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THE
MUSIC
TRADE
9
REVIEW
CLEVELAND DEALERS WILL NOT ALLOW WAR CREDITS
Local Piano Trade Abandons Proposed Plan Whereby Instalments Would Be Waived From Pur-
chasers Who Had Enlisted in the Army—Freight Situation Better—News of the Week
The talking machine department of Wm. Tay-
CLEVELAND, O., September 15.—After an ex-
tended discussion on the subject, the piano lor Sons & Co. report the biggest business on
dealers of Cleveland have decided not to allow September 8 and 13 that they have had for any
special credit on pianos and talking machines to two days within the past year. They deal in
families of soldiers gone to war. Piano mer- Victor machines.
Robert Jones, of the B. Dreher's Sons Co.,
chants here feel that such a plan would tie up
money too much and would end in driving some is on his vacation at Cincinnati.
As a result of the announcement of the Starr
of the dealers to the financial wall.
Piano
Co. that a raise in piano prices would
It is pointed out that the plan of allowing
long time credit to families who lost their prop- go into effect September 15, the store was well
erty in the great Salem, Mass., and Chelsea filled with customers every day. Many pianos
fires was a failure. Quite a number of piano of various grades and prices were sold all the
dealers were forced into bankruptcy on account week. Scores of people wanted to get in under
of it. It will be recalled The Music Trade Re- the wire before the price boost went into effect.
view devoted several pages in a recent issue One of the best business weeks of the company
to the nation-wide discussion of extended credit was experienced, it is reported by Starr of-
to families of soldiers who are on their way to ficials.
Edward B. Mayer, foreman of the repair de-
the trenches. It was the prevailing opinion
at that time that the piano merchants of the partment of the Starr Co., has been appointed
United States should not- do this. The discus- salesman in the wholesale department of the
sion in the pages of The Review was started company. Charles E. Corbett is handling the
from Cleveland, where it was first thought the wholesale department and is selling at whole-
plan was advisable. Since then, however, the sale in the Cleveland district.
piano dealers have changed their minds and
Henry Gennett, president of the Starr Piano
swung in line with the majority of their fel- Co., visited Cleveland this week. He has been
low merchants throughout the country.
touring New York State by auto this month.
McMillin's, on East Ninth street, are adver-
Player-pianos are selling in the ratio of three
to one compared with straight pianos, according tising the ukulele and guitar as their specials
to local dealers. And the public is not con- for the fall season.
The Eclipse Musical Co. has a very striking
tented with the cheaper grade of player, but in-
variably demands the higher priced instrument. window display this week on Euclid avenue. It
People are even trading in uprights and grands has attracted hundreds of passers-by. The dis-
for player-pianos. The player has become a play consists of a large talking machine record
near mania with the Cleveland musically in- about a yard wide. Around it are a dozen or
clined. Piano lessons, practicing the piano and more regular sized Victor records. These reg-
the like have gone out of custom in this city, ular records move around the circumference of
it appears. Young men and women prefer to the large record. It has brought many sales.
Paul Finck, of the Behning Co., New York,
press the button and let the player do the rest,
was a visitor at Caldwell's piano store this week.
declared one local piano dealer.
A. Dalrymple, of the Estey Piano Co., was at
Piano shipments are coming in better now-
adays than ior the past six months. And the the May Co.'s piano department a few days
instruments arrive in better condition than for ago. He came up from the Dayton convention.
E. M. McLarty, of the May Co.'s piano de-
some time past. For a while the pianos were
damaged considerably when local dealers re- partment, has returned from a three weeks'
ceived them, but this condition has practically vacation spent on the Pacific Coast.
entirely disappeared, and shipments are grad-
ORGANIZE "THE_SAMMY SISTERS"
ually assuming their normal status.
Freight
congestion in this section of the country is re-
The Knight-Campbell Music Co., Denver, Col.,
lieved to a great extent, and this helps the piano announce in their house organ, The Echo, that
business as well as other lines of trade.
the newest patriotic organization "in our
midst" is "The Knight-Campbell Sammy Sis-
ters. It is formed for the purpose of making
Red Cross supplies and knitting garments for
the field hospital corps of the Colorado National
Guard. They will become an integral part of
the Mother's Auxiliary of the Guard. Meetings
will be held every Monday evening at 7 o'clock
sharp in the salesmen's room on the fifth floor.
Miss Louise Newsome and Mrs. Grace Keller-
man are sponsors of the new movement. Let's
all be a 'Sammy Sister' in reality or by proxy."
If you want the
Best Piano
Made
for the money
Get the
Christman
Agency
Exceptional
Case Designs
Veneers
Finish and
Marvelous Tone
make them quick sellers
at good prices.
Pianos of
Character
Both you and your trade
will like them.
What's the use of tying
up m o n e y in p i a n o s
which won't sell ? Why
not get i n s t r u m e n t s
which will attract trade
—pianos w h i c h w i l l
make money for you and
give complete satisfac-
tion to your trade?
MUSICAL GOODSJOR MOROCCO
Smith, Barnes
and
Strohber Go.
Established 1884
FACTORIES
GEN. OFFICE
Chicago, 111.
1872 Clybourn Ave.
N. Milwaukee, Wis.
CHICAGO, ILL.
WASHINGTON, D. C, September 17.—The Bu-
reau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce re-
ports that it has an inquiry from a merchant in
France who desires an agency for the sale of
pianos, player-pianos, violins, violin strings and
musical accessories. The goods are to be sold
in Morocco.
Correspondence should be in
French. Full information may be obtained by
addressing the Bureau, at Washington, D. C ,
or at the Custom House, New York City, and
referring to Foreign Trade Opportunity 25338.
Write today for catalog.
CLINTON CO.'S EMPLOYES' OUTING
HARTFORD, CONN., September 17.—The A. B. Clin-
ton Co. recently gave its employes an outing
which was attended by the staff of the store in
this city and also the staff of the New Haven
store. A fine shore dinner was one of the fea-
tures of the affair. A. B. Clinton, head of the
concern, and sales manager Ned C. Strouse
were in charge of the affair and saw to it that
everybody had a good time.
"The first touch tells"
Christman Piano Co.
L
597 E. 137th Street
New York