Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
214
our deliberate opinion that but two of the charges
therein involve in any way the reputation of the
house for fair and honorable feelings.
These are Jt /?r«<, that you have yourselves been sell-
ing what is known to the trade as " Stencil Pianos,"
at the same time that your advertisements and circu-
lare have explicitly denied that such pianos were of-
fered for sale by the house; and, second, that you
have advertised the " Ludden & Bates " piano as of
your own manufacture when, in point of fact, such
was not the case. To these charges alone we have
confined our investigation, believing that nothing
else in the articles of the Courier touches your busi-
ness character.
We are, perhaps, not sufficiently acquainted with
the details of the piano trade to give a specific de-
finition of just what a "Stencil Piano" is, but in
general we understand that the term applies to in-
struments made by parties who do not put their
names upon them—instruments that in themselves
give the purchaser no clue to their origin, and for
which no maker is responsible—in a word, that there
Is an element of deception in them.
Now, the evidence placed before us by your Mr.
Bates satisfies our minds that "The Arion " piano,
the special object of the attack of the Courier, cannot
and does not come in this category. "The Arion"
is the registered trade-mark of a piano manufactured
byJ. P.Hale & Co., of New York, and bearing the name
of maker in plain letters. The Ludden & Bates South-
ern Music House has the sole right to sell this piano
in the Southern States, and we certainly are unable
to see the wrong-doing or want of integrity or
fairness in you selling your goods for what they
are, upon their own merits. We went through your
warerooms, and saw for ourselves that every "Arion"
bore the name of J. P. Hale & Co. as its maker, just
over the keyboard, and below the word "Arion,"
where no purchaser could possibly fail to see it.
As for the charge of your wrongfully claiming to
manufacture the " Ludden & Bates " piano, we have
only to say that sufficient documentary evidence was
put in our hands to convince us that you did manu-
facture those pianos, and have nothing to retract in
the claim.
In a word, then, gentlemen, we are assured, as the
result of this investigation, that the charges against
you are without weight, and need be considered no
more by yourselves or by the community. We may
say, in conclusion, that every facility has been given
us to look into your affairs. Your books, invoices,
papers, instructions to agents, etc , have all been
open to us, and we have seen nothing that you might
not publish to the world. Yours truly,
CHAS. H. OLMSTEAD,
J. H. ESTILL,
M. HAMILTON.
MR. SCHREINER WRITES A LETTER.
SAVANNAH, GA., Feb. 11, 1886.
EDITORS MUSIC TRADE REVIEW :
GENTLEMEN : I must confess my great surprise at
your editorial comments in your issue of this week,
heading the article "Mr. S. Mistakes his Man, and
Comes out Second Best." I cannot see, from the
facts before you, how you can arrive at such a con
elusion. But caring less for this, I believe your
sense of right and justice will assist you in forming
a more correct and liberal opinrion.
There is a limit to man's mental as well as physi-
cal endurance. During the past ten years, the per-
sonal attacks by my competitors through the public
press on my character and business, have been so
constant, although unprovoked, that I often tried to
stop them by law.
One of the most eminent law firms here, to whom
I applied for advice, informed me, however, that my
competitors were too shrewd to go beyond a certain
point, where they could be held amenable to the law,
and so I treated the matter with silence, leaving the
public to judge the matter between us. The late un-
'pleasant affair was the consequence of one of the
most unprovoked attacks in the daily papers here
In fact, one attack was so personal and abusive that
the proprietor of the paper refused to insert the ad-
vertisement, believing that the moral tone of his
paper would suffer thereby. I enclose for your con-
sideration one of the ads. published, so you can judge
under what provocation, and without legal redress,
I made the attack. The matter is past, the entire
public, to a man, has given me their unqualified
sympathy, and I hope there will be an end to further
trouble.
Yours truly,
H. L. SCHREINER.
The following are the advertisements referred to
by Mr. Schriener:
THANKS.
Advertising does pay. Why, one of our competitors
put in a four-line ad. the other day, about a $100
second-hand piano, and "do you know," it just put a
lady in the notion of buying, and she went round
and looked at it, but, fortunately for her, she
thought she had better look around before she
bought, and so she dropped in on us, with the result
that she became convinced that it was much better
economy to invest in one of our beautiful new
Arion Pianos, than to buy any old instrument, and so
that innocent little four-line ad. actually sold us a
piano. Keep at it, friends. All your advertising,
circular distribution, and canvassing, brings grist to
our mil), and helps us wonderfully. We never did
have such a splendid city trade as for the past six
months. And all because people are put in the no-
tion of buying, and then know just where they can
buy to the best advantage. Thanks again.
L. & B. S. M. H.
And when we consider that the circulars, adver-
tisements, and business methods used by ourselves
for the past fifteen years, have knocked the under-
pinning clear out from under our petty competitors,
and built us up a business which is the wonder of the
South, we reckon we won't withdraw very much to
speak of.
Let the ' ' endless trouble " come on. We will take
care of it and all who trouble us.
Our respects will be paid very soon to the sneak
who is at the bottom of all this. We have " him on
the list," or rather the gridiron, and, squirm as he
may, we shall roast him. Lots of fun ahead.
L. & B. S. M. H.
TRAVELING SALESMEN.
OMMERCIAL travellers are an exceptionally
alert, wideawake, energetic class, and they
have stirred up the sleeply atmosphere won.
derfully in many a dull old town and city. There is
a breezy vigor in their ways of talking and trading
that acts like ozone or electricity on the stagnant air
of placid villages and dreamy county seats. They are
scattered all over the country. Every big train west
or east, north or south, carries some of them. They
are peripatetic timetables, thoroughly familiar with
junctions and connections and even witn the little
twigs that stretch out in every direction from the
branches of the great railway trunks of the United
States. With all the aleviations of travel they are
well acquainted, and they know how to secure every
comfort that hotels can supply. Masters of them-
selves and of their business, they accept the incidents
and accidents of their constant journeying and the
fluctuations of trade with easy philosophy. Earth-
quakes do not shake their self-possession and cyclones
affright them not.
The development of the system of selling goods by
samples carried all over the country by enterprising
salesmen, has been prodigious. Tens of thousands
there are of these travellers, and small must be the
shop and microscope the dealings of the tradesman,
whether on the Rio Grande or the Passamaquoddy,
who escapes altogether the visits of the "drummer."
But some cities in the South, with a singular blind-
ness to their own interests, have tried to shut him out
by the exaction of exorbitant license fees. Such
communities deserve to see their hay crop gathered
in their squares, and their main streets bristling
with Canada thistles. They are deliberately shutting
themselves off from the invigorating touch of the
keen, strong vitality of such great centres as New
York and Chicago. The defence is made that the in-
cursions of the drummers make the development of
wholesale trade in smaller cities almost impossible,
and subject these communities to a degrading depen-
dence on a few great towns. But there is no sense in
such an argument. Cities which draw their supplies
directly from the huge warehouses of New York and
Philadelphia, of Boston, and Baltimore, of Chicago
and St. Louis, get the best of everything at a far
smaller margin of profit than any little wholesale
shop in a town of thirty or forty thousand people
C
can afford to do business on. It is the biggest firmsi
whose operations are enormous in the aggregate, that
can and do sell at the smallest percentage of profit.
A bill is now before Congress abolishing restric-
tions against citizens of one State doing business in
another, and it seems to have justice and reason at
its back. Cities which try to build up a Chinese wall
around their little local trade, are pursuing a narrow
and vicious policy, that must injure themselves. The
freest intercommunication in business between every
part of this prosperous Republic, without check or
obstruction is best for all. It is pretended in some
cities, that the revenue from the license fees
on traveling salesmen is Indispensable to aid in pay-
ing municipal expenses. That's nonsense. Throw
open your doors, build up your retail tjade, develop
your manufactures, invite settlement by giving the
people within your gates ihe best chance to buy what
they want cheaply and of good quality, and your town
will go forward so fast that city taxes will soon be
lightly felt. Adopt the policy of exclusion, of shut-
ting yourself up in your shell, and decay and ruin
must be your portion.
The single forcible argument in favor of a high li-
cense fee for drummers, comes from anxious hus-
bands and fathers, cousins and wooers, in minor
cities and towns, who complain that the smart and
fascinating salesmen from New York and Chicago,
turn the heads of their women folk. We fear that
there is a serious basis of truth in this accusation,
and it is one for our great merchants to bear so-
berly in mind. The all-persuasive and all-conquer-
ing drummer too often has a slippery tongue, which
finds too ready listeners among simple maids and
matrons. It is much to be regretted that the major-
ity of employers concern themselves little about the
doings of their salesmen, provided that accounts are
correct and sales large. Certificates of stainless
character are less in demand than the ability to sell
" big bills." But this will right itself in time.—New
York Tribune.
TESTIMONIALS TO THE GROYESTEEN
& FULLER PIANO.
WASHINGTON, D. C, Jan. 29, 1886.
THE GROVESTEEN & FULLER PIANO CO., New York
City.
MR. GEO. W. CARTER :
MY DEAR SIR : It has always been against our
principle to give certificates of any kind, our actions
show for themselves; but, I have no hesitation in
saying that I am much pleased with the piano I
received from you, that it is an improvement upon
the "Old Style," and that I hope you will continue
to improve in the pianos of the "late firm," which,
though " Reliable," need new push to bring them up
to the standard of the day.
My experience with the Grovesteen & Fuller piano,
dates back 25 years.
Very truly, Youra,
EDWARD F. DROOP.
RICHMOND, VA., Feb. 13, 1886.
GROVESTEEN & FULLER PIANO CO.
GENTS : We have been selling the Grovesteen &
Fuller piano for fifteen years, and consider them the
best and most satisfactory piano for the price made
in the country.
Very truly, Yours,
RYLAND & LEE.
LOUISVILLE, KY., Feb. 12, 1886.
THE GROVESTEEN & FULLER PIANO CO., New York
City.
MR. GEO. W. CARTER, General Manager:
MY DEAR SIR: Your kind favor received, in reply
will say the piano is a success. Since 1854 I have
sold the Grovesteen & Fuller pianos, then made by
J. H. Grovesteen. My people in the store, as well as
several professors of music, Mrs. Faulds and myself,
were most agreeably impressed with the " N e w "
Grovesteen & Fuller Piano Co.'s " Upright." The
highest skilled workmanship is shown in their gen-
eral construction, their " pure tone," elastic action,
and beautiful chaste style of case, etc., all go to show
the careful manner the details are looked after. I
can, without hesitation, recommend them to all.
With our good wishes for your continued success,
I am,
Very truly, Yours,
D. P. FAULDS.