Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Meeting of Hallet &• Davis Road Men and Managers.
Annual Gathering in Boston from January 11 to 16 One of the Largest and Most Enthusiastic This Company Has
Ever Had—Conference Considers Many Trade Problems from First Stages to the Finished Product.
(Special to The Review.)
BOSTON, MASS., January 18.—The branch man-
agers and road men of the Hallet & Davis Piano
Co. have just finished the most successful confer-
ence in the history of the company, and one that is
to be productive of great good as the months roll
terests, and each seemed to quickly get into the
atmosphere of the other.
The Hotel Lenox was selected as the headquar-
ters of the gathering. Most of the men arrived on
Sunday, while a few came in on the early Mon-
day morning trains. All were at the Hallet & Davis
end of the business. The uncertain credits of the
buyer, how repossessions and poor paper have
broken more piano men than any other one feature
were touched upon, and the men were instructed
how to guard against them and told what was
the proper course to take to prevent a dealer
Hallet & Davis Road Men and Branch Managers in Session.
Standing (left to right)- A. Forbes, Boston; K. N. Kimlall, Boston; O. A. Card, Boston; A. A. Wensley, New \ o r k ; T. M. Griffith, Newark; William Body, New York; C. C.
Faux, New York; II. T. Spain, New York; W. W. Kadcliffe, Boston; E. K. Laughead, Toledo; S. A. Barton, New York; K. E. Conway, Boston; E. K. Jones, Boston; P. (). Griffith,
Newark. Seated, left—VV. B. Smith, Hartford; G. A. Brambach, I'.oston; H. J. Schafer, Boston; F. S. Scriven, Atlanta; C. C. Conway, New York; Roy Patterson, New York.
Seated, left cen-
ter— H. C. Dinmore, Des Moines; R. E. Bestor, Chicago; R. R. Roath, Indianapolis; E. E. Reigel, Chicago; W. A. Carder, Atlanta.
Right, center—A. F. Wyinan, Chicago; B. P. Jarrett,
Salisbury; D. J. Stevens, Danbury. Right, seated—-H. W. Ran s, Chicago: G. A. Armstrong, Lar.sing; F. C. Howard, Syracuse; T. W. Matthews, Utica.; H. L. Center, Lindsborg, Kans.
on; for the men attending have gone to their
respective homes with a keener knowledge of the
piano business at large and in particular of the
details of method and management peculiar to the
Hallet & Davis Co. than they ever before pos-
sessed. This was largely due to the more intimate
relations that existed between employer and em-
ploye; there was a closer co-operation of allied in-
offices at 9 o'clock on Monday, for the men knew
in advance that there was much business to be
transacted. E. E. Conway, secretary of the com-
pany, opened the meeting, and he gave a general
outline of the company's policy. He began with
the question of collections, and pointed out the
snares and pitfalls and made very apparent the
necessity now more than ever of safeguarding this
F r o m l'-ft t o r i g h t
•
,
\ ; i n s t n n i K . R . E . B e s t o r , F . S . S c i i \ e n ( b a c k ) . B . P . J . u i e t t , K. K. L a u g l i e a d , I I . W .
R a n t s , I I . (.'. DjriTTiou-. I I . l-. i ' e n t e r , E . E . R e i g e l , E . R , J o n e s . R . R . R o a t h , A . W . H a r r i s a n d A . I'*. W y m a n .
being wiped out by the repossession process.
After luncheon at the Georgian the men again
assembled. Mr. Conway continued his talk, taking
up the question of player-pianos, showing how the
average dealer is prone to sell too many players.
Here again the question of repossessions received
a great deal of attention—the repossessed player
being about the worst proposition there is in this
line. The selling expense, of course, is larger, and
second-hand players, it was shown, are much harder
to dispose of. The question of selling expense in
connection with players was carefully outlined and
some very convincing figures were placed before
the men.
The next topic was the financing, and here many
concrete examples were cited. The reasons for the
failure of certain men throughout the general trade
were shown, the amount of capital required pro
rata to the amount of business, was pointed out
very carefully. Many examples were brought up
with figures to show how the dealer should oper-
ate. The next issue was the question of opening
new accounts and the main facts pointed out
were the necessity of dealers starting right and
keeping right. Mr. Conway's address continued
over until Tuesday morning.
Cn Monday evening the men were entertained at
a dinner at Frank Locke's Winter Place Hotel,
which made a very merry evening. On Tuesday
morning E. E. Conway continued his talk, going
over important points brought forth. Following
E. E. Conway, C. C. Conway took up the question
of merchandising, covering points on how to help
the dealer, what the manufacturer should do for
the dealer's publicity and how to use it, and what
the roadman should do. This was followed up