Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
BUSINESS TALKS WITH DEALERS,
OPINIONS OF BUSINESS MEN IN VARIOUS STATES REGARDING THE EFFECTS OF THE POLITICAL
CONTEST UPON TRADE THE CONDITION OF CROPS METHODS OF COMPETITION AND
POSSIBILITIES OF TRADE BETTERMENT
LIVE TOPICS DISCUSSED THE OUT-
LOOK AS SEEN THROUGH MANY EYES.
[FOURTH SERIES.]
The opinions of business men regarding the effects of the struggle for Presidential
honors upon business, is of keen interest to all. For a number of weeks The Review
proposes to gain such opinions from different dealers throughout the country who natu-
rally are in close touch with the local sentiment in their particular localities.
The interviews will be of great interest to manufacturers because they convey to
them intelligent presentations of live topics from every section of America. There
is no class of merchants in the world who work their respective territories as closely as
piano men. The dry goods houses do not drum for trade in the same systematic man-
ner that is followed out by the piano dealers, hence the latter have endless opportunities
in which to judge of the particular trend of political sentiment as well as the condition
of crops and the possibilities for business in the early fall.
These views, coming as they do from every section in the union, will afford a sub-
stantial platform on which to build the business edifice for the season which is now
rapidly approaching.
We have also gleaned a few opinions relative to the methods of competition used
in the piano line in different states and what possible encouragement there is for better-
ment. The views form a valuable symposium. The piano dealers of the country are
in close sympathy with their local environments, and what is more, know how to ex-
press their views in an interesting and forceful manner.
KOrlLER & CHASE, San Francisco, Cal.
in circulation, and as a consequence, we
We assure you in the first place that we are receiving numbers of inquiries for
have given but little thought to the com- deals on a spot cash basis. A month ago,
ing political struggle, for the reason that the prospects for fair crops of cotton and
we have been very busy attending to in- corn were a little doubtful, but the recent
creased trade and making preparations for showers we have had have changed all
still more; for, of course, McKinley and this and the prospects now are very favor-
prosperity will stay with us yet another able for good crops of all farm products.
four years.
We think that the good times prevailing
The California fruit crop promises to be during the present presidential term have
exceptionally good.
been so satisfactory to every one, that
Oil land's are booming and fabulous Mr. McKinley will succeed himself in the
stories are told of the wealth being de- presidential chair.
veloped in the oil industry in the middle
We trust that the above estimate will
and southern parts of the State.
soon prove to be history.
The calamity howler finds people too MORGAN MUSIC CO., Arkansas City, Kan.
busy to listen to his tale of woe, and on all
This city is located in the heart of the
sides are seen evidences of a prosperous wheat belt—draw a circle of thirty-five
season.
miles around this city, we have ten mil-
Political campaigns, in common with all lion bushels of wheat raised this year—no
promoters of public excitement, absorbs at- thanks to Mark or Mack. In regard to
tention to the detriment of trade in our methods of competition, we had a sample
line. At least, that is our experience.
of it three years ago here engineered by a
You inquire about methods of competi- Boston manufacturer selling pianos on
tion. There is too much that is bad about $5-a-month payments; the salesman curb-
them, as you can realize when we say that stoned here for two years, swamped the
advertisements are scattered broadcast of- Kansas City house for $14, and broke the
fering to sell pianos on installments of $3 factory. The prospects are good for a fine
per month.
trade this fall. Bryan will carry this state
Your piano man must indeed be a smart as he did four years ago by increased major-
one, if he can show his California brother ity.
anything new in the honorable vocation of
GARDNER & OSGOOD, Worcester, Hass.
selling three hundred and fifty dollar pi-
The business outlook for the fall in our
anos for five hundred.
particular branch of the piano business is
Evidently all the Eastern tricks of the very encouraging.
trade have been imported and improved
Although our competition is almost en-
upon here.
tirely of cheap and medium priced instru-
Bad competition is a business killer, but' ments, we have been able to place a very
honest competition is the life of trade.
sa'isfactory number of high-grade pianos
But whether good or bad methods are since we opened this branch last fall.
practiced, the piano man must hustle for Presidential elections in the past have had
his bread and butter.
a tendency to put a damper on the piano
Fortunately for us we have the agency business in this locality and although I
of the ^Eolian Co., whose ^Eolians and find a number of dealers complaining, we
Pianolas, of course, are not subject to any have been quite successful.
direct competition and consequently sell-
We find the farmers about here are a
ing becomes an unalloyed pleasiire.
little uncertain, but on account of the dry
CUMMINGS, SHEPHERD & CO.. Fort Worth, season and not the election.
You ask
Texas.
about the methods of our competitors in
So far as we can judge, the prospects this locality.
for a good business year were never better.
I think it is no worse than other cities of
Basing our opinion from ten years' experi- its size, but should be pleased to see some
ence in Texas in the music business, we method adopted here, whereby all dealers
have no hesitation in saying that the con- would collect the same payments when
dition of the people in this State was never selling pianos on long time.
We have
better than it is this year. The extraor- dealers here that handle commercial instru-
dinary grain harvest which is now being ments and although they charge the price
marketed, and the good prices prevailing of a fair, legitamate instrument, make the
for cattle have put a large amount of money terms at $5.00 per month and many times.
n
nothing down. We do not handle such
trades and when it is necessary to sell on
time, our terms, $25.00 each, and no less
than $10.00 per month. We have no
trouble in getting our price and our terms
on high-grade pianos among the educated
people and do not try to sell the cheap
trade, as we carry no line of pianos in that
class.
Regarding the feeling here as to who
will carry off the presidential honors I
should say that at present it looks very
evenly divided. Although this county is de-
cidedly republican I find a good many favor
the democratic candidates.
WESTERN riUSIC CO., Seattle, Washington.
It is our opinion that the majority senti-
ment of the business men of Seattle as
well as the entire Puget Sound district,
maintains the present tariff and the gold
standard.
We are not posted as to the way the
matter stands with the farmers and busi-
ness men of the eastern part of the State.
Although the State of Washington went
Democratic in '96, we believe that owing
to the phenomenal change in times during
the past four years in the eastern part of
the State, as well as here in the Puget
Sound country, the approaching struggle
for presidential honors will favor de-
cidedly Wm. McKinley.
We have all confidence in the future
prosperity of the "Queen City'' as a com-
mercial city and shipping point as well as
the extensive agricultural districts in East-
ern Washington and the lumber industry
he e on Puget Sound
The crops in the
Eastern part of the State are reported
good and prospects in general look bright
and prosperous for the coming fall trade.
Taking everything under consideration,
the writer is under the impression, that the
method of competition in general in the
piano line is worked upon as honorable a
basis as any place in the United States.
There are about one hundred thousand
people in Seattle at the present time who
are being quite well supplied with pianos
and musical merchandise by the seven
local music dealers of this city.
Of course we have different kinds of pi-
ano men, some of whom show their char-
acteristic way of selling pianos very plain-
ly, and one of the most serious objections
to the piano business here is the fact that
there are being, and have been so many
cheap grade instruments sold, which at the
same time are being held at such ridicu-
lous high prices. Then when it comes to
a real case of competition they cut and
slash on the prices, giving of course the
man with a high-grade piano a disadvant-
age to a certain extent. There is one pi-
ano sold here whose factory home is sup-
posed to be in San Francisco or New York.
We have made an investigation in regard
to the factory, and we have finally come to
the decision that the piano must have in
its early youth got started astray, and has
ever since been homeless.
We wish your paper every success.
P. D. CARR & CO., Nashville, Tenn.
As a general rule a presidential year
usually affects business adversely.
In
this section for the last weeks the inces-
sant rains and high water have been very
damaging to our farmer friends and have of
necessity materially made business duller
than it otherwise would have been. Pros-
pects are brighter now, however, and we
are confident that business will speedily
resume its normal condition. We antici-
pate a good piano business this fall in this
section. The general returning prosper-
ity, which we of the south are feeling, the
universal desire for good money and a sub-
stantial and safe financial system as well
as the personnel of the tickets nominated,
we believe indicate that the voters of the