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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
REVIEW
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
President and Treasurer, C. L. Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Vice-President,
T. B. Spillane, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Second Vice-President, Raymond Bill, 373
Fourth Ave., New York; Assistant Treasurer, Win. A. Low.
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
RAYMOND BILL, B. B. WILSON, Associate Editors
WILSON D. BUSH, Managing Editor
CARLETON CHACE, Business Manager
Executive and Reportorlal Staff
V. D. WALSH, W M . BRAID W H I T E (Technical Editor), E. B. MUNCH, L. M. ROBINSON,
C. A. LEONARD, EDWARD LYMAN BILL, A. J. NICKLIN, L. E, BOWERS
BOSTON O F F I C E :
JOHN H. WILSON, 324 Washington St.
CHICAGO
OFFICE:
Published Every Saturday at 373 Fourth Avenue, New York
Entered as second-class matter September 10, 1892, at the post office at New York, N. Y.,
under the Act of March 3, 1879.
SUBSCRIPTION
(including postage), United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year;
Canada, $3.50; all other countries, $5.00.
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-
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tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning,
regulating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos
p
are 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 Prxx
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
Vol. LXIX
matter of window displays, no special effort will be required to
compete for The Review prize. The object is to give credit to
a display not arranged with any idea of special reward, in other
words, to recognize the best results obtained in what might be
considered the ordinary course of business.
The judges are all men well qualified to pass upon the standing
of the various displays, from the standpoint of advertising value,
general attractiveness, and tendency to promote music advancement.
The featuring of an enlarged photograph of the winning display at
the Music Show should alone stimulate an interest in the contest,
and a desire to participate.
The time is short, but there is plenty of opportunity for every
concern in the trade to enter the contest if it so desires, particularly
as no time need be wasted in special preparation. The photographing
of the window is in itself a simple process, and no other conditions
save the entering of a photograph are necessary to give any and
every one full entry into the -contest.
THE FUNCTION OF THE TRAVELER
E. P. VAN HARLINGEN, Republic Building,
Telephone, Main 69S0.
209 So. State St. Telephone, Wabash 5774.
LONDON, ENGLAND:
1 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall St., D. C.
NEWS SERVICE IS SUPPLIED WEEKLY BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS
LOCATED I N T H E LEADING CITIES THROUGHOUT
AMERICA.
LONG DISTANCE
TELEPHONES—NUMBERS 5982—6983 MADISON SQ.
Connecting all Departments
Cable address: "Elbill, New York"
NEW YORK, DECEMBER 20, 1919
No. 25
I
N his holiday message to piano travelers, as conveyed through
the medium of The Review last week, Alexis A. Mahan, President
of the National Piano Travelers' Association, sets forth in no uncer-
tain manner the real importance of the traveler, even though he finds
no occasion for pursuing his normal vocation of soliciting orders.
The piano traveler has long been recognized by the intelligent
retailer as something far more than a mere order taker, or even
salesman, for the traveler who has made a study of his business and
his customers acts as an important connecting link, not alone between
the factory and its representatives, but between the dealers in the
various sections he covers. The traveler observes and studies at first
hand new business methods; he notes their success or failure, and
his experience enables him to offer advice of untold value to the
retailer who is following the wrong plan; who is about to embark
in a new venture, or who is in a position to profit by suggestions.
The traveler can probably be termed the missionary of the trade.
The garnering of orders represents in most instances the least part
of his activities.
OUR HOLIDAY ISSUE
T
H E REVIEW has received many compliments from members
of the trade regarding the interesting and elaborate character
of the Holiday Issue brought forth last week, close to schedule,
despite unusual difficulties. Although the strike of the printers in
New York has been over for a fortnight, printing conditions are far
from normal, but in the face of these handicaps the Holiday Issue—
the largest ever published by The Review—was planned and carried
out to completion without delay.- The Review staff naturally takes
pride in the accomplishment and is highly gratified by the expressed
appreciation on the part of its many friends in the trade.
The production of a paper weekly which, including inserts, ran
well over 200 pages, was in itself no small task. To bring it out in
the regular time, between regular weekly issues, likewise mailed
according to schedule, represents a feat that has not yet been
equaled, or for that matter approached, by any other publication in
the music trade.
T H E REVIEW'S W I N D O W DISPLAY C O N T E S T
T
DECEMBER 20, 1919
HE matter of attractive window displays is steadily being
accorded more attention in the trade as the scope of the business
develops, and as the merchants adopt modern methods in retailing.
The store show window, particularly in the lively business centers
where piano salesrooms are most generally located, represents one
of the greatest assets from the standpoint of publicity. When the
store is located in a business center much of the rental charge is
represented by that same display window, and to neglect it is as
bad as to allow the store itself to remain dirty and devoid of stock.
It is with a view to stimulating interest in window displays
generally that The Review has inaugurated the contest announced
last week, to determine the most attractive holiday display of musi-
cal instruments. The prize of a trip to the Music Show, in New
York, in February, should prove a sufficient incentive to interest
the majority of those concerns who give attention to window displays
and pride themselves upon the results obtained. Inasmuch as every
music house makes some sort of special effort at holiday time in the
THE COAL SHORTAGE RELIEVED
N
EWS of the settlement of the coal strike has naturally been
received with frank enthusiasm by the music trade, the members
of which, together with those engaged in other industries, had begun
to see in the fuel conservation restrictions a serious menace to the
holiday trade. As it was, the Federal restrictions, even in the se-
riously affected sections of the Middle West, lasted only for a
comparatively brief period, and along the Atlantic Seaboard had
hardly become operative before they were rescinded. The prospect
of having idle factories and dark warerooms, however, was so immi-
nent for a time that the members of the trade will have some
difficulty in shaking off their nervousness, even though they are
becoming used to having one trouble piled up on top of another.
THE FACTOR OF MORAL INFLUENCE
T
H E strength of the average association lies not in its ability
to force upon its members the observance of sundry rules and
regulations that it may promulgate, but rather upon the moral in-
fluence its membership as a whole may exert upon the individuals
who offend in the matter of trade methods and trade ethics. This
has been proven in the piano trade on several occasions and, for
that matter, most recently. The Association can pass resolutions
condemning this or that practice, but is impotent to force an ob-
servance of those resolutions except through the medium of moral
suasion. But this in itself quite often proves most effective.
Association membership is, or should be, made up of the men
of high standing in that particular industry—men imbued with the
idea of trade betterment, and with the spirit of putting their ideas
into effect in their own businesses. When a piano merchant, or
an individual in any other line of endeavor, becomes so callous
that the condemnation of the better element among his fellows has
no effect upon him then he has reached the point where he is liable
to overstep the bounds and get in trouble in other directions.
Ethics are hard to define, but when the majority of the members
of an industry agree that certain methods are inimical to the welfare
of that industry the offender had better watch his step.