Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE .REVIEW..
EDWARD LYMAN
Editor and Proprietor.
PUBLISHED
:-
EVERY- SATURDAY
3 East Nth St.. New York -—-"'-
SUBSCRIPTION (including: postage) United States and
Canada, $3-00 per year; Foreign Countries, $4.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.00 per inch, singlo column, per
Insertion. On quarterly or yearly contracts a special dis-
count is allowed.
REMITTANCES, In other than currency form, should
!>• made payable to Edward Lyman BilL
Bnttrtd mt tkt New York Post Office as Second-Class Matttr.
NEW YORK, APRIL 25, 1896
'•THE BUSINESS MAN'S PAPER."
W
HEN the trade winds blow favor-
ably, and no rough weather is en-
countered, it is comparatively easy to man-
age a craft which is not altogether up to
nautical demands and not properly bal-
lasted, but when the storms arise, the seas
are troubled, the skies are darkened, it is
then that the seaworthiness of a craft is
thoroughly tested and the ability of the
man at the wheel to successfully direct the
course of his vessel so that he sails into
smoother seas is demonstrated.
It is so in life.
When times are booming, when trade
skies are smiling-, when everything moves
easily and buoyantly along and there is
abundance everywhere, it is easy—that is,
comparatively easy—to steer a commercial
craft, to adjust finances so that ordinary
strains are quickly disposed of before they
develop into serious leaks.
It is under such conditions that men
oftentimes become imbued with the idea
that they are Napoleons of finance, that
their speculative genius is not limited to
low horizons, that the mere confines of nar-
row trade lines are altogether too limited them as an experiment in line with their
for their advanced ideas and gigantic brain.; general policy, and will possibly be con-
as well as financial endowment. . ••
\ \ tinued, but we doubt very much if the other
\ They plunge ahead as if there was to be * 'large Hqiases, such as Macy's, Hilton,
no reckoning ^diiy—as-if the good times Hughes & Co., or the new concern of Siegel-
would ever smile—as if there was no limit Cooper will give much attention to this
to their own possibilities, as if—well, as if matter, although we know that some time
.they were handling, and oftentimes they since they had the matter under considera-
tion*
arey other people's money.
The fact is the piano business requires a
It is here the rub comes in.
special
education to carry it on successfully,
These men who are drunk with success
over the achievements of small victories and the constant exchange and the placing
lose a certain level headedness, a certain of instruments on rental and installment
conservatism which should govern all busi- contracts presupposes an expert knowledge
ness transactions, and plunge out into a which cannot be obtained in a general way.
When the purchasing public is disposed
limitless sea—a sea which has no bottom.
Their temporary success is used as a to spend a fair share of money for a repu-
table instrument, it is always certain to
leverage for extended credit.
Their grand ideas of extension and absorp- gravitate toward the establishments where-
tion are used in a sense to bewilder men, to in the productions are sold with a reputable
blind them, as it were, into lending still manufacturer's guarantee, and where a cer-
further financial aid and assistance to their tain standard of value can be secured.
This bugaboo about the damage done re-
enterprise.
tail
trade by[department stores is overdone,
They go on and on, still extending, but
at the same time a day of reckoning is clos- and there is much more to fear from so-
called legitimate dealers who are selling
ing in.
Investments have become so large that cheap pianos, and claiming for them as
the firms interested cannot stop; they can- high a standard and price as instruments
not as a matter of self-protection fail to give made by well-known and reliable manufac-
still further and greater credits. It is turers.
The damage nowadays is'not so much from
simply a propping up system, hoping that
the
cheap piano being sold at a low price as
something may occur to tide the matter
form the cheap piano being sold at a high
over.
price
and as a legitimate musical instru-
The storms come on, the skies are dark-
ened, there are ominous trade mutterings; ment.
the banks, the money arteiies of trade,
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cease giving their supplies.
At regular intervals we hear the cry of
There is a general tightening. There is
too
many trade papers. That cry now is
an attempt made to weather the storm.
There is a cutting off here and there, a slic- ancient enough to have become rusted by
ing of useless appendages and tossing over the effects of time; but it is frequently bur-
nished up, so that it resembles the new
of ballast in order to lighten the load.
But, alas, the ship originally was not built article, and some man more sprightly than
his fellow man waves aloft the banner up-
seaworthy.
The master, the one in charge, makes a on which is inscribed in glowing characters
thorough and complete exhibition of his which burn deep into the heart of the pros-
trate newspaper man: "Too many trade
unfitness to command.
The ship has not stood the test, and it papers!" This cry is heard and caught up
goes down—down like Crawford, Ebersole by some trade papers as well. We mean
some papers whose business has been large-
& Smith.
ly curtailed during the past few months.
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Papers which are not successful, which
There has been much said recently anent have become deluded of trade, are the ones
the retailing of pianos by the large depart- which are prone to look upon their success-
ment stores, and the effect which such a ful co-workers in life's vineyard with
move would have on local retail trade. At jealousy.
The facts in the case are these: As long
the present time the only department store
handling pianos in this city is that of Bloom- as trade papers are good papers, the field
ingdale Bros., and this branch of their busi- cannot become surfeited wth them.
You will hear some piano manufacturers
ness has not been a huge success; in fact,
their trade has been exceedingly small, and go into spasms over the fact that so and so
supported by the very poorest class of is able to make a piano at such a price, and
that there are too many piano manufactur-
people.
The handling of pianos was tried by ers in the field.