Music Trade Review

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THE: MUSIC TRADE: REIVIEIW
RMLW
LDWARD LTMAN
Editor a n d Proprietor
tarflnrf Editor.
J. B. 1P1LLANE,
EXECVTIVE AND REPORTORIAL STAFF:
Quo. B. KBLLBB,
W I I . B. WHITB,
W. N. TYLHR,
L. J. CHAMBERLIN.
F. II. THOMPSON.
A. J. NICKLIN,
EMILIE FRANCES BAUER,
QBO. W. QOBRIPEL,
BOSTON OPP1CE:
CHICAGO OFFICE
ERNEST L. WAITT, 173 Tremont St.
E. P. VAN HARLINGEN, 1362 Monadnock Block.
PHILADELPHIA OFFICE:
R. W. KAUFFMAN.
TELEPHONES : Harrison 1521 ; Automatic 2004.
MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL:
5T. LOUIS OFFICE:
E. C. TORREY.
CHAS. N. VAN BUREN.
SAN FRANCISCO OFPICB: ALFRED METZGER, 425-427 Front. St.
CINCINNATI, O.: NINA PUGH-SMITH.
Published Every Saturday at 1 Madison Avenue, New York.
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
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
_
On the first Saturday of each month The Review contains in its
THE ARTISTS' "Artists' Department all the current musical news. This is effected
without In any way trespassing on the size or service of the trade
DEPARTMENT Beet Ion of the paper. It has a special circulation, and therefore
augments materially the value of The Review to advertisers.
n n i T T n o v * , , . „ . The directory of piano manufacturing firms and corporations
uiULtiUKT of riANU f o u n ( j o n another page will be of great value, as a reference
MANVFACTUR.ER.S
f or dealers and others.
LONG DISTANCE TELEPBONE-NVMBER 1745 GRAMERCY.
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 4, 19O5.
R
EPORTS from the piano field for the past week are indeed
satisfactory. They indicate a large and general demand for
instruments. The orders which are coming in to the various fac-
tories necessitate the continued activity of the manufacturing forces
throughout the country.
Lately, too, there have been quite a large number of rush orders,
which indicates that a good many of the piano merchants realize
that a possible shortage of instruments will confront them within the
near future. We know of one large concern having a number of
branches, the proprietor of which- was very conservative regarding
the placing of early orders. Recently he visited New York and
desired three hundred pianos inside of thirty days. He wished
these delivered to his various stores. This is one indication which
shows which way the trade wind is blowing. The Review sounded
the note of warning early in the season that the piano retailers
should place their orders early so that the manufacturers would not
be compelled to carry all of the trade burden. Pianos cannot be
created over night, and appearances now indicate that some of the
retailers will be decidedly short of stock for holiday trade.
B
USINESS will be more active as the season advances, and
cold weather will have a decided stimulating effect upon all
kinds of trade. The markets in every line have a firm tone in
consequence of the strength of the raw materials in all staples,
and a good many manufacturers in various lines are unwilling to
contract ahead at existing prices. The pressure of orders on
manufacturers is such as to prevent them from making shipments
with promptness, and the excellent prospect for business makes
them more firm than usual in maintaining their prices.
In view of the advances which have taken place in a good many
lines, piano manufacturers should not remain aloof from accom-
modating themselves to conditions which manufacturers in every
other line have done.
W
HILE chatting with a well-known manufacturer recently,
he said: "I fear that the exposures in connection with the
insurance investigation which has been going on in New York will
have a tendency to injure the retail piano business."
We can hardly agree with our friend, for whose opinion we
invariably entertain the highest esteem. On the contrary we be-
lieve that the insurance exposures will have a tendency to benefit
the retail sales department, and we will present our reasons for
entertaining this belief.
Of course there are hundreds of men all over the country who
have been acting as agents for the insurance companies whose
business must necessarily be severely injured if not entirely anni-
hilated. They will be forced to seek other vocations, and pre-
sumably their revenues will be decreased in such a manner that
they will not become purchasers of pianos; but let us look at the
other side.
T
HERE are hundreds of thousands of men who will not take out
insurance policies, influenced by the recent exposures of internal
rottenness. They will figure that to continue to deny themselves
and their families luxuries which go a long ways toward making
life pleasant by saving money for insurance sharks to dispense in
a criminal manner is wrong, that they had better use the same
money in smaller investments, and incidentally to purchase acces-
sories which bring joy to the home circle.
There are hundreds of thousands of men who have cut off many
of the luxuries of life in order to save money to meet the recurring
insurance obligations. And it is now apparent that fewer policies
will be written within the next few years. A decrease will be
certain until the insurance business itself is placed upon a healthy
and sound basis. Therefore the new men who would have easily
been won over by the arguments of the insurance agents will now
refuse to take out policies in the larger companies at the cost of
personal sacrifice and stringent economy. Therefore they will be
more apt to purchase pianos and other high-grade home fittings.
A piano, particularly if it is a good one, is a sound investment,
and creates pleasure in every home where it finds a resting place;
therefore if the piano merchants over the country take advantage
of the present condition as they should, they could easily profit by
the exhibition of rottenness in the insurance companies of the
East, which has been demonstrated by the investigation in this city.
T
HINK of the thousands of men who have saved, cutting here
and there and denying themselves, to create a sacred fund for
their
dear
ones, and these men now witness the profligate and dis-
T may be well to state that excellent prices are being obtained
honest
disposition
of their hard-earned savings by the men who have
at retail which shows the dealers can get more for their in-
controlled
the
destinies
of the great insurance organizations.
struments if sufficient backbone is exhibited when mentioning prices. •
The
handling
of
large
impersonal funds surely kills all of the
The same, too, might be said of the manufacturing end.
moral
sensibilities
of
these
men, if they ever possessed any at the
We know a number of manufacturers who have not hesitated to
start.
say to their agents that they would be compelled to ask more
Piano merchants too may find splendid use for some of the per-
for the pianos. They marked up their pianos reasonably on ac-
suasive
eloquence of the local insurance agents. As a rule they
count of increased cost which every man of intelligence knows has
are
good
talkers, and are impressive men, who would make good
been added to piano making within a recent period.
piano
salesmen,
and some of them will be looking for positions.
Dealers are not prone to view this matter in an unreasonable
So,
taken
on
the
whole, this great expose should benefit the retail
light when approached fairly. They know that labor and materials
piano
business
rather
than act as a detriment.
have increased the wholesale cost of pianos, and they expect to pay
more. There is really no need for long drawn out arguments in
HERE is an interesting communication from Philip Werlein,
a matter of this kind. It is straight business, and the plainer and
president of the Piano Dealers' National Association, appear-
more emphatic a trade truth is presented the more force it has. ing in another portion of this paper. Mr. Werlein sends on an
There is nothing gained by evading the trade" conditions which
able document in which he takes exception to some of the state-
confront us. They have changed materially over those of years
ments made in The Review concerning the proposed piano exhibit
ago, and every business must adjust itself to the present state of
to be made in Washington, during convention time.
affairs.
Mr. Werlein affirms that he does not find that a condition op-
I
T