Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
r
T A H E R E are a number of piano salesmen who are receiving larger
JL salaries than are paid many of the college professors in the
leading universities. They are receiving more than many lawyers will
in their professional work, their average is greater than is received
by the usual run of physicians under forty, and still some of them
are rather inclined to the belief that the piano business has no oppor-
tunities worthy of their special abilities.
If the salesmen who are discontented with their lot would devote
a little time daily in trying to add to their store of knowledge they
would find the time well spent. Selling is an art which should rank
as a profession, and selling consumes energy, likewise it produces
money, and the amount of energy and the manner in which it is
expended regulates the amount of money that can be produced.
T
HE effectiveness of organization finds an interesting illustra-
tion in the action taken by the various hardware associations
when the recent order of the Post Office Department relating to
rural routes was brought to their attention by a trade journal.
When it was shown that the new order would have an injurious
effect on retail and wholesale interests immediate action was decided
upon. Without organization it is certain that the feeling of the
merchants in regard to the danger which threatened would not have
found anything like adequate expression, limited as it would have
been, to the protests which would have gone to Washington from
individuals public spirited enough and sufficiently enterprising to
have taken this action. As it was, promptly on the publishing of the
facts in the case, the matter was taken up by the secretaries and
other officials of the associations, wholesale and retail, and the
result was that protests from these organizations, and individuals
as well, influenced by them, went to Washington in such numbers
and fortified with such substantial arguments, so that the objec-
tionable order was suspended.
' ; :•
I
T shows the power of organization, and in this trade, we have
existing for a number of years two national trade associations
which fairly represent the two departments of trade, manufacturing
and retailing.
Each of these organizations have done excellent work, although
the officers are frequently criticized for not accomplishing more, but
the criticisms usually come from those who have taken no interest
in association work- in order to assist it towards accomplishing bene-
ficial trade ends.
J
UST now there seems to be considerable interest aroused by the
catalogue house competition, and its possible effect upon the
trade of piano merchants. Some go as far as to make the statement
that the continued growth of the catalogue house concerns will
change the whole complexion of the retail trade in every line.
That's stuff and nonsense. People will shop and visit great
trade emporiums as long as they have the money or the credit to
purchase with.
It'is true in remote country localities where a long and expen-
sive trip is necessary to visit the market that the farmers send large
orders to the catalogue house concerns. Their patronage seems
almost wholly from the rural districts, and their trade in pianos
and organs will affect the retail piano business in localities remote
from large cities and even towns of modest size.
T
HE man who buys one of the cheap pianos which are exploited
under various names by the catalogue house people has no
conception of music, or of piano worth. He simply buys a cheap
article of furniture from which he supposes his family will draw
much happiness. In many cases these same men would never have
purchased from the retail dealers at any price, but they have been
simply drawn into the piano net so carefully spread by the catalogue
house man through the immensity of the catalogue and the fact that
he has purchased a number of articles for the household which have
fitted in fairly well. The catalogue man has got his innings in the
household, and there will be a class of trade which will be culti-
vated by him which would not ordinarily have been developed
through the regular trade channels. So while the catalogue house
people will continue to sell a larger number of pianos, there is no
danger at the present time that they will cut into the legitimate
trade to an appreciable extent.
W
HILE recently talking with a prominent manufacturer of
refrigerators we learned that the cost of manufacturing
these articles of public necessity had steadily increased for some
time, but the increase during the past season had been enormous,
many of the items which enter into the refrigerator having advanced
to such an extent as to render the business practically unprofitable
to the manufacturers. But in the past they protected the dealer
throughout the season who placed his order in the fall and winter
regardless of any subsequent increase in the cost of production.
The manufacturers were confronted from time to time with the
fact that they were selling goods close to cost, and in some cases at
cost, a condition which was not warranted by the generally pros-
perous times, particularly when the demand for such indispensable
articles was not only decreasing but was for larger and better grades
than ever before.
The financial result of this unsatisfactory condition was brought
to the manufacturers attention very forcibly. Each balanced up
their business for the season towards its close, and they decided they
must advance their prices, or quit the business, and as they didn't
propose to quit the business they marked up their prices so that it
allowed them a fair margin of profit.
That is just what the manufacturers in every line will be com-
pelled to do, and the dealers caif easily mark their prices up cor-
respondingly.
The only way to meet a condition is to meet it.
Pianos cost more to create and should therefore bring more.
T
H E R E is a determination to keep the American flag out of trade
advertisements, and in this State there is a law against using
the flag in connection with an advertisement.
It seems that the Commissioner of Patents holds that the use
of the flag, or coat of arms of the State or nation for purpose of
trade is against public policy, and he has recently decided that the
coat of arms of Maryland is not registrable as a trade mark under
the new law, although used by the applicant for ten years prior to the
passage of that act.
The Commissioner makes the point that the ten year clause of
the trade mark law does not provide for registration where the
applicant was the sole user of the mark for ten years, but requires
that he shall have exclusive use. To have the exclusive use of a
trade mark the applicant must have the right to debar others from
using the mark, and it is not sufficient that he was the only one; in
fact using the mark, or trade mark does not confer upon users'
property rights, in trade marks, but pre-supposes the existence of
such rights and provides that registration shall be prima facie evi-
dence of that ownership. Hence the Commissioner of Patents holds
that the law does not contemplate the registration of any mark
which is incapable of ownership by any individual.
I
T will be seen that this decision enunciates a number of law points
that are of vital interest to trade mark owners, apart from the
main decision in regard to the use of State or nation flags, or coats
of arms. There are some who figure that it does not take from the
flag any of its sacredness to have it used in advertising legitimate
articles of trade and commerce.
We are rather inclined to the belief, however, that the law as
it now stands, will be upheld by public opinion. We have been
steadily improving in trade mark rights, and the new law will also
stand as affording better protection to the owners of trade marks.
A man who spends a fortune in advertising a certain brand should
be afforded adequate protection in the use of that name by the laws
of the country. The music publishers, too, will bring about certain
reforms in the copyright law which will afford the composer a degree*
of protection which he has not hitherto enjoyed.
I
N looking over the subjects to be studied in connection with the
course on "salesmanship" inaugurated by the Public Schools
of Boston, we fail to find any reference to the importance of se-
curing a special knowledge of the line one desires to engage in.
Now, this is absolutely essential to success. It may be true that a
man who sells shoes, or dry goods may sell pianos, rind vice-versa,
but he is not properly equipped for his calling unless he has a fairly
good knowledge of the technical side of the business. The piano
man who can answer inquiries regarding the construction of the
piano in an intelligent and illuminative way is of decided value on
the wareroom floor. Combine with this the ability to "show off"
the piano in a satisfactory way, and you have still a more valuable
man. We shall watch with interest this move of the school authori-
ties of Boston,