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THE MUSIC TRADE
RMEW
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
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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
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Player-Piano and
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Vol. LXXV
NEW YORK, AUGUST 19, 1922
No. 8
THE CONDITIONAL SALES LAW
HE members of the music industry, especially those retailers
who sell instruments on the instalment plan, must view with con-
siderable satisfaction the action of the New York State Legislature
in passing a Uniform Conditional Sales Law, effective on September
1, which is calculated to simplify the problems of the merchant in
the handling of instalment accounts and in the recovery of instru-
ments upon which payments have lapsed.
One of the chief points of advantage is the provision that the
vendor need not of necessity resell replevined goods unless the buyer
serves notice on him to that effect within ten days after the seizure.
The necessity for conducting some form of resale of a recovered
instrument has long been an annoying problem for New York mer-
chants. Under the new law a resale is necessary only if more than
50 per cent of the purchase price has been paid.
For a number of years efforts have been made to have a Uni-
form Conditional Sales Law adopted in various States, and that
New York has been among the first to take such action is regarded
as significant and a step in the right direction. Only those concerns
which have done instalment business in several States can realize the
real difficulties met with in complying with a great variety of laws
covering such conditional sales.
The analysis of the new law prepared for The Review by Henry
H. Harkavy, which appeared in last week's issue, discusses a number
of points of particular interest in the new measure.
T
THE COAL SITUATION
HE coal situation has now reached a point where the effects of
the shortage are being felt in practically all lines of industry, and
it is frankly a problem with many factories, including a number in
the piano trade, as to just how they may be able to obtain enough
fuel to keep the plants in operation.
It is earnestly hoped, of course, that the operators and the miners
will be able to get together and effect some basis of settlement within
a comparatively short time and without outside interference, but even
if such a settlement be brought about the mines must be worked at
T
REVIEW
AUGUST
19,
1922
full speed if industrial requirements are to be met and the depleted
reserves of anthracite coal replenished.
The announcement from Washington to the effect that the
Government will take over the control of the coal mines unless the
strike is settled speedily offers very little hope for the average manu-
facturer, for while it is unlikely that any great increase in hard coal
production will result under Government control, there is a certainty
that the enforcement of priorities is likely to prove embarrassing to
all industries not directly connected with the State or with transporta-
tion. The music industry has had experience in the pa^t with the
question of operating under priority rule, and the experience was not
pleasant.
It might be well for the various trade organizations to be pre-
pared to protect their interests in any case where the Federal authori-
ties assume the task of allotting fuel.
THE TUNERS' CONVENTION
T
HE National Association of Piano Tuners, which held Us annual
convention in Indianapolis this week, is an organization that
commands genuine respect for the character of the program pre-
pared for the meeting and the earnestness with which it was carried
out. Probably there is- much more about the profession of tuning
to provide subject for discussion than is the case with other branches
of the trade, but the fact remains that the discussions at the Tuners'
Convention are always instructive and calculated to prove of direct
and practical benefit to the members of the craft.
The Tuners' Association has won and deserves a substantial
measure of support from both the Manufacturers' and Merchants'
Associations, not only for its accomplishments, but for the ideals
for which the organization is working. It may not be possible for
an association of comparatively limited membership to put the art
of tuning upon the highest possible plane and to eliminate the fraudu-
lent and the incompetent, but it has already accomplished much in
one way or another to set the legitimate tuner right in the eyes of
the trade and of a substantial proportion of the public, and through
the assistance of the other trade bodies it will be able to accomplish
much more in the future.
If the trade at large will aid in the distribution of the sugges-
tions compiled by the Tuners' Association for the care of the piano
it will mean more satisfaction for the purchaser through having an
instrument always kept in proper condition and this, of course, will
reflect directly to the advantage and reputation of the manufacturer
who made the piano and the dealer who sold it.
A NEW IDEA IN MERCHANDISING
T
H E National Merchandise Fair, which is now being held at the
Grand Central Palace and the Seventy-first Regiment Armory,
in New York, is an experiment that is indirectly of considerable
interest to the music industry, for it is designed to simplify the buy-
ing and selling problems with the subsequent economy of time and
money.
The music trade has on several occasions tried the experiment of
holding expositions, or shows, with the same object of bringing the
buyer and seller together under conditions calculated to enable each
to cover more ground at less expense, but so far as this industry is
concerned the results were, for the most part, unsatisfactory.
If the National Merchandise Fair proves a success and, as the
sponsors hope, becomes an annual or semi-annual affair of sufficient
importance to attract thousands of buyers from all sections of the
country, it may be that various music trade interests may participate.
The first show includes exhibits by several manufacturers of talking
machines, records and talking machine supplies and accessories, and
it would seem that other trade interests might find it to their advan-
tage to arrange similar exhibits.
This much can be said for the show this year, that it has so far
attracted many thousands of buyers of recognized standing, who have
placed orders in sufficient volume to make the venture pay for the
individual exhibitors. It is true that most of the products shown are
those for which orders are placed at definite seasons of the year,
whereas pianos and other musical instruments do not rank as sea-
sonal products, but it might be of advantage to have musical instru-
ments shown with other goods handled by the average mercantile
establishment if only for the purpose of emphasizing the fact that
musical instruments are really an important part of home equip-
ment and not things apart.