Music Trade Review

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THE
MUSIC TRADE
FEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL, - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPDLLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorlal Stall:
O n . B. KxiiUn.
W. N. TYLER.
F. H. THOMPSON.
BMILIB FBANCBS BADBK.
L. BJ. BOWERS. B. BRITTAIN WILSON, Wwr. B. WHITE. L. J. CHAMBERLIN. A. J. NICKLIN.
BOSTON OFFICE:
CHICAGO OFFICE:
B. P. TAN HARLINOEN, 195-197 Wabasb Ave.
TELEPHONES : Central 414 ; Automatic 8643
MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL:
ST. LOUIS:
L. WAITT, 278A Tremont St.
PHILADELPHIA:
R. W. KADFFMAN.
A. W. SHAW.
CHAS. N. VAN BUKEN.
SAN FRANCISCO: S. U. GRAY, 2407 Sacramento St.
CINCINNATI. O.:
LONDON, ENGLAND:
try has ever seen, and yet there are many manufacturers who affirm
that their net profits fall much below those of former years. That
on account of the increased cost of raw materials which they did not
figure upon when making their contracts with the dealers at the
beginning of the year, their profits were not what they should have
been.
Certainly in such times as the present every piano manufac-
turer should make money provided his prices and quality of instru-
ments are right. He should not be blinded by any sentimental ideas
regarding loss of trade, or fear that if he advanced prices, the
dealer would relinquish the agency of his instruments. That is
arguing on false premises. No dealer will willingly give up a pay-
ing agency on account of an advance of prices in instruments which
is perfectly justified by the general conditions of the country. It is
either advance prices, or lower the quality, because it will be neces-
sary to cut here and there in every piano, if the present price be
maintained.
NINA PUOH-SMITH.
69 Baslnghall St., B. C.
W. Lionel Sturdy, Manager.
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 P«»
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, $60.00; opposite
reading matter, $76.00.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should be made payable to Bdward
Lymnn Bill.
Directory ol Plaio The directory of piano manufacturing firms and corporations,
found on another page will be of great value, as a reference
Manufacturers for dealers and others.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
ttfand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900 /Sliver Medal.Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma.Pan-American Exposition, 1901 Qold Medal..St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Jfedot.Lewls-Clark Exposition, 1905
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONE-NUMBER 1745 GRAMERCY
Cable a d d r e s s : "Elbtll N e w York."
NEW
REVIEW
YORK, JANUARY 12, 1907
EDITORIAL
T
HERE has been marked .hesitancy on the part of piano manu-
facturers in advancing their wholesale prices. They have
had to face most trying conditions, and many, up to the present time,
with the rising tide of cost of everything which enters into the
construction of pianos, have held back from advancing prices.
This year, however, the upward move will be general, and it is
safe to assert that within sixty days, piano prices will have been uni-
versally marked up. That is the way the matter looks at the present
time, and it is presumed that dealers will meet this necessary ad-
vance in the proper spirit.
Every intelligent business man knows that it costs more to live,
and it costs more to purchase everything, necessary and otherwise,
than it did a few years ago, and the piano manufacturer in advanc-
ing his product is simply keeping in line with the unmistakable
trend of the times towards higher levels. Just how far the pendu-
lum is going to swing 1 out before it reaches the price limit is still
conjectural.
P
I
T is useless to talk flamboyantly about good times unless a man
is profiting by the good times, and in such years of abounding
prosperity every piano establishment should be a profit maker. The
retail dealers must advance their prices. In other words, it is well
up to the consumer, or retail purchaser, all along the line. The
end man is the man who gets it finally, and when it gets down to
him he has to hustle to make more money in his profession or trade
in order to pay the advance, which is general.
One of the largest piano plate manufacturers in the country
while discussing the general conditions said that he looked for an
advance in metals which would force the price steadily up. He
said the general enhancement of the cost of iron ore was apparent
everywhere.
A NOTHER gentleman prominent in the iron industry remarked
1~\. that every manufacturer who used a great amount of metal
of any kind in the makeup of his product should be prepared to pay
higher prices. Continuing, he said:
The conviction is general throughout the iron industry that the
present tremendous rate of consumption will continue during the
first half of the current year, coupled with prevailing generally
profitable prices.
There are very many who are acting on the belief that work for
full capacity at present or even better prices is assured for the whole
of the year 1907. They point to the order books, which on the
surface look very encouraging indeed, but which might be turned
to a ragged exhibit, after a rush of cancellations such as the trade
has witnessed before under similar conditions. There is a disposi-
tion to exaggerate the stability of "orders" which it is well to guard
against.
T
^HE iron industry is passing again through one of its frequent
experiences of being caught unawares by a rapidly expand-
ing consumption, followed by a feverish activity to provide adequate
producing facilities, which at first fall into line disappointingly
slowly and then make themselves felt surprisingly suddenly. That
may make its appearance during the second half of 1907.
In its last analysis the course of events in the second half of
1907 will depend first upon the crops, and second upon the ability
of our country to finance the betterments and enlargements of its
producing and transportation facilities. Time only can tell as to
the first, while as to the second we may have ample warning through
long continued tightness of the money market.
RICES are climbing, and one thing is worth noting in this con-
nection, that in the metal industries they are not anxious to
take orders for future delivery at present prices; in other words,
the men at the head of those great industries figure that the price
limit has not yet been reached. The secretary of one of the largest
iron producing plants remarked to The Review recently that his con-
cern could take no more orders for the present year and positively
guarantee the delivery of the goods. He said that the fifteen plants
of his corporation w r ere rushed to the utmost, and that he antici-
pated a still further advance in raw material.
It seems the American industry has done such marvels in ex-
ceeding itself, that it seems no longer possible to excite wonder by
new records, or to stir the imagination by the production of greater
things.
T is all well enough to say that there are methods of reducing
the cost of production by the application of systematic rules
in every department. That is all right, as a general statement, and
system is absolutely necessary to-day to achieve success, but all the
system in the world cannot do away with the fact that the cost of
producing has tremendously increased beyond any possibility of
reducing it to the normal standard by the introduction of special
system, or up-to-date machinery.
T
O
HE year which has recently ended stands at the head of a pro-
cession of wonderful years. It was the greatest in the pro-
duction of iron ore, pig iron and all forms of finished iron and steel.
It was the greatest in point of production of pianos that this indus-
I
F course, it is not pleasant for any piano 'manufacturer to
advance rates to his customers particularly when he is
brought into such close relationship with him. as is usually the cus-
tom in the piano trade. His representatives are not only business