Music Trade Review

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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
Shavings From the Workbench
I
N that great trade artery between the palatial Pennsylvania Sta-
tion and the New Grand Central Terminal, running south a few
blocks, promises to be located the great piano rialto of New York.
Years ago when the Aeolian Co. moved to Thirty-fourth street and
Fifth avenue the wiseacres thought it was unwise to go so far away
from the retailing piano center which was then located around
Twenty-third street, but the wisdom of the heads of this institution
was apparent in a few years, for piano concerns, one after the
other, have wended their way northward. The magnificent build-
ing which is now being erected for the Aeolian Co. on Forty-
second street nearly opposite the Public Library, and which will
be occupied next fall, brings the uptown limits of the piano retailing
mart still further northward and places it at Forty-second street.
In selecting this new location the Aeolian Co. again displayed
their wisdom, for it is generally admitted that Forty-second street
promises to be the great center of trade activity in New York K>r
many years to come. Only recently Stern Bros., the prominent dry
goods merchants, held that Twenty-third street would long remain
the retail district of the city, but they have changed their opinion,
and recently they consummated arrangements for the erection of a
magnificent establishment almost adjoining the Aeolian Co.'s build-
ing on Forty-second street. No better idea of the growth and
changes in New York City is to be found than in the uptown trend
of piano retailing in Manhattan. What seemed to be fixed centers
have disappeared with the years, and the present generation can
trace the growth upward from Grand street to Forty-second
street with the progress of time. The new Aeolian building, by
the way, promises to be one of the most important structures de-
voted to musical happenings in the world. With its magnificent
auditorium for musical affairs for the general public, as well as a
smaller hall for its own concerts and recitals, and floor after floor
palatially equipped and laid out exactly for the requirements or the
immense business done by this company, the new Aeolian Hall is
destined to be the center of the great musical community as the
magnificent Public Library forms the center of literary New York.
T
HE impressive ceremonies connected with the burial of the
battleship Maine off the Cuban coast, as well as those as-
sociated with the burial of the gallant men whose bodies were
taken from the wreck to be interred in the national cemetery
at Washington have aroused much reverential interest throughout
the country. At the time the Maine was in commission, pianos and
player-pianos were not as popular on board the battleships of the
United States Navy as they are to-day. One musical instrument,
however, a Mason & Hamlin organ, of portable type, was a popu-
lar favorite on board the ill-fated Maine. It was the property of
Chaplain Chidwick, who by the way, delivered an inspiring
oration in Cuba and at the national cemetery at Washington.
This organ was used in the religious services on board as well as
in the various entertainments gotten up by the crew. There is no
record, however, of its having been recovered.
•I * K
N
O business concern is so large or so prosperous that it does
not need the constant watchfulness of some responsible
party to prevent unnecessary expenses from creeping in. The
expense account is a very important one, and unless it is carefully
supervised it may grow to alarming proportions. It is always diffi-
cult to adjust because some men, when trade begins to slow up,
immediately look around to see where they can pare their expense,
and too frequently they are not in touch with their trade and they
make slashes in departments which seriously impair the efficiency
of their business. No sudden decrease in business expenses should
be made unless the one who makes the reduction has an intimate
knowledge of the conditions prevailing in that special department.
No manufacturer or merchant can afford to reduce his earning
capacity in such times as these through reduction of expense in
departments which are vital to the success of the business. No
business man can afford to forego such expenditures that will in-
crease trade, nor can he afford to add to those which do not in-
crease trade. No one for a moment should encourage cheapness
or a niggardly policy, but expenditure without due thought is to
be avoided to the extreme of caution. Everyone, however, should
always be in the closest touch with every department of his business
enterprise. No institution, however small, should be clogged by
indifference or lack of system or lack of knowledge on the part of
the working force.
T
HESE are times when every business man should be close to
the subject. He should familiarize himself with every de-
partment of his business. It is a question in our minds sometimes
how many manufacturing, jobbing and retail houses in this country
can stop a given article at any moment of passage through their
establishments and figure the cost incurred at that moment. We
might take a leaf from the department stores with profit in this
connection, for the department stores are past masters in the art
of system. They hammer system week in and week out into the
minds of their department managers until system is everywhere in
the big stores. And as a result the heads of these great business
emporiums are in touch with every department of their business at
all times. With the change of times it is necessary perhaps to
change one's policy, at least if that policy has not been productive
of good results, but there should be no radical substitution of the
policy unless the proprietor himself or his chief of staff is in the
closest touch with the system which has been in vogue in his estab-
lishment. Therefore, the absolute necessity of getting in touch
with every department of one's business, for by so doing we ap-
proach nearer to the heart of the business. After all, every man
in business is working primarily to increase his trade and the legiti-
mate earning capacity of the enterprise under his management.
How then can he do it in a more thorough and complete manner
than by acquainting himself with the strength or weakness of cer-
tain policies which are at present in force?
44 T N vino veritas" runs the old proverb—"in wine there is
A truth." "In luci veritas" expresses equal truth in nobler
form—in light there is truth. There are few words in the English
language whose literal and metaphorical meanings are so nearly
akin. To have light on a subject is to have the truth concerning
it, and to illuminate a physical object with physical rays of light
is to bring out its true physical existence—its material truth. The
importance of this fact and the value of the association of the two
ideas is something to which every piano merchant should give
thoughtful consideration. A brilliantly lighted store carries with
it the positive though unconscious conviction of honesty and fair
dealing. Where there is light there is manifestly no desire to con-
ceal. Products that are displayed in the full rays of the modern
light source are literally exposed to the light of truth. Sincerity
is expressed far better in actions than in words. The invitation to
"look for yourself" which is vividly written wherever a brilliant
light shines is a more potent guarantee of sincerity and honesty of
purpose than all protestations of word or pen. Just as surely as
you walk with caution in dark or dimly lighted places, so you buy
with caution in the dimly lighted store. Some merchants recog-
nizing this general truth have used "the daylight store" as an ad-
vertisement; with modern illuminants there is no excuse for any
store not being a "daylight store." An ample and generous use
of light is a many-sided virtue; it attracts the purchaser by its air
of hospitality, wins his confidence by its manifestations of sincerity,
and satisfies his sense of justice and fairness by its searching reve-
lation of the truth. Let there be more light!