Music Trade Review

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8
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
SOME VIEWS OF BUSINESS MEN UPON THE TRADE SITUATION—(Continued from page 7).
expectation of their being paid for, which has not
been the case in the past.
"The cheap factory and dealers who sell by-
means of all kinds of schemes are the ones suffer-
ing the most from present conditions, and are the
ones that will continue to suffer through the 'Deal-
ers House Cleaning.'
"There is hardly a piano merchant in the United
States, who, if he had repossessed as he should
one year ago, would not have had enough pianos
to last him for at least six months. Such a con-
dition should never have prevailed, and it will
never prevail again, as the entire trade will be on
a strong foundation within a few months, and it
will not require very much strength to place us
where we will remain in that position."
L. W. P. NORRIS, Lindeman & Sons Piano Co.,
New York:
"For some years general business in our country
has lacked pep. and ginger, capital has been shy,
and manufacturing sluggish. Too many have been
unemployed, giving the agitator material for new
recruits to his propaganda. I do not want to think
that nothing short of this greatest of all deplorable
wars was necessary to start our people into new
lines of industry, but the fact, however, is that it
has, and we are likely to learn the ways of thrift
for all our citizens, even as Europe did for its
greater density of population. Much that could have
been made in this country by our own people and
our own capital, we have insisted upon buying
abroad, for no better reason than custom and hab-
it. Our country's resources are wonderful, and
with proper care may be so manipulated that we
will be the greatest manufacturing country in the
world. 'Made in America' will have force and
weight, and mean profit. In thus 'being sufficient
unto ourselves' does not imply selfishness, nor non-
recognition of our brother, but a desire to con-
tribute to his comfort and pleasure, even as we
have been aided and helped in the past by him. I
am not a prophet or the son of a prophet, but the
most obtuse cannot but see that the next decade
.will see America's greatest prosperity, caused by
this European condition, the Panama Canal, South
America and great crops. Surely God is good to
us, and we must rejoice that we are citizens of the
Greatest Republic on Earth."
F. B. BEINKAMP, President Church-Beinkamp
Co., Cincinnati, O.:
"Your ideas on the present situation are much the
same as ours. While the demon hate seems to be
controlling the destiny of European countries, we
should not be mesmerized by it and fight a mental
war in this country and as you say, 'clear thinking
qualities' should be the first essential.
"Our business is fairly good and so are our
collections. We will continue to go after a good
class of business the same as heretofore. With best
wishes and hoping that your campaign will bear
good fruit."
HENRY DREHER, of the B. Dreher's Sons
Co., Cleveland, O.:
"No one can ever think of war without incur-
ring dire thoughts in contemplating conditions that
are bound to prevail while the fight is on. Victory
for one side or the other is sure to be very costly
for both. The millions in gold that the present
' struggle is costing, unfortunately hits hardest those
who can ill afford it, and the burden will doubtless
be carried by more than one future generation.
"Business all over the world has been staggered
temporarily, but we must remember that to 'every
cloud there is a silver lining.' The cessation of
hostilities is only necessary to call forth a flood of
orders that will tax our country to its capacity to
satisfy. Every shop and factory in the land will
be pouring its products into the holds of vessels
carrying goods of our manufacture. Resumption
of work of all kinds means more money for the
employes to spend, and we in the piano trade can
look for our reasonable share of the business.
"The fact is, dealers have been too eager in the
past in selling goods; not using enough discretion
in the character of those sold to, and often finding
out, after it was too late, that instead of a sale
with a neat profit attached to it he had really made
an undesirable deal, soon leading into repossession.
"Let us be more careful whom we sell to, get-
ting a down payment that will make our sale
'stick.' Making a monthly payment arrangement
that is not insane; following up our collections
with reasonable insistence upon promptness, and
we will, in this way, place upon our books a qual-
ity of business that will tide us over the period
of depression and put us in good condition for the
revival of trade. It is sure to come—may it come
speedily."
F. G. SMITH, Brooklyn, N. Y.:
"Your views expressed in that letter coincide
with my own views. Sharp collections, sales on
good terms at a fair margin and disposing of the
stock on hand rather than let it accumulate and
become dead stock, is the keynote to success in
the piano trade with the dealers."
C. M. SIGLER, Harrisburg, Pa.:
"We read your article of August 29 with much
interest, as ro the responsibility which rests upon
America.
"The war situation is surely a lamentable one, .
and we should not indulge in agitation as to the
cause, etc.; and we think it very commendable that
you should advise this in the columns of your
valued press.
"We feel very, optimistic as to the ultimate out-
come of business conditions.
"With the present awful situation the writer
cannot help but feel that God alone knows the
outcome. He has surely blessed our country with
abundance of everything, and this is the time that
every citizen should seek divine guidance for the
best policy to pursue.
"We should be very careful in our conversation
at all times, remaining neutral, and hope that peace
will speedily be restored."
ROSS P. CURTICE CO., Lincoln, Neb.:
"So far as Nebraska is concerned, we never had
so much to sell. Wheat was exceptionally good,
oats were exceptional and corn is fair.
"Something like $600,000,000, at the present
prices, will come into Nebraska when the present
crops are sold. That is a trifle less than $600 for
every man, woman and child in the State of Ne-
braska.
"It is all new wealth, and business ought to be
good, but the fact remains that at the present, at
least, business is not very good, but we have great
hopes that later on it will be much better.
"We are giving particular attention to our col-
lections, and the quality of new business is care-
fully scrutinized before the sales are O. K.'d."
E. PAUL HAMILTON, Mgr. Piano Department,
Frederick Loeser & Co., Brooklyn, N. Y . :
"Your editorial of the 29th ult. coincides so
much with my own views that I could not resist
the temptation of congratulating you on the able
way in which you have placed the subject before
your readers.
"While we all regret the terrible suffering and
losses caused by the stupendous war being waged
in Europe, it would indeed be more than foolish
if we failed to recognize the enormous advantage
the United States is bound to gain by the prostra-
tion of the manufacturing, merchandising and
banking interests of all Europe.
"The opportunities of America in the near fu-
ture will be phenomenal and it seems to me that
all we need is a healthy, optimistic feeling which
is undoubtedly justified, and if we can only arouse
enthusiastic co-operation and drown the whining
of the few pessimists who always seem to find joy
in calamity howling and looking for trouble, this
country will enjoy a greater boom, a greater pros-
perity than even the most sanguine optimist could
ever have prophesied.
"As your editorial of August 29 clearly proves,
America's responsibilities are great and America's
opportunities are even greater. All we need to-
day is optimism, enthusiasm, concerted effort to
do our best for the benefit of humanity, which
after all means for the benefit of each one of us.
"Such articles as yours and others which I have
lately read, will undoubtedly help to inspire the
much needed confidence, optimism and enthusiasm
and are worthy of the encouragement which I
trust that even my humble pen is able to convey."
M. S. W R I G H T , M. S. Wright Co., Worcester,
Mass.:
"We are very pleased to know that you have
taken a decidedly optimistic stand in connection
with the music trade in general. Surely, if your
recommendations are followed out it will help a
great deal in solving out the difficulties we now
have before us.
"In some ways I might say that the war has hit
us rather hard, but we expect to profit by it in the
long run. We are not looking for immediate re-
lief, but we are planning and shaping our move-
ments so that we can wait a considerable length
of time without losing our courage. Following
some of the advice of the present administration
in Washington, we proceeded some time ago to
apply for patents in many of the foreign countries
at a very large cost. We have also had repre-
sentatives in the larger foreign countries trying to
work up trade. We are pleased to say that we
have been allowed a great many foreign patents,
and about all of them have been issued. Just be-
fore the war started we congratulated ourselves
that we, would have a good business from this
source, but the war has completely killed the for-
eign trade where we had been working the hard-
est. We are now turning our attention to the
South American States, and, fortunately for us,
we obtained our patents in three of the principal
South American countries, and we will have the
right of way for our lines of goods in that direc-
tion. . The writer's motto for many years has been
'to be ready for any emergency at any time,' and
if nothing happens to call out a change of any
kind so much the better, but in this times we think
for anyone to be prosperous they must be able to
conform themselves to the changing conditions,
and this is what we have been doing for some
time, therefore we have not been caught napping.
The writer has also declared that we would not
in any way interest ourselves nor have anything
to do with a line of business that would not help
to elevate mankind in general, and if everyone
would strictly adhere to this policy, in our opinion
the world would be better. We can see no reason
why a man should work his brain to make a ma-
chine or an implement that is used only for de-
stroying life and causing '/nisery, and if we could
only get the public to see these things from this
standpoint it seems to us that it would be steps
in the right direction, as people would not succeed
in killing each other if they had no implements to
do it with. It is very true that all these things
may afford protection, but they would not be
needed if we would all consider life precious and
help to strengthen instead of tearing down."
R. O. FOSTER, Foster & Waldo, Minneapolis,
Minn.:
"East of America lies antiquity; that is as far
as civilization and development are concerned. West
of America lies another antiquity. Here at home
the robust child of modernity is being nursed and
rocked in the cradle of free America. Surely this
gives promise of a splendid manhood—a manhood
that is even now the brightest star in the galaxy
of nations.
"Our country is made up of many nationalities.
The process of assimilation is going on in the
making of the new American. How necessary it is
then to bear in mind the splendid words of our
President on the subject of neutrality.
"In looking over our organization we find the
following nationalities represented: Norwegian,
Norwegian-German, Norwegian-English, Dane,
Dane-Irish, Yankee, German, Swedish, Irish, Eng-
lish, Irish-Scotch, Canadian, Irish-German, French,
Jew, and Russian.
"From this melting-pot Foster & Waldo have
produced the type of salesmen that have assisted
them in creating their present business. Similar
conditions exist from one end of the country to
the other. This shows the bigness of America.
"The deplorable conditions in blood-stained Eu-
rope will intensify this bigness and make our coun-
try manyfold greater and more resplendent than
ever before. An era of unbounded prosperity and
eminence will soon be in the ascendant for our
glorious country."