Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Another—a manufacturer—writes: "Take
the number of intricate parts which enter
into the construction of the piano; take the
ability required to make an artistic compila-
tion of all of these parts in a completed
piano. It surely requires more brains, and
should receive more remuneration, as you
say than the rolling of a few tobacco leaves
to complete a cigar. And as you say, the
cigar man makes more money than the
piano man. Let us sift the situation, What
is the trouble with the piano business?"
These are only a fair sample of the many
letters which have reached this office from
men who are interested in the position as-
sumed by The Review of last week.
We shall proceed further with this sub-
ject, and let us ask if anyone can give a sat-
isfactory explanation why pianos should be
sold on terms which differ wholly and com-
pletely from terms on which other lines of
merchandise are disposed of.
We say this matter needs the attention of
the trade, and it needs revision, because
upon it swings entirely the future of the in-
dustry, and often the mistaken cost of
manufacturing goods and of selling them is
the rock on which many enterprises have
split. The history of the piano industry is
strewn with wrecks of factories, that have
made goods and sold them below the cost
of production because the men who made
them did not know how to estimate cost,
and were content to accept the statement of
the men who took or contracted for, the
output of the factory at figures as low or
perhaps a trifle lower than someone else
was willing to make practically the same
instruments.
The history of the trade is strewn with
wrecks of dealers who have disposed of
goods at prices and terms less than the ac-
tual cost of selling them.
These conditions have not been fully
realized until the end of the year or several
years when the apparent shrinkage which
resulted possibly in failure had sufficiently
materialized. Such items as rent, salaries,
advertising, cartage, commissions, run into
enormous sums; and the business is sub-
jected to periods of extreme dullness during
which time the man who operates retail
warerooms cannot curtail materially his
expenses.
The problem of the actual cost of selling
goods which confronts the retailer is so im-
portant that it requires the most minute
analyzation.
And so the old world will wag along as
long as manufacturers will give credit to
persons that never ought to be in the busi-
ness, who dispose of goods at less than the
actual cost in order to keep their rotten
crafts afloat, and still we are kicking against
existing conditions in the piano trade.
It is no wonder that some manufacturers
grow still poorer.
It is no wonder when such conditions ex-
ist that the trade as a whole has become un-
profitable.
Is it not time for us to turn over and
paste down the old leaves in the ledger es-
tablishing a new set of rules for the year
which is still young with us ?
We shall continue to dwell upon this sub-
ject believing that we are doing the trade a
benefit as a whole by keeping the matter
constantly agitated.
If our present system is entirely correct,
then why should it not be productive of bet-
ter results ? Take the entire list of manu-
facturers and dealers in the country and
what percentage do we find who are very
wealthy men, or even moderately wealthy ?
Take any other line of trade and you will
find the percentage of wealthy men largely
increased.
Piano men surely work hard
enough, but do they work in the right direc-
tion ? Are we not doing business too
cheaply? Have we gone as closely as we
should into the real cost of manufacturing,
and of marketing pianos ?
posing to view the matters which pertain
directly to the trade, yet across the thres-
hold of a man's private life and across the
threshold of his home we draw the dead-
line.
F
OR some weeks past rumors have been
rife as to the changes which possibly
might occur in the house of Lyon, Potter &
Co. President Chas. H. Steinway who has
recently returned from Chicago said last
Thursday:
" The whole matter briefly and succinctly
stated up to date, is this: Lyon, Potter &
Co. will continue to do business at the old
stand, Steinway Hall, Chicago; this notwith-
standing the rumors to the contrary. It is
possible that in the future they may confine
their line of operations exclusively to the
Steinway piano."
" Then, Mr. Steinway," we asked, " that
means the relinquishment of the agencies
of the various pianos which you hold
there?"
" T h a t is possible. I am simply stating
matters as they exist up to date. We can
discuss changes when they actually occur."
C. A. Hyde Not With HcPhail.
T
HAT branch of industry which relates
to the publishing and selling of daily
papers, including extra editions, seems to be
about the only portion of trade which is
flourishing these early Spring days.
We have faced conditions worse than war.
We have been surfeited with lurid extras,
have had war news served up to us sizzling
hot—in adjectives positively overpowering
in their luridity—cartoons by the thousands
where Uncle Sam is portrayed as just mop-
ping the earth with the haughty Dons—the
wordy pyrotechnics of our servants in Con-
gress reeled out at the rate of a thousand
kilometers per hour—military strategists
have told us just how quickly we can take
Cuba and remove from the hungry maw of
Spain the rest of her colonial possessions;
all this and a further list of casualities too
extensive to chronicle.
Is it any wonder that business lags? If it
is necessary to listen to the beat of our war
drums, to unfurl the battle-flag before we
reach the "parliament of man, the federation
of the world," let us get on the war-paint and
have done with it, or else put our ships out
of commission and form of them a fishing
fleet.
W
HILE a trade paper may be a pur-
veyor of news as far as trade affairs
and information is concerned, yet we think
it is hardly within the province of such a
journal to herald the private affairs of an in-
dividual who is connected with the trade.
The Review searchlight is constantly ex-
Some two weeks ago two of the trade
papers printed the report that Mr. Chas. A.
Hyde of the Norris & Hyde Co. had asso-
ciated himself with the McPhail Piano Co.,
of Boston.
The Review called several times last week
at the city warerooms to ascertain definite
information regarding the truth of this
report. Mr. Hyde writes us this week that
the news published is wholly false. He
states that he is unacquainted with the
members of the McPhail Piano Co. and he
has never communicated with them. There-
fore, the statement that he has arranged
to represent them on the road is entirely
erroneous.
Herman Braumuller Traveling.
Herman Braumuller started out on Tues-
day for a six weeks' trip in the East as rep-
resentative of the Braumuller interests, and
began well by making an important new con-
nection in a neighboring State. He reports
a good reception at stopping places so far
reached, and announces that he has been
the recipient of warm congratulations con-
cerning Braumuller enterprise and the
merits of the Braumuller products.
Among the callers this week at the Knabe
warerooms was George L. Orrae, of J. L.
Orme & Sons, Ottawa, Canada. Mr. Orme
left a good order for latest Knabe styles.
J. W. Chamberlain, manager of the Geneva
branch of the Waterloo Organ Co., was in
town on a business trip this week.
Alexander Steinert was over from Boston
this week.
P. H. Powers, of the Emerson Co., Boston,
is in town.