Music Trade Review

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THE:
MUSIC TRADE
Uruler
I
T has been customary recently to dilate at great length upon the
harmful effect of the modern combination of business men,
popularly entitled "trusts," but few have spoken of the great lesson
in the elimination of waste which these same corporations or combi-
nations have given us. They have demonstrated the value of sys-
tem, particularly as a means of effecting economies in manufac-
turing departments—bringing about a greater sense of efficiency
without increased cost. In this country we are now entering a
period when it is necessary to economize in the cost of operation
and production. It was Andrew Carnegie who said some time ago:
"Take away all our factories, our trade, our avenues of transporta-
tion, our money, leave me our organization and system, and in four
years I shall have re-established myself/' This may seem far-
fetched, but a prominent student of the present trend in the manu-
facturing field said recently: "If we observe the conditions among
the 3 per cent, of manufacturers who have now come to recognize
the real value of scientific plant management—another way of say-
ing 'system'—we find that not only has system increased their pro-
duction, but it has brought about an increase in the value of the
assets that invariably follow, and in the 97 per cent, of manufac-
turing plants that have not installed any system worth mentioning,
we find old-time, slip-shod methods, the pitiful spectacle of a heavily
handicapped business, and in not a few instances a closed factory
or a commercial failure."
NE of the most enthusiastic advocates of scientific factory
management in the music trade industry is Alfred D. Engel-
hardt, of F. Engelhardt & Sons. Some time ago they had a spe-
cialist take charge of their large plant at St. Johnsville, N. Y., f©r
the purpose of eliminating waste and inaugurating a "system" in
every department that would insure a maximum of production at a
minimum of cost. There has been no cheapening of labor, but all
lost motion has been eliminated, and everything is accounted for and
methods put in force that insure a correct accounting of every item
of expense to the end that when Engelhardt & Sons close their
books any day or week they know exactly the condition of their
business—an operation usually called stock-taking, that involves
quite some time and expense in the average business, and which is
only put in force once or twice a year. The inauguration of a
scientific plan of management in the Engelhardt factories has proven
a decided success, and Mr. Engelhardt, in a recent chat with The
Review, expressed himself in terms of the utmost satisfaction re-
garding this development. It is evident that in the average factory
there is a tremendous waste going on which may be attributed to
the continuance of old systems in the department of production, and
which it is impossible to change, or eradicate, unless a cold-blooded
business doctor, or specialist, without sentiment or love for tradi-
tion, takes charge and applies the pruning knife—doing away
with lost motion whether on the part of men or machines—
getting the greatest possible amount of value out of the raw mate-
rial turned into the plant, so as to balance with the finished product
when it is shipped from the factory, thus accounting for every dol-
lar's worth turned into the manufacturing department. Some critics
have spoken slightingly of this new system of efficiency or "system"
as applied to factory management, but those who have given it a
fair trial have been simply amazed at the results.
* K *
r
I ^HE statement that more Knabe grands were turned out during
JL the past year than any previous twelve months in the history
of this firm means much, and those who are familiar with the steady
progress made in the Knabe instruments will not wonder at the
: increase in the grands. Thus the growth of the musical taste of
I the country is well illustrated in the increased demand for Knabe
products of the grand type. A journey through the Knabe fac-
• tories in Baltimore will make the visitor a strong believer in the
Knabe piano—the extreme care in the selection of materials, the
high standard of perfection required in the manufacture of each of
the many parts, the minute inspection of every detail increases
one's enthusiasm for the Knabe product. One visitor was particu-
O
REVIEW
TOWEL
larly emphatic regarding the Knabe grands which he did not hesi-
tate to proclaim as instruments of the flawless type. Good crafts-
manship has always been in evidence in the building of the Knabe
product. That is apparent to every critical examiner and the visitor
to the great factory is amazed at the energies of the hundreds of
workmen who are bent on the preservation of Knabe quality.
W
HENEVER two men meet with the same class of merchan-
dise to sell, the one must show an advantage over his
competitor by way of price or quality of the merchandise, or he
must be more quick in argument and state his claims with more
force than is possible for his competitor to do. The purchaser will
be controlled in his decision by what seems to him to be to his
advantage. This is what every retailer wishes to accomplish by
his articles of publicity. He wants to show the people that it is to
their interests to buy his goods; that they will save money by com-
ing to his establishment; that he had a line of goods superior in
quality; that he offers better opportunity to his customers for mak-
ing a good collection; that he carries nothing but merchandise of
the latest introductions. He must study the tactics of his com-
petitor as closely as a general would study the movements of an
enemy, that he may learn the weak points in his methods. This
weak point having been found and the attack made, an advantage
is at once gained by which he will profit. The attack is not made
in a way to bring forward the competition, but through the article
of publicity, so as to 'cover the weak method observed in the com-
petitor's system of meeting competition.
SHOULD PIANO PRICES BE ADVERTISED?
"~
Continued from page 5.)
It must be conceded that there are a good many business men
who do not believe that selling prices should be advertised. They
figure that the inducement must be attractive, but the prices should
be omitted from the advertisements. Still the one-price system of
retailing pianos is the only practical measure to establish the trade
on a firm basis of straightforward dealing to command the confi-
dence of the purchasing public and to effectually defeat any de-
grading influence which may come through unsound selling
methods.
The piano trade has suffered in reputation, more than almost
any line of commerce, from questionable methods of unscrupulous
men, simply because people who buy pianos are unable, in a majority
of cases, to judge intelligently of the value of the instruments and
the door of misrepresentation is constantly open—hence the oppor-
tunity for fraud and extortion practised by some dealers, to the
detriment of the good name of the piano trade at large!
It pays now and then to review methods and see whether we
have advanced or gone back to unsound conditions.
The point is can any one locate a house which has suffered in
reputation and in business through the adoption of one price or
through a failure to adopt flamboyant methods in piano selling or
misrepresentation in their advertising? And can anyone locate a
house which has suffered through the adoption of these methods ?
It would seem to us that these questions are very easily
answered.
It is known that without a national trade policy whereby the
question of piano values is fairly considered the door has been open
to swindles of various kinds and all of these methods have militated
against the best interests of reputable manufacturers and dealers,
because, through unfair methods, the unscrupulous men have secured
high prices for poor instruments.
The public have been getting wise to these facts, and sensa-
tional methods have not only cheapened the musical taste of the
public, but have produced the tendency to lower standards every-
where, simply because some men have been compelled, as a measure
of self-protection, to compete with unscrupulous men and methods.
Upon the adoption of the one-price system by the manufac-
turers rests the future of the American piano trade to a larger
degree than is realized by the average man in the piano business.: