Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
REVIEW
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
President, C. L. Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Vice-President, J. B. Spillane,
373 Fourth Ave., New York; Second Vice-President, J. Raymond Bill, 373 Fourth Ave.,
New York; Secretary and Treasurer, August J. Timpe, 373 Fourth Ave., New York.
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
J. RAYMOND BILL, Associate Editor
AUGUST J. TIMPE
Business Manager
Executive and Reportorlal Stall:
ments in his chosen field, and if he can see the new instruments
and new improvements at first hand while attending a conven-
tion, he is thereby enabled to gain knowledge that should be
helpful to him whether he places an order or not. Of course,
there have been, and probably always will be, exhibitors who
make themselves offensive, who practically force dealers to
look over their line, persist in their efforts to get immediate
orders, and make themselves obnoxious generally, but the great
majority are content to have the retailer inspect their line, form
his own opinion regarding it, and leave the closing of actual
business, unless it comes practically voluntarily, to the future.
The officials of the Ohio Piano Merchants' Association have
invited exhibits, and it is probable that other State organizations
will take similar steps. The exhibitors should see to it that
the courtesy is not abused.
B. BRITTAIN WILSON, CARLETON CHACE, L. M. ROBINSON, WILSON D. BUSH, V. D. WALSH,
WM. BRAID WHITE (Technical Editor), E. B. MUNCH, A. J. NICKLIN, L. E. BOWERS
BOSTON OFFICE:
CHICAGO OFFICE:
IOHN II. WILSON, 324 Washington St. E. P. VAN HARLINGEN,
Telephone, Main 69S0.
Republic Building.
209 So. State St. Telephone, Wabash 5774.
H. SCOTT KINGWILL, Assistant Manager.
LONDON, ENGLAND: 1 (ircsham Buildings, Basinghall St., D. C.
NEWS SERVICE IS SUPPLIED WEEKLY BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS
LOCATED IN THE LEADING CITIES THROUGHOUT AMERICA.
Published Every Saturday at 373 Fourth Avenue, New York
Entered at the Neiv York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
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ADVERTISEMENTS, $4.50 per inch, single column, per insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount is allowed. Advertising pages, $130.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency forms, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill, Inc.
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
Plat/01*
Piann allU
anil
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tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning,
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regulating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos
U c p d l llllCUIS. a r e dealt with, will be found in another section of
this paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information concern-
ing 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
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES—NUMBERS 5983—5983 MADISON SQ.
Connecting all Departments
Cahle address: "Elbill, New York."
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 1, 1917
ED1TORIAL =
T
HAT there will he a scarcity of pianos and player-pianos this
fall and winter, due to war conditions over which the trade
has no control, has heen generally conceded, and the average
piano merchant who is at all active will probably find that the
chief trouble will be to secure pianos to meet demands rather
than to develop a demand for pianos. Under such conditions the
piano retailer who does not use every endeavor to get as much
cash and the best terms possible for his instruments is simply
losing an opportunity and showing poor business judgment. To
emphasize low prices and long terms in time of shortage is the
worst kind of bad business. With the demand in excess of the
supply, the piano merchant can sit tight and select the most desir-
able customer for his own. He can demand all cash, or terms of
not over twelve or fifteen .months, with the knowledge that if
one customer will not meet his conditions another will. By
getting some real money for his instruments and discounting his
bills and his notes, he has a chance to make some genuine profit.
Just at the present time money is plentiful. There is a minimum
of non-employment and wages are high. There is no excuse for
forcing business or for handling it on a picayune basis.
T
HERE has been much said pro and con regarding the wis-
dom of having exhibits by manufacturers at various trade
conventions of retailers, and although displays have been frowned
upon by some as serving to detract attention from the business
sessions, and lending the meetings an air of commercialism, the
National Association of Piano Merchants has given its endorse-
ment to such exhibits, as witness the National Music Show; and
State and local associations have gone so far as to invite manu-
facturers to exhibit at their various conventions.
Properly conducted there appears to be no reason why an
exhibit should prove offensive to convention delegates. The
piano man, as much as the man in any other line of business,
owes it to himself to keep in close touch with the latest develop-
the piano men may have occasion to congratu-
A I/.TI late IOUGII
themselves upon avoiding a special excise tax placed
upon musical instruments for the raising of war revenue, they
will still be called upon to bear their share of the burden of war
through other channels, as was pointed out by the Washington
correspondent of The Review recently.
There will be income taxes to be met upon all incomes over
$2,000, if a man is married, and $1,000 if he is single. Although
the piano trade is not one noted for its big incomes, the great
majority of its members will have to pay income taxes never-
theless. Then there is the excess profit tax on all profits over
$5,000, corporation taxes, stamp taxes, increase in letter postage,
and numerous other factors which will all help to separate the
piano man from his money for the benefit of the country at
large. As soon as the revenue bill is finally passed, it will be-
hoove the trade members to take stock of what their tax obliga-
tions will amount to and prepare to adjust themselves to the
new situation.
HE announcement last week that Bennett & White, Inc.,
T
are now ready to market word rolls serves to bring to mind
again the fact that the word roll has become a permanent and
important factor in the music trade. Of course, the word roll
is not new, it having been featured by the Vocalstyle Co. for a
number of years, until suddenly there was a rush of other music
roll manufacturers to supply the words of songs directly on
their rolls. Regardless of his belief in the permanency of the
word roll, the roll manufacturer is practically forced to devote
a section of his catalog to these rolls as a means of meeting
competition. In buying music rolls, especially rolls of the more
popular numbers, the public will unquestionably choose the word
roll nine times out of ten as against the straight roll, not on the
basis of musical appreciation perhaps, but on the straight com-
mercial basis of getting both words and music at a price only
a little higher than that charged for the music alone. The
straight roll undoubtedly has its own particular sphere, but the
word roll is here to stay.
the opinion of some piano and player manufacturers whose
I N words
are calculated to carry weight, there is a strong proba-
bility that female labor will in a comparatively short time become
more or less an important factor in the operation of plants
making such instruments. There is hardly a piano factory in the
country, doing a normal business, that is not seriously handi-
capped just now as a result of shortage of labor, and it is prac-
tically impossible to get anything near an adequate supply of
either skilled or unskilled men.
While this is due in some measure to the fact that quite a
number of men have joined the military forces of the country,
the chief reason is that thousands of men from all lines of in-
dustry have found work in munition factories and similar insti-
tutions engaged in producing war supplies and which, from the
nature of things, are able to offer unusually high wages with
which the ordinary lines of trade cannot compete.
It is felt that there are a number of positions in the ordinary
piano factories that can, if necessary, be filled by women—posi-
tions where little skill is necessary or where the work may be
easily learned. Women are employed to a considerable extent
in the manufacture and assembling of player action parts, and