Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
EXPOSITION OPINIONS.
J\yi EMBERS of the music trade who have
visited Europe this summer are be-
ginning to return and the impressions of
several have been obtained by Review
representatives in regard to the Paris Ex-
position. It seems to be the general opin-
ion of those who have visited the Fair that
as a spectacle it is unequal to the World's
Fair in Chicago '93. The buildings at Paris
possess nothing like the beauty of the
White City.
That the Exposition will prove a finan-
cial success is not believed. Regarding
our own industry, there has been but com-
paratively little interest manifested and
the great house of Baldwin makes the only
comprehensive exhibit of American musico-
industrial progress.
That European piano manufacturers
have taken a warm interest in the Exposi-
tion may be seen by the descriptive letters
which The Review correspondent at Paris
has been writing. In this connection we
may add that The Review is the only
American music trade paper which thus far
has presented a detailed account week by
week of the music trade exhibit at Paris.
There is already some little trade talk
circulating, concerning the part that piano
manufacturers will play in the Pan Ameri-
can Exposition at Buffalo, next year. Our
manufacturers as a whole have had quite
a respite from Exposition outlays, there-
fore it is possible that considerable in-
terest may be generated; still it looks as if
the Exposition were being a trifle over-
done. So many of these great affairs have
been held within recent years, that the
manufacturers are beginning to ask them-
selves whether the returns from Exposi-
tion participation are sufficient to reim-
burse them for the outlay.
HP HAT the piano manufacturer has been
placed for the past few years in a pe-
culiar situation regarding the maintenance
of prices is generally recognized. He has
been ground between the upper and nether
millstones of prices until at times his prof-
its were pressed out so flat that it was dif-
ficult to discover them. However, as times
grow steadily better, and the demand be-
comes more and more apparent for better
wares, the tendency will be towards less
price hair-splitting.
\ I 7 E recollect at the historic association
gathering at Manhattan Beach, how
offended were the conductors of some trade
journals at the attitude taken by manufac-
turers in excluding them from the regular
meetings of the association. There was
no concealment of the bitterness on the
part of these men towards the attitude of
TRANSPLANTED AMERICANISM.
HPHE department house of Siegel-Cooper
Co. offers pianos for sale, therefore it
is a matter of trade interest to state that
we have it on excellent authority that this
house will open up in the near future a de-
partment store in London similar to the
firm's two establishments in this country.
Mr. Cooper is now in London, where he
has been sounding the market for an open-
ing for an enormous department store.
Most of the retailers in London specialize
and control the trades which were built up
by their ancestors, so that their profits are
large and their methods of advertising,
sales and management are conservative;
therefore, if a great house like Siegel-
Cooper Co. were to establish a store in
London and publish in daily papers the
full-page advertisements, as they do in New
York and Chicago, of cut prices, special
course money will be the paramount sales, etc., it is probable that the new
issue in the coming campaign. Does methods would be successful.
anyone know of any campaign, business
London piano merchants will doubtless
or political, where it is not always the par- be interested to learn through The Review
amount issue?
that should the London deal of Siegel- '
Cooper Co. go through they will make a
NO DISCONTENT.
special effort to make their piano depart-
IVT O one can read the dealers' statements
ment a prominent feature of the business.
of conditions existing in the various
states, which we have presented for sev- •"THE English court has decided that
eral weeks, without being impressed not
when a secret commission is given to
merely with the general prosperity of the a manager, by a concern from which he
country, but by the steady tendency buys, the manager's employers can re-
towards trade betterment which is going cover the amount, either from the firm
on in all sections. There is hardly an giving it or from the employee. They
opinion which we have received which propose evidently in England to put a stop
shows discontent or discouragement. In a to the habit of tipping buyers.
few cases, local conditions are not quite as
What would the men say to this who
satisfactory as they might be, but even in have been tipping salesmen in the way of
such instances the drawbacks are regarded a little "com" in certain pianos which they
as not of a character to seriously affect re- sell?
tail business.
P V E R Y merchant and every manufac-
In many states crops are exceptionally
turer understands the meaning of
good. It should be also noted that in such
dating ahead. Few, however, recollect the
states as Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio,
adoption of the plan which of late years
from which unsatisfactory repcrts come
has become a fixed custom. Dating ahead
as to the wheat crop, heavy rains had
within proper limits may be desirable, but
fallen recently. The cotton crop in some
as it is commonly practiced it has become
sections of the South will be poor, but this
a nuisance.
will be offset to a great extent by the high
A MONG the names submitted by the
price of the staple. The iron and coal in-
Senate of the New York University
dustries are experiencing a reaction from
the unusually prosperous conditions which to the judges of the Hall of Fame is the
have prevailed in recent months. Other- name of Jonas Chickering. Musicians are
wise labor is well employed and at good honored too by the suggestion of the name
wages. Taken altogether, general condi- of Lowell Mason. The Hall of Fame will
tions coming as they do after a boom peri- contain busts of 100 famous Americans
od, cannot but be regarded as remarkably who have won prominence in their chosen
healthy and satisfactory. The speculative art or profession. It is gratifying to know
spirit has been largely eliminated and this that the men who have the selection of
in itself is a healthy feature. Merchants these busts in charge have complimented
in all lines, we are told by travelers, are music and industrial art in America, by
buying more in accordance with a sure de- selecting such distinguished names from
mand,
our roll of honor.
the association in removing them from
their sessions.
We may say in this connection, the Piano
Manufacturers' Association in adopting
these rules simply endorsed the position
taken by other trade organizations, and
now practically all the trade associations
have fallen in line in this particular.
We note at the recent convention of the
hardware men that they have now reached
a point attained by the piano manufactur-
ers years ago. This is from their resolu-
tions:
That all meetings of the Association
should be close meetings, and that public
reports of the proceedings of same should
be under the supervision of a press com-
mittee whose duty it should be to edit the
reports of the Convention before handing
them to press representatives.