Music Trade Review
Issue: 1900 Vol. 31 N. 8 - Page 4
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
TWENTY-FIRST YEAR.
jt Jt EDWARD LYMAN B I L L ^ J* J*
Editor and Proprietor.
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY
3 East 14th St., New York
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage). United States, Mexico
and Canada, $2.00 per year ; all other countries, $4.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per
insertion. On quarterly or yearly contracts a special discount
is allowed. Advertising Pages $50.00, opposite reading matter
$75.00.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should be
made payable to Edward Lyman Bill.
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
NEW YORK, AUGUST 2 5 l
TELEPHONE NUMBER, 1745--EIGHTEENTH STREET.
T H E KEYNOTE.
The first week of each month The Review
contains a supplement embodying the literary
and musical features which have heretofore
appeared in The Keynote. The amalgamation
i-s effected without in any way trespassing on
our regular news service. The Review con-
tinues to remain, as before, essentially a trade
pa per.
THE ART OF SUCCESS.
DECENTLY while discussing the rise
and fall of business houses in this in-
dustry with a well-known member of the
trade, the success of certain individuals
who have at timgs suffered severe finan-
cial.loss was dwelt upon at length.
To the credit of the piano industry it
may be said that it possesses a class of men
who exhibit the ownership of indomitable
will power and perseverance, and, after
all, the successful man grows stronger and
more determined when the ways look the
darkest.
Instead of becoming discouraged as the
obstacle's which bar his progress grow
more and more fo¥«»idable, he stirs his la-
tent energies and succeeds in overthrowing
all impediments in his path. He does not
waste his energies and time in trying to
get around these obstructions., but he cuts
his way directly through them.
The atmosphere of America develops
independence and courage, and the Ameri-
can business man is the admiration and
wonder of his confreres in all parts of the
World. It is the possession of those quali-
ties which seem to thrive under adversity
that has developed industrial America at
such a phenomenal rate. We have plenty
of that timber in the piano trade, and it
has helped to build an industrial edifice
which compares favorably witk any other
subdivision of industry in the land.
It is a pretty good maxim when one has
a discouraging and perplexing thing to do,
not to put off doing it indefinitely.
Anticipation will always clothe that which
we dread with difficulties. Prompt and
vigorous action robs a dreaded task of half
of its horrors. One has to grasp the nettle
firmly in order to avoid its sting.
We know one successful business man
who used to say that when he felt* blue and
discouraged in the morning- because dis-
agreeable things confronted him he made
up his mind firmly that he would make
that particular day change from indigo to
red and finish it by making it a red letter
day in his business career.
It was this desire on his part that was
one of the greatest factors in his success.
That principle followed out turns probable
failure into success, and the loss of a day
into a day's victory.
Man has not wholly overcome his natural
laziness, and when things are disagreeable
and go a trifle hard with him, the tempta-
tion to slip around a difficult place is very
strong, but that is not the way to kill the
dragon that dogs our footsteps and robs
us of our happiness. Why not go through
obstacles rather than go around them,
sieze the dragon by the head and strangle
him?
The man who works only when he feels
like it, and has no power to compel him-
self to do a thing when he is averse to it,
will never get up very high in the world,
whether manufacturing or selling pianos
and musical instruments. When we do
not like to work when provided with good
health, and there is no particular reason
why we should not, it might be well to
take a course of special training in order
to infuse a little of that electrical vigor
which is necessary at times to achieve de-
sired ends.
Things do not come easily to us. It is
quite necessary to dig for them, and pretty
hard at times. There are some men in
this industry, who to-day are well ad-
vanced in years and are well fixed in this
world's chattels and they never think of
stopping; on the contrary, they are mapping
out new plans with which, when perfected,
they hope to win new conquests. There is
no mistaking the fact that rigid discipline
day after day and week after week is a
good thing, and when practiced it en-
ables one to hold a firm grip and keep
steadily to a task, no matter how difficult
or disagreeable it may be. But after
a while perseverance along these lines en-
ables one to learn the art of arts—success.
Is the present generation of business
men less honest than its forbears were?
Or is our sense of trade morality, after all
is said and done, just as keen as was that
of our forefathers, and do we live up to it
just as closely and conscientiously as they
did?
While our personal means of observation
do not extend over very many decades,
yet we are inclined to the belief that the
merchants of the present day are fully up
to the standard of years agone; or better,
they are more inclined to straight dealing
than ever before. We do not believe that
the business morals of this country are de-
generating. On the contrary we believe
that commercial degeneration does not
exist to any alarming extent with us to-
day. The standard of honesty among
business men is higher now than ever be-
fore, and we find a smaller number of
merchants trying to purchase goods under
false statements than ever before in the
history of our industry. We are confident
that statistics will bear out our statements.
census returns give New York a
T HE population
of nearly three and one-
half millions—to be exact 3,460,000—where-
as the official census count of Chicago cre-
dits that city with having a population of
nearly 1,700,000. Our Western friends
must absorb a few more outside towns in
order to keep in sight of New York.
WOULD THROTTLE INDUSTRY.
QOME articles which have appeared in
The Review regarding labor organi-
zations have attracted considerable atten-
tion and we have been in receipt of many
communications regarding,them. Like all
of the important economic questions of
the time, that of labor unions is now re-
ceiving much attention at the hands of
thinking men. Labor unions have now
entered the political field where the ques-
tion is receiving the usual time-serving
and short-sighted treatment.
The matter of labor unions is of manifest
interest to piano manufacturers who are
large employers of labor, for next month
an important meeting of the different
unions occurs.
r\PINIONS
of dealers, gleaned by The
We propose from time to time to deal
^"^ Review from every point in Amer- with the question of labor from an indi-
ica, all prophesy with unvarying regular- vidual standpoint.
ity an excellent trade throughout the fall.
There are some of our friends who seem
It is gratifying to note the optimistic sen- to think that the matter of unions will be
timent prevailing in almost every locality. handled by legislation. To such we would
say there is nothing either in the past his-
BUSINESS HONESTY.
tory
or the present aspect of our legislation
TS the business world more honest than it
was fifty or one hundred years ago? is to warrant anyone holding the opinion that
a question well worth propounding in this question will meet with any perma-
these days when one he'ars with a some- nent or satisfactory settlement at the hands
what melancholy cadence in the phrase, of of either state or national legislatures.
It does not need an optimistic belief in
the "old-time merchant" and his methods.
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
TWENTY-FIRST YEAR.
jt Jt EDWARD LYMAN B I L L ^ J* J*
Editor and Proprietor.
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY
3 East 14th St., New York
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage). United States, Mexico
and Canada, $2.00 per year ; all other countries, $4.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per
insertion. On quarterly or yearly contracts a special discount
is allowed. Advertising Pages $50.00, opposite reading matter
$75.00.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should be
made payable to Edward Lyman Bill.
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
NEW YORK, AUGUST 2 5 l
TELEPHONE NUMBER, 1745--EIGHTEENTH STREET.
T H E KEYNOTE.
The first week of each month The Review
contains a supplement embodying the literary
and musical features which have heretofore
appeared in The Keynote. The amalgamation
i-s effected without in any way trespassing on
our regular news service. The Review con-
tinues to remain, as before, essentially a trade
pa per.
THE ART OF SUCCESS.
DECENTLY while discussing the rise
and fall of business houses in this in-
dustry with a well-known member of the
trade, the success of certain individuals
who have at timgs suffered severe finan-
cial.loss was dwelt upon at length.
To the credit of the piano industry it
may be said that it possesses a class of men
who exhibit the ownership of indomitable
will power and perseverance, and, after
all, the successful man grows stronger and
more determined when the ways look the
darkest.
Instead of becoming discouraged as the
obstacle's which bar his progress grow
more and more fo¥«»idable, he stirs his la-
tent energies and succeeds in overthrowing
all impediments in his path. He does not
waste his energies and time in trying to
get around these obstructions., but he cuts
his way directly through them.
The atmosphere of America develops
independence and courage, and the Ameri-
can business man is the admiration and
wonder of his confreres in all parts of the
World. It is the possession of those quali-
ties which seem to thrive under adversity
that has developed industrial America at
such a phenomenal rate. We have plenty
of that timber in the piano trade, and it
has helped to build an industrial edifice
which compares favorably witk any other
subdivision of industry in the land.
It is a pretty good maxim when one has
a discouraging and perplexing thing to do,
not to put off doing it indefinitely.
Anticipation will always clothe that which
we dread with difficulties. Prompt and
vigorous action robs a dreaded task of half
of its horrors. One has to grasp the nettle
firmly in order to avoid its sting.
We know one successful business man
who used to say that when he felt* blue and
discouraged in the morning- because dis-
agreeable things confronted him he made
up his mind firmly that he would make
that particular day change from indigo to
red and finish it by making it a red letter
day in his business career.
It was this desire on his part that was
one of the greatest factors in his success.
That principle followed out turns probable
failure into success, and the loss of a day
into a day's victory.
Man has not wholly overcome his natural
laziness, and when things are disagreeable
and go a trifle hard with him, the tempta-
tion to slip around a difficult place is very
strong, but that is not the way to kill the
dragon that dogs our footsteps and robs
us of our happiness. Why not go through
obstacles rather than go around them,
sieze the dragon by the head and strangle
him?
The man who works only when he feels
like it, and has no power to compel him-
self to do a thing when he is averse to it,
will never get up very high in the world,
whether manufacturing or selling pianos
and musical instruments. When we do
not like to work when provided with good
health, and there is no particular reason
why we should not, it might be well to
take a course of special training in order
to infuse a little of that electrical vigor
which is necessary at times to achieve de-
sired ends.
Things do not come easily to us. It is
quite necessary to dig for them, and pretty
hard at times. There are some men in
this industry, who to-day are well ad-
vanced in years and are well fixed in this
world's chattels and they never think of
stopping; on the contrary, they are mapping
out new plans with which, when perfected,
they hope to win new conquests. There is
no mistaking the fact that rigid discipline
day after day and week after week is a
good thing, and when practiced it en-
ables one to hold a firm grip and keep
steadily to a task, no matter how difficult
or disagreeable it may be. But after
a while perseverance along these lines en-
ables one to learn the art of arts—success.
Is the present generation of business
men less honest than its forbears were?
Or is our sense of trade morality, after all
is said and done, just as keen as was that
of our forefathers, and do we live up to it
just as closely and conscientiously as they
did?
While our personal means of observation
do not extend over very many decades,
yet we are inclined to the belief that the
merchants of the present day are fully up
to the standard of years agone; or better,
they are more inclined to straight dealing
than ever before. We do not believe that
the business morals of this country are de-
generating. On the contrary we believe
that commercial degeneration does not
exist to any alarming extent with us to-
day. The standard of honesty among
business men is higher now than ever be-
fore, and we find a smaller number of
merchants trying to purchase goods under
false statements than ever before in the
history of our industry. We are confident
that statistics will bear out our statements.
census returns give New York a
T HE population
of nearly three and one-
half millions—to be exact 3,460,000—where-
as the official census count of Chicago cre-
dits that city with having a population of
nearly 1,700,000. Our Western friends
must absorb a few more outside towns in
order to keep in sight of New York.
WOULD THROTTLE INDUSTRY.
QOME articles which have appeared in
The Review regarding labor organi-
zations have attracted considerable atten-
tion and we have been in receipt of many
communications regarding,them. Like all
of the important economic questions of
the time, that of labor unions is now re-
ceiving much attention at the hands of
thinking men. Labor unions have now
entered the political field where the ques-
tion is receiving the usual time-serving
and short-sighted treatment.
The matter of labor unions is of manifest
interest to piano manufacturers who are
large employers of labor, for next month
an important meeting of the different
unions occurs.
r\PINIONS
of dealers, gleaned by The
We propose from time to time to deal
^"^ Review from every point in Amer- with the question of labor from an indi-
ica, all prophesy with unvarying regular- vidual standpoint.
ity an excellent trade throughout the fall.
There are some of our friends who seem
It is gratifying to note the optimistic sen- to think that the matter of unions will be
timent prevailing in almost every locality. handled by legislation. To such we would
say there is nothing either in the past his-
BUSINESS HONESTY.
tory
or the present aspect of our legislation
TS the business world more honest than it
was fifty or one hundred years ago? is to warrant anyone holding the opinion that
a question well worth propounding in this question will meet with any perma-
these days when one he'ars with a some- nent or satisfactory settlement at the hands
what melancholy cadence in the phrase, of of either state or national legislatures.
It does not need an optimistic belief in
the "old-time merchant" and his methods.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).