Music Trade Review
Issue: 1913 Vol. 57 N. 1 - Page 5
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
WARS, RUMORS OF WARS AND BUSINESS.
(Continued from page 3.)
I hardly think that warships will go to the scrap heap for some time, but it does not seem civ-
ilized that in 1913 men should still continue to be cannon fodder.
Think of the world's loss because of the millions of men who are withdrawn from peaceful
pursuits in order to make up the large standing armies of Europe! They are consumers, and others
are taxed in order to maintain them. What a difference it would mean if they were producers!
What that would mean to the world is hardly possible to estimate, because the presence of vast num-
bers of young men in the various walks of life would mean a progressive impetus which is diffi-
cult to compute. The meeting of the Blue and Gray at Gettysburg this week should furnish an
object lesson for all America.
The fact that America has no large standing army, and that our young men have been devel-
opers in the business and inventive field, has helped this country immeasurably to obtain its present
progressive position.
Suppose, for instance, that a million of our young men were withdrawn from peaceful pur-
suits every year in this country! Would it not make a material difference in the development of
the nation? Some less pianos would be sold I think.
/Z^>
r+**
/K
A country progresses only by the power and ability of the men ( t ^ ^ ^ ^ C y * * mAllfill'll
who compose it, and the barracks and drill field have never been in- TOiW\IUVVU\WV\MlVVl VAX.
cubators for progressive men.
The Matter of Adjusting Payments.
N the matter of adjusting time payments on a set standard
that will prove attractive and appeal to the prospect as
well as protect the piano merchant, there have been many sys-
tems tried with varying success, though the general plan has
been in stores where the one-price rule prevails, to fix the retail
price and add interest, at varying rates, on instalment accounts.
Some merchants have fixed a price and given a discount
from that price for cash, incidentally charging interest on time
payments. In this connection the plan adopted by a prominent
Eastern concern is interesting. After careful consideration it
was decided to base all retail prices on a one-price system, to
represent the cash value of the instrument plus interest at six
per cent, for thirty months. When a customer pays cash in
full the interest charges are eliminated and a net price is charged.
Where the transaction is on the instalment basis the full price is
divided into equal monthly or weekly payments.
Under this system there is no bother of figuring interest
charges each month or each week, except in such cases where
I
payments pause or are carried over the thirty months. The
amounts are figured out in advance and are fixed. An attractive
feature of the plan, and one to encourage the purchaser to in-
crease payments and close up accounts in advance of the set
time, is that which provides for the canceling of the interest
on payments made in advance of the date upon which they are
due. In other words, the man who can clean up his account in
fifteen or eighteen months has credited to him the interest for
the remaining twelve or fifteen months, and in the hands of the
clever salesman or collector the importance of that saving can
readily be impressed on the purchaser. From the viewpoint of
time and labor saving and general simplicity, which practically
makes mistakes impossible, the plan is to be commended and
its working out will be watched with interest. Nothing is left
to the salesman but to sell pianos and to talk worth and quality.
The prices and terms are fixed absolutely, and are not subject
to change under any conditions, so they cannot enter into- the
sales argument.
"Knocking" Competitors' Wares.
URING the recent convention in Cleveland a topic was
brought up during the assemb 1 age of piano men at one
of the hotels that is interesting as it touched on a point fre-
quently overlooked by piano men and their salesmen.
The matter referred to was the assumption of a hostile
attitude toward a competitor's wares and the practice of talking
against him or his goods. For we all recollect not many years
ago when the knives were always ready for use, and the hatchets
were always sharpened to a razor edge to slash competing wares.
This feeling, however, has been gradually simmering down, and
to the credit of the national and local piano trade associations
it may be said that they have been a powerful factor in bringing
about better conditions in this particular matter.
As a matter of fact neither the American businsss man nor
the American public have time or are inclined to become inter-
ested in the quarrels of rival concerns. The piano salesman
usually drops in the estimation of a customer when he runs
down a certain competing piano, and if he begins to tell all of
the mean and dishonorable things that so-and-so has done the
wandering eye of the prospective customer quickly betrays the
weariness the subject creates in him; or in the other case it in-
D
terests him sufficiently to call upon the man whom the sales-
man has abused and ascertain just what truth there is in the
statement which has been made to him.
If the "other fellow" must be spoken of at all it is the part
of wisdom either to damn with faint praise, or, better still, to
speak well of him, and lead up to some other topic as quickly
as possible. Attacking a rival is the sign of weakness. It indi-
cates clearly enough that something must have happened, and
the public wants to know this. Its sympathies consequently go
out to the concern to which the caustic or scathing reference is
made. Sometimes a "roast" turns out to be a boomerang.
It was the consensus of opinion of the piano men who were
discussing this topic in Cleveland that there is no room for these
practices to-day. Living in a more enlightened age, with closer
intercourse among competitors, really progressive piano men
have little use for the "knocker."
Values and quality, combined with name prestige, are to-day
the standard arguments used by intelligent piano men on which
to develop sales. There is a pleasing reaction from the days of
the puzzle contest and coupon craze—one that is helping to place
the industry ethically on a new basis.
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
WARS, RUMORS OF WARS AND BUSINESS.
(Continued from page 3.)
I hardly think that warships will go to the scrap heap for some time, but it does not seem civ-
ilized that in 1913 men should still continue to be cannon fodder.
Think of the world's loss because of the millions of men who are withdrawn from peaceful
pursuits in order to make up the large standing armies of Europe! They are consumers, and others
are taxed in order to maintain them. What a difference it would mean if they were producers!
What that would mean to the world is hardly possible to estimate, because the presence of vast num-
bers of young men in the various walks of life would mean a progressive impetus which is diffi-
cult to compute. The meeting of the Blue and Gray at Gettysburg this week should furnish an
object lesson for all America.
The fact that America has no large standing army, and that our young men have been devel-
opers in the business and inventive field, has helped this country immeasurably to obtain its present
progressive position.
Suppose, for instance, that a million of our young men were withdrawn from peaceful pur-
suits every year in this country! Would it not make a material difference in the development of
the nation? Some less pianos would be sold I think.
/Z^>
r+**
/K
A country progresses only by the power and ability of the men ( t ^ ^ ^ ^ C y * * mAllfill'll
who compose it, and the barracks and drill field have never been in- TOiW\IUVVU\WV\MlVVl VAX.
cubators for progressive men.
The Matter of Adjusting Payments.
N the matter of adjusting time payments on a set standard
that will prove attractive and appeal to the prospect as
well as protect the piano merchant, there have been many sys-
tems tried with varying success, though the general plan has
been in stores where the one-price rule prevails, to fix the retail
price and add interest, at varying rates, on instalment accounts.
Some merchants have fixed a price and given a discount
from that price for cash, incidentally charging interest on time
payments. In this connection the plan adopted by a prominent
Eastern concern is interesting. After careful consideration it
was decided to base all retail prices on a one-price system, to
represent the cash value of the instrument plus interest at six
per cent, for thirty months. When a customer pays cash in
full the interest charges are eliminated and a net price is charged.
Where the transaction is on the instalment basis the full price is
divided into equal monthly or weekly payments.
Under this system there is no bother of figuring interest
charges each month or each week, except in such cases where
I
payments pause or are carried over the thirty months. The
amounts are figured out in advance and are fixed. An attractive
feature of the plan, and one to encourage the purchaser to in-
crease payments and close up accounts in advance of the set
time, is that which provides for the canceling of the interest
on payments made in advance of the date upon which they are
due. In other words, the man who can clean up his account in
fifteen or eighteen months has credited to him the interest for
the remaining twelve or fifteen months, and in the hands of the
clever salesman or collector the importance of that saving can
readily be impressed on the purchaser. From the viewpoint of
time and labor saving and general simplicity, which practically
makes mistakes impossible, the plan is to be commended and
its working out will be watched with interest. Nothing is left
to the salesman but to sell pianos and to talk worth and quality.
The prices and terms are fixed absolutely, and are not subject
to change under any conditions, so they cannot enter into- the
sales argument.
"Knocking" Competitors' Wares.
URING the recent convention in Cleveland a topic was
brought up during the assemb 1 age of piano men at one
of the hotels that is interesting as it touched on a point fre-
quently overlooked by piano men and their salesmen.
The matter referred to was the assumption of a hostile
attitude toward a competitor's wares and the practice of talking
against him or his goods. For we all recollect not many years
ago when the knives were always ready for use, and the hatchets
were always sharpened to a razor edge to slash competing wares.
This feeling, however, has been gradually simmering down, and
to the credit of the national and local piano trade associations
it may be said that they have been a powerful factor in bringing
about better conditions in this particular matter.
As a matter of fact neither the American businsss man nor
the American public have time or are inclined to become inter-
ested in the quarrels of rival concerns. The piano salesman
usually drops in the estimation of a customer when he runs
down a certain competing piano, and if he begins to tell all of
the mean and dishonorable things that so-and-so has done the
wandering eye of the prospective customer quickly betrays the
weariness the subject creates in him; or in the other case it in-
D
terests him sufficiently to call upon the man whom the sales-
man has abused and ascertain just what truth there is in the
statement which has been made to him.
If the "other fellow" must be spoken of at all it is the part
of wisdom either to damn with faint praise, or, better still, to
speak well of him, and lead up to some other topic as quickly
as possible. Attacking a rival is the sign of weakness. It indi-
cates clearly enough that something must have happened, and
the public wants to know this. Its sympathies consequently go
out to the concern to which the caustic or scathing reference is
made. Sometimes a "roast" turns out to be a boomerang.
It was the consensus of opinion of the piano men who were
discussing this topic in Cleveland that there is no room for these
practices to-day. Living in a more enlightened age, with closer
intercourse among competitors, really progressive piano men
have little use for the "knocker."
Values and quality, combined with name prestige, are to-day
the standard arguments used by intelligent piano men on which
to develop sales. There is a pleasing reaction from the days of
the puzzle contest and coupon craze—one that is helping to place
the industry ethically on a new basis.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).