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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
THE
flUJIC TIRADE
PUBLISHED BY THE ESTATE OF EDWARD LYMAN BILL
(C. L. BILL, Executrix.)
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
J. RAYMOND BILL, Associate Editor
AUGUST J. TIMPE
-
Business Manager
Executive and Reportorial Staff:
W. BRITTAIN WILSON, CARLETON CHACE, L. M. ROBINSON, WILSON D. BUSH, V. D. WALSH,
A. J. NICKLIN,
WM. BRAID WHITE (Technical Editor),
L. E. BOWERS,
BOSTON OFFICE t
IOBN H. WILSON, 324 Washington S t
Telephone, Main 6950.
CHICAGO OFFICE I
E. P. VAN HARLINGEN, Consumers* Building,
220 So. State Street. Telephone, Wabash 6774.
HENRY S. KINGWILL, Associate.
LONDON, ENGLAND! 1 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall S't., E. C.
NEWS SERVICE IS SUPPLIED W E E K L Y BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS
LOCATED IN T H E LEADING CITIES THROUGHOUT AMERICA.
Published Every Saturday at 373 Fourth Avenue, New York
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage), United States and Mexico, $3.00 per year;
Canada, $3.50; all other countries, $5.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $3.50 per inch, single column, per insertion. Oft quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount is allowed. Advertising pages, $no.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency forms, should be made payable to the Estate of
Edward Lyman Bill.
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
anil
tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning, regu-
Itanartnumtc
lating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos are
U t j f d l UllCUIS. dealt with, will be found in another section of this
paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information concerning
which will be cheerfully given upon request.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900 Silver Medal.. .Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma... .Pan-American Exposition, 1901 Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal. .Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905.
TMOXTQ DISTANCE TELEPHONES—NUMBERS 5982—5983 MADISON SQ.
Connecting' all Departments
Cable addreBs: "ElbiU, New York."
[NEW YORK, OCTOBER 7, 1916
EDITORIAL
from Review representatives in widely separated
R EPORTS
sections of the country emphasize that the music trade in-
dustry is now experiencing an unusual degree of prosperity.
The demand has reached large proportions, and factories are
being rushed to their fullest extent, with many plants working
nights to fill orders.
That money is abundant is evident from the demand for
grand pianos—in fact the leading piano manufacturers are expe-
riencing the greatest difficulty in meeting the needs of their
dealers, and when one considers that the cost of many of these
instruments runs into four figures, one can get a fair idea of the
prosperous times prevailing.
The outlook broadly considered could hardly be better, and
it would now seem that manufacturers should break all records
this fall in the matter of output, unless some unforeseen trouble
interrupts.
The business reports issued this week by Bradstreet's and
Dun's are most optimistic over conditions, and the latter tells
the following cheery story of the general situation:
"Restraining influences hamper but do not check progress,
current reports adding to the accumulated evidence of pros-
perity in industry, trade and transportation. Holiday observ-
ances have had the usual effect of temporarily limiting business
in some branches and labor conditions still restrict manufactur-
ing operations; yet bank clearings at most leading centers, as
well as at the smaller cities, mount upward steadily and other
statistical barometers also make remarkably gratifying exhibits.
The high and rising prices constitute a source of complaint and
cause some hesitancy in forward commitments, but the purchas-
ing power is sustained by the full employment of workers at
advanced wages and signs of contraction in consumption are
the exception.
"It is noteworthy that demands are broadening in practically
every direction, following the partial let-up in mid-summer, and
retail distribution, under the stimulus of recent cool weather,
has developed in a way that foreshadows a record movement
during the fall and winter. With consumers increasingly im-
portunate, notwithstanding the high costs, there is some appre-
hension that supplies may prove inadequate, and those who
neglected to cover requirements well ahead now make urgent
efforts to get orders on the books of producers. Yet in most
cases manufacturers are more anxious to reduce accumulated
business than to accept additional contracts, deliveries being
backward in many instances because labor scarcity and other
conditions prevent full running of all the machinery available.
The shortage of cars also hinders shipments, though gross earn-
ings of railroads reporting for three weeks of September are
8.1 per cent, greater than in 1915 and merchandise exports last
month, in spite of the restraints imposed on oversea commerce,
largely surpassed all previous records. With comparatively few
exceptions, mercantile collections are satisfactory and prelim-
inary returns of nine months' failures show a marked decrease
from the high mortality of 1915."
This is an era of big achievements, and no one ventures the
opinion that $510,000,000 sets the monthly limit in domestic
merchandise exports. Until August, the half-billion mark had
never been attained, either by this or any other country, and
it is possible that even the recent colossal figures may be eclipsed
if goods can be produced fast enough and sufficient ships are
available to carry them overseas. The nearest approach to the
August record was the $475,000,000 reported last May; for the
eight elapsed months of the calendar year merchandise to the
value of over $3,400,000,000 has been sent abroad, while less than
$1,700,000,000 has come in. With exports exceeding imports
by so wide a margin and with about $1,300,000,000 of American
railway securities liquidated by Europe in the last eighteen
months, it is not surprising that sterling exchange fails to
strengthen, though gold has been flowing this way in unprece-
dented volume.
has the question of advertising in the piano trade
S ELDOM
been handled so comprehensively in one paper as was the
case at the Ohio Convention, when O. C. Stone, a man of wide
and recognized experience in the piano field, analyzed free ad-
vertising for the benefit of the retailer. Mr. Stone's paper dis-
played a thorough understanding of every phase of the sub-
ject, and although some of his statements might be considered
radical, especially those in support of contest advertising, never-
theless he was able to support them with illuminating and con-
vincing facts.
In one particular, however, we-are inclined to disagree with
Mr. Stone, and that is in the attitude of the public toward the
buying of pianos on installments. He says very truly that the
average man objects strenuously to buying jewelry or even the
average article for household use on installments, as being a re-
flection on his standing and dignity. In the matter of piano buy-
ing, however, this feeling for the most part does not hold good.
For years several thousand piano dealers in all sections of the
country have made installment terms as the basis of much ad-
vertising. They have come to regard the cash buyers in the
nature of a legacy, something earnestly hoped for but seldom
realized. This attitude of the piano men cannot be better illus-
trated than by the fact that in their reports to the trade papers
they emphasize the fact that for so many pianos sold in a certain
period, one or two were actually sold for cash.
The man who would be sorely offended if you intimated that
his furniture was bought on installments does not hesitate to
state the terms upon which he secured his piano. For the most
part it was a valuable property in his eyes, whether it be a $175
upright or a $1,000 grand, and its possession can best be com-
pared to the ownership of a house or a piece of real estate, and
there are very few people who would regard it as a reflection
on their standing to acknowledge that a mortgage stands against
real estate held by them. In certain lines of trade the public
has not been educated up to the installment idea, but in the buy-
ing of pianos it appears to be the first thing they think of.
HAT the editorial in The Review of September 16, under
T
the title of "Advertising That Helps the Dealer" hit the nail
on the head so far as the piano trade is concerned is indicated by
the numerous letters received from members of the trade in all