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THE
MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SP1LLANE, Managing Editor
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N E W S SERVICE I S S U P P L I E D WEEKLY B Y OUR CORRESPONDENTS
LOCATED IN THE LEADING CITIES THROUGHOUT AMERICA.
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Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning, regu-
lating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos are
dealt with, will be found in another section of this
paper. We also puhlish a number of reliable technical works, information concerning which
will be cheerfully given upon request
Player-Piano and
Technical Departments.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
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Paris Exposition, 1900
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NEW
YORK,
OCTOBER
17, 1914
EDITORIAL
T
HE war in Europe has been productive of a number of inter-
esting slogans calculated to calm things in this country and
to help the American business man get his bearings on the general
situation. We have heard such phrases as "Sit down and don't
rock the boat." "Don't talk war, talk business," also "Made in Amer-
ica, best in the world," but in our minds there is none that surpasses
in aptness that used by Richard W. Lawrence, president of the
Autopiano Co., in his letter to piano merchants throughout the
country in which he says: "It is time to change our prospects; in-
stead of looking through a telescope at Europe, let us use the mi-
croscope and get a close view of the pocketbooks at home."
That is the situation in a nutshell. The war news from
Europe may make interesting reading for the leisure moments, but
it is the pocketbooks at home that are making American prosperity,
and they must not be overlooked.
T
HE protest filed by W. E. Wainwright, manager of the Wain-
wright Music Co., Marietta, O., against the Sta f e and town
taxes on traveling salesmen in West Virginia and which was re-
ferred to in The Review last week, is worthy of more than pass-
ing attention.
After a careful reading of Mr. Wainwright's explanation of
the matter, it would lead one to appreciate the tremendous handi-
cap the tax puts on those endeavoring to do an honest and legiti-
mate business in that State. For a State endeavoring to increase
its revenues, the annual tax of $20 on a traveling salesman may
be reasonable and be countenanced, even though not very welcome.
For various municipalities to supplement the State tax with similar
taxes of their own, however, is an absolute bar to the traveler, for
an active man could in a week run up a tax bill of a couple of
hundred dollars.
It appears that those mapping out a tax list show an undue
interest in the apparent prosperity of the traveling man. He dresses
well and prosperously, and stops at good hotels if any can be
found, for that is a part of his business, but that does not place
him in the class of the idle rich, for the traveling salesman works
mighty hard for what he gets and frequently his compensation is
not commensurate with his efforts. Some of the lawmakers justify
their action by stating that travelers take money out of the city,
but forget the fact that by selling goods they are also making it
possible for the city to realize the profits from the resale of those
goods. In many cases, too, those same lawmakers look upon the
mail-order houses as a genuine boon to the local buyers, although
what a mail-order house takes from u town is gone completely
and there are no goods left to resell at a profit. Mr. Wamwright's
plea for co-operation of the other piano houses doing business in
West Virginia to avoid the taxes and carry the case to the Supreme
Court of the United States, if necessary, should not go unanswered.
It is a case of self-protection.
T
HE psychological value of optimism even in the face of the
greatest difficulties, is so apparent that it needs no arguments
to sustain it. This timely statement was made by W. K. Coch-
rane, the prominent advertising specialist of Chicago, who fea-
tured the following remarks in a page announcement recently :
"It is inconceivable that any merchant or manufacturer should
cease—or even curtail—his advertising just when the country is on
the threshold of a tremendous double harvest—the natural harvest
of our own unprecedented crops and the logical harvest consequent
on the war in Europe.
"It is under such conditions as these that advertising reaches
the zenith of its power. The man who listens to the yellow pessi-
mist and sits back to 'wait for things to settle down,' is yielding
his common sense and enterprise to the baleful influence of idle
sentiment, and actually starving the goose that lays the golden egg.
"To all my clients I have sent this definite, uncompromising
and cheerful message: 'Keep the columns of the papers bristling
with your announcements and thus open wide your doors for the
flood of prosperity that is bound to rush in. Make hay while the
sun shines. We won't have another chance like this in a hundred
years.'
"I have noticed with a feeling of profound disgust the con-
servatism and business cowardice that have set in in America since
the Kaiser threw down the gage of battle. We, the very people
who will logically profit by the war abroad—and profit immeas-
urably—are now acting as though we were at war ourselves. We
are talking blue things, pinching the pennies, cutting down our
advertising and forcing prosperity to stand back.
"As a matter of fact this is the very hour when we should rush
into print to a greater extent than ever before because unless the
earth opens nnd swallows us up, there will be greater prosperity
in America this fall than ever in the history of the Republic. We
are not at war. We are not likely to be. The warring world
looks to us for its supplies and we can't keep prosperity down, no
matter how hard we try. If my advice is worth anything to you
it is here conveyed in six words: 'Advertise now and never
let up.'"
T
HE announcement by Lyon & Healy, of Chicago, that October
1 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of their
business was accompanied by a photographic reproduction of the
front page of the Chicago Tribune of November 4, 1864, showing
the company's initial advertisement. At this time a perusal of the
advertisement and the news matter surrounding points to a fact
that is well worth emphasizing.
When Lyon & Healy started in business the Civil War was in
full swing and had been for three years. The condition existing
in the Northern cities approximated to a certain extent those exist-
ing in European countries at the present time. The financial situa-
tion was uncertain. The result, or the effect, of the war was still
in doubt, and yet Lyon & Healy had the courage to embark in their
chosen field in a distinctly ambitious manner. Headings of the
articles surrounding their advertisement, such as "The Boarder
Raids," "From Fortress Monroe," "The War in Kentucky," etc.,
indicated nothing but turmoil, yet the Chicago house launched into
the music trade without hesitancy and won success.
What an example this affords to those members of the trade
to-day whose business is already established in a country free of
war and who come close to lacking courage to continue it. If men
had the courage to embark in business with war at their door step,
why should present day business men lack in courage to strive for
new achievements with a war on the other side of the ocean ?
*