Music Trade Review

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THE
MUSIC'TRADE
T
HE truly industrious salesman is not only active in his duties
but in all things relating to them. He does not watch the
clock, or does not tie himself down to a strict compliance with orders,
but lets himself loose to do all he can for the good of the firm he
represents. H e fills up the fragments of his time with usefulness.
He takes a pride in keeping his stock in good order, and always hav-
ing it ready to display to the best advantage. He is prompt to help
others in their difficulties, and to put his shoulder to the wheel when
an emergency calls for special activity.
His industry also is seen in his devotion to work and his pride in
it, and in his enthusiasm for the pianos which he sells, and for doing
all things thoroughly well.
O
F course a salesman would be insulted if told that he was not
:apable, but capability is a broad tern.. It reaches up from
bare proficiency to high excellence. Many salesmen know the
routine work, but know it only in a perfunctory sort of way. The
really capable salesman knows thoroughly well the special merits of
the instruments which he represents. He talks quality and prices so
cleverly and so fully that the customer is impressed with his
earnestness.
The capable salesman also is one who can read his customers and
judge by intuition what kind of a piano will best please, what they
can afford to buy, how far their tastes and desires will range.
That is the capable piano salesman, and we may add the suc-
cessful one as well.
T
HERE is no fair-minded man who can deny the right of labor
to organize, and in these days of radical labor trade unionism,
it is refreshing to hear such words as these from a labor leader, tho
head of a great labor organization, the Board of Locomotive En-
gineers: "On almost every road in the country we work side by
side with men who do not belong to our order. No man is forced
to join us. We try to show him how he would be benefited by
belonging to us and where his interests lay, but we never say to
him, 'Join us, or you cannot earn an honest living here.' I do not
believe any man ever made a good member in any organization
who was forced to join it against his will, for the chances are thai
when opportunity affords, he will prove a traitor and betray you."
I
"~ H E R E is a good healthy ring about those words, and they were
addressed by Grand Chief Stone to a convention of labor
representatives at Fort Worth, Tex. He urged further that the
closed shop means an interference with the personal liberty guar-
anteed by the constitution of the United States.
Such ideas from a labor leader are so unusual that they excite
wonder, yet the real wonder is that there should be anything extra-
ordinary in a statement that is so apparently true to all fair-minded
men.
It goes to show that labor is not generally led by those who
should be its real leaders—the men of well-poised minds the best
type of men in the organizations ; but by men whose selfish personal.
ambitions distort their vision to see things only from the one stand-
point of trade unionism at the expense of justice and the general
good.
Now, a man who would express such sentiments is a man who
would stand by his obligations, and that is the kind of man that the
labor leaders should have on the throne of power in order to advance
their organization in the estimation of employers and of the public.
CCORDING to the report on wages and the cost of living just
issued by the Bureau of Labor, there has been a larger increase
in the wages of employes in many piano factories. In the report
there are included five hundred and nineteen different occupations, all
of which show an increase in wages. Twenty of these are in the
manufacture of musical instruments.
There is no question but that the workers in all of our factories
have shared in the prosperity, as they should. While there are un-
doubtedly many errors in the statistical reports of this nature, yet
allowing a reasonable deduction for errors the fact remains that there
has been a substantial advance in the wages paid in all lines of
employment.
A
NNOUNCEMENT is made thai preparation is under way for
the quinquennial census of the manufacturing industries of
this country in compliance with a special act passed at the
last Congress. This census covers as nearly as possible the business
A
REVIEW
year of each manufacturing establishment most r.eirly conforming to
the Government fiscal year ending June 30th 1904. Special reports
are made to confine the data gathered strictly to manufacturing
processes. We question very much whether the manufacturers of
this country who have been subject to inquisitorial processes, each
successive census will respond readily to the questions propounded.
They were driven almost to the point of exasperation by the schedules
for 1900, but it now appears that a much more detailed classification
of industries will be followed under five years census.
T
HE extension of census work into an inquiry into the extent of
manufactures was reasonable, when within certain limits. This
is not only also desirable, but of considerable importance. The
modern idea of census work, however, is extravagant in its view of
the need for all kinds of statistics in connection with the subject
taken up. Statistics can be so voluminous as to b^ confusing, and
that is one trouble with our modern statistics. The array of figures
is so stupendous it is oftentimes impossible to extract the informa-
tion one desires from the special reports.
I
NDICATIONS are at hand which show that piano merchants in
various parts of the country are utilizing the columns of local
papers to a considerable extent even in midsummer.
There has been no questionable advertising indulged in recently
by music trade men, so far as our observation goes. It is true there
are some sensational sales, but those always have been in evidence,
and probably always will be.
A few fire sales have been in evidence, but piano men are not prone
to utilize fires for advertising purposes as much as department stores.
Several weeks ago a department store doing business next to a drug
store was slightly smoked by a fire which started in the rear of the
drug store, and sent its smoke through one of the dry goods con-
cern's windows.
T
HE fire was short lived, and did no damage to the dry goods,
and the scent of the smoke was driven out in less than an
hour by opening ventilators and doors. Nevertheless, the dry goods
store created a "great fire sale," named it that, and put out some
very sensational advertising. The newspaper that printed the first
advertisement of this store also printed the news item that the dam-
age done to the goods was infinitesimal and would be entirely
remedied by a little fresh air in the store. But the sale has been
prolonged for almost two months.
It is amazing how retailers of any stamp persist in playing the
public for fools.
I
T looks as if the piano dealers of the South would enjoy a full
measure of prosperity. A bumper cotton crop sold at a fairly
high figure should spell prosperity, for though the planters may not
make as much money as they did last year, the laboring element will
be flush, and will be able to pay for pianos on the instalment plan;
moreover with a liberal supply of raw material, the mills will be kept
in full operation, and thus a bountiful yield will benefit not only the
South, but manufacturers and their employes in other sections.
P R O M I N E N T Eastern piano man w r ho has just returned from
a visit to St. Louis writes The Review:
"I must congratulate you upon your enterprise in maintaining
such a splendid representation in the music trade section of the
Liberal Arts Palace. You are doing great work for the entire in-
dustry, and I saw a great number of visitors in your booth who
were deeply interested in your photographic presentation of piano
development."
The Review booth is conceded to be one of the most esthetic
in the Liberal Arts Building, and we have made it a general rendez-
vous in the trade for the visiting members of the trade not only from
all parts of the United States, but from foreign countries as well.
A
I
T would seem from indications that there will not be a dearth of
foreign piano players, nor with mechanical attachments, on our
shores next fall and winter. The season promises to be one of consid-
erable life and a good many pianists will be heard in concert work.
It is said that some pianos that have not been prominently iden-
tified with the musical life o£ the country, as far as professional work
is considered, will be heard on the concert platform during the
season.