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THE
MUJIC TKADE
VOL.
LXXIf. No. 2
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York.
Jan. 8, 1921
Slnftte Copies 10 CenU
f 2.00 Per Year
Mental Attitude
B
AD business may not be entirely a state of mind, as some of the optimists in and out of the trade would
have us believe, but it is certain that the state of mind has a decided effect in making- and keeping busi-
ness in either a satisfactory or an unsatisfactory condition. More than one manufacturer and dealer
have been going along more or less contentedly, meeting the situation as it directly affected them and
keeping business going along with a fair degree of activity through special effort. They are calm and col-
lected mentally, until they meet some members of the trade who start to tell them how bad they have found
things in this or that section of the country and in this or that division of the trade. The individual dealer
thereupon returns to his own place of business in a distinctly pessimistic frame of mind and in a mood to stop
trying and let things run along as best they can.
In keeping the spirits of the trade on a high plane the traveler proves a most important factor. Get-
ting about the country as he does he is in a position to carry to the dealer news of either the good things or
the bad things that he has noted during his trip. He can represent a harbinger of gloom or a messenger of
light as he desires. It so happens that a certain number of travelers at least are inclined to prove disciples of
gloom. They may, of course, meet the retailer with a smiling countenance and a breezy and confident manner,
but this attitude will count for nothing if, in conversation, they take occasion to point out that the competing
dealers are having their own particular troubles—that they are finding business hard to get and are more or
less discouraged.
When the average man listens to talk of this kind he conies to the conclusion that instead of enjoying
a fair measure of trade under the conditions he is simply treading on thin ice, and is laboring under a sense
of false security. The psychological effect is bad.
In a recent article in Printers' Ink, I'ruce P>arton, the noted writer, had some most pertinent comments
to make under the caption: "As Prophets Are Your Salesmen a Loss?", and he emphasized the point that many
salesmen were inclined to develop a negative spirit, and in their conversation with the trade tell how bad they
have found things, rather than how good they expect conditions to be in the near future.
There are many facts that point to an early return of improved, if not normal, conditions, facts that
cannot be denied. It might be just as well in mingling with the trade for the traveler to spread these facts
to the best of his ability, rather than confine himself to discouraging gossip, and in this connection it may be
said that the executive who travels throughout the trade is bound just as much as is the professional traveling
salesman to carry the message of encouragement rather than of gloom.
It is, of course, ridiculous even to hint that the manufacturer or dealer who finds that his stock is not
moving can, by any process of the mind, change that condition,.but if he is possessed of a fair amount of con-
fidence, and comes in contact with other individuals of the trade who are likewise confident of an early im-
provement in the situation, he is more likely to buckle down and put forth real effort into going after business.
There is a certain element in the trade that really feels that under existing conditions the day is lost
that does not bring some report, or at least some rumor, of a manufacturer or retailer being in financial dif-
ficulties or approaching that state. This type of individual fails to realize that a large number of failures reflects
upon the stability of the trade and directly affects his own position in that trade. The circulation of un-
founded rumors breeds a pessimism that is wide and harmful in its effects.
The manner in which the music industry has weathered and is weathering the period of depression re-
flects its stability. The fact that the trade has come through really serious panics in years past with flying
colors naturally makes us confident that the effect of the depression that is rapidly passing by will hardly be
noticeable on the industry. A general emphasis put upon this fact should do much to encourage those trade
members v\ho are inclined to be weak-kneed and see nothing but blue.