Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1924 1985

PRESTO
August 9, 1924.
CREATING
A
SENSATION
IN
THE PIANO
WORLD
Never has there been cre-
ated a line of automatic
pianos so e s p e c i a l l y
adapted for handling by
the regular piano trade
as the
SEEBURG
Pianos of genuine musical
merit, a pneumatic mech-
anism of exceptional reli-
ability and durability and
art case designs which
mark a new departure in
this class of instruments.
Style "K T" with its
many musical combina-
tions is meeting with
remarkable favor.
Let us give you par-
ticulars.
J. P. SEEBURG
PIANO CO.
CHICAGO
General Offices: 1510 Dayton St.
Factory 1508-16 Dayton St.
QUESTION OF THE
FAMILY'S CREDIT
New York Credit Man Discusses Responsibil-
ity of the Head of the House for Pur-
chases Which Have Been Made
by the Wife.
IS SOLICITING BEST?
Why Some of the Perplexities of Most Business Do
Not Hit the Dealer in Musical In-
struments.
That the old adage about there being two sides to
every question applies to the granting of retail credit
as well as to other things is shown by the opinions
expressed on the subject by the credit man for one of
the best-known stores in New York City. Most
of the points are opposed to the solicitation of cus-
tomers, believing that trade should come to the store
without urging. Such a plan would not apply well
to the piano business, although the "bell ringers"
have of later years grown fewer than of old. In
an article in the New York Times a New York busi-
ness man cited, to show the "danger" of the outside
solicitor, the case of a woman whose husband, a
man of large income and of undoubted financial
responsibility, had become so tired of her extrava-
gance that he refuses to pay for purchases not ap-
proved by him personally. The woman in the case,
the credit man said, in more than one instance bought
goods and paid for them with bank checks that
were subsequently returned with the notation "in-
sufficient funds."
"Any store selling merchandise to this woman,"
he continued, "was not only not certain of getting its
money, but was practically certain of never getting it.
A prominent business man recently brought suit for
the annulment of his marriage. His wife had unpaid
accounts in some of the stores, one of which was able
to place an attachment on her trunks in a western
hotel. Just imagine the predicament of any store
soliciting the accounts of women like these, yet they
both were once apparently the 'right kind of pros-
pect' for solicitation.
Thinks Advertising Best.
"The point of my brother credit man that, because
advertising increases store's cash business 'the prin-
ciple (of advertising and solicitation) is the same in
both cases,' does not appear to be well taken, the
fallacy being that advertising is in the nature of a
public announcement, whereas the solicitation of an
account is a special offering of credit to an individual
through the mails. The principle would only be the
same if the store confined itself to advertising that it
would consider applications for credit. Advertising
presupposes a willingness to sell to all, but will any
store willingly give credit to all who apply?"
Touching upon a point which has been a tough one
with piano dealers the credit man said that it is a
mistake to encourage people to buy more than they
can conveniently pay for. Retail credit should be
based strictly on the convenience of charge buying
as against cash buying, on the saving of time to the
sales clerk and on the convenience to the customer.
When a store advertises that the customer does not
have to make payment until such and such a date, it
is tending toward the instalment plan, in which case
the merchandise sold should be covered by a chattel
mortgage. Furthermore, the cost of delay of pay-
ment for one month on more than 10 per cent of the
month's business will amount to a large sum in the
course of a year, all of which must be paid for by
the customer, irrespective of whether he needs the
financial accommodation.
Doesn't Apply to Piancs.
It scarcely need be said that the credit man was
not handling piano accounts. In the sale of pianos it
is almost a rule to encourage prospects to buy "more
than he can conveniently pay for." But for that con-
dition—the urge of the fixed payments—there would
be comparatively few pianos of the popular class
sold. It has been, almost from the first, the solicita-
tion of the prospects that sales of the medium grade
of instruments have been sold. Fortunately, too, for
the average piano dealer, when the wife has decided
on a piano for the home, the alleged head of the
house coincides in the conclusion and the instrument
is delivered. Papa puts his name on the dotted line
and that ends it until the installments fall due.
However, the piano business is better than most of
them. The domestic harmony is enhanced by the
strains of music and there is no suggestion of the
extravagance which may attend an investment in fur
cloaks or fineries which so often lure the surplus
from the family treasury.
The New York credit man went on to say that he
disagreed very strongly with the assertion of any
other'credit grantor that it is not necessary or ad-
visable to notify the husband when a wife opens an
account. "As a matter of common honesty, square-
ness or whatever else you choose to call it," hc_
continued, "it is positively wrong for a store to
refrain from notifying rthc husband that his wife
has epened an account and then calmly look to him
for payment of a bill on which he was not consulted
and which he might have disclaimed had he had the
opportunity."
Needn't Worry Music Men.
That, too, suggests a contingency very seldom
confronted by the piano trade. Pianos, unlike many
other things, cannot be smuggled into the home un-
known to the lord of the manor. It must be both
seen and heard on its arrival, and it is a constant
delight as well as reminder of the obligation it may
involve.
"Furthermore," added the New York credit
man—and this is worth while to the informed
piano dealer—"a husband is not legally re-
sponsible for purchases made by his wife except
those which are considered as necessaries, after*
taking into consideration her station in life and the
husband's earning capacity. Is it fair that he should
be looked to for payment of a bill without having
been notified by the store thaf his wife is applying
for credit? Every month severaf such notifications
are returned to us by husbands .who.-say they will not
be responsible for purchases made on accounts thaT
may be opened by their wives. In such cases we'
are saved the embarrassment of tryiffg to persuade
them to pay for such purchases or ifif trying t6 fore?
them to pay in case they have not first legally
protected themselves and so made collection im-
possible. We are also saved some losses which might
arise from extending credit to wives whose husbands
have given them allowances or who have legally
restricted their own responsibility.
Hubby Should Know.
"To take a larger view of the situation, credit is
based primarily not on legal responsibility, but on
confidence and belief in the honesty of the customer.
For a store deliberately to refrain from notifying
a husband that his wife has opened an account, in
order to avoid an unjustified irritability of a few
cranks, is morally indefensible. It is high time
that credit men talked a little more about principle
and less about expediency.
"We find that we receive fewer complaints from
husbands resenting the notification that their wives
have opened accounts than we do letters from hus-
bands who are glad to have been notified in order
that they may save further loss to themselves or to
the store."
ADVERTISING IS LIKE
SUNSHINE AND RAIN
When the Seed Has Been Planted It Must Be Stimu-
lated to Healthful Growth.
You can plant your seed in proper soil but cannot
make the returns satisfactory unless there is sun-
shine and rain to stimulate the natural growth, says
"Tonk Topics."
You can buy your stock and install it in a good
location but you cannot make your business grow
unless you do the necessary cultivating. It must
have the "sunlight of publicity" and the "rain of
prospective buyers" before growth is even possible.
Then there must also be the radiation of satisfied
customers. There must be continued satisfaction
through right service, well performed. Even the
most fertile field will fail to produce good returns if
any of these requirements are lacking.
"Let your light shine" is a good motto for any
legitimate business enterprise. Too many music
merchants are forgetting that they have a "light."
Advertising is the greatest aid to selling that is
known, providing there are things to be sold and
customers to buy. What are you doing about it?
TRADES MUSIC STORE FOR FARM.
The property known as the I^oss Tuell farm in
Nora Township, Illinois, 120 acres, valued at $25,000,
has beeiT traded for the A. D. Chatelle music store
at Freeport. Mr. Chatelle takes the farm and turns
in trade his music store at invoice price on next
March 1, when the transfer is to be made. The
estimated price of the store is $10,000. Mr. Chatelle
recently moved his music store from Warren to
Freeport.
SMALL NEW YORK FAILURE.
New York Music Store, 1,966 Amsterdam avenue,
New York, failed last week. Liabilities $9,269, as-
sets, $6,500, main items being fixtures, $3,000, stock
$2,500. Alice Moran was appointed receiver under
$1,000 bond by Judge Knox. The members of the
firm are Paul and Philip Weissman.
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
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PRESTO
presto
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY.
Published Every Saturday at 417 South Dearborn
Street, Chicago, Illinois.
C. A. DAN I ELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT -
- Editors
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 234
Private Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Com-
mercial Cable Co.'s Code), "PRESTO," Chicago.
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the
Post Office, Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, f4.
Payable In advance. No extra charge in United States
possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates for advertising on
application.
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if
of general interest to the music trade will be paid for
at space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen
in the smaller cities are the best occasional corre-
spondents, and their assistance is invited.
Presto doesn't have regular letters from any
place, it is more than glad to receive news of
the trade, suggestions of practical value, or
items pertaining to improvements in any
branch of the business at all times. And it is
carefully added that when such items, letters
or information come in and are used—as they
very often are—we are more than glad to pay
the highest market price for the kind of items,
even if small ones, that the readers of a music
trade paper must want to read.
And this editorial is intended to encourage
every reader, wherever located, to help in the
manner indicated even if some of the items
may seem little, inconsequential or irrelevant.
THE HARMONIZERS
For a great many years piano tuners were
regarded by the public as skilled mechanics
whose work, while in the line of specializa-
F^rmp c'^se a t noon every Thursday. News mat-
tion was not to be classed with that of the
ter should be in not later than eleven o'clock on the intellectuals or scientists. The tuner, to be
same day. Advertising copy should be in hand before
Tuesday, five p. m., to insure preferred position. Full sure, carried a little professional-looking box,
page display copy should be in hand by Monday noon
preceding publication day. Want advs. for current or case, but it contained tools, and not drugs
week, to insure classification, must not be later than or globules of saccharine. Therefore, in the
Wednesday noon.
eye of the people, the tuner was a mechanic
Address nil communications for the editorial or business
and
not a scientist.
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 417 South
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
But this view of the men who can, almost
as by magic, resolve discord into harmony,
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 1924.
is changing. The half-competent, or wholly
;
i
incompetent, individual who, years ago, was
LITTLE TRADE ITEMS
wont to knock at the door and ask if the
Does the trade paper want the little incon- piano didn't need tuning, has gone. The "T"
sequential, even irrelevant, things of the trade hammer alone no longer impresses the owner
—the news that is of general concern to but a of a piano. It has become so that if the instru-
few and of direct interest, perhaps, to none? ment requires attention the one who bestows
That depends upon whether there is anything it must be accredited, and his credentials must
in the items that carry useful suggestions or bear the stamp of some reputable music house
whether they help by their personal value to or some recognized tuning school, or that of
individual members of the trade, to attract the the association of tuners, which has finally
kind of readers who like such items, and by been formed, after several ineffectual trials.
their publication become attached to the paper
Readers of Presto will not require any sug-
and so join the ranks of regular readers.
gestion to move them to go through the report
And how does that justify the space which, of Secretary W. F. McClellan, of the National
to the great majority of the trade, may seem, Piano Tuners' Association, Inc., which ap-
for the time being, wasted? It pays because pears in this tissue. And it will strike every
it increases the popularity and circulation of reader that the kind of ability that dictated
the paper, and so makes it of larger value to so thorough and forceful a resume of the work
the advertisers whose announcements are of of the tuners, their duties and their responsi-
direct concern to all members of the trade, bilities, must reflect most satisfactorily upon
whether they like the inconsequential items or the men to whom piano owners entrust not
not. And no publication can have value or only their pianos but the cultivation of the
influence unless it can attract readers, and ears of youth, as well as their own mature
thus make the appeal to the advertisers with- musical sensibilities.
out which it could not be published at all.
And the tuners' convention at Milwaukee
That is the secret of whatever success next week promises to be one of the most im-
comes to the provincial newspaper, also. There portant events associated with musical prog-
the little local happenings have the real values. ress, no less than the piano trade itself. The
The larger things, by which the great world number of practical harmonizers present will
outside is kept boiling and seething and gos- be large, and the subjects to be discussed are
siping, are of secondary importance. It is a no less scientific than practical in their appli-
home paper, and the burg is a snug little place cation to the welfare of those men without
filled with its own smaller problems and am- whom there could be very little real music
bitions.
in the homes of the people.
And so with the trade paper, in whatever
line of industry. It cannot hope to cover the
The cost of crime in the U. S. A. alone
entire field and devote its energies to more would supply the whole world with good
than its own particular field. It can not cover pianos.
politics, religion, crime or society. It must
* * *
stick closely to home or it will get lost in the
Will any American manufacturer care to
mazes of Nowhere or Everywhere. And, of turn out anything like the two-tone, or three-
course, that would be bad for the paper and tone, pianos which the German industries are
useless to the industry and trade it represents. just now stirred up about?
* * *
This old music trade paper is asked every
A country newspaper startles itself by de-
week if correspondents, filled with literary
ability, are not wanted at points all over the claring that radio is "killing" music of all
world. And we have a printed, but polite, let- kinds. And if that is as true as it might be
ter ready for our friends. It says that while important, isn't it equally true that radio is
August 9, 1924.
killing itself? For what would there be of
radio without music, aside from its usefulness
as a news agency and political loud-speaker?
THE SUMMER SLUMP.
"Are you taking part in the 'Beat the Summer Slump'
Campaign ?"—Gulbransen Bulletin.
The summer slump comes slinking in
To dope the things to sell;
The sun's hot rays at dawn begin—
The store seems hot as—well,
The summer slump cuts out the pep,
And kills the dare to do,
Reducing deeds that win a rep
For salesmen just like you.
But there's a way the slump to foil,
And kill the summer's heat—
To cool the fires that often spoil
The fruit that should be sweet;
It's found in stirring up the grit
To get there day oc night,
And feel that you're just always fit
To win in any fight.
The summer slump is just a bluff
That nature plays to shy
Our courage—and it's made of stuff
That's never found in "try";
It's up to us to stir about
And give it such a bump
That you will win, without a doubt,
And beat the summer slump.
,
30 YEARS AGO IN THE TRADE
From the Files of Presto
August 9, 1894. .
Mr. George Nembach, of Geo. Steck & Co., has
returned from his European trip much improved in
health and in excellent spirits.
Mr. Galvin Whitney, president of the A. B. Chase
Company, Norwalk, Ohio, is making a southern trip
in the interests of his house.
The Krell piano is making its influence felt in
high places. It is now the only western piano that
sustains a Fifth avenue wareroom in New York City.
A large Cincinnati house has adopted a novel, and
we should say very effective, plan for discovering
prospective purchasers. The house alluded to adver-
tises that square pianos will be tuned absolutely free
of charge.
Of course we all know that trade is quiet. But
it is possible to keep the depressing fact too con-
spicuously in mind. It is better to forget the tariff-
tinkering, and the attendant stagnation, by an extra
drop or two of the oil of energy.
In the record of Probate Court appointments at
Cincinnati, on last Thursday, appeared the following:
"Franklin A. Lee and William S. Rowe, executors
and trustees of the estate of William Hooper, de-
ceased. Personalty, $350,000; realty, $150,000."
20 YEARS AQO THIS WEEK
From Presto, August 11, 1904.
J. G. Holt & Co., Kansas City, Mo., displayed the
following sign under their large gilt piano sign:
"STOP DRINKING, SAVE YOUR MONEY AND
BUY A PIANO."
The passing of the square was again illuminated
last Tuesday in Kenosha, Wis., when a house was
destroyed by fire and the burning of the square was
again enacted. This time, however, the burning was
real and cost the insurance company $80.
Herbert L. Draper, secretary of the Cable Com-
pany, is in Europe and the members of his house
express the wish that he is enjoying himself. He
is expected home some time in September.
We have a short interview this week with Mr.
A. S. Bond, of the Packard piano, and what that
gentleman says about advertising is the result of
practical knowledge. Mr. Bond is admittedly one
of the most skillful advertisers of fine pianos in the
entire list.
Last Thursday night the South Haven Board of
Trade held a special meeting to hear the report of
the committee of seven representative business men
who had made a special trip to Chicago to consult
with F. S. Cable and H. P. Nelson as to the terms
of locating their piano factory in South Haven.
W. L. Bush, and other piano men who have taken
prominent part in the agitation for good wagon roads
in this country, will be pleased to hear that an expert
from the United States Department of Agriculture
is to go to De Kalb, 111., and direct the building
of a half mile of roadway from the city limits to
the new cemetery. It is believed that we are at the
beginning of an era of building better roads and that
the piano business will come in for a large share of
the benefit.
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/

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