Music Trade Review
Issue: 1908 Vol. 46 N. 2 - Page 4
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE.
MUSIC
TRADE
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
REIVlEIW
will cause the retailers to hustle a little bit harder. Hustling is all
right. That is what we need as one of the great essentials in the
restoration of business confidence. We need men who will take a
broad minded, courageous view of the entire trade situation and who
will do their utmost to imbue others with a feeling of confidence so
that the wheels of industry revolve in good form.
According to one of the best dry goods experts in the country
nothing has done more to delay the recovery of business and the
restoration of confidence than the action of many retail merchants
in the matter of the cancellation of orders.
J. B. SPDLXANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorlal Staff:
GBO. B. KELLER,
L. E. BOWERS,
W. H. DYKES.
F. H. THOMPSON.
J. HAYDEN CLARENDON.
B. BHITTAIN WILSON,
L». J. CHAMBERLIN,
A. J. NICKLIN.
BOSTON OFFICE:
CHICAGO OFFICE:
BBNBST L. WAITT, 278A Tremont 8 t
B. P. VAN HARLINGEN, 195-197 Wabash Are.
TELEPHONES : Central 414 ; Automatic 8643.
MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL:
ST. LOUIS :
PHILADELPHIA t
R. W. KAurruAN.
ADOLF EDSTBN.
SAN FKANCISCO:
CHAS. N. VAN BUKBN.
S. H. GRAY, 2407 Sacramento S t
CINCINNATI. O.: NINA PUGH-SMITH.
BALTIMORE, MD.: A. ROBERT FRENCH.
LONDON. ENGLAND:
«9 Baslnghall S t , 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 Hill.
Directory of Plaao
~
:
~
Maanlactnreri
The directory of piano manufacturing firms and corporations
found on another page will be of great value, as a reference
dealers and others.
f o r
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prim
Paris Exposition, 1900 Silver Medal.Charleston Exposition 1902
Diploma.Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal.. . S t Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal. .. .Lewis Clark Exposition, 1905.
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES—NUMBERS 4677 and 4678 GRAMERCY
Connecting a l l Department*.
Cable address: "Elblll New York/"
NEW YORK, JANUARY 11, 1908
EDITORIAL
PIANO manufacturer in writing to us regarding the cancel-
lation of orders states that he figures that it is unfair to the
manufacturer to ask him to cancel orders after he has made his
plans for a definite output within a specified period. He closes his
communication by asking the editor of this publication his opinion
regarding this subject.
The situation is not complex and the question is one easily
answered. After piano manufacturers have gone to the expense of
securing the orders through sending their several traveling men out
upon the road and the additional expense of getting the raw material
to fill those orders, there is no reason why they should allow the
contracts to be broken, and they alone assume the losses. If the
price of raw material had advanced after an order had been booked
would the dealer pay the manufacturer the advance on the price for
which the pianos were contracted? We hardly think so, and yet
after having carefully entered into a business arrangement he
deliberately asks to have it broken, for cancellations are broken
contracts pure and simple. And if all the materials had advanced
in price so that the manufacturer was really losing through the
filling of his orders at the specified price, would the dealers ac-
quiesce in their cancellation, and manifest a willingness to pay the
advance price. We hardly think so. At least there are not many
men whom we have the honor to know personally whom we believe
would share such losses with the manufacturer.
A
A
FTER the first shock of the panic had come upon us cancella-
tions came in rapidly in every trade. Many people seemed to
lo'se their heads and figured that the country was going to the dogs.
But it did not go there. The setting was not the proper one for a
prolonged depression and we do not see why business men should
not live up to their agreements provided they are financially respon-
sible, and it is the manufacturer, none other, who is to blame for
permitting cancellations.
The dealer will need all of his instruments if he lives up to his
contract and manufacturers will lose no trade if they refuse to
accept cancellations. In fact, this determination rigidly adhered to
I
N fact in the dry goods trade it reached such a point that a num-
ber of the largest firms in the country refused absolutely to
accept cancellations. Of course these contracts are enforceable by
law and some men who have used the stringency of currency as an
excuse for avoiding their obligations for the goods which had been
made up for them have figured that the goods would be necessarily
reduced in price by this course of things and their throwing them
back on the market and flooding it. It seems difficult for us to
believe that such a condition can exist in a kindred industry, but a
man of high standing is authority for the above quotation.
One of the most flagrant instances was cited as follows: A
manufacturer had booked orders from many firms for a special
article on which was woven the name and address of the buyer.
The goods were made up and when the time for delivery came he
began to receive cancellations. One of the houses coolly notified
him that there was no use in his attempting to make delivery as
the shipping department had been ordered to receive no goods.
The answer came back promptly to the effect that the manufacturer
refused to accept cancellation. Considerable correspondence fol-
lowed, but the manufacturer stood his ground and in the end the
buyers had to accept the specialties after they had wrangled over
accepting them and had lost considerable valuable trade through
their actions.
T
H E R E is still another side to the cancellation proposition which
is, after all, the broadest one to be considered, for it is not a
question of business ethics but rather o'ne of economics. Suppose
cancellations were accepted generally, what then?—thousands upon
thousands of men would be thrown out of employment for industrial
operations of all kinds would be eventually restricted. The manu-
facturers would shut down and the closing of the factories and mills
and the throwing of men out of work would increase the unsatisfac-
tory conditions materially, for so long as labor is employed it is
bound to consume, and with the factories closed the demand for
the product of the various factories would naturally be materially
diminished. When the retail merchant in all lines has been urging
cancellations he lias perhaps figured but little that by so doing he
himself was thus contributing to his own financial discomfort.
Tn fact labor to'-day is the best medium for the distribution of
money and every effort should be made to keep the factories going
so that the distribution of moneys is continued in the best channels
for distribution. There are no large stocks of manufactured goods
of any kind on hand, and only a short time ago all of the people of
the country were busily producing. Why were they busy? Simply
because there was a demand for the products, and if the manufac-
tured goods had been piling up in huge warehouses then there would
have been some reasonable ground for the assertion that there was
a trade stagnation, but it was not so. Every one was creating and
simply because there was a derangement and secretion in financial
arteries a stoppage occurred.
It is well to ponder long over the subject of cancellation before
any man engaged in a legitimate trade gives out an order to cancel
that for which he has legally contracted. In every trade this sub-
ject should be taken up and handled intelligently and viewed from
the broadest possible standpoint, and we repeat, the merchant in
any line who requests cancellation ai orders is not doing his full
duty as a citizen. His is contributing to the depression of the
country rather than aiding in the restoration of confidence. Such
action constitutes a shortsighted business policy.
A
S a matter of interest to otir readers we might say that a letter
of inquiry has been sent from the home office of the Review
to our staff of representa>ives and correspondents in different sec-
tions of the country asking for a special report On conditions of piano
stock in the various warerooms throughout the country. It has
THE.
MUSIC
TRADE
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
REIVlEIW
will cause the retailers to hustle a little bit harder. Hustling is all
right. That is what we need as one of the great essentials in the
restoration of business confidence. We need men who will take a
broad minded, courageous view of the entire trade situation and who
will do their utmost to imbue others with a feeling of confidence so
that the wheels of industry revolve in good form.
According to one of the best dry goods experts in the country
nothing has done more to delay the recovery of business and the
restoration of confidence than the action of many retail merchants
in the matter of the cancellation of orders.
J. B. SPDLXANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorlal Staff:
GBO. B. KELLER,
L. E. BOWERS,
W. H. DYKES.
F. H. THOMPSON.
J. HAYDEN CLARENDON.
B. BHITTAIN WILSON,
L». J. CHAMBERLIN,
A. J. NICKLIN.
BOSTON OFFICE:
CHICAGO OFFICE:
BBNBST L. WAITT, 278A Tremont 8 t
B. P. VAN HARLINGEN, 195-197 Wabash Are.
TELEPHONES : Central 414 ; Automatic 8643.
MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL:
ST. LOUIS :
PHILADELPHIA t
R. W. KAurruAN.
ADOLF EDSTBN.
SAN FKANCISCO:
CHAS. N. VAN BUKBN.
S. H. GRAY, 2407 Sacramento S t
CINCINNATI. O.: NINA PUGH-SMITH.
BALTIMORE, MD.: A. ROBERT FRENCH.
LONDON. ENGLAND:
«9 Baslnghall S t , 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 Hill.
Directory of Plaao
~
:
~
Maanlactnreri
The directory of piano manufacturing firms and corporations
found on another page will be of great value, as a reference
dealers and others.
f o r
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prim
Paris Exposition, 1900 Silver Medal.Charleston Exposition 1902
Diploma.Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal.. . S t Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal. .. .Lewis Clark Exposition, 1905.
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES—NUMBERS 4677 and 4678 GRAMERCY
Connecting a l l Department*.
Cable address: "Elblll New York/"
NEW YORK, JANUARY 11, 1908
EDITORIAL
PIANO manufacturer in writing to us regarding the cancel-
lation of orders states that he figures that it is unfair to the
manufacturer to ask him to cancel orders after he has made his
plans for a definite output within a specified period. He closes his
communication by asking the editor of this publication his opinion
regarding this subject.
The situation is not complex and the question is one easily
answered. After piano manufacturers have gone to the expense of
securing the orders through sending their several traveling men out
upon the road and the additional expense of getting the raw material
to fill those orders, there is no reason why they should allow the
contracts to be broken, and they alone assume the losses. If the
price of raw material had advanced after an order had been booked
would the dealer pay the manufacturer the advance on the price for
which the pianos were contracted? We hardly think so, and yet
after having carefully entered into a business arrangement he
deliberately asks to have it broken, for cancellations are broken
contracts pure and simple. And if all the materials had advanced
in price so that the manufacturer was really losing through the
filling of his orders at the specified price, would the dealers ac-
quiesce in their cancellation, and manifest a willingness to pay the
advance price. We hardly think so. At least there are not many
men whom we have the honor to know personally whom we believe
would share such losses with the manufacturer.
A
A
FTER the first shock of the panic had come upon us cancella-
tions came in rapidly in every trade. Many people seemed to
lo'se their heads and figured that the country was going to the dogs.
But it did not go there. The setting was not the proper one for a
prolonged depression and we do not see why business men should
not live up to their agreements provided they are financially respon-
sible, and it is the manufacturer, none other, who is to blame for
permitting cancellations.
The dealer will need all of his instruments if he lives up to his
contract and manufacturers will lose no trade if they refuse to
accept cancellations. In fact, this determination rigidly adhered to
I
N fact in the dry goods trade it reached such a point that a num-
ber of the largest firms in the country refused absolutely to
accept cancellations. Of course these contracts are enforceable by
law and some men who have used the stringency of currency as an
excuse for avoiding their obligations for the goods which had been
made up for them have figured that the goods would be necessarily
reduced in price by this course of things and their throwing them
back on the market and flooding it. It seems difficult for us to
believe that such a condition can exist in a kindred industry, but a
man of high standing is authority for the above quotation.
One of the most flagrant instances was cited as follows: A
manufacturer had booked orders from many firms for a special
article on which was woven the name and address of the buyer.
The goods were made up and when the time for delivery came he
began to receive cancellations. One of the houses coolly notified
him that there was no use in his attempting to make delivery as
the shipping department had been ordered to receive no goods.
The answer came back promptly to the effect that the manufacturer
refused to accept cancellation. Considerable correspondence fol-
lowed, but the manufacturer stood his ground and in the end the
buyers had to accept the specialties after they had wrangled over
accepting them and had lost considerable valuable trade through
their actions.
T
H E R E is still another side to the cancellation proposition which
is, after all, the broadest one to be considered, for it is not a
question of business ethics but rather o'ne of economics. Suppose
cancellations were accepted generally, what then?—thousands upon
thousands of men would be thrown out of employment for industrial
operations of all kinds would be eventually restricted. The manu-
facturers would shut down and the closing of the factories and mills
and the throwing of men out of work would increase the unsatisfac-
tory conditions materially, for so long as labor is employed it is
bound to consume, and with the factories closed the demand for
the product of the various factories would naturally be materially
diminished. When the retail merchant in all lines has been urging
cancellations he lias perhaps figured but little that by so doing he
himself was thus contributing to his own financial discomfort.
Tn fact labor to'-day is the best medium for the distribution of
money and every effort should be made to keep the factories going
so that the distribution of moneys is continued in the best channels
for distribution. There are no large stocks of manufactured goods
of any kind on hand, and only a short time ago all of the people of
the country were busily producing. Why were they busy? Simply
because there was a demand for the products, and if the manufac-
tured goods had been piling up in huge warehouses then there would
have been some reasonable ground for the assertion that there was
a trade stagnation, but it was not so. Every one was creating and
simply because there was a derangement and secretion in financial
arteries a stoppage occurred.
It is well to ponder long over the subject of cancellation before
any man engaged in a legitimate trade gives out an order to cancel
that for which he has legally contracted. In every trade this sub-
ject should be taken up and handled intelligently and viewed from
the broadest possible standpoint, and we repeat, the merchant in
any line who requests cancellation ai orders is not doing his full
duty as a citizen. His is contributing to the depression of the
country rather than aiding in the restoration of confidence. Such
action constitutes a shortsighted business policy.
A
S a matter of interest to otir readers we might say that a letter
of inquiry has been sent from the home office of the Review
to our staff of representa>ives and correspondents in different sec-
tions of the country asking for a special report On conditions of piano
stock in the various warerooms throughout the country. It has
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