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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
5
THE RIGHT TO FIX RETAIL PRICES.
(Continued from page 3.)
to-day and what he will get for them next year. All of which means solidity, permanence, fairness.
But what about the public? The ultimate consumer? TheP dear public whose interests are
looked after so well by the price-cutters? Well, the public is not compelled to buy any given
article. It buys a given article partly because it is advertised, partly because it is the one available
at the moment, but still more because it is the best, or the one it thinks is the best. The advertising
creates the demand, of course, but if the goods don't back up the advertising then the life of the
article is short. So then when the public keeps on demanding one brand of goods, it is because that
brand is as good as it is claimed to be. The value being established, there will never be a whimper
from the public over the price. There never is. Those who have the money will buy and those who
have it not will wait till they have or buy the cheap imitation.
In any case, if the price be fair, the legitimate expansion of the goods and their sale to the extent
of the legitimate demand therefor are inevitable. All business experience proves that no permanent
success is ever made for an article sold simply on its price, when there is any real value to contrast
with this. If it is an article of real worth, the value is the first consideration with the buying public.
So, in fact, the public is not clamoring for cut prices and would never think of them were it not
falsely educated by false commercial prophets.
The price-cutter benefits nobody. He does not even benefit himself. If he claims that he is bene-
fiting the public he is transparently falsifying. Price cutting in truth is practiced for only two rea-
sons: (1) to eliminate the small dealer, and (2) to force down the wholesale price until quality can
no longer be protected, but must inevitably deteriorate in a riot of factory retrenchment, skimping
of materials, and competitive cut-throat wholesaling, benefiting no one and harming all. Business
is exchange. A good article should b»* priced by its maker and by none else. That is good sense,
good business, plain honesty and simple truth. What argument can be brought against it?
ments in the city to serve as a guide for the establishment of night-
classes, evening high schools, trade courses and other educational
helps which will be of direct advantage to the ambitious artisan
of the Bronx.
The Department of Economics of New York University is
working among the piano manufacturers in the Bronx, this industry
having been assigned to the University. The work of gathering
and collating the necessary information is under the direction of
Professor Erich W. Zimmerman, who, with a corps of students
from the economic department of the University, is busily engaged
in securing the needed facts. Piano manufacturers in the Bronx
should welcome this survey, and give Professor Zimmerman and
his assistants every possible co-operation necessary for them to
properly perform their work. Trustworthy and complete data con-
cerning the piano industry in upper New York will form a basis
for making great improvements in that industry, and will stimulate
a better growth of the piano industry in particular, and of the
Bronx as an industrial center in general.
Anything which is of benefit to a community as a whole is of
benefit to every individual therein. This industrial survey will un-
doubtedly serve as a means of fostering greater commercial activity
in the Bronx, and such increased activity will be of particular benefit
to the piano industry. Therefore, the piano manufacturers in that
section of the great metropolis, from the standpoint of conserving
their own particular interests, if from no other, should see to it
that the data collected by the investigators regarding their industry
is accurate and complete and that the importance of the piano
manufacturing trade is so strongly emphasized as to be fully recog-
nized.
L
AUGHING at trouble isn't as hard as it sounds; nor are the
people who mggest it utterly hard-hearted and unsympathetic.
Tt is just a philosophic and utilitarian principle suggested by wise
folk who know that a tooth always aches most when you have
nothing better to Ho than to think about it. Other troubles also
thrive on thought.
GETTING DOWN TO PLAIN PLAYER FACTS
The education of the public along player lines is a necessity for the expansion of the player business.
There is no doubt of that; and education of the piano merchants and salesmen is also a vital necessity,
because through them will come a powerful force in the education of the public; and right here we wish to
remark that we have produced a line of books upon the player-piano which comprehensively covers the entire
player situation.
In this respect this trade newspaper stands alone, for it has been the principal source from which player
information has been available for piano merchants and salesmen for a period of years. Our latest book,
"The Player-Piano Up to Date"
is the best of the series. It contains upwards of 220 pages of matter bearing directly upon the player.
Every piano merchant and piano salesman should have a copy of this book within easy reach. It gives
to readers a fund of information not obtainable elsewhere.
It contains a series of original drawings and a vast amount of instructive and educational matter, as well
as a detailed description of some of the principal player mechanisms.
It costs $1.50 to have this book delivered to any address in the United States, and your money will be
refunded if you are not satisfied with the book after examination. No one yet has availed himself of this
opportunity. Foreign countries, l$c. to cover extra postage, should be added.
Estate of EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Publisher
373 Fourth Ave., New York