Music Trade Review

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THE MU3IC TRADE REVIEW
port directly affects the property holdings of nearly every piano
dealer in the United States.
When the idea was first promulgated to burn the old squares
at Atlantic City, it was looked upon by many merely as a joke, and it
was referred to in a laughing way by members of the trade, who con-
sidered the idea of paying cash money for freight on old pianos to
burn them up to be an absurdity. They did not, however, think
it would reach the point of the issuing of false reports that a thou-
sand square pianos had actually been burned at Atlantic City.
HE bait given out to the Associated Press was caught easily, and
reports were printed that thousands of old square pianos had
actually gone up in flames at Atlantic City. Even the full conse-
quences of this report did not dawn upon those who were willing in
their official capacity to-support the scheme.
Now it is different, for complaints are coming from all sources
from dealers who have sold square pianos to customers who are now
dissatisfied, and declare they were cheated, that the old squares are
worth nothing.
It is a serious proposition, and will cause men in the future to
think twice before lending their aid to sending broadcast fake re-
ports.
T
OMPLAINTS are coming not alone from those who have
recently bought square pianos, but there are thousands
of square pianos in the various warerooms throughout the country
that represent assets in dealers' reports. These pianos can always
be sold for something and now to eliminate these assets entirely
from the business makes it at once a serious matter. The dealei
is paying a mighty dear price for lending endorsement to what at
its best was only an absurd proposition.
From the reports which are coming in from various parts of
the country, brought about by this piano depreciation, it is not prob
able that in a hundred years or less the picture of the man applying
the fake torch to the fake piano bonfire in Atlantic City will be
thundering down the ages alongside the representatives of Funston
swimming the Rag Time River, of Napoleon galloping over the
Alps, of Brutus pulling Cassius out of the raging Tiber, of Caesar
poling himself over the Rubicon, or Hermann doing stunts on the
ramparts of the Rhine and kindred deeds.
C
EFORE the passing of the resolutions at the Piano Manufac-
turers' Convention, favoring the open shop there was an in-
teresting discussion.
A number of piano men figured that it was unwise to make that
open declaration, that it was better to adopt conciliatory means rather
than fling defiance in the face of the unions.
Some manufacturers were not in favor of the original motion.
and as the result of a conservative spirit, some of the more radical
utterances embodied in the first resolutions were expunged and
simply an open shop resolution accepted.
B
T
HERE seems to be considerable doubt whether the dealers will
meet next year in Saratoga, or select some other point. A
circular has already been issued asking opinions of members of the
Association as to the advisability of changing the place of the next
meeting.
If a number should desire this change, it would end the combined
meetings of the two associations. This move is considered desirable
by a number of members of both associations, who have expressed
themselves as believing that the interests of each could be best served
by separate meetings.
W
HAT shall we say of a hotel which feels called upon to send
out letters of apology to the Dealers' Association for the
rank service rendered at the banquet for which eight dollars per plate
was charged ?
In this apology the hotel management state that they knew
wherein the fault lay after the banquet had started, but then it was
too late to do anything. It was not too late, however, to serve three
clams, cold soup and warm wine, at irregular intervals to a disgusted
lot of men who had come prepared to do justice to a real banquet.
ERE'S a good one on department store prices:
The other day the manager of a great music trade
emporium said: "I passed S
department store, this morning,
and noticed a lot of music racks, the same as ours, in the window. I
made a memorandum of the prices attached to each in order that I
H
might compare them with our own. Here they are, and here are
duplicates, now let us see how their prices correspond. This was the
list:- The department store price, No. i, was $24.50; the regular
music store price, $21.50. The department store pricej No. 2, was
$23.40; the regular music store price, $19.50. The department store
price> No. 3, was $22.49; t n e regular music store price, $18. The
department store price, No. 4, was $21.99; the regular music store
price, $17.50."
S a matter of fact the department store has won its patronage
A
through bargain announcements. The people are prone to
patronize places where they think they are securing exceptional
values, but if we carefully analyze the prices of regular lines as they
are sold in the department stores and in specialty stores, will we not
find in nine cases out of ten that the values are on the side of the
specialty store rather than the department store?
People have fallen into the idea that all department store price*
represent exceptional values, but do they?
The regular dealer should not fear department store competition,
but he should adhere to one principle, mark his goods in plain figures
so that every one may see precisely what the goods are worth.
T
HE Piano Manufacturers' National Association is steadily
gaining strength, not alone from the fact that its membership
roll is constantly increasing, but the association germ is more firmly
implanted than ever before in the minds of manufacturers.
Men who some years ago were skeptical as to association possi-
bilities are to-day enthusiastic in their statements as to possible trade
betterment which may be brought about through organization effort.
The piano manufacturers have selected as their president an
energetic and forceful man, and unquestionably, Geo. P. Bent will
have added materially to his well earned laurels when he retires from
the presidency of the National organization.
There is no inde-
cision in Mr. Bent's movements. Every one knows exactly where
to find him, and when he throws his energy into association work,
it must bring about augmentation of the association plan.
OME piano men when brought to task for certain misrepresenta-
tions made by their salesmen, hide behind the statement that
they cannot be responsible for the utterances of their employes.
We have discovered that the salesmen are not likely to make
misrepresentations unless they are shielded by the head of the house,
whom they know will support them in anything. Now, a distinct
command from the head of the firm or the manager of the business
that no statement is to be made that cannot be borne out by the goods
themselves, and that any employe found misleading a customer will
be instantly discharged, with a bad record to his credit, will go a
long ways toward stopping misrepresentation and abuse of compe-
titors' pianos. These are days when all business institutions have to
be upright and square, for all of the squares were not burned at
Atlantic City.
O
FTENTIMES there is over-zealousness on the part of sales-
men to close a deal with a customer, but they will not reach
the borderland of misrepresentation unless they are sure that their
employers will support them in this. So when we talk about abuse
of competitors' wares, it is up to the dealer to stop this, rather than
to the salesman, for the salesmen after all fairly reflect the methods
and principles of those higher up.
ISREPRESENTATION, like a good many other trade evils,
can be easily obliterated, if the men behind the guns sin-
cerely desire its eradication, but to lay the blame on the salesmen is
absurd and unfair as well. No well organized retail establishment
will have men associated with it in presenting a knowledge of
its wares to the public unless those utterances are in accord with
its principles.
M
I
F a piano of a make not handled by the dealer is kept in wretched
condition for exhibition purposes and to discredit the instru-
ment in the eyes of customers, it is not the salesman who originated
the plan, or who continues to keep the instrument in such wretched
condition. To say that the proprietor cannot be responsible for all
that the salesman says is, of course, true in one sense, but to know
that a salesman constantly and wilfully misrepresents, means that
that salesman is working on lines which are in exact harmony with
the policy laid down by the head of the institution. The salesman is
simply doing the work clearly defined for him, and which pleases
his employers. Now if men do not wish to play fair in the business
warfare, they should at least not try to skulk behind some men who
are simply doing precisely the kind of work which they are ex-
pected to do by their employers.