Music Trade Review

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THE
ffU SIC TIRADE
VOL. X L V . N o . 9 . Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 1 MadisonAvc, New York, August 31, 1907
THE VALUE OF SYSTEM.
The Importance of Having All Departments of
The Business Properly Governed and Sys-
tematized^An Interesting Chat on This
Subject by B. S. S. Burch.
System brings order out of chaos, minimizes
labor, maximizes results and enables the busy
man and man of large affairs to keep before
them in concrete form the practical workings
of that complex machine called business.
System Is perhaps the oldest fundamental prin-
ciple extant, extending back to the Creation.
With it as the governing power the handiwork
of the Creator was set in motion and has trav-
eled from that eventful period to the present
and will continue to move on to the end of time
without confusipn or disorder.
The man who launches his business without
a well defined system and its all important gov-
erning power, will sooner or later find himself
amid the breakers without a steering wheel or
signal lights to guide him to a port of safety.
Applying this principle to every day business
affairs, how important it is then that all depart-
ments of a business should be thoroughly con-
sidered and a carefully devised system laid out
for its application.
For the sake of illustration, take a manufac-
turing plant, the governing elements of which
naturally fall into three distinct departments,
Buying, Manufacturing and Selling. The funda-
mental principles upon which hinge the success-
ful management of these departments are prac-
tically the same, i, e., sound judgment and good
management, yet the various details entering into
the practical and satisfactory handling of these
departments vary very materially. It is abso-
lutely essential for the welfare of the business
that these several departments with the com-
plex factors entering into them, should ultimately
converge into one harmonious whole. This much
desired result can only be consummated by the
intelligent application of a simple, practical and
well defined System governing each department,
a System that will furnish satisfactory and de-
sirable information regarding the business and
eliminate as far as possible all useless waste of
time, material and money.
The buying department should also b,e gov-
erned by a practical system that will enable the
buyer to keep a clear and concise record of every
transaction from the placing of the original or-
ders to the turning in of the invoices to the ac-
counting department for payment. Not only this,
but it should enable him to know at any time
the amount of outstanding orders with a full
description of the goods they cover, the amount
bought during a given period, amount used for
same period, amount on hand and the cost of the
goods delivered in the warehouse.
In the manufacturing department should be
a system that will show the exact cost of raw
material used properly classified, the cost of all
productive and non-productive labor entering into
the cost of the goods, the percentage of fixed and
overhead charges, the exact cost of the finished
product ready for shipment, also the cost of all
unfinished products while in process of manufac-
SINGL E
0
S
CENTS
$ 3 .OO PER VEAR
AN UNIQUE COMPOSITE PICTURE
Of Men Who Were Instrumental
in
Shaping
Music Trade
Affairs.
Nowaday? com-
posite pictures in-
terest a g r e a t
many readers, and
herewith is shown
a composite pic-
ture of the prom-
inent members of
the trade.
Strongly shown
in the composite
picture are the
features of Will-
iam S t e i n w a y,
Jacob Estey and
P. J. Healy. It
was taken some
years ago. and
represents a com-
posite picture in
which faces are
shown of men
who were strongly
instrumental
in
s h a p i n g music
trade affairs for
many years.
Others shown in
the grouping and
who occupy a
prominent
posi-
tion on the stage
of
to-day
are
Henry L. Mason,
Dr. Wm, Mason,
Geo. A. Gibson
and W. S. Bond.
It is, so far as
we know, the best
composite show-
ing of men who
have added lustre
to the music trade
industry.
turing and amount of such product in work and
the stages of each class of work. This is very
important at inventory periods or in case of fire.
The system governing the selling department
should enable the sales manager to know the
exact cost of the goods turned over to him, the
percentage of fixed charges apportioned to the
selling department which, added to the net cost
of his goods, gives him his basis to work from
in fixing the selling prices. His system should
also keep him in close touch with his salesmen,
their routes, the gross and net sales of each, ex-
penses of getting business, profits on sales, the
value of the different territories worked and the
possibilities of each. The selling and the account-
ing departments are so closely allied (except the
cost accounting department, that it is in-
cluded herein, but to do justice to the
latter would take a special article in itself;
however, in no department or subdivision of
departments is System of more importance.
In formulating a system to meet the above re-
quirements great care should be given to the
forms and books on which all records are to
be made. Without the intelligent application of
this principle the best system that can be de-
vised will prove cumbersome and become badly
crippled in its usefulness. The best results and
highest state of perfection can only be attained
by the use of what is commonly termed the
"Loose Leaf System" for the forms and records.
This is strictly an age of progress; old ideas
are daily making way for the new. What was
considered an up-to-date system a decade ago
is now obsolete, classed among the curios and
practiced only by those who are lagging behind
in the race.
To the live progressive business man. System
is the handmaid of Brains, Pluck and Capital.
—The Record.