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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
"It is all very well to talk about great piano values, but do the
dealers themselves realize that when they are buying pianos from a
concern that does not meet its obligations, they are piling up future
trouble for themselves? Has not this fact been demonstrated in
several crashes during the past two or three years? A number of
dealers were forced into bankruptcy for the reason that they had
trade affiliations with the kind of houses that were not paying their
obligations. As you have written, dealers should not be tempted
by over-alluring baits offered, and they should see first of all to the
responsibility of the men back of the proposition.
"I believe that this trade should take definite, concerted action
regarding credits, and the time to do it is now."
We have had practically the same suggestions made from a
number of men who evidently believe that the industry should be
protected against the onslaughts of those who fatten on its weak-
nesses.
REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reporterial Staff:
B. BJHTTAIH WILSON,
A. J. NiCKLiN,
CARLKTON CHACK,
AUGUST J. TIMPE,
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HUMl'lTANCES, 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 P thU
paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information cone rning
which will be cheerfully given upon request.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1000 Silver Medal.. .Charleston Exposition, 1902
Uxpioma
Pan-American Exposition, 1901 Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal. .Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905.
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Cable luldreiB: "Elbifl, New York."
NEW Y O R K ,
OCTOBER 9, 1915
EDITORIAL
OW that business is looking up in all lines, it is well to remove
from the piano industry certain policies which have ham-
pered it in its past development.
There are many things which might be brought up in the way
of discussion, but one which will at all times be of vital interest is
the matter of credits.
Piano permanency interests every man in this trade, whether
in the manufacturing or retail field, and it can be established and
maintained only through a close scanning of credits, and by build-
ing up that class of men who respect their financial obligations.
The man who pays his bills cannot successfully meet in com-
petition the one who does not, and here lies a subject which should
require careful attention from those whose interests are interwoven
with the piano trade.
The man who is struggling hard to pay his bills finds his diffi-
culties materially increased when he meets in competition the man
who does not, and the man who believes in meeting his obligations
should be encouraged and fostered in every possible manner.
Men who have not the material resources, but who have a
fundamental honesty oftentimes turn out to be the best kind of
representatives. Without that primal honesty all else is vain, and
the man who seeks to obtain credit to build up an enterprise, and
withdraws from it certain resources which he may secrete for his
own use, can hardly be termed honest even in these days of financial
elasticity.
Piano permanency can be established only through the main-
tenance of sound business principles, and the fly-by-nighters in
every department of trade should be avoided.
In a Review editorial last week there appeared an article which
has brought forth a number of communications of a commendatory
nature.
One gentleman in the trade writes: "I was particularly in-
terested in your editorial: "Competing Against the Men Who Do
Not Meet Their Obligations." In this you have sounded an alarm
which should be heeded by every business man in this trade. De-
cidedly the man who meets his obligations cannQt pompete in4efi'
nitely with the man who does not,
N
I
T is always difficult to launch any innovation, particularly when
it requires a considerable amount of money to accomplish the
ends desired.
The advocacy in these columns of a plan whereby piano manu-
facturers are urged to form a co-operative advertising organization
for general publicity is receiving consideration, and we are con-
stantly receiving communications endorsing the contentions of The
Review.
John G. Corley, president of the Corley Co., Richmond, Va.,
and the newly-elected president of the National Association of
Piano Merchants, is an enthusiastic believer in this move.
President Corley endorsed the plan in the strongest possible
terms in a recent address before the Ohio Piano Merchants' Asso-
ciation, and in a communication addressed to the editor of The
Review, under date of September 2T, he writes:
"Dear Mr. Bill:—Like other dealers, we are interested in the
welfare of the piano business, and the welfare of the piano trade,
and I can fully appreciate the splendid work your paper is doing
in order to create interest sufficient among the manufacturers and
dealers to work out a comprehensive plan for a national advertising
campaign for the player-piano.
"Looking at the matter in the most optimistic way we must
admit the lack of interest on the part of the consumer for the piano.
Lots of money has been spent by the manufacturers and dealers
over the country in advertising both the piano and the player, but
in many instances these advertisements have failed to impress
favorably the public and the purchaser of pianos. The splendid
feature of the player-piano affords a wide opportunity to the scien-
tific advertiser for exploitation, and I am convinced if the dealers
and manufacturers will contribute to a fund sufficiently large to
exploit the merits of the player-piano for one year this work will
be found so profitable and successful to the entire trade that it will
be continued. There are a number of manufacturers and dealers
who attribute the falling off of sales in pianos to the general de-
pressed condition of the country, but when we consider the in-
creased sales of automobiles and talking machines, such statements
lose their force, which must bring the thinking men in the trade to
a realization that a better and more comprehensive scheme of
advertising should be done to create a desire on the part of the
consumer for a player-piano in their home.
"Congratulating your paper on the good work accomplished in
bringing this matter to the attention of the manufacturer and dealer,
and sincerely hoping some day to see the accomplishment of it, I
am, yours very truly (Signed) J. G. Corley."
General business is steadily growing better, and there is no
more opportune time to put this plan into active operation, and it is
to be hoped that within the near future a committee appointed by
the president of the National Association of Piano Manufacturers
will take up this matter for serious consideration.
A NOTHER demonstration of the big way in which the Victor
I \ Talking Machine Co. does things is illustrated in its an-
nouncement of a voluntary changing of the standard working hours
of its 7,500 employes to an eight-hour basis without anv reduction
in wages. This was done with full confidence in the belief that the
new schedule will result in the production of goods of a higher
grade through the shortening of the hours, thus reducing the