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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
THE INFLUENCE OF THE PIANO TRAVELER
(Continued from page 3)
Sometimes a piano dealer, long established in business, will get into a rut without knowing it, or without
knowing how to get out of it. The really efficient piano traveler, having a wider knowledge of the different
methods of retailing employed in the various sections of the country than has the local dealer, should be in a
position to make suggestions and offer advice that will enable the retailer in the small town to keep abreast of
the latest ideas in piano selling.
Piano dealers, in common with all other retailers, will always welcome suggestions that will aid them in
strengthening and increasing their business. Very often the piano traveler can, by reason of his outside view-
point, give the retailer suggestions that will enable him to overcome difficulties, surmount obstacles and solve
problems which seem to the retailer impossible of solution, because of what may be termed his purely inside
viewpoint.
Therefore, the piano traveler who can furnish ideas of value to the retailers in his territory makes himself
more popular with them, enables them to make more sales, and last, but not least, sells more pianos for his
factory himself.
The piano traveler and the music trade paper are the sole mediums through which the local piano man can
gain adequate information concerning the industry as a whole—both are prime factors to the retailer's success.
As a disseminator of current news and general information they not only keep the retailer informed as to the
latest developments in the trade, but are also powerful molders of opinions.
Horace Greeley once said that six live newspaper men could make or break any man in the United States. If
this be true, it is certain that the influence of the piano travelers in this country, if concerted on any one
proposition, is great enough either to bring it into being, or to kill it beyond the possibility of a resurrection.
The advance which the music trade has made during the last decade has been due in no small measure to
the spirit of progress which has actuated the piano travelers as a whole. Capable salesmen, good business men,
interested in the maintenance and growth of the entire industry, the wholesale piano travelers have done and
are still doing a wonderful work in the upbuilding of the industry, and in the bringing about of better, stronger,
more satisfactory conditions in the trade than have existed hitherto.
detailed information, not only regarding his true assets and lia-
bilities, but also indicating that he is conducting his business in
an efficient manner, and that he absolutely knows his true costs."
Taking up the subject of co-operation, Mr. Hurley, after
deploring the mistakes of business in the past, said: "I believe
that there is a legitimate and desirable field of co-operative effort
among business men, particularly in their trade associations, and
I have urged competitors to meet and discuss the questions of
cost accounting, the standardization of processes and products;
and other phases of their industry which tend toward efficiency.
I am glad to say that to-day there are thousands of business men
who are endeavoring, in a constructive and co-operative spirit, to
work out their common economic problems in this way."
the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National
A T Piano
Manufacturers' Association in Chicago late this week,
there will be presented the first report of the Committee on Trade
Advancement, in general charge of the work of the National
Bureau for the Advancement of Music. The report should be
particularly interesting, because it will go to prove that there has
been actual progress made; that what at the Convention in June
was a mere theory or suggestion has developed into something
tangible.
The Bureau, under the directorship of C. M. Tremaine, has
worked not alone to create a new interest in music itself, but to
co-ordinate various forces that have already been at work in
arousing public interest in music through one method or another.
There have been campaigns laid out for the future; local repre-
sentatives have been appointed in a large number of cities, and
everything points to the success of the Bureau, provided, of
course, that it is supported in the future as it has been thus far.
The Bureau is now a recognized factor. It has the recogni-
tion of those conducting newspapers with music pages, of those
planning a national music show, and of those engaged in other
branches of musical activity. This is as it should be, for such
recognition will mean much in the ultimate success of the pro-
ject. What appears to be most needed now in connection with
the Bureau is that it be given some definite standing in the trade,
not as a part of one association, or of all associations, but a
standing essentially its own, independent-from all direct trade
influences.
it should not be a part of the piano trade or the talking ma.
chine trade, or the sheet music trade, but a National Bureau sup-
ported by all these branches of the music industry, because the
work that it does will result for the benefit of every branch. The
ideas governing its scope should not be the ideas of any one fac-
tion, but ideas so far as possible of those interested in music
and its effect upon the development of the trade as a whole. The
progress already made by the Bureau should go far to influence
those back of it to widen its scope in this particular line.
USINESS conditions continue to be active throughout the
B
country. The usual pre-holiday lull has not been as much in
evidence this year as in previous periods, owing to the fact that
there was quite a large surplus of money in the form of bonuses,
which went to the purchase of musical instruments and other
necessities toward enjoyment in the home.
The outlook for a continuance of active business is most
favorable. Activity prevails in all lines of industry, and the piano
trade is no exception. There are good orders and good dollars
which the piano dealer can get his share of, if he carries on a
live campaign. Meanwhile it is nonsense to talk good times
unless a man is profiting by the good times, and in such years of
abounding prosperity as we have been enjoying every piano
establishment should be a profit maker. It is useless for a man
to fool himself by simply doing business for the pleasure of turn-
ing over dollars. He is only deceiving himself, and the man who
fools himself is apt to apply for membership ere long in the
down and out club.
In this age of keen rivalry and strenuous struggle for com-
mercial success, the highest order of business ability is judgment,
and it cannot be said that a man possesses good business judg-
ment when he runs his enterprise at a loss, whether he is selling
pianos or automobiles. It is up to every business man to meet
the changing price conditions.
Caution and conservatism are reported in the business world,
but measured by the volume of payments through the country's
clearing houses the general volume of trade is heavier than at
any corresponding period in the history of the United States.
For the last week total clearings showed an increase, as com-
pared with the same time in 1916, of about 27 per cent., while the
gain over the corresponding week in 1915 was upward of 100 per
cent. The increase in New York and other cities where specula-
tion enters into the bank exchanges is particularly significant.