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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
REVIEW
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
RAY BILL, B. B. WILSON, BRAID WHITE, Associate Editors
WILSON D. BUSH, Managing Editor
CARLETON CHACE, Business Manager
L. E. BOWERS, Circulation Manager
Executive and Reportorial Staff
EDWARD VAN HARLINGEN, V. D. WALSH, E. B. MUNCH, C. A. LEONARD, LEE ROBINSON,
EDWARD LYMAN BILL, SCOTT KINGWILI., THOS. W. BRESNAHAN, A. J. NICKLIN.
WESTERN DIVISION:
BOSTON OFFICE:
Republic Bldg., 209 So. State St., Chicago.
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Telephone, Wabash 5774.
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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 as second-class matter September 10, 1892, at the post office at New York, N. Y.,
under the Act of March 3, 1879.
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ADVERTISEMENTS, $6.00 per inch, single column, per insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount is allowed. Advertising pages, $150.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency forms, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill, Inc.
_^_______
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning,
regulating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos
_
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.
Player-Piano and
Technical Departments
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
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Cable address: "Elbill, New York"
Vol. LXXII
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 12, 1921
No. 7
WALL STREET AND THE PIANO BUSINESS
W
HEN a salesman in one of the higher class piano warerooms
in New York, and perhaps in other cities, is seen to grab the
Wall Street edition of the afternoon paper and cast eager eyes over
the closing stock quotations of the day it is not in any sense an
indication that the particular salesman has been, or is, speculating
in stocks, for he may not have even a lone nickel invested or on
margin in the Street. The secret of the eagerness on the part of
the salesman is that he probably has a score or so of live prospects,
men more or less well fixed normally, who have been caught in the
slump in stocks and, being short of cash, are practicing thrift to a
degree that would have gladdened the heart of old Ben Franklin
himseilf.
There has been much comment made on the fact that the spread
of unemployment and the lowering of wages in certain lines has
served to affect the sale of medium and low-priced instruments,
as a natural course, but that sales of high-priced grands listed at
from $1,500 to $3,000 or more, being confined to the rich, were not
affected, because the man in a position to buy such an instrument
was not worrying over the matter of employment. Experience has
proven that this theory is all wrong.
In November, just before the supposedly strong and staple
stocks and securities began to slide from the attic to the cellar, as it
were, a New York salesman had practically closed a deal with a
wealthy society woman for the purchase of a $3,500 reproducing
piano. Her husband was to drop in the next week, cast a deciding
vote and sign his name to the check. Before the next week came
around, however, the stock market began to skid. The woman
came in to explain regretfully that with most of her husband's
money tied up in securities he was not thinking of buying $3,500
pianos, but on the contrary was hurrying around just at that moment
in an effort to secure a few thousands in cash for his own use.
The case cited is not exceptional, for there are any number
of salesmen in the larger cities who have on their prospect lists
names of substantial citizens who are sure to complete their pur-
1921
chases of high-class instruments as soon as they are sure that'they
have saved most of their fortunes from the grasp, of the bulls and
the bears. In most of the cases the prospects are conservative in-
vestors, who have seen their investments slide down to a point where
they have caused genuine worry. One salesman declared confiden-
tially that an average jump of twenty points in the market would
mean an immediate increase of fifty per cent in his sales, and there
are probably a number of others in the same boat.
* PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
President and Treasurer, C. L. Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Vice-President,
J. B. Spillane, 373 Fourth Aye., New York; Second Vice-President, Raymond Bill, 373
Fourth Ave., New York; Assistant Treasurer, Wm. A. Low.
FEBRUARY 12,
A SURPLUS OF LEGISLATION
T
H E statement of J. H. Tregoe, of the National Association of
Credit Men, to the effect that what is needed right now is econ-
omy in legislation rather than the enactment of more laws, most
of them to be classed as freakish, should meet with the hearty
endorsement of business men generally who are frequently har-
assed by legislation that sprouts in the brain of some ignorant or
poorly informed legislator and serves to cause loss and embarrass-
ment without bringing about any corresponding benefits.
The music industry has been called upon many times to combat
bills that, were they permitted to become laws, would serve only
one special class and work hardships on another. There is nothing
more dangerous than inadvised legislation—legislation designed to
give certain powers to certain groups, directly or indirectly, for
profit. In several States there are bills introduced at regular inter-
vals calculated to affect the interests of the music dealers, either
directly as purveyors of musical instruments or as sellers of goods
on instalments. In Pennsylvania particularly such legislation makes
its appearance every couple of years, and the fact that the organizing
of the trade in protest and the raising of a fund to fight the measure
result in its being killed off temporarily leads to the belief that a
certain group of legislators is working consistently on a dollars-and-
cents proposition.
There is so much propaganda being spread about the country
just now that the average citizen has little time or inclination to go
to the root of the various arguments to find out whether or not they
are worthy of his attention. It would seem, however, that even
under existing conditions there is room for definite propaganda in
favor of economy in legislation and consideration only of bills of
genuine merit and of value to the general public. With the business
men of the country united behind such propaganda, the movement
should have some effect.
QUESTIONABLE ADVERTISING
T
HE efforts being made by the Better Business Bureaus of Adver-
tising Clubs, by music dealers' organizations and by other inter-
ests in every section of the country to check by legislation and other
means advertising that is calculated to be misleading, if not actually
fraudulent, would seem to indicate that there is at present a real
need for such action. It was but natural to. expect that with a
recession of business certain elements would be inclined to step away
from the straight and narrow path in an effort to get business and
beat competitors by sensational advertising methods.
During the past couple of years, with demands far exceeding
supplies and merchandise selling itself, as it were, there was no
occasion for the retailer to issue advertising that was in any. way
questionable. Simply an announcement that he had certain goods
to sell was generally sufficient to move the stock faster than it could
be replaced. Now, however, there has come a time when selling is
again an absolute necessity, and bad advertising once more comes to
the front.
The music industry has not been free from this sort of advertis-
ing, and even some of the larger concerns have put their names on
publicity that has created an unfavorable impression. That very
little of the advertising has been actually misleading, however, is
without doubt due in no small measure to the steps that have been
taken by the trade itself, through the medium of the Better Business
Bureau and other agencies, not only to discourage such practices but
to educate the retailer on the subject of clean merchandising.
It might be said right here that good business practice calls for
advertising that represents a sane, conservative and plain statement
of facts in order to develop confidence, for there has been so much
advertising of the sensational sort that even the most gullible have
reached the point where even facts are questioned. Advertising, to
be permanently productive, must be able to meet this questioning.