Music Trade Review

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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL • Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorlal Staff:
Gfyl. 1*.. K K I J . E H ,
L . E . liuwKiis,
W. IT. llYKK.N.
F . II. TlIOMl'Stl.V
K S I I U K FliAXCKS IUlJKH,
H. ItiMTTAix W I L S O N , W M . P.. W H I T E , L. J . CIIAMKHJH-IX, A. .1. X I C K I . I N .
BOSTON OFFICE:
CHICAGO OFFICE:
K. 1'. VAN IIAUI.IXOKX. 1!).">-1!>7 Wabash Ave. •
TKI.KI'HONK.S : Central 414 ; Automatic' 8 MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL:
ST. LOUIS:
EKXKST L. WAITT, -TSA Tremont St.
PHILADELPHIA:
It. W. KALii-MAx.
A. W. SHAW.
SAN FRANCISCO:
CHAS. N. VAN BUHEN.
S. II. GRAY, 2407 Sacramento St.
CINCINNATI, O.: NINA I'UUH-SMITH.
BALTIMORE, MD.: A. KOEKHT FRENCH.
LONDON, ENGLAND:
09 Biisinghall St., K. C.
W. Lionel Sturdy, Manager.
Published Every Saturday at 1 Madison Avenue* New York.
Entered at the New York Post Office ss Second Class Matter.
SUBSCRIPTION. (Including 1 postage). United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year ;
Canada, .$;S.r>0 ; all other countries, ipl.OO.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount is allowed. Advertising l'ages, $00.00 ; opposite
reading matter. $75.00.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should be made payable to Edward
l.rmnn Hill.
Directory ol Plaao
The directory of piano manufacturing firms and corporations
' 2
~ ~
found on another page will be of great value, as a reference
Manulacturers
f()1 . ( i,. a i e rs and others.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Taris Exposition, 1000 Silrcr Medal.Charleston Exposition 1902
Diploma.Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal.. .St. Louis Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal. ...Lewis-Clark Exposition, 190.",.
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONE-NUMBER 1745 GRAMERCY
Cable a d d r e s s : "Elbtll N e w York."
NEW
YORK, JUNE 1, 1907
EDITORIAL
T
HERE is an unmistakable tendency towards conservatism in
business dealings. This trend is noticeable in all lines of
trade. As a direct result of this there has been a curtailment in
lines of credit which amounts to a distinct departure from the gen-
erous terms which have been generally granted during the past few
years. The effect that this will have on the retail department of
the piano trade will be to cause the dealers to exercise added
caution in making sales. It will be a question of quality sales
rather than quantity sales, and this policy after all will be found
to improve general trade conditions. A dealer who sells a large
number of pianos on terms of payments which carry the instalment
periods over three years or four years should see that sales are
made to proper parties; to people who have responsibility and who
would be interested in keeping payments strictly up to date. It
would be better to sell less pianos and have the payments made
with absolute precision, than to sell larger numbers and have a
tremendous arrearage in all payments. A dealer may be fooling
himself in quantity business, but he can never do it with quality
trade.
T
HERE are to-day a great many pianos sold over the country to
people who are not in position to meet the deferred payments
as they come due. If a little business slump occurs in the country,
too, the payment arrearages will steadily increase in number. It
is better to have pianos sold to good people, than to have them out
on all sorts of terms and to those who have no appreciation or re-
sponsibility, or who have no financial resources with which to meet
obligations. The credits of the country are going to be scanned
more closely than ever before and there is no good reason why piano
men should not exercise that same degree of caution in selecting"
their credit trade which merchants in other lines follow.
W
HY should a man who has not sufficient financial credit to buy
a hat be entrusted with a valuable article like a piano? Of
course, it is impossible to sell pianos for cash and keep up the enor-
mous annual sales record which we arc making- in piano manufactur-
REVIEW
ing. This is a credit country, and this is a credit world, but there is a
difference in kinds of credit and it is impossible to establish a cash
system in this trade and keep up the present volume of business.
It is preferable to do a considerable credit business and there is no
good reason why the credit business of a small establishment should
not be managed by the same system that holds good in larger stores.
There is no reason for sentiment. It is simply a business transac-
tion. And it is a good time to use discretion in the sales depart-
ment of the business.
S
OME business men refer to the possibility of general labor
troubles with considerable fear and apprehension, believing
that a disruption may come at any time, which will surely threaten
the present prosperity of the country. As a matter of fact the
absence of great strikes has been a feature of the industrial situa-
tion in the spring of 1907, and contrasts agreeably with a number
of other years. In the spring of 10,06, in contrast with to-day, the
threats of labor troubles colored all the industrial outlook. Anthra-
cite operators and workers, after weeks of skirmishing for position
reached an agreement early in May, while the bituminous coal dis-
tricts were more or less disturbed for weeks following. The dis-
turbance in the coal districts had a serious effect upon the business
throughout the country, and if we compare this present spring
with that of a year ago, we will find material improvement. We
have had, of course, some labor troubles in New York which have
interfered temporarily with local traffic, and in some of the cities
throughout the country there are at all times some local disruptions
going on. These conditions, however, arc almost inseparable from
good times, but as we view the trade outlook the labor troubles of
this year appear to be sporadic and exceptional.
The National Association of Manufacturers, a powerful or-
ganization composed of more than three thousand members of
leading manufacturers, will expend a half million of dollars yearly
to correct wrongful tendencies of capital and labor, with, of course,
the accent on labor.
C
ONTINUED cold and unsettled weather has apparently led to
a falling off in the volume of business in some quarters dur-
ing the past fortnight, but on the whole conditions in the music
trade line may be said to be thoroughly satisfactory, and while it is
human nature to find fault with existing conditions, yet if we take
the trade for 1907 and compare it month by month with the previous
year it will be found to be nearly 10 per cent, ahead. Talking with
one of the leading supply manufacturers this week he remarked
that he had been much pleased at the steady demand for supplies
of all kinds which had kept up during the year. He stated that
while the tendency of the trade had not been to place large orders
for future delivery, orders had been coming in so steadily and so
frequently that it had brought the volume of trade for the year up
to a point considerably ahead of 1906.
N
EW ENGLAND trade has shown material betterment. The
existence of unusual prosperity in Eall River is proved bv
the dividends declared by the mills in that center for the second
quarter of their present fiscal year, the total distribution being
$524,525 as compared with the distribution of $289,025 for the
corresponding period of 1906. This condition is in striking con-
trast to the depression which existed in Eall River two years ago.
Wages, too, have been voluntarily advanced by a number of leading
manufacturing corporations in the New England States. Such
conditions as above mean an increased distribution of musical wares,
and that piano men will have a better opportunity to sell their
instruments than ever.
T
HE Music Trade Show, which will take place next fall in
Madison Square Garden, is being systematically planned by
that able manager, Captain J. A. H. Dressel, who has never scored
a failure in a New York exhibit. Captain Dressel is in receipt of
a large correspondence directly pertaining to the forthcoming
exhibit, and he proposes to show the music, trade people of this
country an exhibition well worthy of the industry, and there is no
such word as fail in the lexicon of the gallant captain.
S
OME manufacturers do not find it easy to obtain just what they
desire in the way of supplies at all times. For some years
past there has been trouble in securing piano backs promptlv and
the number of concerns producing these important parts are ex-