Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
To What Deceptive Advertising Leads.
HI^ enormity of the damage done the piano trade through
many dealers fathering misleading advertising becomes
more apparent every day. Legitimate merchants who have the
best interests of the trade at heart are compelled not only to fight
the unethical methods of their competitors, but they have to
educate the public to a realization of the fact that there are
honest men in the piano trade—men who practice what they
preach—who do not habitually deceive or mislead.
That the men engaged in the making of our laws in the
various States are not uninfluenced by the "bad reputation"
which the piano trade has acquired, owing to the disreputable
practices of some of its members, is apparent from the remarks
of A. L. Vernon, who has been an active member of the legis-
lative committee of the Piano Merchants' Association of Ohio.
In the Legislature of that State a bill has been introduced
amending the general code, which, if passed, will work a great
injury to piano merchants selling pianos on instalment. The
piano men of Ohio are up in arms against this legislation, and,
as remarked by Mr. Vernon following the arguments before the
Judiciary Committee, one fact was brought prominently to
notice, and that is the impression the public and the law-makers
have as to the (supposed) great profits in the instalment branch
of the piano trade, which, the chairman of the committee stated,
was evident "from the class of advertising conducted by some
piano merchants in offering such great discounts and induce-
ments for cash, which was proof of the supposed great profit in
instalment sales."
Mr. Vernon also properly remarked: "This is farther
evidence of the great injury being done to the piano trade
through prevailing methods in advertising by a certain class of
our trade for some years past."
There can be no question as to the accuracy of these con-
T
clusions. During the past month we have received at this office
hundreds of misleading advertisements clipped from newspapers
in various parts of the country that are a disgrace to the trade
and to those who issued them. In every one of them there is
evident a desire to trade upon the names of well-known instru-
ments—offering them either "new" or "just as good as new" at
ridiculous prices, simply because these instruments are handled
by a competitor.
This is the kind of advertising that wears away the very
foundation of public confidence, and leaves an impression that
is distinctly harmful to the present and future conduct of the
industry.
How much better would be the policy, now adopted by
many piano merchants, of not advertising by name any pianos
of which they are not the authorized representatives. No matter
how many second-hand pianos they receive in exchange they
dispose of them without making a feature of their names or
cut prices. And this policy also applies to the window display
as well as to the advertising in the daily papers.
The present practice of advertising the names of pianos for
sale at ridiculous prices, particularly those for which the dealers
are not the authorized representatives, not only confuses the
public mind on the subject of piano values and piano names, but
as it is conducted to-day by some concerns it is distinctly mis-
leading if not fraudulent in its conception.
Surely there is a remedy for this demoralizing condition,
and it centers largely on a higher regard for one's business—
for its prestige and honor—greater intercourse and friendlier
feelings among competitors which may be engendered through
the formation of local associations where ordinary misunder-
standings may be removed to the end that business may be con-
ducted on a higher ethical plane than is now the custom.
Credit Pathologist and His Mission.
HE "psychology of credits" is a new technical credit phrase
that drifts through to us from time to time. We are going
to take a still more advanced step in credit terminology, says J. H.
Tregos in the Monthly Credit Bulletin, and coin a phrase that is
perfectly new, "credit pathology."
Pathology is a medical word and is the science of diseases, their
causes, manifestations and effects. The pathologist is a specialist,
who through clinical and laboratory investigations essays to dis-
cover the causes for symptomatic disorders and to determine if the
diseases should prove mild or fatal.
A "credit pathologist" is also a specialist who, in the laboratory
of his own credit department, endeavors to discover the causes for
svmptomatic credit disorders and then definitely decide if the
T
diseases which affect credit risks are likely to be mild or fatal.
As the medical pathologist is a help servant to the general
practitioner, so may the credit pathologist prove of great assistance
to the general credit man.
The call has distinctly come for such specialization, and to the
men who are not immersed solely in the success and good record
of their own credit departments, but in the credit profession, and
that all credit grantors may profit and become more deeply skilled
through their discoveries and conclusions. This is the call for
service that has never failed of a generous response, and we shall
expeet to see many diligent workers in the credit science earnestly
endeavoring to contribute their part in demonstrating its indis-
pensable value to a sound and growing commerce.
Adjusting Financial Breakdowns.
HE National Association of Credit Men is taking a firm
stand in favor of the adjustment of involved estates out of
court. There is said to be a steadily growing demand for this
kind of settlement, which, in a recent general letter to the mem-
bers of the association, was discussed as follows:
"One of the most successful credit men in the country has
pointed out that, with all the progress that has been made in
getting together in exchanging credit information, little real
progress has been made, except in a few States, in adjusting
credit breakdowns. There are none but will admit the sound-
ness of the principle of friendly adjustments where fraud, with
its complications, has not entered. The trouble is, as this man
says, creditors give their tottering accounts unconditionally to
collection agencies who needlessly force estates into bankruptcy
though they would yield far better returns to creditors if other-
wise handled,, It can only be concluded that in such cases the
T
possible fee is the great incentive to the agency's action.
"Quite as frequent a cause of trouble is the fact that one
or a small group of creditors refrain from entering a friendly
adjustment with the expectation that they will be bought out
in order to avoid bankruptcy proceedings and that they will
thus gain that preferential position over other creditors, the
demoralizing influence of which largely brought about national
bankruptcy legislation.
"Credit grantors should be alert to the situation and recog-
nize that the next step in orderly progress in bettering credit
conditions is the cultivation of friendly adjustments."
This communication covers a topic which is as interesting
to members of the music trade as it is to every other industry
in this country. Any steps that will tend to avoid litigation or
unnecessary expense in adjusting credit breakdowns is to be
commended.