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 Stall:
GBO. B. KSLLBK,
I B. BEITTAIM WILSON,
W. H. DTKES,
A. J. NICKLIN,
L. B. B o w i n ,
R. W. SIMMONS,
AUGUST J. TIHPB.
WM.
B. WHITE.
CHICAGO OFFICE:
BOSTON OFFICE:
E. P. VAN HIRLINOIH, 156 Wabash Ave.
G. W. HENDERSON, 178 Tremont St.
Room 806,
Room 12.
Telephone, Central 414.
Telephone, Oxford 1159-2.
ST. LOUIS:
PHILADELPHIA:
MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL:
R. W. KADFFMAH,
ADOLF EDSTIN,
CHAS. N. VAN BURIN.
SAN FRANCISCO: S. H. GHAT, 88 First Sfreet.
CINCINNATI, O.:
BALTIMORE, MD.:
JACOB W. WALTBHS.
A. ROBERT FRENCH.
LONDON, ENGLAND: 09 Baslnghall St., E. C.
W. LIONEL STURDY, Manager.
Published Every Saturday at I Madison Avenue, New York
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Cluss Matter.
SUBSCRIPTION. (Including postage), United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year;
Canada, $3.SO ; 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 forms, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill.
Music Section.
An important feature of this publication is m complete sec-
tion devoted to the interests of music publishers and dealers.
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
5 a 1 i Till
lll
tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning,
IW>nai*fm0ntc regulating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos
ITCpdl I1IICII19. a r e d e a ] t with, will be found in another section of this
paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, Information concerning
which will be cheerfully given upon request.
Plfl
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Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prim
Paris Exposition, 1900
Silver if edaJ. Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma..Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal.. .St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Qold Medal
Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905.
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES-NUMBERS 4«77 and 4678 GRAMERCY
Connecting all Departments.
Cable address: "ElbllL. New York."
NEW
YORK, DECEMBER
1 0 , 1910
EDITORIAL
T
HE startling- statement made by Louis D. Brandeis at the recent
Freight Rate hearing before the Interstate Commerce Com-
mission that he could save the railroads one million dollars a day
by the inauguration of scientific business methods in railroad man-
agement, has set men thinking of one desideratum in every business
system—that of properly controlled production costs, organization
and accounting.
That Mr. Brandeis was not making an empty statement is
obvious from the fact that he has accepted the offer of a number
of railroad presidents to demonstrate its accuracy—without the
generous compensation offered him.
Many manufacturers to-day realize that they are not operating
their business on sufficiently scientific lines,, and much study is
being given to the inauguration of methods and systems which will
tend to increase their output at a less cost—that will insure a better
system of credits—in fact, the installation of a properly regulated
system in all departments insuring a maximum of results at a mini-
mum of cost.
This condition is as clearly evident in the piano trade as any-
where else and there are a number of institutions alive to the situa-
tion. Take for illustration the remarkable achievements of the
American Piano Co. in the matter of conducting their business
along scientific lines. On demand, the heads of this vast institu-
tion can find out every essential fact regarding every department
of the business—manufacturing, selling, credits—because they have
at the head of this company men who have made a specialty of
business organization and scientific methods and systems.
REVIEW
W
HAT is true of the American Piano Co. is true of a number
of other large institutions in the music trade East and
West, who have recognized that the piano industry is expanding
and that in order to conduct business on a successful basis, it is
necessary to have somebody in control who can answer every ques-
tion concerning methods and costs accurately and authoritatively.
This development has brought to light the specialist of the type
of Mr. Brandeis, referred to in the opening of these remarks.
He is a growth of modern business needs. He is one who realizes
the necessity for his work being synthetic as well as analytic—who
possesses peculiar advantages by reason of diversified experience
and intimate contact with the details of every character of business.
There is no doubt as to the need of this class of service in the
piano trade. Some businesses are run loosely; many manufacturers
are not giving proper consideration to the matter of manufacturing
costs, and profits are often figured incorrectly.
This lack of real knowledge has led to loose methods in the
matter of credits, which are now being so much talked of, and which
are to receive timely consideration at the next convention of the
National Piano Manufacturers' Association to be held in Chicago.
This may lead in time to a demand for a class of professional
business specialists (if they may be described in this way) who are
trained and skilled in all the subjects which have reduced business
methods to a science and to whom business men and manufacturers
may go for consultation and assistance in mastering any specific
points or conditions in their business which arc giving trouble, and
who may also be called upon to participate actively in the executive
management of a business for extended periods of time, if such
action is necessary.
A PROMINENT piano man, in chatting on this subject with
**
The Review recently, said: "There is no industry where
the enforcement of system is so badly needed—both in manufactur-
ing and selling departments—as in the piano trade. In our business
I insist on a proper system for keeping track of details of every de-
partment, of the labor, of the material therein, of its utilization, right
up to the completed product. The same minute details are followed
in the business department—in fact, in every branch—so that at any
time I am not only able to tell, when requested, the exact financial
condition of our business, but the cost of running every department
is figured out so carefully that he who runs may read. I realized,
long before the present universal desire for systematic factory man-
agement, that if we were to stay in business and succeed, it must
be along those progressive lines of knowing exactly where we stood
—not at the end of the fiscal year, but any time we pleased, and also
the necessity of knowing what every instrument actually, not ap-
proximately, costs, and what is our exact profit. We are living
in a manufacturing era where, figuratively speaking, pennies and
not dollars count—where profits exist only by large production, low
costs, high grade factory equipment and management—and mark
you, no lowering of the quality standard. To achieve these ends
means the employment of scientific business methods."
P
ERSONALITY and publicity make a great team for the small
piano dealer who desires to win out in the business field.
This is illustrated by the story told of a piano man now well known
who started in business in a small town with very limited capital,
but an original and captivating style of publicity, that attracted
people to his store and made him talked about.
In order to meet the demands of his growing business he found
himself largely tied up for need of ready cash—the desire to carry
bigger stock, and to discount his bills, and to do this he required
more money.
He went to the local bank where he deposited for the purpose
of having a chat with the cashier regarding his financial condition,
and found that the latter was a customer who had been attracted
to his store by his peculiar style of advertising.
When he explained his needs the cashier at once reasoned that
as he had been attracted to this store, others would be; anyway he
eventually arranged to place five thousand dollars to the dealer's
credit.
This is an example of the value of originality in advertising
when it is backed by character. There is no asset so valuable to
the young piano man as character. It always spells success.