Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
ARE WE A BAND OF "CONSPIRATORS?"
(Continued from page 3.)
Is it "conspiracy" to say that we believe in approaching legislation that strikes at business with
the greatest care?
Is it "conspiracy" to say that theorists and lawmakers, who obviously are not in touch or in
sympathy with the great creative interests of the land, should work in harmony with the business
institutions of the country and consider them?
^,,^ Is it "conspiracy" to say that a breathing spell is desirable'^
- Is it "conspiracy" when facing unsatisfactory conditions, with millions of unemployed in the
streets, to say halt? We are Americans, and our interests as producers and investors should count.
Is it "conspiracy" when we see a deaf ear turned to the appeals of successful business men
to say theories do not always work out satisfactorily in practice*'
Is it "conspiracy" to say that the time is past when the government should consider every
successful rich man a crook and a lawbreaker?
Is it "conspiracy" when we express our dissatisfaction at seeing the balance.«
u$ increasing steadily by many millions each month to
Is it "conspiracy" to say these conditions are not
businesses are actually crumbling; that it is not a mental
If so, then most of us belong to the band of conspirators, because look where":,
tain the views of business men in every department of trade and industry, and you will find fet;*
are not in sympathy with movements which will tend to still further irritate and depress the present
unsatisfactory conditions.
To accuse the business interests of the country of "conspiracy" against governmental policy,
and that to carry out their part of the "conspiracy" means to voluntarily close their factories, goes
just a little further than the average business man is willing to go, even if he desires to play the
part of a "conspirator."
Such an accusation places the American people in a peculiar attitude—places them as fools,
which they are not. They are not disposed to c it off their nose to spite their face—they are not
gken to burning down the barn in order to get rid of the rats, and surely it would be overplaying
in the largest sense if American business men were conspiring to defeat new legislation when the
price of that "conspiracy" meant closed plants depreciated stocks and a tremendously lessened pur-
chasing power of the people by reason of millions of unemployed—
it is just a little bit higher price than you could expect the average
^American to pay, even for the pleisure of being a "conspirator!" I V \[^^ri/rn/^^lryv\ say this as one of the members of the alleged American "conspiracy." MJUIHWM UIM.UKl/WiWUJ
Music Trade Interests Not Involved in Claflin Trouble
*"! ^ H E various interests connected with the failure of the H. B.
JL
Glaflin Co., the great wholesale dry goods house, which was
reported, in last week's Review, are working most harmoniously to
bring about a better understanding of the company's affairs, with
the ult'ipnate aim of reorganizing and placing this old established
house op its feet. The receivers, creditors and the bankers are
laboring shoulder to shoulder, and the latest reports are that cred-
itors will be paid in full.
As clearly set forth last week, the Claflin failure does not affect
the status of the United Dry Goods Companies or Associated
Merchants Co., which concerns control a number of retail stores
with piano departments operated by the Musical Instrument Sales
Co. and which are unaffected by the present bankruptcy proceedings.
The'., appointment of receivers for the Claflin Co. aroused con-
siderable interest in the piano trade, owing to the close affiliation
of the Musical Instrument Sales Co. with this concern, for in many
of the Claflin stores piano departments are conducted which are
controlled by the Musical Instrument Sales Co., and it is, o'f course,
gratifying that the piano interests associated with the Claflin Co.
are not .in any way involved in this trouble.
The'. Stores d : rectly controlled by the Claflin interests, num-
bering ,in !aH about twenty-eight, are naturally concerned in the
failure, but many of them are controlled by local capital and will
continue business. For the greater number of these concerns re-
ceivers have been appointed—a legal formality following the Claflin
Root Dry Goods Co., Terre Haute, hid.; the Castner-Knott Dry
Goods Co., Nashville, Tenn.; the Lion Dry Goods Co., Toledo, O.,
and Lord & Gage, Reading, Pa. Each of these concerns is being
operated and will continue business.
The Claflin failure has afforded a great opportunity far para-
graphers in the financial and editorial columns of the daily papers
to philosophize on the changing conditions in the dry goods field.
It is pointed out that this failure marks the passing of another
mile-post toward eventual elimination of the middleman in t r a d e -
that the jobber is threatened more than ever before with being
forced out of business, not so much because of exterior forces,
but because he is unable to make the profit which he should—that
the time is approaching when more manufacturers will sell direct
to the retailer.
There is no question that altered business currents have cut
Hew channels in old-time methods of distribution, and it was this
condition that forced the Claflin interests to make changes in their
selling system and go so extensively into the retail field, which has
resulted in the complicated and involved condition of affairs lead-
ing to the present financial difficulties.
Wise financial men maintain that a Claflin reorganization
had to co'me—that the methods in vogue in conducting this great,
complicated machine could not last—that the centralization of
banking supervision into separate reserve districts in connection
with the new currency law would in time disclose a weakened and
failure. -Four of these houses conduct piano departments—-the
extended credit position which would have to be strengthened,