Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1916 Vol. 62 N. 2

Page 5 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
RESOLVE TO WASTE NO TIME.
(Continued from page 3.)
Is it more fair, more honest, more just, to give short weight in love and friendship than in
mercantile matters?
The man who expects to receive the favors which love and friendship are only too ready to
dispense must give love and friendship in return. Not only must there be a reciprocation, but a mete
reciprocation, and to the degree in which we fail to meet these obligations of life, we may expect to
be disappointed likewise.
Why not make new resolutions at the beginning of the year covering friendly relations with our
fellowmen—the resolve that there should be no wasted time—the resolve that in our dealings there
should be that fine sense of reciprocity which makes the whole world kin—the kind of reciprocity that
gives a delight and charm to life and an added pleasure to business!
The trade skies are bright, and why should we not all be influenced by them and resolve that no
time shall be wasted?
The rising sun of the New Year is full of hope—of life and promise.
The clouds that the rising sun paints and illumines mean beauty and
freshness, unknown to the clouds of the later day.
And this is the morning of the New Year!
This was the last editorial written by the late Colonel Bill.
if it is an old scheme worked to death that is being revived, any
and every paper will be a failure; no particular advertisement nor
any individual paper need be blamed for the failure, for the secret
lies in the proposition. Successful advertising begins with the
business itself. Advertisements and good papers are simply a
means to an end. If advertisers learn this lesson there will be
fewer failures and less discontented talk.
O-OPERATION in the selling of pianos does not mean merely
that the salesman does his particular share of work, but that
he can do the work in such a manner that it will not impose un-
necessary labor upon his co-worker. In other words, salesmen
should observe the policy of the store and tell the truth regarding
its policies, which method carries with it no possibility of there being
a "come-back" after an instrument is sold or a sale lost because the
salesman's promise is not lived up to.
We hear a great deal of the one-price system in piano selling,
of the salesman who names his price and sticks to that price, but
what about the salesman who, while maintaining the given price of
the instrument, is too prone to offer special inducements in the way
of tuning, polishing, refinishing, special kinds of benches, or scarfs,
in order to clinch a doubtful sale?
It is the man who trails off the beaten path in this particular
who makes trouble for his fellow salesmen and his manager. The
prospect is much impressed with the arguments presented in his
home and is probably induced to buy and then comes to headquar-
ters to have some of the promises fulfilled only to discover that the
salesman had no right to make the promises and that the store will
not stand by them.
As an experienced manager puts it: "Tell the truth at all
times and there will be nothing to apologize for." And it is a motto
that works out with excellent results, not merely from the moral
point of view, but as a straight business proposition. If the man
who is closing or has closed a sale tells the absolute truth, and the
ihside man who closed the sale or who hears complaints also tells
nothing but the truth, the stories will correspond exactly and there
will be nothing to shake the confidence of the customer. The truth
telling policy of a house not'only benefits the institution as a whole,
but also aids the individual salesman because when the policy is once
recognized he is not put off by the prospect with the idea that he,
or she, can see another salesman or deal directly with the house
and secure better terms. It means more sales closed on the
C
WINTER & CO.
220 SOUTHERN BOULEVARD, NEW YORK
spot, and sales that stick because of the confidence of the cus-
tomers.
O
NE of the most pleasing aspects of trade during the closing
and busiest months of the past year was the demand for
grand pianos and high-priced uprights and player-pianos. This
condition emphasizes that the American people when they have the
money to spare want the best product there is. And this brings
forcibly to mind that piano merchants would do well in their
advertising and in the development of prospects to lay emphasis on
the line of quality pianos which they handle. It is not the time
for preaching cheapness, nor is it the time to place extravagant
values on cheap instruments for the purpose of hoodwinking the
public. Thanks to the campaigns of national publicity by many
of our manufacturers, the people are being made aware of the value
of names of manufacturers of national eminence in the piano field,
and people are differentiating in the purchase of pianos, whether
expensive or otherwise.
I
N order that his legion of friends throughout the country may
have some memento of the late Col. Edward Lyman Bill, we
are presenting in this issue of The Review his latest and favorite
portrait, printed on heavy calendered paper, and so prepared that
those who wish to do so may preserve the same by framing or
mounting. May it serve as a constant reminder of that kindly soul
who
". . . turned his clouds about,
And wore their silver lining inside out."
T
HE world respects a man who pursues his aim steadily, regard-
ing neither success nor failure, going on from one duty to the
next, from one day's achievement, however slight or however great,
to the tasks of the next morning.
Honor to him, the steady-going man, the man of constant
spirit, of flexity of purpose, of earnestness unwavering! Such as
he are needed in this world, where there is too much impetuosity,
of fickleness, of going by "fits and starts.'' Like the constant
dropping that wears away the stone, it is the constant man who
accomplishes the great works of the world, the enduring structures
of men's hands and men's minds. His example is not exciting,
but better, it is encouraging; it helps to achieve undertakings; it
serves a useful end and conduces to make life better.
Manufacturers of
Superior Pianos
and Player Pianos

Page 6 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Death of Col Gdward Lyman Bill
It is with the deepest sorrow that we announce the
death of Edward Lyman Bill, editor and publisher of The
Music Trade Review and The Talking Machine World,
which occurred suddenly at his home, 21 Broadview avenue.
New Rochelle, N. Y., on January T. On Friday night lie
extended his usually cheery "good night" supplemented by
felicitations on the near arrival of the New Year to the
members of The Review staff, being apparently in the best
of health and spirits. On Saturday, New Year's Day,
after dinner, he visited the Wykagyl Country Club, return-
ing home at 4.30 p. m. He went to the music room on
the second floor, where he was talking with Mrs. Bill over
plans for a short vacation some time this month, when he
suddenly became ill. A trained nurse was called from a
residence opposite, and_Df.~ Albert H. Moore and a phy-
sician from the New Rochelle Hospital arrived quickly,
.but.CoL.Bill was beyond their aid. He had been attacked
by a cerebral hemorrhage.
'•-'- Cot.~Bill was born in Hyme, Conn., June 5, 1862, and
was the son of Judge John Wight Bill and Prudence Gallup.
He was a blood descendant of William Bill, first Dean of
Westminster Abbey and Provost of Eton, and was also
descended from Elder Brewster, who came over in the
Mayflower in 1620. He was the eighth direct descendant
of John Bill, who came to America in 1630. He was edu-
cated at the State Normal School of Connecticut and
Weslevan University. After leaving college, he spent
several years in teaching and in elocutionary work. Then
going West, he became an officer in the first military organi-
zation in Dakota Territory, and saw active service on the
plains. Later he was elected a police justice and entered
business life at Fargo, N. D. During this time he corre-
sponded regularly with several Eastern newspapers. This
gave him the newspaper experience that began to shape
his career toward journalism. Mercantile business soon
became distasteful to him and, returning East, he pur-
chased a part interest in The Music Trade Review, which
had been established in 1879 a s a semi-monthly. In 1891
he became the sole proprietor of this publication and
changed it to a weekly, and from that time its growth and
influence have been materially augmented.
In 1905 he established The Talking Machine World,
which is the only trade paper in America devoted exclu-
sively to this industry—a publication which has steadily
grown in influence and prestige throughout the world. He
was an honorary member of the National Talking Machine
Jobbers' Association, and actively interested in this organi-
zation's welfare. At the last convention held in San
Francisco, he was the Association's guest of honor at the
Panama-Pacific Exposition festivities.
For some time he was president of the New York
Press Club. He was also, at one time, president of the
Republican Club of New Rochelle. For many years he
had been a member of the New Rochelle Yacht Club, and
was at one time vice-president of the Rochelle Park Asso-
ciation. He held membership in the Huguenot Association
of New Rochelle, Society of Mayflower Descendants, Sons
of the Revolution, the Reform and Wykagyl clubs, the
Luther Burbank Society and the Tolland Fish and Game
Association. He was a member of every Masonic body
in both the York and Scottish rite work, holding member-
ship in the Blue Lodge, Chapter and the Consistory. He
was also a member of Bethlehem Commandery, Knights
Templar, and was a Shriner, belonging to Mecca Tempte;
Col. -Bill was very popular with the people of New
Rochelle, and time and time again refused to be a candidate
for mayor of that city. He was, however, a member of
the local Board of Education, a former police commissioner
and actively interested in the Fire Department. He was
also treasurer of the New York State Commission for the
St. Louis Exposition in 1904, being the only representative
of a trade paper on that board.
He was appointed as a colonel by President William
McKinley on his military staff, and was a personal aide to
the President in the McKinley and Roosevelt inaugural
parade.
On February 12, 1889, he was married to Caroline
Lee, daughter of Senator James L. Raymond, at Lyme,
Conn. Mrs. Bill, with her two sons, James Raymond, a
senior at Wisconsin University, and Edward Lyman, Jr.,
and her daughter, Hester, survive him. He also leaves a
brother, J. Nelson Bill, who resides in Lyme, Conn.
Col. Bill's home life was an ideal one. He spent most
of his leisure time with his .family, all of whom possess
marked musical and literary inclinations.
* * * *
When a life work is clone, when long years of toil have
gone unrewarded and a man is patiently awaiting the hour
when the scythe shall cut him down, thereby ending his
labors and his struggles, it may be in a certain sense rea-
sonable to reckon with death as with a power which steals
away that which has been cruel and harsh. It may be
possible to feel that Pity has taken a hand and that the
Eternal Sleep in its kindness has called to rest one more
creature upon whom the burdens of life rested too heavily.
But when in the fulness of his life, in the glory of a work
which was steadily in its ascendancy, in the possession of
mental strength which was the pride of all who loved him
and the admiration of all who knew him, Edward Lyman
Bill was taken away, the bravest and the most trusting, in
their bitter grief, can but question why.
His last words, as he left his office on the last day of
the year, to those who had been closely related to him
through his long and honorable business life, were spoken
with all the genial affection and confidence that on the
following Monday morning together they should again meet
and pursue the regular tenor of their life. He spoke of the
new year which would dawn upon the offices where he had
spent such happy days and he had bright hopes for his
work and for the work of those whom he had made his
associates throughout his beautiful and valuable business
career.
None dreamed that already the King of Shadows had
selected one of the most brilliant of its vaunted "shining
marks" and that never again the master would radiate his
splendid intellect, his sympathy, his wisdom and his warmth
upon those assembled in the great work of journalism
which he had built up, and that he would be seen in his
daily haunts no more, snatched as he was without one
moment of warning, into another life.
There is some small degree of gratification in the reali-
zation that here was one who did not have to receive at his
death honors which were denied the living, for no man
ever received more glowing tributes to his brain and char-
acter, to his feeling for mankind and to his understanding
of great subjects than Mr. Bill, who was honored by the
greatest individuals and political parties as well as by the
music trades and allied industries in which he was for
many years one of the most potent factors.
Col. Bill plied his oars steadily through a sea of com-

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