12
September 6, 1924.
PRESTO
facturer to realize that this is the case," said Mr.
Farquarson. Enlarging on the subject he continued:
The Manufacturer's Position.
A manufacturer turns out an article of real value
at a certain cost to himself; he adds a fair percentage
of profit in return for his investment and work, and
then proceeds to tell the public about it, urging them
Subject Is Discussed by A. G. Farquarson, to buy and, because it costs money to tell the pub-
lic—to advertise, he adds that cost. Owing to the
Secretary of Music Trades Association of
fact that he is neither in the distributing business
Southern California, Who Sees Its Ad-
nor in the retail business, he sells his goods to job-
bers or sometimes to dealers direct, depending on
vantages to Dealers and Manufacturers.
the article, and in turn the public buy from the
dealer.
Now, in order that his goods may be intelligently
recognized and authoritatively priced, the manufac-
turer tells the public in his advertising that they are
worth a certain price, arriving at this price by allowing
At Recent Gathering of Western Dealers, Subject himself, the jobber and the dealer, respectively, a
Was Considered One of the Foremost For
fair and legitimate profit. The public soon recognizes
the value of his goods and, due to his advertising and
Consideration.
the dealers' advertising, learns and remembers the
advertised prices.
Trade regulation is one of the questions which
The Dangerous Possibility.
some members of the music trade consider highly
Then there springs up another manufacturer who
interesting and others view with indifference. The
manufacturers of music goods are more favorably makes an imitation, cheap more or less, and plans to
put it on the market. The cost of making the imita-
disposed towards trade regulation, but even among tion
is much less than that of the original, and the
them there is variety of opinion as to its merits. imitator does no advertising. Therefore he can sell
Price maintenance is a better phrase to represent the it to a jobber or to a dealer at a much lower figure
trade regulation question in the music trade. Dis- that that charged by the manufacturer of the orig-
cussing the price maintenance as a procedure to be inal. Then the dealer sells it, or tries to sell it, to
put into effect is not permissible according to law, the public at a lower price than the original.
In all probability the public refuses to rush after
but organizations of the music trade may discuss the
advantages of legislation along that line. The im- the cheap imitation, recognizing that the value is not
portance of the subject was acknowledged in the there, so the dealer prepares a bait. He advertises
recent Western Music Trade Convention in San the original at a cut price and instructs his salesmen
to sell the imitation to as many customers as possible,
Francisco and A. G. Farquarson, secretary of the although
they have been attracted to his store by the
Music Trade Associations of California, was assigned reduced price of the original article and came to
to speak on the subject. '"There is surely no ques- purchase the latter. What is the actual result? The
tion about the fairness and justice of trade regulation public is deceived and cheated, the manufacturer is
for the protection of manufacturers. You simply represented as a liar and is made the unwilling sales-
have to place yourselves in the position of the manu- man of his imitator's goods and the dealer has be-
trayed his customers and disgraced himself in the
eyes of his salespeople.
Kelly-Stephens Safety Clause.
You also know, of course, that the Kelly-Stephens
bill contains a proviso for the protection of the mer-
chant in the »event of his having been overstocked
with goods which are protected by "Trade Regula-
tion," or in the case of a merchant retiring from busi-
GRAND; UPRIGHT and PLAYER
ness or selling out. This proviso allows the mer-
chant to notify the manufacturer of his overstock or
AND
intention to sell out, and the manufacturer then buys
back the merchant's stock at the latter's cost. If the
manufacturer refuses to do this, then the merchant
can advertise the goods at reduced prices and sell
them accordingly.
740-742 East 136th Street
Unfair to Public.
The cutting of prices that have been established
NEW YORK
as fair, by national advertising and under a policy
of proving these prices fair, in order to lead the buy-
ing public to believe that similar cuts on articles of
unknown value offer similar bargains, is not only
damaging to a fair price policy and to all business
conducted under that policy, but it is unfair to the
buyer. It helps to deceive him into buying the mer-
chandise at prices that are often unfairly high. The
music business has not the quick change in style or
the wide variety of merchandise that make possible
Manufacturers of
the mark-ups of from 300 to 500 per cent, mark-ups
that are necessary in lines that obtain quick turnover
by mark-down sales.
The manufacturer and the dealer who believe that
their business can be conducted at a fair margin of
profit should, in the interest of the buyer, be pro-
Factory and Warerooms
tected from the unfair competition of the advertiser
who is using his fair price policy as a bait to sell
other merchandise. We are not in a business that
767-769 Tenth Avenue, New York
can stand cut prices, either among ourselves or by
our competitors.
PRICE MAINTENANCE
IN THE MUSIC TRADE
FAVORITE TRADE TOPIC
SCHILLER WITH SIMPLEX
ACTION AT OHIO CONVENTION
Super-Grand Model Equipped with the Simplex Ex-
pression Will Be Feature of Meet.
W T hat promises to be an interesting feature at the
convention of the Ohio Music Merchants' Associa-
tion at the Statler Hotel, Cleveland, September 9 and
10, is the showing of the Schiller Super-Grand, made
by the Schiller Piano Co., Oregon, 111., in connection
with the Simplex Action Company, which will be in
charge of Robert Johnson, of the Simplex Action
Co., Worcester, Mass.
Mr. Johnson, who so capably displayed the
Schiller grand and the Simplex Expression Action at
the tuners' convention at Milwaukee, Wis., last
month, is well known in the trade, and will be on
hand to show the combination to the members of the
Ohio Music Merchants' Association when they con-
vene at Cleveland next week.
Frank Hood, of the Schiller Piano Co., with offices
at Republic Building, 209 South State street, Chicago,
will be present to greet his many friends of the Ohio
trade and to explain the merits of the Oregon, 111.,
instrument to the visitors.
Edgar B. Jones, president of the Schiller Piano
Company, will also be a visitor to the convention.
Mr. Jones will stop over in Cleveland on his way to
Pittsburgh, Pa., on a business trip.
TO BUILD BELLEVUE PLANT.
The wreckage of the plant of the Henry G. John-
son Piano Mfg. Co.'s factory, Bellevue, la., destroyed
by fire May 29, has already been cleared away and
the work of rebuilding will be rushed, according to
a report from there. At the time of the fire the fac-
tory was giving employment to ten per cent of the
population of the town, so its importance in the in-
dustrial life, of the community was very great. Every
line of business missed that healthy payroll since the
STR1CH & ZEEDLER, Inc.
HOMER PIANOS
Becker Bros.
HIGH GRADE PIANOS
and PLAYER PIANOS
THE
W. P. HAINES & COMPANY
PIANOS
THE PIANOS OF QUALITY
Three Generations of Piano Makers
All Styles—Ready Sellers
Attractive Prices
GRANDS
REPRODUCING GRANDS
UPRIGHTS and PLAYERS
AVAILABLE TERRITORY OPEN
W. P. HAINES & CO., Inc.
138th St. and Walton Avc.
New York City
NEW "23" MODEL BOWEN LOADER
We are now making shipments of our latest model, which is Foolproof and indestructible.
Price reduced to $95.00 including extra good moving cover.
Shipped to responsible dealers on approval.
Try one. If you don't like it send it back.
BOWEN PIANO LOADER CO.,
Winston-Salem, N. C.
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