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THE
MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorlal Staff:
B. BKITTAIN WILSON,
A. J. NICKLIN,
CABLET ON CHACE,
AUGUST J. TIMPB,
L. M. ROBINSON,
W M . B. WHITE,
GLAD HENDHSON,
L. E. BOWERS.
BOSTON OFFICE
CHICAGO OFFICE:
TOMK H WILSON M4 Washington St
*" p - V A N HARLINGEN, Consumers' Building.
«• WILSOM, i i 4 yvasninpon at.
820 g o S u t e Street
Te ,
h
W a b a s h 5774.
Telephone, Main «950.
HENRY S. KINGWILL, Associate,
LONDON, ENGLAND: 1 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall St., E. C.
NEWS SERVICE IS SUPPLIED WEEKLY BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS
LOCATED IN THE LEADING CITIES THROUGHOUT AMERICA.
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REMITTANCES. In other than currency forms, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill.
Player-Piano and
Technical Departments.
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 publish a number of reliable technical works, information concerning which
will be cheerfully given upon request.
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NEW
YORK,
OCTOBER
24,
1914
EDITORIAL
E
NCOURAGING signs of returning adjustment of international
relations continue to be presented in growing daily exports
from New York. Exports for the last four days of last week
were $14,375,739, a s compared with $11,675,276 in the four similar
days of the preceding week and $10,608,756 for the same period
last year, and this situation is duplicated throughout the country.
The effect of the increase of exports thus depicted will be
gradually to create a balance on which the United States can draw
in offsetting or paying its obligations abroad without the transfer
of gold. If the balance is now, as believed by many, reaching a
new level of about $1,000,000 daily in favor of this country, this
would mean in round figures $25,000,000 to $30,000,000 monthly
for November and December and, allowing for growth in rate,
might in three months create a fund of $100,000,000 upon which
reliance could be placed in meeting debts.
The figure is likely to be higher rather than lower than this
level judging from present indications, inasmuch as Europe is now
beginning to depend upon oversea supplies of food, clothing and war
material. The large orders recently placed with American manu-
facturers in many lines have not yet begun to exert their influence.
because they have not yet resulted in large shipments of actual
goods, so that their influence on the figures has not been heavily
exerted. The trade which is developing may even carry the export
balance a good deal higher than is now predicted by most persons.
No accurate forecast can, however, be made for so long a period
as three months in advance owing to the wholly unusual and excep-
tional condition of international relationships.
P
IANO merchants throughout the country should co-operate
heartily with those merchants in other lines of trade
who are planning to hold, at an early date, a "Made in U. S.
Week." This will afford an excellent means of emphasizing not
only the industrial resources of this country, but it will bring mer-
chants together and result in the stimulation of business which has
been retarded or overshadowed by the European war.
The "Made in U. S. Week" affords splendid opportunities for
piano dealers not only to make special window displays, of their
own, but to assist in placing the pianos or players they handle in
the windows of those large emporiums where these products are not
handled, and whose managers are seeking co-operation in their ef-
forts to produce the most effective results in the form of display,
so as to attract purchasers from the large radius of country sur-
rounding them.
The "Made in U. S. Week" furnishes special means for adver-
tising window and interior displays—in fact all forms of activity.
In some cases it is planned to have parades showing the industrial
resources of the town or city in which the event occurs—an excel-
lent proposition, and one that should do much to concentrate atten-
tion on the merits of* American-made products, especially pianos,
player-pianos and musical instruments of all kinds.
It is wise for the piano merchants in any move of this kind to
be alive to the opportunity for publicity.
NE of the most important changes in the retail trade during
the past few years has been the evolution of the show win-
dow. From being an unimportant feature of the store it has grown
to be a factor of great importance along the lines of publicity, sup-
plementing the efforts of the advertising man most effectively.
The attention that is now being given to show windows by the
retail merchant is almost as great in the small towns as in the large
cities, and this is especially noticeable not alone in the improved
fronts of piano warerooms, but especially in talking machine stores,
where window and wareroom display are factors which have been
assiduously cultivated.
The recent improvements in store fronts and windows as de-
signed by specialists in this work have assisted materially in creat-
ing better results in the matter of showing and selling musical in-
struments of all kinds. The show windows are higher and deeper,
admirably lighted, and care is "taken to keep them free from un-
sightly interfering columns or posts.
The improved window fronts in the piano trade, particularly
in the smaller cities, can be attributed in a measure to the great
possibilities for display afforded by the talking machine. Piano
dealers who handle these remarkable promoters of musical knowl-
edge have been educated by such concerns as the Victor Co. and
other manufacturers to install special window displays which have
been arranged for them, and which attract the public to the window
and store where they are displayed in a manner that has awakened
the dealer to a new conception of the value of window display—
something he had hitherto overlooked.
Hence it is that show windows are now being utilized by all
progressive merchants to acquaint the passing public both day and
night with the goods handled, as well as their especial merits and
prices—acting as a quality advertisement at a small cost.
O
A
MOST interesting announcement has been issued by the Cleve-
land (O.) Board of Education in connection with asking for
bids for supplying pianos to the schools of that city. A section of
the formal announcement by the Board reads:
"Bids shall be considered only upon pianos of standard manu-
facture. The term 'standard manufacture' shall be understood to
mean that the piano is, and has been for at least ten years, manu-
factured and sold under a trade name, which name is the exclusive
property of the manufacturer and is registered by the manufacturer
with the United States Patent Office."
The stand of the Cleveland school authorities indicates that
they, in company with officials of other cities, have reached the con-
clusion that cheapness does not always mean economy and that the
children in the schools are entitled to the use of pianos of recog-
nized standing. It drags the buying of school pianos out of dark-
ness into the light.
O
NE of the most interesting conclusions reached by the Latin-
American Trade Committee appointed by Secretary of Com-
merce Redfield to investigate conditions in the republics to the south
of us is that, despite what may have already been said to the con-
trary, the greatest opportunity for expansion of trade with Central
and South America lies in systematic preparation for extension of
this trade when peace restores normal conditions, rather than in a
hasty invasion of those markets.
The report of the committee, which was made public Monday,
shows how the dependence upon London banking facilities is hin-