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The Music Trade Review
REVIEW
(Registered in the U. S. Patent Office)
Published by Federated Business Publications, Inc.
at 420 Lexington Avenue, New York
President, Raymond Bill; Vice-Presidents, ). B. Spillane, Randolph Brown; Secre-
tary and Treasurer, Edward Lyman Bill; Assistant Secretary, L. B. McDonald;
Assistant Treasurer, Win, A. Low.
B. BRITTAIN WILSON, Editor
RAY BILL, Associate Editor
WM. H. McCLEARY, Managing Editor
CARLETON CHACE, Business Manager
FRANK L. AVERY, Circulation Manager
Executive and Reportorial Staff
E. B. MUNCH, EDWARD VAN HARLINGEN, THOS. W. BRESNAHAN, E. J. NEALK,
FREDERICK B. DIEHL, A. J. NICKLEN
WESTERN DIVISION:
BOSTON OFFICE
FRANK W. KIRK, Manager
JOHN H. WILSON, 324 Washington St.
Republic Bldg., 209 So. State St., Chicago
Telephone, Main 6950
Telephone, Wabash 5242-5243
LONDON, ENGLAND: 1 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall, St., D. C.
NEWS SERVICE IS SUPPLIED WEEKLY BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS
LOCATED IN THE LEADING CITIES THROUGHOUT AMERICA
has been worn more or less threadbare through too frequent use.
The country has reached a state where its problems and their
solution have become those of the nation rather than of any one
political party, and no better evidence of this is to be found than
in the difficulty experienced by the political factions in creating
campaign platforms that will be enough different from those of the
other side to warrant receiving public attention and support. The
country has reached a state where violent political disturbances are
practically impossible for the reason that the public has learned
to demand something more tangible than pre-election promises.
The main point is that the business man, whether he is manu
facturer or distributor, who automatically puts a red ring around
1928 because it happens to be Presidential year, and resigns himself
to the worst, is simply complicating the situation. In short, he is
surrendering as a tribute to precedent before there is any real rea-
son for it. If business cycles are to be governed by Presidential
elections and limited to four-year periods, then the much- lauded
efficiency of American business is bunk. It may be that the election,
regardless of the result, will be made to have some effect on Wai 1
Street, but the solid business man who is trimming his sails and
complaining already because there is going to be a new President
chosen in November is simply borrowing trouble. If he puts real
effort into developing his business he will probably have little time
to be worried about political developments.
& Jg £f
Music Dealers and Music
Published Every Saturday at 420 Lexington 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, United State and Mexico, $2.00 per ye-ar; Canada, $3.50; all other
countries, $5.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, rates on request.
REMITTANCES, should be made payable to Music Trade Review.
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
TELEPHONES—LEXINGTON 1760-1771
Cable Address: "Elbill, New York"
Vol. 86
NEW YORK, JANUARY 7, 1928
The Mid-Year Merchants'
No. 1
Meeting
HE results of the Mid-Year meeting of the Board of Control of
the National Association of Music Merchants to be held in New
York late this month will be watched with much interest by all
those concerned in association work and its progress, for there
are many activities in which the association has engaged, or plans
to engage, that should have a direct bearing upon the progress of
the industry as a whole in the future.
It is recognized that the present administration of the national
organization has been, and is, most active. The officials are taking
their jobs seriously. President Roberts, particularly, has shown an
inclination to devote to association work the same strong effort that
he would put into a private venture and the result has been some
real accomplishments and the mapping out of programs that with
proper support should mean much for the trade.
At the Mid-Year meeting the various new policies for the asso-
ciation will be outlined and discussed and reports made on th<'
activities since the annual convention in June. In view of the gen
eral situation in the trade and particularly the attention being paid
to all efforts looking to the promotion of the piano, the sessions are
of unusual importance and any action taken therein should have
a strong influence on trade activities for the present year at least.
With the directors of the Music Industries Chamber of Com-
merce meeting at practically the same time it will also be possible
for the officials of the two organizations to consult upon matters of
direct interest to both, or rather on matters in which interest is or
should be mutual.
m
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The Presidential Year Alibi
A LREADY has the Presidential Year alibi reared its head in
*- *• the business world and made its presence felt in the music in*
dustry, among.others. Business at present may be good, bad or
indifferent, but regardless of its status we find plenty of those who
explain in a mournful tone that the prospects for the year might
be better were it not for the Presidential election in November.
Taking it by and large, it is a rather thin excuse to tie to, one that
JANUARY 7, 1928
Teachers
I
N his recent discussion of the commission problem as it applies
to music teachers, Herman H. Fleer, vice-president of Lyon &
Healy, Chicago, views the situation in a most sensible manner, and
offers the suggestion that the solution does not lie in the elimination
of the commission but rather in keeping it under control so that
it is paid only on a legitimate basis.
It is recognized that under certain conditions those outside of
the regular piano sales staff are entitled to some compensation for
influencing a sale. It may be the teacher who honestly recommends
a certain make, or whose judgment is depended upon in the selec-
tion of an instrument for a pupil's home. It may be a decorator
who, in the course of his work, is requested to arrange for the
purchase of a piano to harmonize with certain furnishings. Or it
may be the truckman who in his daily rounds comes in contact with
someone who is in the market for a piano. In any such case where
the commission is honestly earned, the cost is offset by the saving
to the house of hunting up the prospect and carrying on negotia-
tions to the buying point.
The great trouble, of course, is that there are, and apparently
always have been and always will be, commission fiends of the
grafting type, those who, instead of working for the sale of some
particular piano, register their prospect with a half-dozen dealers
and then come looking for the commission from whatever house
that has worked up the deal through its own sales force.
Particularly annoying is the type of teacher who accompanies
a pupil to select an instrument after the sale has been completed
up to that point and then holds out for a split on the threat of
killing the sale and taking it to another house.
Certainly the commission problem is not nearly as serious as
it was some few years ago, except in certain instances, for the
reason that dealers have been inclined to show firmness in dealing
with the grafting type of commission hunters, and have discouraged
the practice to a large extent. When the dealer and the representa-
tive teachers of his community work together under a common un-
derstanding the commission question will cause little trouble.
J¥ $g $g
Low Terms and Careless Credits
- A RESOLUTION that the music merchant might well make
-*• ** and keep during the New Year is that he will insist upon
reasonable terms on all sales made and will watch his credit de-
partment carefully. This procedure is necessary at all times, but
particularly so under conditions where sales are made under more
or less difficult conditions and where a repossession counts much
more seriously than it does in normal times. Low terms and
careless credits never made for good business. They may build
up temporary volume, but the grief that follows is of the sort that
wipes out most of the potential profits.