Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
STRENGTHENING AND UPBUILDING OUR INDUSTRIES
(Continued from page 3)
bill is the embodiment of that spirit of governmental co-operation through which the supremacy of American
industry will eventually become an accomplished fact.
True commercial supremacy for American industry can only come when American goods and American
products are established factors in nations other than our own. The rich fields for commercial expansion
which lie beyond our borders will be the prize for which we must shortly compete against the nations of the
Old World, whose efforts will be spurred on by the desperate need for gold to replenish war-riddled coffers.
Against such intensive competition American manufacturers cannot compete successfully unless they can
combine their forces. Individual effort courts disaster, united endeavor will bring success.
The Webb bill offers American manufacturers the logical, legal and necessary means whereby they may
achieve effective combination for the securing and holding of export trade. Present indications seem to assure
the speedy enactment of this bill into law, a consummation which not only will mark the beginning of a new
era in constructive legislation, but which will also give American industries the greatest single opportunity
they have ever had for trade expansion, an expansion that will give this nation the commercial supremacy which
is rightfully hers.
The old parable of the sticks which were easily broken when separated, but which could not be broken
when bound together, can be studied with much profit to-day. The future holds in store great problems which
must be logically and correctly solved if our nation is to progress as it should—problems of distribution,
problems of supply and demand, problems of foreign trade, labor problems, and problems of more efficient
production.
These problems cannot be solved by each citizen working independently and individually; they can only
be solved by concerted and co-ordinated action and a unanimity of purpose and thought on the part of all those
interested. Protective, rather than destructive, legislation, legitimate combination and expansion, and a
cessation of the senseless and ruinous methods of compulsory and arbitrary competition which many legislators
have sought to make imperative, are all necessary for the economic progress of this nation, the happiness and
general prosperity of its citizens, and the maintenance of its position and prestige as a world-factor.
The commission allowed the salesman should, in the natural
order of things, be as large as possible, for it is the employe and
not the employer who does the gambling. The salesman on a
commission basis does not earn a dollar unless by so doing he
earns just so much more for the house he works for. If his in-
come grows from the $2,000 to the $10,000 mark it means that
his employer's business and consequently the profits on his busi-
ness increase in an exact ratio. The piano man, therefore, who
curtails the opportunities of his salesmen is, to use the old
phrase, cutting off his nose to spite his face.
If, as is claimed, good salesmen are shy in the piano field
because they have gone into other lines, the reason is that they
find that their abilities produce greater returns in those other
lines. What is the matter with the piano business from the sales-
man's viewpoint?
ITH the coming of June and then right through July and
W
August, the prevalence of summer conditions is offered as
a stock excuse for poor trade or any unusual conditions of busi-
ness. Then always comes the promise that "after Labor Day
things will be better." We have now reached that desirable
point in the progress of the year, and the trade has, or should
be, settled down to enjoy the productiveness of the fall and
winter. If only half of all that has been promised in the way of
business for the coming four months materializes it will be a
great season. Meanwhile stores have been enlarged and rear-
ranged, advertising sales campaigns mapped out, staffs reorgan-
ized, and piano and music houses in all sections have prepared
for the business battle that is to come. Here's hoping that some
new records in selling will be hung up in the music trade before
the New. Year descends upon us.
GETTING DOWN TO PLAIN PLAYER FACTS
The education of the public along player lines is a necessity for the expansion of the player business.
There is no doubt of that; and education of the piano merchants and salesmen is also a vital necessity,
because through them will come a powerful force in the education of the public; and right here we wish to
remark that we have produced a line of books upon the player-piano which comprehensively covers the
entire player situation.
In this respect this trade newspaper stands alone, for it has been the principal source from which player
information has been available for piano merchants and salesmen for a period of years. Our latest book,
"The Player-Piano Up to Date"
is the best of the series. It contains upwards of 220 pages of matter bearing directly upon the player.
Every piano merchant and piano salesman should have a copy of this book within easy reach. It
gives to readers a fund.of information not obtainable elsewhere.
It contains a series of original drawings and a vast amount of instructive and educational matter, as
well as a detailed description of some of the principal player mechanisms.
It costs $1.50 to have this book delivered to any address in the United States, and your money will be
refunded if you are not satisfied with the book after examination. No one yet has availed himself of this
opportunity. Foreign countries, 15c. to cover extra postage, should be added.
Estate of EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Publisher
373 Fourth Ave., New York