Music Trade Review

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THE
TWENTY-THIRD YEAR.
KEMW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL,
EVITOR AND PROPRIETOR.
J.
B. S P I L L A N E , MANAGING EDITOR.
•' THOS. CAMPBELL-COPELAND
\ EMILIE FRANCIS BAUER
Executive Staff: •< WALDO E. LADD
j GEO. W. QUERIPEL
{ A. J. NICKLTN
H U M ETery SatnrflaT at 3 MlifiTstreet, New Yort,
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage\ United States,
Mexico ai"1 Canada, #2.00 per year: all other countries,
$4.00.
•
ADVERTISEnENTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per
insertion. On quarterly or yearly contracts a Hpecinldis-
count is allowed. Advertising Pages $50.00 ; opposite
reading matter, $75.00.
REniTTANCES, in other than currency form, should be
made payable to Edward Lymun Bill.
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
NEW YORK, NOV. 23, 1901.
TELEPHONE NUMBER, 1745-E1QHTEENTH STREET.
^ n the first Saturday of each month
ARTISTS*
The Review contains in its "Artists' De-
AHTIITI
partment" all the current musical news.
DEPARTMENT This is effected without in any way tres-
passing on the size or service of the trade
section of the paper. It has a special circulation, and
therefore augments materially the value of The Review
to advertisers.
T n e
DIRECTORY OF
directory of piano manufac-
PIANO
turing firms and corporations found
MANUFACTURERS on page 24 will be of great value as
a reference for dealers and others.
EDITORIAL
A SHORT SERMON.
A
NUMBER of deal-
ers have expressed
themselves as delighted
with The Review sug-
gestions which have ap-
peared from time to time as to wide-awake
methods in retailing.
When a paper suggests that which is of
advantage to its readers it is doing good,
and if a little plain talk every week in the
editorial columns of The Review sets men to
thinking, then we mean to keep it up, for the
competitive fight is on in dead earnest, and
the battle will be waged with unflagging
zeal until the holiday season shall have closed.
It means a lively time for the piano mer-
chant. It means a time of watchfulness;
a time of thought; of quick, alert work for
the chief and for every employee in his in-
stitution.
Your eye, Mr. Piano Merchant, must be
everywhere; but don't gloat over the figures
at night, and cajole yourself into a comfort-
able frame of mind because sales are fairly
large. There are other things to watch be-
sides selling. You must know that the sales
are well made. You must know that the
pianos are placed among good people where
they will stay. There must be plenty of sales,
for the clays have long passed to which Theo-
dore Pfafflin referred in last week's Review,
where six pianos was a big week's work for
a piano store, so big that the proprietor
wanted to shake him for the drinks at the end
of the week.
Some practical sug-
gestions to piano men
—Make sales that stick
—Keep quality above
price—The advantage
of advertising— Bright
wareroom spots.
7VtVSIC TRKDE
REVIEW
To-day we have piano establishments moved wholly as a basis of argument, then
which have disposed of as high as three thou- the very heart would be cut out of the busi-
sand pianos a year at retail. The pianos ness.
must not only be sold to the right people,
He says that the dealers' interests, too,
but a keen eye must be kept on the cash would suffer largely, and that the standing
sales, and a strong argument used to pro- of a piano and the price obtained in the
mote that end of the business as much as manner in which the piano is handled, and
possible. Live advertising will keep the peo- that if once the impression is disseminated
ple familiarized with your stock, and will that the favorite makes have been discon-
double the number of your sales between tinued or that their makers have been ab-
this and Jan. ist. It is a good time now to sorbed in the trust maelstrom, then that
utilize to the fullest extent the selling capac- sentimental value which naturally clings to
ity of your store. If pianos won't sell in one a certain product, would be wholly de-
part of the house, display them to better ad- stroyed.
vantage in another part. Get up some spe-
To sum up, he makes a most able and
cial features and decorative effects.
logical argument showing the destructive
We know of some men who have more tendencies of the trust were this industry
than doubled their business during the past ever to become absorbed by a piano trust.
year simply by warerooming their pianos in But read the article; it contains much that
up-to-date style.
will interest and is worthy of the closest
Make the dark spots in your warerooms consideration.
bright spots.
MEN WHO THINKOFOTHERS.
Convert the dark corners into beautiful
' T H E R E are few men
Does the accumula-
little attractive places where people will de-
tion of riches mean
indeed who can
the development of
light to linger.
selfishness ?—S o m e
devote all of their en-
Don't forget one thing, however,—to keep
men who think other-
wise — Piano m e n
ergies and interests to
the quality standard well in the foreground.
whose bequests have
been generous.
the accumulation of dol-
Let the other fellow talk price, but you talk
lars
without
the
risk
of developing selfish-
quality, and you will be farther ahead at the
end of the year, and, what is better still, will ness. Selfishness has not, however, been
stay there. The piano man who talks qual- a prominent characteristic of rich Ameri-
ity is building up a reputation for his store cans. We may truly say that this country
has produced remarkable men in every way,
that will last.
and not only have our noted men accumu-
THE PRIZE TRUST ARTICLE.
lated vast fortunes, but, like Alexander o t
C VERY manufactur- old, they have made money like kings and
The piano trust ar-
ticle—Some convinc-
er, piano dealer they have given away like kings. The lives
ing arguments made
by the prize winner—
and salesman should of men who are considerate of others, and
A trust would destroy
present standards—A
read the prize article who try to make the world better and broad-
salesman's arguments
which appears in an- en the condition of men, are worthy of emula-
removed.
other portion of the paper, upon the subject: tion—they leave footprints on the sands
"What Would be the Effect of a Piano of time, so that others not only shall take
Trust Upon the Industry?'
heart, but shall be assisted over rough places
In these days of great business combin- by the shining example before them.
ations and vast aggregations of capital the
Unfortunately there are men to whom the
subject possesses more than ordinary inter- accumulation of money means the crushing
est, and the article which won The Review out of generous instincts and self becomes
prize of $25.00 should be carefully perused, the one dominant and absorbing part of their
because it contains many logical arguments, make-up. It is seldom that we have a man
showing the demoralizing effect of a trust who, like Andrew Carnegie, says two art-
upon music trade affairs.
ists of the world, Shakespeare and Wag-
The prize winner argues convincingly ner, are worth more than all the millions
that the value of a piano name and reputa- which he possesses, and that without their
tion would immediately deteriorate after the works life would be a barren waste; and
condensing process really commenced. He Mr. Carnegie is a very rich man, for, not-
figures that quality would be sacrificed im- withstanding all his great benevolence, his
mediately after the formation of a trust, income is greater than he can spend. He
and that labor troubles rather than being made his way to wealth by prodigious cease-
overcome would be more in evidence than less labor, and he is author of the statement
to-day. He advances the theory that a that it is a crime for a man to die rich, and
piano business is not altogether sustained he is following out his belief bv giving
by the law of supply and demand. That away princely sums of money and enriching
the demand has to be created, and that if the country by providing means of advance-
special points made by a salesman were re- ment for young and ambitious men. Mr.