Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
VOL.
L X I . N o . 1 6 Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 373 Fourth Ave., New York, Oct. 16, 1915
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$^OO C PER ES VEAR CENTS
NDENIABLY there is a steady rise of cost in the conduct of manufacturing and retailing.
In all lines of business this condition is obvious, and the expenses of living are also moving
upwards all the while. Taxes are mounting as the costs of the administration of our public
affairs increase.
Talk with the most advanced thinkers in every industry, and they will frankly admit that they can
see no halting in this move.
Crude machinery and methods of years ago have been superseded by labor saving machinery and
more efficient apparatus, but notwithstanding these modern creations, it is costing more to produce
to-day than ever. And, with the economic waste which is going on in Europe, it is certain that raw
materials will steadily advance, and no man can predict where the end will be.
In spite of these conditions, which are recognized by industrial leaders, we have men who believe
that business permanency may be won on purely a price basis.
It seems to me that in the piano trade, of all trades, this argument cannot win out permanently.
The argument of price against quality to my mind is one which will only win temporary success for
anyone.
There is a limit, even with perfect factory system, to what may be produced for a specified sum.
If the quality slogan were emphasized instead of price, I feel confident that there would be fewer
failures in the trade.
To read some of the advertisements of the cut-raters over the country, one would almost believe
that it cost littl'j or nothing to manufacture pianos and less to sell them. It costs much to build
reliable pianos, and it costs a good deal to market them. Therefore, to encourage the belief in the
minds of the public that dependable instruments may be bought for trifling sums, is to encourage a
belief which will operate detrimentally to the future of the piano business.
We have seen some publicity put forth which was not only a disgrace to the forces producing it,
but a serious reflection upon the entire piano business.
If all advertising were based on the educational or quality argument, it would be very much
better for the interests of e\ery one, and would place the industry upon a plane which it wculd be
impossible to shatter in any way.
Usually the men who have cultivated the element of cheapness in the piano industry have been
those who have sought to build up enterprises on the basis of quantity, hoping that in some way the
gods of fortune would enable them to get by with their proposition; but invariably such institutions
end in ruin, and their final smash-up naturally affects those with whom they have been associated in
a business way.
It is pretty safe to stand by men who believe in maintaining a quality standard.
It is a policy which means business stability, and there is a limit in price cost beyond which
the most gifted factory manager cannot go. The possibilities of reducing cost by refining
equipment perhaps have not been all exhausted, but in the piano industry there is a limit beyond
which it is dangerous to advance.
In some industries which have the advantage of simplicity in large volume of production of
one standard product it may be possible to reduce cost, but with the advance which is bound to
come in basic metals, such as iron, copper and brass, as well as felts and other products which
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