Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADB REVIEW
the "house" and Mr. Bent's "brief" for the salesmen was un-
doubtedly a strong one. Mr. Bent seems to have struck a popu-
lar vein, judging from the many complimentary things said of his
efforts in behalf of the salesmen in letters received by The Review
this week.
No one can dispute that Mr. Byrne's argument is sound, that
the policy, the treatment of customers, and the moral standing and
physical energy of the officers of a business have much to do with
the growth or decay of any institution. Furthermore, those quali-
ties do become unconsciously absorbed by salesmen and clerks em-
ployed by such institutions. It is, therefore, necessary that there
should be a perfect ensemble, that the officers of a business as well
as the salesmen should be energetic and untiring in their efforts to
make the business a success. The officers cannot do everything
alone; neither can the salesmen. Both combined, however, become
an irresistible force to enable a business to triumph over all difficul-
ties. And George P. Bent supplements this when he says: "What
is the house, but its salesman? Every house exists for the sole and
one purpose of selling. All the officers and managers of any house
are salesmen in so far as they influence in any way the sale of goods
offered."
Mr. Bent goes further than this, however, and he maintains
that it is "The salesman's personal contact with buyers, is what
builds and holds a business. But few customers know the house
except as they know it by and through the salesmen they meet.
Their regard for the house is gauged by their regard for the sales-
man who writes to or waits upon them." Mr. Bent emphasizes his
position further at the close of his extended and able paper by say-
ing: "It is the salesman whose personality and magnetism makes
the customers he meets his own friends; whose confidence (or
seeming confidence) in the goods he offers is imparted to the pur-
chaser to such an extent that he buys. His truth-telling and square
dealing inspires faith in the buyers to such a point that each one
becomes a helper to the salesman by talking of and for him and his
goods, so that others go to him to buy. It is such a salesman who
builds the 'House' and makes its fortune. Selling is all there is to
m
any 'House,' and no one but salesmen do the selling."
J
T has well been said that the French Government is always look-
ing for something to tax. The latest report from the Gallic
capital is that the new Minister of Finance contemplates placing a
tax of $2 on every piano in France. Such a foremost pianist as
1'ugno maintains, however, that the Government cannot put this
tax into effect since these instruments, which number approximately
five hundred thousand, come under the heading of "instruments of
work," and are therefore relieved from taxation.
The Minister of Finance has responded by stating that if he
cannot tax the pianos he will tax the manufacturers of these instru-
ments, as he calculates raising one million dollars extra taxation in
this way. If our Government attempted such a plan of taxing
owners of pianos there would be a riot, but then pianos in France
are luxuries, while in this country they are a necessary adjunct to
every household, no matter how humble a station in life is occupied
by their owners. They certainly do some queer things in France.
F
OR the past two years The Review has been conducting a cam-
paign along the line of the establishing by manufacturers of
the retail prices at which pianos shall be offered to the public, and
now.that the John Church Co. have fallen in line with The Review's
suggestions, and are publishing the prices at which their pianos
shall be sold, we notice that some of our contemporaries find some
merit in this plan.
Better late than never. The time is surely coming when every
manufacturer will establish a national price on his instruments. It
is all very fine to talk about "one price," but there can be no "one
price" when a dealer sells a piano in his territory at his price and
another dealer in adjoining territory sells the same piano at his
price. And so it goes throughout the country. Railroads bring
remote territory into too quick connection these days, and this kind
of "one price" plan is not a panacea for trade evils.
There must be a price established by the manufacturer that
will be known to buyers throughout the country—a price at which
they can secure a piano wherever it is sold. This plan of allowing
the dealer to fix prices opens the door to the possibility of misrepre-
sentation, and many of the leading dealers have admitted this to
The Review. Therefore, there is only one real key to the so-called
"one price" situation, and it is the establishment of "one price" by
the manufacturers.
The adoption of this plan will simplify the entire piano business,
and place their piano in its proper class by the men who make the
goods, and who will place only a fair valuation upon their product—
a valuation that will be fair alike to the dealer and the purchaser.
T the convention of the National Bankers' Association, held
last week, some important bills were formulated to be brought
up before the next Congress, to remedy the present financial
conditions. Year after year, at certain periods, we suffer from a
financial stringency which works a serious injury to business. Such
an industry as that devoted to pianos, for instance, which neces-
sarily calls for the handling of a lot of commercial paper, is nat-
urally affected by the absence of that monetary elasticity so neces-
sary at this time of the year when the demands of business become
most acute, owing to the growth in demand for all lines of manu-
factures. Any plan that will relieve the periodical money famine
will be welcome, and we are glad to jiote that the proposed meas-
ures advocated by the Bankers' Association have received the most
enthusiastic support of Leslie M. Shaw, Secretary of the Treasury.
A
C
OMPLAINTS still continue regarding the handling of piano
shipments. Dealers and manufacturers alike are finding
fault with the traffic managers who, however, claim they are doing
their best with the unparalleled congestion of freight throughout
the country. Meanwhile piano manufacturers are being advised
by letter and wire to hurry on shipments, but dealers in many in-
stances fail to recognize what the manufacturers have to contend
with. Meanwhile how much better it would have been had the
majority of dealers taken the advice of The Review and placed their
orders early in the summer instead of waiting until the fall and
then expect manufacturers not only to turn out pianos, but to ship
them, on schedule time.
HERE is much sarcasm, combined with a greater amount of
truth, in the following, which we clipped from the columns of
our esteemed contemporary, the New York Sun: "Those excellent
and reputable gentlemen who have issued a call for a national con-
vention, to be held next January, to consider the extension of our
foreign commerce, have done well to choose Washington as the placj
of meeting. The call for such a convention indicates that the origi-
nators of this worthy movement apprehend correctly that in order
to develop trade abroad something must be done at home. In be-
ginning at home, therefore, the foreign trade extension movement
naturally makes its starting point the place where the greatest
obstacles are to be found, the House of Representatives, which
blocks any effort to shave the most infinitesimal fraction of 1 per
cent, from the least important of the deodate Dingley tariff
schedules, and the Senate, which buries reciprocity treaties alive or
after throttling them to death."
T
YON & HEALY, of Chicago, certainly deserve congratula-
tions on the splendid work which they have accomplished
for the pipe organ interests of this country, in securing a reduction
of fifteen per cent, in freight classification of pipe organs. This
reduction applies to all points covered by the official classification
board, whose headquarters is in New York, and becomes effective
January I. As referred to in last week's Review, all the shippers
of pipe organs will be equally benefited by this ruling, as they
secure a carload rating on this commodity, which has never before
existed. It is further worthy of note that this concession was se-
cured by Lyon & Healy without any aid on the part of the pipe
organ manufacturers of this country.
L
UR present age is frequently called the age of specialism, and
perhaps in no stronger way is it marked than in the necessity
of men following certain lines in order to achieve distinction. The
same rules that apply to the individual apply equally to all depart-
ments of trade, and if a department is to pay in a large way it
must be specialized and made so attractive that it will act as a
magnet in drawing trade. The success of the leading stores since
the era of departmentization affords ample proof that this plan is
a wise one.
O