Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC 'TRADE REVIEW
which they offer to furnish at surprisingly
low figures, their claim being that they
do away entirely with the middle man,
thus saving to the consumer that profit
which has hitherto gone to the dealer.
There is no mistaking the fact that the
argument is a strong one and is indeed dif-
ficult to successfully refute. When these
great department stores place catalogues
containing several hundred pages on the
tables of hundreds of thousands of indi-
viduals and have them thumbed by each
member of the family who may order from
its compilers it is hard competition for
local dealers in every line.
It is claimed, too, by many of the music
dealers that some of the institutions Which
issue these catalogues carry but a limited
stock on hand. That they make the man-
ufacturer and the wholesale small goods
men carry the stock for them, while if they
order a few violin strings at one time they
demand as large a rebate as if they pur-
chased them in hundred gross lots.
All these things are very annoying, but
we do not see how we are going to prevent
them unless the music dealers of America
can bring sufficient pressure upon the man-
ufacturers and jobbers to prevent them
selling the catalogue men. It is a ques-
tion, however, whether they will ever be
able to do this. It has been tried in other
lines and has never been successful.
STOCKHOLDERS' RIGHTS.
""THE recent decision handed down at
Albany in the Steinway case is
claimed by legal authorities to be a decis-
ion of great importance in ..that a minority
stockholder has a legal right to examine
the books of a corporation. It is peculiar
how differently law is interpreted by differ-
ent judges. It is a fact that thus far the
Standard Oil Co. have been protected by
the courts in keeping their affairs entirely
secret from the stockholders, for no one,
no matter how.large a block of Standard
Oil stock he may possess, has any legal
right to examine the books of that corpor-
ation. The inner affairs of that great or-
ganization are known only to the president
and the directorate. Some of the secrets,
however, have come out, and one reason
why this gigantic corporation has been
able to annihilate competition lies in the
fact of its inner dealings with railroad cor-
porations whereby a rebate was secured,
giving that corporation a decided advan-
tage over competitors.
It would seem that if a stockholder has
the right to examine the books of one cor-
poration, he should also have the right to
examine the books of another, and the law
should not recognize the difference in right
between a man who possesses a few shares
of stock and one who possesses immense
holdings. If one has rights, so the other
should have in the eye of the law.
It occurs to us that this recent decision
handed down at Albany granting to the
Steinway stockholder certain privileges is
a dangerous precedent to establish. It is
difficult to imagine what suitable safe-
guards should be built to protect the inter-
ests of corporations against blackmailers,
or men who propose to formulate malicious
proceedings against corporations.
Admitting that a stockholder may have
common law rights, yet serious loss, incon-
venience, and interruption to business may
be brought about if a liberal interpretation
is placed upon Judge Vann's decision by
corporation stockholders and their attor-
neys through the state.
We cannot say of advertising in a gen-
eral way as the Kentuckian is said to have
remarked concerning the vintage of his na-
tive land, that there was no poor whiskey,
but some was better than other, for while
there is some mighty poor advertising,
there is some that is absolutely worthless.
It is a pretty good subject to consider,
now that the dull times are upon us, and it
will pay dealers and manufacturers to lay
plans for an active advertising campaign
in the early fall. Advertising is the great
momentum to business. With it the huge
machinery moves noiselessly along. It is
the lubricator, the oil to commerce, but
there are proper apertures in which the oil
should be inserted, as the effect is lost if it
is thrown carelessly over the machinery.
THE POWER OF TRAVELERS.
TT occurs to us that the Commercial
Travelers' League will be a more
effective opponent to trusts than the many
laws which have been passed prohibiting
trusts in the various States. The travelers
who number hundreds of thousands are
active, intelligent, and are to a large extent
moulders of public opinion. They all have
their friends, and their influence is almost
beyond the power of computation.
On the other hand, the laws which have
been passed seem innocuous as far as the
limitation of trusts is concerned. The
travelers will be heard from, largely too, in
next year's political contest.
A QUESTION OF ADVERTISING.
\ 1 7 H A T kind of advertising pays the
best is a question propounded by
one of our readers.
It is a mighty difficult question to answer
correctly, for it depends largely upon what
one has to offer and what portion of the
purchasing public it is considered most
desirous to interest.
Our opinion, however, in a general way
is that piano merchants have not given the
matter of advertising the thought and at-
tention which it requires. There has, how-
ever, been a marked improvement in piano
advertising during the past few years, but
there is still ample room for further ad-
vance along the same lines. The adver- Y/ IMBALL—the piano that came through
a cyclone, appears to be a popular
tising field is a large one and affords excel-
catch
line nowadays. We cannot recall an
lent opportunities for the engagement of
fertile minds in the never solved problem. incident for years that has been turned so
Some are particularly desirous of appeal- cleverly into a national advertisement as
ing to the eye in some catchy headline. the famous cyclone proof piano which came
That is all right, for unless the eye is at- out unscathed at Kirksville, Mo. Not
tracted, the announcement is a flash in the only have all the trade papers contained
photographic reproductions of the cyclonic
advertising pan.
But we cannot stop at the eye, a mental instrument, but many of the illustrated
photograph must be also made so that a papers as well, and now the illustrations
memory is retained of the particular catch have crept into the columns of the dailies,
line and its meaning. The drafting of for it was only last Tuesday when some of
convincingly correct advertising couched the most prominent local papers of our city
in dignified terms is not the work of the contained the now famous illustration.
amateur, it belongs more properly to the Great is the cyclone proof Kimball!
mind which has given this an analytical
study for years. But without good judg- I T would seem from present indications that
we are not to pass the summer with-
ment all technical knowledge of advertis-
ing theories and methods are of compara- out encountering labor troubles. How
tively little value. The money which serious these may become it is difficult to
many merchants spend in programs and predict with any degree of certainty at the
similar media would, if expended in a present time. There are indications that
newspaper, pay for an announcement of piano factories in New York maybe affected
respectable size and worth. The money before the summer is over. Already in
that is wasted annually in advertising is Chicago this discontent has manifested
enormous.
itself in one or two instances,