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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
REVIEW
PUBLISHED BY THE ESTATE OF EDWARD LYMAN BILL
(C.
L. BILL,
Executrix.)
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
J. RAYMOND BILL, Associate Editor
Business Manager
AUGUST J. TIMPE
Executive and Reportorial Staff:
II. BRITTAIN WILSON,
A. J. NICKLIN,
BOSTON
CARLETOX CHACE,
WM. H. WHITE.
OFFICE:
JOHN H. WILSON, 324 Washington St.
Telephone, Main 0950.
L. M. ROBINSON,
WILSON 1). BUSH,
GLAD HENKEKSON,
L. E. BOWERS.
CHICAGO
OFFICE t
E. P. VAN HARLINGEN, Consumers' Building,
220 So. State Street. Telephone, Wabash 5774.
HENRY
S. KINGVVILL, Associate.
LOXDOX, EXGIiAXDi l Gresham Buildings, Basinghall St., E. C.
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LOCATED IN T H E L E A D I N G C I T I E S THROUGHOUT AMERICA.
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Edward Lyman Bill.
* Pignn anil
~r lallU dUU
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning, regu-
latin
S a n d r e P a i r i n g o f Pianos and player-pianos are"
p
. dealt with, will be found in another section of this
paper.
We also publish ;i number of reliable technical works, information concerning
which will be cheerfully nivi-n upon request.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Croud Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900
Silver Mcdal. . .Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma . . . • Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Cold Mi 'III. .Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905.
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES—NUMBERS 5982—5983 MADISON SQ.
Connecting all Departments
Cable address: "EltoiU, New York."
NEW YORK, MARCH 1 1 , 1 9 1 6 .
EDITORIAL
G
ENERALLY good business conditions throughout the country
are reflected in the report of the Federal Reserve agents
made public this week by the Federal Reserve Board. As far as
the music trade industry is concerned, the most significant feature
of this report is the statement that the working people are sharing
in the prosperity which now rules the whole United States.
The late Hugo Sohmer used often to remark that there could
be no good times as far as the piano trade is concerned until the
working people were fully employed and earning good wages. And
this is just as true to-day as when he uttered it, for the great mass
of purchasers of pianos and musical instruments generally are
people who are dependent upon a weekly wage for their subsistence.
The greater the employment, the higher the wages, the more there
is to spend for such necessities to real enjoyment in the home, as
the piano, the player-piano, and the talking machine.
In its March edition, the Federal Reserve Bulletin records a
striking uniformity of reports from the twelve Federal Reserve
districts. There is no important exception to a general situation
of remunerative activity. Everywhere forward enterprise is brisk
and buyers are thronging markets earlier and in larger numbers
than usual. All indications are that productive capacity and dis-
tributive equipment are already supplied with orders. February is
ordinarily a month of dnlness and let down, but winter is ending
with business moving at a good pace.
Prices in various lines are high enough to offer some difficul-
ties and suggest a shortage of raw materials in the face of an
insistent buying demand. There is something like a deficiency of
labor, and transportation facilities have suffered from congestion
of traffic. Nevertheless, the very drawbacks of which the business
community complains are additional evidence that the hundred
millions of American people are actively and profitably engaged in
productive work with a prospect of continuous occupation.
The probabilities of politics, domestic and foreign, have been
fundamentally propitious ever since the outbreak of the European
war, however adverse their superficial aspect on occasion. Con-
tingencies of an unfavorable sort make only for business and bank-
ing conservatism which will tend to keep commercial and financial
conditions sound, and this is a desirable ingredient of the confidence
which the summary of business progress prepared by the Federal
Reserve Board inspires.
In the music trade the situation is most gratifying, and it would
seem as if the largest retail trade in history would be transacted
this year.
D
E S P I T E the constantly increasing cost of almost every com-
mercial commodity, and also despite the campaign of edu-
cation which is being waged by piano manufacturers in an endeavor
to educate piano dealers to the knowledge that instruments are
costing more to make than ever before, and therefore will have to
be sold at a higher wholesale price, several prominent New York
manufacturers recently received an inquiry from a dealer, seeking
the purchase of player-pianos in a mahogany case containing a high-
class player-action of a prominent and high grade make, at the
wholesale price of $150 each.
Even before the cost of raw materials went skyward, the mak-
ing of a player, containing any make of action, to sell at $150 would
have been a difficult proposition. To-day, with prices on every bit
of raw material used in piano construction increased from ten to
three hundred per cent., such an accomplishment would be little
short of impossible. * Yet many dealers evidently do not realize the
seriousness of the situation, else the inquiry referred to above would
never have been written.
The Review has ceaselessly called attention to the indisputable
fact that pianos are costing more to manufacture to-day than they
ever have before, and that the manufacturer must raise his price
to the dealer if he is to continue to do business. Progressive
dealers, keeping in touch with conditions in the trade generally,
will quickly realize the fairness of such a course. Unless the dealer
keeps himself informed as to the latest developments in the trade,
both wholesale and retail, he cannot hope to attain any degree of
permanent success, and this inquiry for a player at the price of
$150 is rather a severe commentary on the lack of insight into
existing conditions on the part of the dealer from whom the in-
quiry came.
Pianos and players will cost more, not less. This is inevitable,
and the wiser the dealer the quicker he will accept the inevitable,
regrettable though it may be.
O
NE of the most interesting features of the annual banquet of
the Cleveland Music Trade Association held last week was
the address of Wade H. Poling, head of the Wade H. Poling Piano
Co.. "Under What Condition Should We Pay Commissions on
Pianos and Talking Machines."
The commission evil has been a sore spot in the piano trade
since time immemorial, and it has been discussed at length, resolu-
tions have been passed bearing on it, and yet it continues to bob up
serenely at regular intervals.
Some dealers have come out flatfooted against payment of
commissions to anybody not regularly employed by them. Others
more cautious have endeavored to regulate the payment of com-
missions. The Wade H. Poling Co. is to be included among the
latter, as they have a special form of contract for those seeking to
earn commission on piano sales. The contract is very explicit and
leaves very little leeway for the grafter. These dealers who are
still at sea on the commission question might consider with profit
the Poling Co.'s contract, which was published on page 29 of The
Review last week.
MOVEMENT which will result in material benefit to business
in upper New York is the survey of industrial conditions in
the Borough of the Bronx, which is being carried on by the Bronx
Board of Trade, New York University, the Department of Educa-
tion and the Y. M. C. A. The purpose of this survey is to gather
accurate statistics regarding the age, occupation, training and re-
quirements of the workers of the Bronx, with special reference to
the young. The relative advantages which different industries
enjoy will also be ascertained, the information being used to direct
and stimulate the future development of the Bronx along the lines
for which it is best suited. The personal information concerning
the needs of the workers will be used by the educational depart-
A