Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
From A Traveler's
Note Book.
THE
HOT
WEATHER
SECURE
THE
FUTURE
MADE
THE
CROPS
EXPOSITION—THE
INDUSTRIAL SOUTH — SHERMAN'S
RIFLE-PITS
TION
HAS
ATLANTA
WERE WHERE THE
BUILDINGS
ERA
OF
THE
NOW
PEACE—CLUF.TT
OLDEST
EXPOSI-
STAND
GABLER
THE
& SONS
AGENTS.
THE ADVANTAGE OF TRAVEL;
' ' THE
MUSIC
TRADE
RE-
VIEW " THE FIRST PAPER
TO INAUGURATE
TENSIVE
EX-
9
mering lights and of flags extending from
the Tennessee River to Missionary Ridge,
and from Lookout Mountain to Chicka-
mauga Park. Blue coats and gray coats
with many an empty sleeve tell the story
that we are one country, which is caught up
and re-echoed by the din of whirring ma-
chinery at the great industrial Exposition
at Atlanta, which occupies grounds where
thirty years ago were rifle-pits thrown up
by Sherman's troopers, but now the land
echoes with the strains of "Marching
Through Georgia," with a different mean-
ing than when Sherman's army swept
through the Empire State of the South.
TRAV-
EL AMONG THE
DEALERS.
W.
P.
VAN
WICKLE,
OF WASHINGTON
MATTERS FOR MANUFACTURERS
SIDER
WILL
NOT
A
SOMF
TO CON-
NUMBER OF
SMALL DEALERS PAY BET-
TER THAN ONE LARGE
DEALER?
HE recrudescence of summer in
this mid-September week
has not been conducive to
trade interests in any section
of the country. It, however,
removes all doubt as to the
destruction of certain crops by early frost.
The present superfluity of warm sunshine
in American grain fields has settled the
question of the successful harvesting of the
biggest crop which this country has ever
produced.
I recollect while South on my travels
among the trade last winter that at the
time of my visit to Atlanta I wrote that I
was impressed with the intense enthusiasm
which was being displayed by the ladies of
Atlanta toward the great industrial enter-
prise then fairly under way.
The success of the Atlanta Exposition, '
or at least its successful opening last
Wednesday, is due largely to the indefatiga-
ble efforts of the ladies of the South who
have worked assiduously to promote inter-
est in the Exposition in every section of
the country. I wrote also at the time of
my visit of the transference of the textile
manufactures of the North to the sunny
fields where the raw material is grown. It
seems from all reports regarding the open-
ing of the Exposition that the dreams of
the industrial South will be realized to the
fullest extent in the near future. The Ex-
position at Atlanta is an event in the his-
tory of the Southland, intending to show
at once the progress the people have made
in that section since the war, and the fu-
ture achievements of which they are capa-
ble. The Southern Exposition emphasizes
another fact—that we have entered upon a
genuine era of good feeling, and that the
"bloody shirt" has been removed forever
from the sphere of American politics.
As I write this there is a great reunion
of the Grand Army of the Republic upon
Southern soil, as Chattanooga, Tenn., is
ablaze with glory—a perfect sea of glim-
I think probably the oldest Gabler agen-
cy in the United States is that of Cluett &
vSons, Albany, N. Y. The agency for the
Gabler was first secured by the father of
the men who compose the firm of Cluett &
Sons, and 'has been continued during all
the years. There has been no relaxation
of interest, either. While in Albany the
other day, Edmund Cluett was very enthu-
siastic in speaking of the Gabler. He said:
"We have sold them for many, many years,
and there has always been the perfect sat-
isfaction of knowing that wherever a Gab-
ler piano was sold a friend was made.
The new improvements, particularly the
sliding fall and music desk, show that the
Gabler firm are always seeking whereby
they may improve their instruments."
* *
W . P . VAN W1CKLK.
What a tremendous worker W. P. Van
Wickle, manager of the Bradbury establish-
ment in Washington, is. Mr. Van Wickle
belongs to the class of quiet men who prefer
to let their accomplishments speak for them-
selves rather than to indulge in wordy py-
rotechnics regarding their own accomplish-
ments. Mr. Van Wickle has made the
name and fame of the Bradbury widely
known in Washington and vicinity, and his
work still seems to continue with unabated
vigor.
V
I think if some manufacturers would pay
more attention to smaller dealers their vol-
One of the best known members of the ume of business at the end of the year
trade said to me the other day: "Other ed- would make a much more satisfactory
itors are now falling into line regarding showing than is oftentimes the case. To
travel. Still the fact remains and must al- illustrate: A traveler starts out on a trip.
ways be recognized that you were the man Now, in many instances instead of looking
who first inaugurated extensive travel over the list carefully and jotting down a
among the dealers, and by publishing por- goodly number of names of smaller dealers
traits of hundreds of them, you have upon whom he should call, he at once calls
brought the manufacturer and dealer into on Mr. So and So, who is a large dealer,
closer acquaintance than any other paper perhaps the largest in a certain city. It is
published in the-music trade." Consider- quite a feather in his cap if he gets this
ing the source from whence this came, I man. It makes him solid with the house,
thought it extremely complimentary, but you know, and then the trade papers will
having been for years a traveler, and hav- all give him a good send-off. So he just
ing visited thousands of dealers in every camps with this large dealer until he con-
part of the country, I perhaps look upon sents to taking on the agency of the pianos
these things differently than I did some represented by the traveler, and perhaps
years ago. I simply hold the belief that he does this simply to keep it out of his
travel is one of the greatest educators—it competitors' hands. Perhaps at the same
gives one an intimate knowledge of trade time he has more pianos of different makes
conditions and environments. I believe in his warerooms than he is even then do-
that there are other aims and ideas for a ing justice to. Again, he only consents to
trade editor than writing trade news, gossip take the agency with the stipulation that
—laudatory and defamatory matter. I hold he must control a large slice of territory;
that a man who is editing a trade publica- he also claims a reduction in price, inter-
tion should thoroughly familiarize himself jecting a word now and then, that simply
with locations and personalities of the his name is sufficient advertisement for the
dealers as well as manufacturers, and for piano, that the traveler can afford to sell
many years I have worked upon these him at a cut rate, because it would be a big
lines, meeting with, I think, a fair degree card for him before the firm. All right,
of success. There are men in the trade to- the traveler accedes to all his demands, but
day who could not tell from their own per- what is the result? Weeks and months
sonal experience whether French is spoken drift by, and the first shipment of pianos
in New Orleans, German in Milwaukee or remains unsold. The manufacturer expects
Norwegian in Minneapolis, or whether more orders, but they do not come. Why
"Chinatown" in San Francisco is on an is it? Simply because the dealer is push-
island or a peninsula.
ing other makes of instruments, and is not