Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MU3IC TRADE REVIEW
MEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorlal Stall:
GEO. B. KELLER,
W. H. DYKES,
F. H. THOMPSON.
BMILIE PRANCES BAUER,
L. E. BOWERS, B. BRITTAIN WILSON, WM. B. WHITE, L. J. CHAMBERLIN, A. J. NICKI.IN.
BOSTON OFFICE:
CHICAGO OFFICE:
ERNEST L. WAITT, 278A Tremont St.
E. P. VAN HARLINGEN, 195-197 Wabash Ave.
TELEPHONES : Central 414 ; Automatic 8643.
MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL:
ST. LOUIS:
PHILADELPHIA :
R. W. KAUFFMAN.
A. W. SHAW.
SAN FRANCISCO:
CHAS. N. VAN BUREN.
S. H. GRAY, 2407 Sacramento St.
CINCINNATI. O.: NINA PUGH-SMITH.
BALTIMORE, MD.: A. ROBERT FRENCH.
LONDON. ENGLAND:
69 Basinghall St., E. 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 and Mexico, ?2.00 per year;
Canada, $3.50 ; 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, $75.00.
REMITTANCES, In other than currency form, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill.
Directory of Plaao
The directory of piano manufacturing firms and corporations
'
:
~
found on another page will be of great value, as a reference
MinuUelnrcfi
f or dealers and others.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900
Silver Medal.Charleston Exposition 1902
Diploma.Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal.. .St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal
Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905.
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONE—NUMBER 1745 GRAMERCY
Cable address: "Elblll New York."
NEW YORK, JUNE 22, 1907
EDITORIAL
C
HICAGO has been "it" in the fullest sense as applied to music
trade affairs during- the past week. The largest multitude
of music trade men ever seen together in any city at one time has
been within her gates and all enjoyed the hearty welcome which
was given. The trade convention of 1907 will go down in music
trade history as the most remarkable gathering of music traders
ever held on the American continent. Not only were manufacturers
present, but every branch of the trade was largely represented, and
it was in every respect a notable gathering of the piano and allied
trades. To say that much was accomplished is a term which is
frequently applied to gatherings of this kind. The term is mouth
filling, but it is difficult to tell just what was accomplished in a
beneficial way. The mere passage of resolutions, the reading of
papers, the discussing of various matters, all have an effect upon
listeners, and just what that effect is and just how deeply the
theories evolved from them will sink into the minds of the listeners
to be applied by them to their daily business program is purely a
matter of conjecture.
A
FEW trade organizations have iron clad rules which all of
their members follow, and they hold undeviatingly to a cer-
tain definite program or policy. Such a plan is rather antagonistic
to American business men who desire the utmost freedom in the
conduct of their business affairs. Therefore it may be said that
music trade organizations through the cultivation of the spirit of
camaraderie, goodfellowship and good cheer are gradually eliminat-
ing many of the jealousies, petty feuds and ridiculous policies and
usages which had been permitted to obtain a place in the industries
for many years past. That some good is accomplished is evident.
That much more good could be accomplished provided all the mem-
bers stood together as a unit, is also apparent, but that is hardly
human nature. It has never been so in any other industry, and it is
hardly fair to suppose that the music trade industry would be dif-
ferent from any other in the adoption of iron clad rules governing
business plans.
A
S a matter of fact it is the policy of association men to visit
these gatherings in a receptive frame of mind. They are
willing to listen to the arguments of the other fellows, and if they
are good, benefit by them through their adoption in the conduct of
their own affairs. They can separate the wheat from the chaff and
they rather enjoy a holiday where they meet with the other fellows
This touching elbows with other business men has a broadening
effect. We all learn from each other, and there is no question that
the sum total of good resulting from these association gatherings is
far more than the total expenditure.
One man took occasion to remark that he thought it was money
thrown away; that the expenses of thousands of men to Chicago
and incidentals there for a week, loss of business energy and all
that sort of thing, was too much for a small industry to stand.
A NOTHER well-known manufacturer said that he did not hesi-
- t V tate to say that he believed that the big gatherings should be
discouraged and that the conventions of the future should be smaller
—that each city should send one or two representatives and that the
conventions should be more in the way of a directors' meeting than
the entire body of members. That's one way of looking at it, and
some may think rather a narrow way, but still there are some who
figure on these lines, and as long as they are sincere they should be
respected for their beliefs. It is certainly a big tax for the industry
in dollars and time for a thousand men to attend a trade convention,
and the question of whether it pays or not is up to the members
themselves, and as this affair which has just closed is the biggest
in history, it would seem that trade response was in the affirma-
tive.
I
S a store an absolutely one-price establishment if it sells at fixed
prices to the general public and allows discounts to special
customers, professional and otherwise? The claim has been made
that a big department store advertises pianos at one price and
offers discounts to special people in such a way that not only is
there no rigidity of price in the piano department, but on the con-
trary there is surprising elasticity. The question is: Is it fair to
discriminate? Looking at the question in a broader view it will be
seen that discrimination is not permitted where laws and the gov-
ernment can control. It is fair to make distinct quotations for one
piano or a thousand pianos, for one yard or a dozen yards, for used
pianos or for merchandise in broken lots, but if a store is a really
one-price store, and sincerely so, should not these figures be open
to all? The discount system selects classes and confers upon one
a benefit denied another, leading to the fair deduction that the price
without discount is unreasonably high.
C
AN there be one price maintained in any legitimate piano store
or in a department store in the land as long as special priv-
ileges and discounts are accorded to professionals, clergymen, doc-
tors, singers and in fact all classes? The use of the word "special"
discount is an easy way to make the price elastic. Does it not show
that there is a slight tendency toward collusion in graft by accord-
ing these special discounts to people to whom sales could not be
made unless the price were lowered? Special discounts is a term
which may cover a price fluctuation in a store which flaunts osten-
sibly the one price banner. It would seem to be a much fairer
proposition to put prices on all lines of merchandise, and the dealer
is entitled to receive them in full from everybody who finds it con-
venient to trade with him.
F
RANK S. SHAW, when in the office of The Review last week,
remarked that it was a pretty good time for business men to
show fair conservatism in the conduct of their affairs. True; and
as a matter of fact have not business men over the country been
slowing up a bit during the past six months ?
In this trade men are looking after credits closer than ever
before for years. Mr. Shaw is at the head of a great business insti-
tution, with ramifications throughout the land, and he is watching
credits closely; and the business of the piano industry would be
infinitely better if all men would scan credits minutely, and grant
easy terms only to deserving parties. Time was when a man who
could not gain credit for a suit of clothes in his home town, could
come to New York, or Chicago, and get on credit thousands of