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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
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EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorial Stall:
B. BEITTAIN WILSON,
A. J. NICKLIN,
CARLETON CHACE,
AUGUST J. TIMPE,
L. M. ROBINSON,
W M . B. WHITE,
GLAD HENDERSON,
L. E. BOWERS.
BOSTON OFFICE:
CHICAGO OFFICE:
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Tow* TT W i n n s B24 Washinirton St
- p - V A N HARLINGEN, Consumers' Building.
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tl-WILSON, 8^4 Washington St.
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Wabash 5774.
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Telephone, Mam 6950.
HENRY S. KINGWILL, Associate,
LONDON, ENGLAND: 1 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall St., E. C.
N E W S SERVICE I S S U P P L I E D WEEKLY BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS
LOCATED IN THE LEADING CITIES THROUGHOUT AMERICA.
Published Every Saturday at 373 Fourth Avenue, New York
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
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ADVERTISEMENTS, $3.00 per inch, single column, per insertion.
On quarterly or
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REMITTANCES, In other than currency forms, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill.
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.
Player-Piano and
Technical Departments.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Diploma
Paris Exposition, 1900
Silver Medal. • .Charleston Exposition, 1902
Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal. .Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905
D I S T A N C E T E L E P H O N E S — N U M B E R S 5982—5983 M A D I S O N »Q.
Connecting* all D e p a r t m e n t s
Cable a d d r e s s : "Elbill, N e w York."
NEW
=
YORK,
JULY
11,
1914
EDITORIAL
O
NE of the most important steps looking toward the regula-
tion and improvement of instalment terms in the piano trade
was taken at the recent convention in New York, when the Na-
tional Association of L'iano Merchants passed a resolution to the
effect that "no piano or player should be sold on an instalment
basis with payment the monthly instalments fo'r which shall exceed
a period of thirty-six (36) months."
The resolution is not to be looked upon as the culmination
of a campaign for shorter terms, for it is really but the beginning
of such a campaign. Thirty-six months, a full three years, as a
fixed limit on instalment accounts should be elastic enough to meet
every possible demand of the piano merchant who wants to do
business on a sound basis, and even such terms cannot be observed
as fixed without due caution.
The resolution as was originally drafted, and which called for
a minimum initial payment of 10 per cent, of the purchase price
of the instrument and monthly instalments of not less than 4 per
cent, of the purchase price, provided for maximum terms of
twenty-three and one-half months on instalment accounts—some-
thing less than two years.
The original resolution was looked upon as too fixed and too'
drastic in its terms, and as a result a full year was added to the
limit. It is to be hoped that with the maximum fixed at thirty-six
months the merchants will endeavor to keep as far away on the
right side of that maximum as is possible under present selling
conditions in the trade. That unpassed resolution with its twenty-
three and one-half month limit is a mighty, good one to consider
when building business on a substantial basis. "To go the limit''
is all right in sporting circles, but a bad policy when it means
forcing credit limitations in business.
F
OR the purpose of aiding our advertisers handling automatic
pianos, orchestrions and other instruments, we have been
printing for some time past in The Review a list of the new moving
picture theaters which have been opened throughout the country.
Nothing in modern years compares with the growth in popularity
of the motion picture theater. As a matter of fact, there is an
overproduction, with the result that the smaller and more insignifi-
cant ones are being eliminated, and the business is rapidly being
placed on a better basis. The larger theaters are installing ex-
pensive orchestrions or organs, which are being played by musi-
cians of note—in fact, many of these theaters in size and equip-
ment are equal to some of the largest metropolitan amusement
houses—while the smaller places are installing automatic and elec-
tric pianos, as a means of entertainment and for supplying the
necessary music for the various "acts."
This motion picture field is proving a large and very profitable
o'ne for the manufacturers of orchestrions and automatic pianos,
but it needs careful and persistent watching if orders are to be
secured. In this connection manufacturers inform us that the list
we have been printing in The Review of the opening of new thea-
ters has been to them one of the most helpful and profitable moves
made by The Review. This, of course, is gratifying, and in line
with the constructive policy of this paper. We believe in building
up trade—of being of direct service to our advertisers.
P
IANO merchants throughout the country are, according to
reports, more inclined than ever before to realize the truth
of the old adage that "All wo'rk and no play makes Jack a dull
boy," and as a result are favoring the early closing movement in
various sections of the country.
A great majority of the piano houses are closing for half a
day on Saturday, indicative of the fact that the old idea of staying
open Saturday and oftentimes in the evening, was necessary to
insure the payment of the instalment accounts, is something of a
fallacy. In other districts the merchants are more conservative,
and close their stores for half a day on Wednesday or Thursday,
staying open on Saturday.
The big department stores some time ago discovered, that an
extra day of rest each week during July and August would be a
gain instead of loss to them, for it is true that while the employes
are paid for a day for which they do not work, the increased energy
during the other five days of the week produces exceptional results.
Every atom of matter, whether animate or inanimate, serves
its purpose better after a rest at regular intervals. An edged tool
will cut sharper after it has been laid aside for a period. Tele-
graph wires respond much more readily on Monday after the
Sunday lull than later in the week.
The piano man who is relieved of his duties on Saturday
afternoon comes in on Monday with a fresh supply of energy and
the ability and energy to secure greater results. It is one of the
cases where an actual loss of time can be put upon the credit side
of the ledger.
PPARENTLY some of the larger and more progressive deal-
A
ers have turned the tables on some manufacturers with
agencies to place, by demanding that the latter afford proof of the
financial stability of their business, just as the dealer on his part is
expected to furnish information as to his credit rating. In this
connection, a subscriber to The Review writes: "I noticed in a
recent issue of The Review the remarks of Victor W. O'Brien,
general traveling representative of the John Church Co., who
stated that the number of the better class of dealers who demanded
a certain guarantee of permanency on the part of the manufacturers
whose pianos they would represent, is increasing steadily with a
tendency to favor those manufacturers who have reduced their
terms of credit to a reasonable period and can therefore afford the
dealer who pays his bills reasonable protection.
"In many respects the stand of the dealers is well taken. A
certain merchant secures the agency for a particular line of pianos,
and, if he is 'alive,' proceeds to feature that line in his various forms
of publicity in every possible way. The result is that the name of
the piano is linked with the name of his store in the minds of the
prospective purchasers in his territory and is an asset that repre-
sents an actual and heavy investment of time and money. If, after
two or three years, or more, the manufacturer is forced to the wall
through having insufficient financial backing or owing to looseness
in the granting of credit to unreliable people the dealer suffers a
loss that, although it may not be figured in dollars and cents, i§
very real.
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