Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
MINIMUM PRICES IN PIANO ADVERTISING
(Continued from page 3)
Something must be done, however, and done quickly, to educate the public to the fact that pianos and player-
pianos have a definite value, and that the dominant feature of their salabilitv is not their cheapness. New York
piano men have shown the way—have pointed out a path that can be followed with profit by the National
Association of Piano Merchants at its convention in Chicago next week, where the question will no doubt be
brought up.
The manufacturers are endeavoring to protect themselves and their interests, and the retailer must do ^
likewise. He is the man on the firing line—the man who must go out and get from the public all the extra
costs that are to be assessed against the piano. He must prepare to meet the situation, not frantically, and in
the role of an alarmist, but calmly, judiciously, and above all, effectively. Teaching the public through
advertisements to pay more for low priced pianos and players will smooth the way for the sale of the better grade
instruments at a proportionate advance. As a matter of fact the education must have to do with the low and
medium priced instruments, for the high grade piano can take care of itself.
place in which to live; whereas a locality with a bad reputation
was shunned. He said, for instance, that the average business
man fought strongly against serving on juries and yet the same
business man insisted that high class juries be obtained to protect
his interests under the law.
Civic slackers, even in times of peace, are just as much to
be condemned as military slackers, he said, for their lack of sup-
port of the institutions of government resulted frequently in
conditions against which they were inclined to protest em-
phatically. It is a point to be borne in mind by the business man
who assumes the "I should worry" attitude, although it must be
said with truth that the piano men measure up well with the men
of other industries in taking active part in civic affairs.
HE lack of broad statesmanship in preparing the so-called
War Revenue Bill now before Congress is in no industry so
glaringly evident as in the publication field. Right on top of the
largest increase in the cost of paper and printing in history, comes
an increase in the cost of mailing, through a zone system of
charges that will curtail one of the most important businesses of
the country, increasing the cost of producing publications to what
has been estimated by some at over 300 per cent:
To tax intelligence is opposed to the very vital principle of
our constitution; moreover, it is admitted that no other medium
is so successful in developing business in this country as the
trade paper, and to curtail its usefulness by increasing the cost
of distribution is going to result in a greater loss than gain for the
Post Office Department.
Thousands of papers cannot continue to do business if the
tax as set forth in this new revenue bill is adopted. In this new
tax bill the compilers figured out income based upon the present
T
condition of business, but they forget that if they make the
taxation so oppressive as to compel a great many concerns to go
out of business, the expected income cannot materialize.
Some extracts from the illuminating remarks on this subject
by Cyrus H. K. Curtis, of Philadelphia, are worth reading. He
said: "If von Tirpitz himself had drawn this revenue bill it could
not declare more ruthless warfare on the periodicals of the
country. It is, so far as it applies to them, in no sense of the word
a war revenue measure. On its face it is postal legislation—not
a special tax imposed for the period of the war, but an increase
in the postal rate of more than 300 per cent, that will not be
repealed at the end of the war.
"No periodical published, so far as I know, objects to any
tax being imposed on profits that Congress sees fit to levy on
manufacturers. We will shoulder such a burden cheerfully. But
the proposed postal increase is not a war tax on profits,.but a
destructive tax on the machinery of the periodical business^ and
therefore, it carfnot be productive of additional revenue.
"During the last year the cost of paper to publishers has
increased from 40 to 80 per cent.; ink from 25 to 300 per cent.;
machinery from 25 to 50 per cent.; coal from 40 to 45. per cent.
Similiar increases in cost, including all classes of labor, have
taken place in every element that enters into publishing."
has asked when advertising can be stopped.
S OMEBODY
Well, the answer is not difficult. Advertising can be stopped
when buyers forget to forget—when competition ceases to com-
pete—when every actual and prospective customer has been con-
vinced that your product is the best of its kind and nothing better
can be produced. When this occurs we will have reached the
millennium, and even then we will need advertising!
How Many Pianos With a Nation-Wide Reputation?
Very few. But the dealer requires such a piano for
his leader.
> -
Pease Pianos
are known from coast to coast as instruments of the
highest artistic character. They embody every require-
ment that you must have in your leader.
There are 50,000 Pease Pianos
used in New York City alone
Ave.
PEASE PIANO COMPANY Legg *S NEW
Barry St.