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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
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B. BRITTAIN WILSON,
A. J. NICKLIN,
CARLETON CHACE,
AUGUST J. TIMPE,
L. M. ROBINSON,
WM. B. WHITE,
GLAD HENDERSON,
L. E. BOWERS.
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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 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 Cold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal..Lewis Clark Exposition, 1905
HJONCt DISTANCE TELEPHONES—NUMBERS 5982—5983 MADISON SQ.
Connecting- all Departments
Cable address: "Eltolll, New York."
NEW Y O R K , A U G U S T 1, 1914
EDITORIAL
S
OME reasons why the piano exhibition at the Panama-Pacific
Exposition to be opened in San Francisco, next year, will be
hardly considered representative, were set forth very interestingly
by Leander S. Sherman, head of the famous house of Sherman,
Clay & Co., in his chat with The Review recently, when he pointed
out that this is due to the fact that all instruments must be entered
on a competitive basis and be subject to the decision of the jury
which has eliminated tone as a basis for award. The result has
been naturally that many manufacturers of pianos of standing
have hesitated to exhibit them on a competitive basis under the
present regulations, for they feel that they have everything to lose
and nothing to gain in comparison with cheap instruments which
often show up well as a simple piece of cabinet work.
Since the visit of Mr. Sherman to the East, Theodore Hardee,
Chief of Liberal Arts, has stated in a letter that he has been ad-
vised by the Director of Exhibits that the Director-in-Chief has
told him that the consideration of tone in judging musical instru-
ments would be recommended to the International Jury. He says
further: "While this jury is an independent body, I believe that
they will see the wisdom of this recommendation and therefore
adopt it.
While the elimination of tone in considering awards was a very
unusual procedure, still it must be conceded that there is no sub-
ject on which opinions vary as piano tone. With the necessarily
limited number of pianos which will be on exhibition at the Pan-
ama-Pacific Exposition—a number which in quantity and quality
will not be properly representative o'f the country—would it not be
just as well to exhibit only for the advantages that may accrue in
a business way, and not for awards?
It is now rather late in the day to rectify mistakes. The sub-
ject of awards and the consideration thereof should have been all
planned in advance, so that piano" manufacturers may know whether
it would be to their advantage to exhibit or not.
To make the change suggested by Mr. Hardee at this late hour
would not be effective in bringing in any new exhibitors, and while
it is greatly to his credit that he has taken up the subject of to'ne
elimination, it seems to us that it would be very much better in the
present state of affairs to abolish the award system altogether, as
far as it affects pianos, and allow manufacturers to make as repre-
sentative a display as they possibly can irrespective of any awards
therefrom.
R
ECENTLY the music publishers of New York banded to-
gether for the purpose of improving conditions in their busi-
ness—of placing it on a higher plane—to* the end that it may be
made a more profitable industry.
Now the dealers in music throughout the country are planning
to come together in convention at the Hotel l>reslin. New York,
on August 24, with the object in view of forming a National Music
Dealers' Association, which will work for the elimination of many
of the evils which it.is conceded are dragging down the business
to a condition where it is no longer profitable for the piano' dealer,
or individual store, to handle sheet music.
A call has been sent out by R. W. Ileffelfinger, manager of
the sheet music department of the Geo". J. Birkel Music Co., Los
Angeles, Cal., who has long made a close study of the situation,
and he has behind him more than twenty of the leading music
trade houses in the country, which are collaborating in an effort to
bring together a large body of music trade men to discuss ways
and means of removing the present unsatisfactory conditions which
prevail in the retail branch of the sheet music business.
Mr. Heffelfinger's efforts should receive hearty co-operation
from members of the trade. There is no reason why the sheet
music department of a store should not be made a profitable ad-
junct of the business. Of course, the dealers cannot do every-
thing themselves; there must be an understanding with the pub-
lishers, and this, of co'urse, is made possible now in view of the
fact that the music publishers, realizing their weakness in antag-
onizing each other, have come together and are aiming to work
for the common good of the industry.
With co-operation between the music publisher and the dealer,
both of them organized for the betterment of their own respective
interests, there is every reason to hope that a new era of larger busi-
ness and better profits will open up for the publisher and the dealer.
In the Music Publishers' Section of The Review this week
will be found an interesting array of topics, covering various im-
portant aspects of the business, to be discussed by the retailers of
music at their gathering at the Hotel Breslin late this month. These
are deemed only an outline, and Mr. Heffelfinger and those inter-
ested in the betterment of the sheet music industry are seeking
information and aid from dealers throughout the country to the end
that the entire situation may b e discussed in a most thorough man-
ner, and some conclusions arrived at whereby the business may be
conducted on a sounder and more satisfactory financial basis.
The present situation of affairs in the retail music field cer-
tainly needs reform, and with such a body of discriminating business
men interested, representing houses of eminence, located in impor-
tant centers reaching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, there is every
reason to look forward to results from this convention that will
mean much for this branch of the industry. Music publishers
should join hands with the dealers in this move, and all should
work toward the common end of eliminating the many weak spots
that exist in their field, so as to make it one of the sturdy and
profitable branches of the music trade industry.
I
N a recent letter to members, the National Association of Credit
Men called attention to the resolution passed at the Cincinnati
convention in which the laxity of many houses in the enforcement
of terms of sale was deplored and members urged to exercise
greater diligence in scrupulously insisting on the observance of
sales terms, requiring that extensions be granted only upon request
and under proper conditions; that they be not allowed without a
definite reason therefor. The association asked the members to
bring about a better observance of terms, first, by suggestion;
second, by strict observance of terms of sale on the part of their
own concerns, and third, by insisting that customers live up to their
terms.
L
E T T E R business even if not quite so much business seems
to be the trade campaign cry of the hour.