti-
trust crusade in an effort to win support from unthinking people
who oppose everything big largely because they themselves have
never developed the capacity to handle big things. Business men
are in no mood to be trifled with along such lines, for the hardships
of a period of real depression have emphasized the necessity of
doing everything possible to promote sustained recovery."
In the present anti-trust bills which are being considered in
Washington the small business man is being dealt with in the same
hostile way as the offenders who constitute the small army of "Big
Business."
Paternalism and supervision is the great panacea for all exist-
ing wrongs to-day, and the Government seems to be drifting into
the socialistic sphere quite rapidly.
Despite its efforts to annihilate "trusts," the Government,
knowingly or unknowingly, is getting into the trust business itself,
for through the parcel post extension it is actually financing the
great mail order houses o'f the United States, and ergo, wiping out
private enterprises employing many thousands of men at fair wages.
And this leads us to ask, why Congress shouldn't appoint one
of its favorite investigation committees to determine what effect
the parcel post and rural free delivery are having on the gradual
wiping out of the retail merchant, particularly in small towns and
country districts, and whether it is working an injury to 1 the jobber
and the merchant generally.
I
N the light of Governmental activity against any form of
monopoly, or restricting agreement in this country, the busi-
EDITORIAL
ness practices of some other countries are most interesting. Con-
sider, for example, this news from Uruguay:
'"T" > HE unusually severe weather—notable for its low temperature
The wholesale merchants of Montevideo have decided to" enter
X
and storms—which has prevailed throughout the greater
into a ten-year mutual agreement, with liberty to extend it for
part of the United States for the past six weeks, has resulted in a another five years, to regulate trade operations. Control of the
very quiet business in the piano" trade. Manufacturers have found
agreement is to be intrusted to a committee consisting of a bank
it impossible to ship instruments with any degree of safety owing
manager and four importers, who will inflict a fine of $2,000 for
to the injurious effect of cold on varnished surfaces, and piano
any infringement of the agreement. Some of the principal clauses
merchants have found it difficult to make sales or deliveries, owing of the agreement follow:
to the roads being practically impassable.
Sales are not to be effected on credits exceeeding six months.
With the approach of settled and more favorable weather,
Goods sold must be invoiced in the same month, it being for-
however, there is a better feeling- abroad in all branches of the bidden to deliver them in one month and date the invoice another.
industry. For we are now entering the spring season, and its
A maximum of 6 per cent, discount to be allowed to pur-
sunshine is filling not only the land, but the people therein, with
chasers paying for goods before the 15th of the month following
more optimism regarding the future of business.
the sale.
The most serious detriment to improved and settled conditions
Payments made in the same month as the sale to be entitled
in the business world to-day is the apparently hostile attitude of
to an extra discount of one-half of 1 per cent. Interest at 12 per
Congress toward business of all kinds.
cent, to be charged on any notes renewed.
Delivery of goods on consignment prohibited.
The so-called trust bills which have been under consideration
by Washington officials, and which have been referred to before
It has been suggested that the above terms be modified by
in The Review, have unquestionably been a great factor toward
reducing the length of credit allowed from six to five months,
contracting business. In fact, pending legislation is a veritable
except for sales made out of the country, and in allowing a dis-
wet blanket on industrial progress.
count of 7 per cent, on cash sales.
What a Godsend such rules woiild be for the piano manufac-
It was thought that with the passing of the tariff bill there
turer were it possible to put them into practice in the United States.
would be a chance for the business man to recuperate. But cor-
But perish the thought!
rective legislation has forced him into further uncertainty as to the
future of his enterprise and plans for its advancement. The Gov-
ernment, or at least, the party in power, at present is making the
HERE has been a recrudescence of "was-is" advertising
great majority of honest business men suffer for the sins of the few.
throughout the West recently, and we are in receipt of a
The situation is a serious one, for business men not knowing
great many of these familiar advertisements, in which the products
where they are at, are naturally narrowing down their business
of reputable manufacturers arc priced at ridiculously low figures,
activities.
"
in order to whet the appetite of buyers. Now that laws exist in
The situation was well summed up the other day by the a great many States against misleading advertising, it is up to the
National City Bank of Chicago, when it said:
local dealer to take action against offenders when it becomes nec-
"If the country is spared radical legislation of the kind calcu-
essary ; or, where a local association exists, to enlist the aid of its
lated to unsettle business and restrict the activities of the great
officers.
T
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Are We Taking the Panama Canal Seriously?
RE the business men of the United States taking the Panama
A
Canal seriously? John Barrett, director of the Pan-Ameri-
can Union, thinks they are not, and in a recent talk urged in a most
emphatic way that the American manufacturer and business man
should awake to the necessity of taking advantage of the markets
which will be opened by the canal. In other words, to be as alive
to the situation as are the business men in the principal centers of
Europe and Asia.
"If there is a dark spot on the horizon in connection with our
commercial relationship to Latin America," said Mr. Barrett, "I
should say it was the failure of the business organizations, the
great manufacturing and exporting interests, the .newspapers, and
the public generally, to discuss, consider and plan how we can best
and with the least delay prepare to get all the advantages we should
from the opening of the Panama Canal. The oratorical and edi-
torial market is glutted with stories of what a wonderful project
the canal is, of the remarkable changes it will make in the commer-
cial map of the world, of the great advantages it will eventually
bring to the commerce of the United States, but practically nothing
is being done before the canal is opened to prepare to meet the
business it will open up to us—almost nothing is even being said
about this phase of the situation.
"The danger is that we will find, almost before we know it, that
the canal is opened, and that, as we have stood in awe admiring its
engineering features, watching our naval fleets pass through, and
chuckling with joy as we have celebrated with mighty expositions,
we have not commercially prepared to take advantage of it, and
that not only the countries of Europe, but Japan—be it said to their
credit—are all ready to reap to the full its enormous potential
benefits,
"It is foolish for the American business man to deceive himself
with the thought that through favorable tolls to American shipping,
or through subsidies or other artificial conditions alone, we can
permanently and successfully compete with foreign countries in the
markets of the west coast of South and Central America. The
great rank and file of our manufacturers, our exporters and our
importers must familiarize themselves with conditions of demand
and supply in those countries to which the canal will give us a new
and expeditious route.
"Every Latin-American country which will be made more ac-
cessible by the canal should now be studied in every detail of its
commercial possibilities by the business men of the United States.
But are they doing it ? They certainly are not. Possibly a baker's
dozen, but.no more, of the thousands of important firms which
should have been at work in preparation, not for months, but for
years past, have seen the coming opportunity and laid plans to make
good use of it.
"On the other hand, the 5,000 miles of the west coast of South
America, and the 3,000 miles of the west coast of Central America,
are to-day, and long have been, the scene of remarkable activity on
the part of agents for European firms—all of them getting ready
for the canal, which is the child of American brains and is being
built with American capital. Where one representative of an
American firm can be found in this field, a score of European ex-
pert salesmen, and not infrequently even Japanese and Chinese com-
mercial agents or merchants, are hard at work preparing for the
trade which certainly will come. How, in the face of these condi-
tions, can the United States hope to get full benefit of its mighty
work ?"
In regard to shipping facilities, Mr. Barrett believes that while
we need more mail and passenger ships for the east and west coast
of South America, we have good shipping facilities to all countries
bordering on the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. The
canal, of course, will make these ships available for west coast
commerce.
American shippers should not be deterred from trying to get
business by the thought that if they get it they cannot deliver their
sold goods, for freight lines will be numerous enough to meet the
demand when it materializes. Mr. Barrett has no use for the idea
that there is any prejudice against the American business man in
South America, and if any should exist it is due entirely to our own
neglect.
He rightly points out as one of the greatest fallacies in con-
nection with the lack of understanding of our true relations to the
countries south of us, that our trade with Latin-America is small
and that we are not rapidly increasing it. As a matter of fact, the
export trade of the United States to Latin-America is announced
by the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce for the calen-
dar year 1913 will approximate $335,000,000, against $123,000,000
in 1903, and $87,000,000 in 1893. The increase in the decade just
ended was $212,000,000, while in the decade from 1893 to 1903 the
growth was $36,000,000. In the term "Latin-America" are included
all of South America, except British, French and Dutch Guiana, the
Central American Republics, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, Santo Domingo
and the French West Indies. A rich field indeed for the American
exporter alive to his opportunities.
Cultivating Friendships Between Salesmen?
I
T is interesting to note that the recent "salesmen's meeting" held
under the auspices of the Detroit Music Trades' Association
was not the unqualified success that those back of it had hoped for,
owing principally to the fact, as set forth recently in the Detroit
correspondence of The Review, that in several instances the
managers displayed a strong disinclination to have the members
of their staffs mingle on terms of friendship with the salesmen of
other concerns.
Attempts to place those attending the meeting at their ease met
with little success, and it is said that at the close of the dinner, held
in connection with the meeting, a large number of salesmen broke
away from the gathering with as little delay as possible. There was
little, if any, mingling of salesmen and the general tendency was
for members of each staff to keep apart in their own little group,
and self-centered in interest.
Following the meeting one manager is quoted as saying that
to cultivate friendships between salesmen of competing concerns
would break down their fighting spirit in keen competition. Another
stated that if competing salesmen were acquainted with the mem-
bers of his staff they would use the knowledge to follow his sales-
men and either capture or break a sale. Other managers had
various reasons to assign for their antagonistic attitude towards the
fraternization of the salesmen, all of which appears to be rather
peculiar in view of the broadening tendencies in the business world.
As far as is ascertainable, membership in the national or local
manufacturers' or merchants' associations has not tended to reduce
the sharpness of competition between such members, though it has
had a tendency to make that competition cleaner and more whole-
some. Why sho'uld association membership have a reverse effect on
the salesman?
The salesman who is weak-kneed and inclined to "lay down" to
competition will surrender in just the same way whether he is a
member of an association and acquainted with his competitors or
is working in the dark.
/ \(
The crafty salesman who follows representatives of a com-
peting house for the purpose of stealing prospects or sales will
follow that course with or without association acquaintanceship, and,
as a matter of fact, will find his opportunities to do his shadowing
considerably curtailed if his identity is known to competing sales-
men. On the contrary, the salesman who mingles on friendly terms
with competitors is very likely to learn much that will prove of
benefit and profit to himself.
The whole argument presented against the meetings of the
salesmen, on the surface, appears weak and illogical, with jealousy
and suspicion as the motives, and a closer study of the matter does
not change the aspect df the case. Friendships among rival sales-
men will have the effect of making cleaner competition instead of
complicating it.
_

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