Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
10
MEW
EDWARD LYMAN DILL.
Editor and Proprietor.
J. B- 8P1LLANE, Managing Editor.
EXECVTIVE STAFF:
THOS. CAMPBELL-COPELAND,
W. MURDOCH LIND,
ERNEST L. WAITT, 255 Washington St.
R. W. KAUFFMAN.
GEO.
W. QUERIPEL.
CHICAGO OFFICE:
BOSTON OFFICE:
PHILADELPHIA OFFICE:
EMILIE FRANCES BAUER,
GKO. B. KELLER,
A. J. NICKLIN,
E. P. VAN HARLINGEN, 36 La Salic St.
MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL:
R. J. LEFEBVRE.
ST. LOUIS OFFICE :
CHAS. N. VAN BUREN.
SAN FRANCISCO OFFICE: ALFRED METZGER, 425-427 Front St.
Published Every Saturday at 1 Madison Avenue, New York.
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
SUBSCRIPTION (including posta£->, United States. Mexico and Canada, $2.00 per
year; all other countries, $4.00.
DVEKTISEMENTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount is allowed. Advertising Pages, $50.00; opposite read-
ing matter, $75.00.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill.
ARTISTS'
DEPARTMENT
On the first baturday of each month The Review contains in its
"Artists' Department" all the current musical news. This is effected
without in any way trespassing on the size or service of the trade
section of the paper. It has a special circulation, and therefore aug-
ments materially the value of The Review to advertisers.
nutrrrnDY
p i i M n f T o n u n e d directory of piano manufacturing firms and corporations
!i J-.,Vw.-T, - - -
on page 32 will be of great value as a reference for
MANUFACTURERS
dealers and others. '
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONE-NUMBER 1745 GRAMERCY.
NEW YORK, JUNE 4, 19O4-.
EDITORIAL
T
HE report of the executive committee of the Piano Manufac-
turers' National Association is well "worthy of the closest
perusal. It is far and away the best business document ever pre-
sented to the manufacturers through the association, and deals with
questions which affect alike the manufacturing and retailing depart-
ments of the trade. It is a splendid production and is at once a
credit to the association endorsing it.
That part which relates to territorial rights should be read and
preserved by every manufacturer and dealer in the United States.
The executive committee have made a splendid prsentation of the
perplexities which are the natural outcome of the present method of
territorial allotment, and have clearly denned the course which
should be pursued by manufacturers and dealers.
I
F the principles laid down as the governing rules of the trade were
lived up to, a great many perplexities would be removed from
the piano man's life. The association says the dealer should obli-
gate himself to sell only in the territory assigned to him, and should
decline to quote prices, either wholesale or retail, to any one outside
of his territory.
He should obligate himself to keep wholesale
prices, either to the wholescale or retail trade. The association says
further, that the dealer should be under obligations to maintain
secrecy regarding these prices, even if business relations are severed
in the future.
T
HE manufacturer who also retails pianos should keep entirely
out of the dealers territory, and the dealer has no right to in-
vade the manufacturers' precincts any more than the manufacturer
has a right to sell in the dealers' territory without his permission.
The association recommends the entire discontinuance of the word
"agents" as commonly used to designate the manufacturers' repre-
sentative.
It is suggested that a careful investigation be made regarding
the laws of each State and Territory as to their bearing on tHis
subject. By giving the "agency" it is asserted that frequently un-
pleasant complications ensue. It is recommended that the word
"agent" be cut out of the piano man's vocabulary, and the word
''dealer" substituted as the proper term by which to designate trade
representatives.
) EGARDING a change of piano representation it is considered
IV
there is no obligation on the part ot the manufacturer to
buy back from the dealer any stock which he might have on hand,
neither is there any obligation on the part of the dealer to sell these
pianos to the manufacturer. It is recommended that the dealers
should be willing to sell, and that the manufacturers should also be
willing to buy, but if the deal falls through reasonable notice should
be given the dealer to sell these pianos at retail before other ship-
ments are made representatives in the same territory.
T
HE association says that should the dealer have any of these
instruments on hand at the time other representatives re-
ported that he should not slash the prices, and offer the stock which
he has on hand at wholesale rates.
The association believes that the one price system at retail
would do away with many of the perplexities which at present beset
the piano man. The right price, and a uniform price would ma-
terially improve existing conditions, and then the responsibility for
each to maintain this price would at once be obvious, for any de-
parture from this would constitute a violation of the business under-
standing existing between the manufacturer and dealer.
T
HE entire report shows care in dealing with questions which
have always been the cause of much misunderstanding and
dissatisfaction in trade circles. It is by the promulgation of such
doctrines that the Manufacturers' Organization must impress its
force upon the entire trade. It shows a manifest desire to improve
trade conditions, and the circulation of just such suggestions as are
embodied in the report of the executive committee must be beneficial
in the broadest way to trade interests.
T
HE Manufacturers' Organization went squarely on record as
in favor of the open shop. There was no dodging the issue, and
the association shows that it proposes to endorse the proposition
that no man shall be debarred from earning a livelihood in the
various factories, even if he does not wear the badge of unionism,
neither shall a man be prevented from enjoying the fullest reward
of his labor if he choses to ally himself with labor unions.
That is as it should be. Freedom for all.
HERE are many who figure that having the retail price of in-
struments burned in the back would go a long way toward
establishing the one price rule in the trade.
This is strongly opposed by other men who say that in certain
localities, after years of arduous labor and great expenditures of
money, they have built up an artistic following for certain instru-
ments which entitle them to receive greater prices than a lealer in
another section, who has been wholly indifferent regarding the
merits of the same pianos and has failed to create for them any kind
of a select following.
T
OME of the papers read at the dealers' meetings were excellent,
and well worthy of preservation. The entire line of topics
treated have the closest bearing upon the retail industry, and the
dealers who were not present will glean much information upon
vital topics by a careful analysis of the papers which appeared in
last week's Review.
S
HE dealers of the Iowa National Association recommended
that the two associations pass resolutions at Atlantic City
establishing a retail price for each piano, and that this price should
be burned in the back.
There is everywhere a growing desire to sell pianos upon
strictly a one price basis. We have been gradually growing up to
this point for years, simply following the trend of other mercantile
lines.
T
T was not very many years ago when there was elasticity
of prices in many leading stores where various lines of goods
were sold. To-day no one thinks of questioning the price at which
various articles are offered, and it will only be a short time before
prices on pianos will be just as fixed.
The one price system has steadily been growing, and its
progress will be accelerated materially by the excellent work of the
Dealers' Conventions.
I
OME of the speeches at the banquet were excellent, and would
have been much more appreciated had it not been for the