Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
that price adhered to, this trade would build
up on a substantial basis from that day,
but as it is now, the dealers themselves
have encouraged the method of departing
from fixed prices.
TOURING the past few months we have
seen men on the floor engaged in
selling pianos bend to the will of custom-
ers, rather than adhering to their own fixed
standard. Now in no other line do such
methods obtain to such an alarming extent.
If one visits a jewelry store to purchase a
watch, there are few indeed who attempt
to jew down the merchant on the original
price asked for the watch. We may say
the same in almost every other line. If
one visits his tailor to purchase a suit of
clothes, he accepts the prices given him by
his tailor, but how many times on the
floors of warerooms have we listened to
ridiculous offers made by possible custom-
ers to piano merchants. Such methods
constitute business insults in other lines.
It was only the other day we were in a
Western city when a lady and gentleman
entered a store and were shown several in-
struments. They were favorably inclined
towards a handsome upright in mahogany
casing the price of which was $400. After
considerable illogical argument, they finally
made an offer of $250 for the instrument.
The salesman seemed rather pleased to
receive any kind of an offer, and instead of
standing up manfully and repudiating with
scorn such a proposition, he smiled rather
approvingly and went back to consult with
his chief, who came out with evidently the
fixed intention of selling that piano, of
getting all he could, but still to make the
sale. We heard much of the conversation
that followed, and noted the result. The
customer secured the piano for $315.
Now, if it was only worth $315 why in
the name of all good business commonsense
should it not have been so listed? It is
just such methods and practices which are
undermining the trade stability.
If the department stores will help to en-
courage the one price system then they
will have materially bettered this industry,
for it is by just such methods of asking one
price, and tumbling a hundred or so from
it before they will permit a customer to
depart that many dealers have cultivated
the belief in the public mind that there are
abnormal profits in the piano business, and
that the dealers themselves attach certain
prices only to fall from them under the fire
. of a customer's argument.
We are inclined to the opinion that the
department store as a factor will never be
a dominating one. We are also inclined to
the opinion that its influence will be rather
beneficial than detrimental to the future of
the trade.
THE CONVENTION IN WASHING-
TON,
T H E time is drawing rapidly near when the
members of the Piano Manufacturers'
Association will gather in the Capitol City
for business and social purposes. There
are many matters of importance which will
probably be brought up before the Con-
vention, matters which directly affect the
welfare of the trade. The annual meetings
of the Association grow in interest; no
other gathering of piano men has drawn
out the previous comment and expressions
of interest that thus far have been heard
over the forthcoming Convention. No
doubt there will be many arguments, and
possibly some hot debating may be held
before the Convention of '99 passes into
history.
It has been stated that the members of
the trade press would be admitted to the
business meetings. There are arguments
to be made for and against this proposition.
Some members of the Association favor
the idea of throwing all the sessions open
to the trade press in order that the fullest
publicity may be given to Convention work.
Others say that if the members of the
trade press are admitted to the business pro-
ceedings, many will be deterred from giving
an open expression to their views through
the fear of the possible effect which their
utterances may have when reported to the
trade outside. They figure that a great
many of their sayings may be misconstrued
if not misquoted, and that the greatest
good to the Association can come through
unrestrained argument.
There is no question but there is a
great deal of truth in that statement. If
some of the members of the Association
knew that they would be reported ver-
batim in their utterances, they would not
say precisely what they would under other
conditions.
An intimate acquaintance with Associa-
tion work for a dozen j'ears has convinced
us that the real work of an association lies
in the committee work. That a few men
can deal with matters of importance quick-
er, keener and more satisfactorily than a
great number, has been demonstrated to
us on more occasions than one, therefore it
may be that all of the matters of trade im-
portance may be thoroughly argued before
separate committees which necessarily hold
private sessions, then when these final re-
ports are made, they will be run through
the association, with little or no argument,
the association accepting its committees'
work. Jf this course should be adopted by
the members of the National Association,
then there would be little or nothing to
prohibit the presence of newspaper men at
the open convention.
A MEMBER of the trade has expressed
the wish that all the trade press may
be heard from at the convention—that a
few minutes of time be accorded each rep-
resentative in which to air his eloquence.
May the Lord preserve us from such a cal-
amity, for if ever there was a ridiculous
parade of trade editors, it occurred at Man-
hattan Beach where, one after another,
they were led out like a part of a wild West
show. This was done, presumably, in
order that one editor might not feel jealous
of the prominence given another.
As far as we are concerned, we should
be glad if the honor of replying to a toast
were given to any one of our centempora-
ries who is in good standing, but to have
more than one would be assuming, to our
mind, a ridiculous attitude in order to
avoid precisely what the managers tried to
prevent at Manhattan Beach—a jealous feel-
ing among the editors. The trade papers
of this industry are engaged, in the main,
in laudable work, and it certainly cannot
be inappropriate if one editor were selected
to reply for the trade press as a factor in
promoting industrial growth.
THE RISING TRUST TIDE.
\ \ J E reproduce in another portion of this
paper, excerpts from an article ap-
pearing in the Saturday Evening Post of
Philadelphia written by Chauncey M. De-
pew on '' The Growth of the Modern
Trust."
As Senator Depew has been a member
of the Vanderbilt business household for so
many years, it would hardly be expected
to find in him an opponent of the modern
trust, and yet Mr. Depew says regarding
trusts:
" There will come a reaction, due purely
to business reasons. It is inevitable that
these combinations should become very un-
wieldy and tremendously over-capitalized.
Already we see a disposition to swell the
capitalization of some combinations to an
unreasonable limit. When this has gone
on for a time independent men with capi-
tal, energy and business brains will find
that they can succeed in competition with
these large concerns which have too much
capital, particularly as the big concerns are
run by salaried officers while the individual
will be conducting his business on an
economical scale doing largely his own
work while having the assistance no doubt
of his people and living within a very
modest income,"