Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
JULY 6, 1918
THE MUSIC TRADE
safety of our national morale. Music spurs men on to battle
and leads them to see victory ahead. Music holds men's hearts
atune to the resistance of a breakdown under war's burdens, and
music, above all else, soothes and relieves the mind from the
strain of conflict. Music can make war; it can also be made by
war. Again, music can bring speedy peace by its aid to the
cause of Right, by its strengthening effect on troubled peoples,
making them strong in battle and speedy in victory."
OR months past the piano retailer has been advised to edu-
cate the public to expect to pay higher prices for pianos and
player-pianos, just as they are called upon to pay more right now
for every sort of merchandise, but according to salesmen with
experience this educating of the public to higher piano prices
must be done tactfully. In other words, the possible increase of
prices must not be used as a club to force an immediate sale.
A. L. Garthwaite, of the Cable Company, Cincinnati, brought
forth a new idea in an interview in The Review last week when
he declared that experience had shown him that more than one
prospective customer has been frightened out of buying pianos
just by the advance price argument. There is a certain element
who apparently reason that if pianos are going to go up so will
other articles considered more necessary to physical comfort,
and, therefore, it is just as well to save the money to buy these
necessities.
It would seem that the proper thing to do would be to
prepare the public mind for higher piano prices gradually, and
by a logical explanation, rather than to point out the mistake
of waiting until prices advance to a prohibitive point. In short,
what is needed in this particular case is, what is termed in the
vernacular, "a little of the old oil."
F
the recent convention of the National Association of Credit
A T Men,
which was held in Chicago, a very confident feeling
seemed to prevail regarding the general business outlook despite
the war. The credit men keep their hands on the pulse of busi-
ness, so to speak, and are therefore able to form a very excellent
idea of the commercial health of the nation. In their discussion
in Chicago they were not unmindful of the pitfalls inseparable
from the abnormal conditions prevailing, but they realize that
with so many industries going full tilt and with so roseate a
prospect for the crops, buying is likely to be on a large scale
despite the admonitions for economy. The situation, however,
does not blind the credit men to the added risks which present
conditions foster. The higher prices for commodities call for
greater capital and a restriction of credit. The nearer business
gets to being done on a cash basis the less danger there will be
of a crash when shrinkage comes in values or buying inclination,
or both. As buying on a strictly cash basis is hardly feasible,
except in retail business, the next thing to it is to make capital
REVIEW
more liquid and enable a merchant to have more frequent turn-
overs of it. lie is often unable to carry his accounts until they
mature, and has found that borrowing money on open accounts
is expensive as well as cumbersome.
The trade acceptance plan offers him relief, and this the credit
men are urging as an especial need of the moment. Its general
adoption would not only enable the sellers to make their capital
go further, but it would help in bringing about more conservatism
in buying than is apt to be the case under the system of open
accounts. The acceptance calls for payment at the time specified
in it, and the buyer knows he must be prepared to redeem it at
maturity without recourse to any of the evasions which, in the
past, have put a needless burden on business. As a safeguard
against merely speculative purchases, which are so tempting
under the conditions created by the war, the plan is of equal
value to both vendor and vendee.
seems only a few years ago since the general supplanting of
I and T manual
labor by machines was looked upon by labor unions
their members as a direct menace to the future of labor.
But their views in this respect have been completely changed. It
is now generally recognized that without the utilization of ma-
chinery production would be curtailed immeasurably, the
Nation's progress retarded and the condition of the working man
would not be in any respect as satisfactory as it is to-day.
It is often overlooked that machines that see, that hear, that
speak, that respond to the faintest, or the greatest impulses,
that feel the weight of a fly's wing, that register the heat of
stars trillions of miles distant, and many other marvels of man-
made mechanics, are all the slaves of man and they will not
work without his direction. Wonderful as all these machines
are not one of them is endowed with real intelligence. As
so aptly pointed out by A. Russell Brand recently, man can pro-
duce a machine that will play chess, but the machine cannot
do its own thinking; it will only do what it has been designed
to do. It will react to the various conditions to which it may
be subjected, but it has no will of its own and no power of
thought. No matter how far we may advance in the develop-
ment of machinery we shall always come up against this bar-
rier—the impossibility of producing brains.
The most perfect of machines is useless without an intel-
ligent operator. In the industries of the future, no matter how
far they are advanced, operators will be indispensable; they will
be required for their directive intelligence rather than their
muscular power. Instead, therefore, of bewailing the fact, as
men frequently do even in these enlightened days, that machines
are replacing men, we must look upon the subject from a
broader point of view and realize that machines are demanding
men, and that they are elevating man to a higher plane of life
and activity.
Do You Want to Expand the Retail Market
For Player-Pianos and Music Rolls?
You can do this by educating the people in your territory to a keener appreciation of the amazing
possibilities of the player-piano. This will be admirably done for you by the volume entitled
Price, $1
THE PLAYER PIANIST
The Player Pianist deals with lucidity and
clearness upon the many problems which from
time to time confront the player-pianist and
player student.
This new volume is designed to afford a
complete and accurate guide to music appre-
ciation, player technic, music roll reading, etc.
This work is the result of many years' close
study o-f the player situation, and is put forth
to meet the requirements of music lovers who
desire to acquaint themselves with the artistic
possibilities of the player-piano.
The book deals with the elements of music,
of musical form, and incidentally gives a short
sketch of musical history from early times
to the present day.
There are chapters devoted to practical talks
upon the management of the various expres-
sion devices, pedals and tempo levers.
A perusal of the volume will provide the
player-pianist with a complete course of in-
struction in all of the aspects of expressive
and artistic playing.
There are chapters in The Player Pianist
upon practical studies in player interpretation,
illustrated with special drawings made from
EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc., Publisher
DISCOUNT TO
THE TRADE
music rolls and designed to show how, step by
step, the interpretation of pieces may be
worked out artistically and satisfactorily.
It is conceded that interest must be main-
tained in the player-piano—that its marvelous
possibilities must be rxplained to purchasers,
and there is no worli put forth in the entire
world—and we say this unqualifiedly—which
will compare with The Player Pianist as a
stimulator and educator.
If you are not perfectly satisfied with the
book after examination, your dollar will be
refunded upon the return of the book. That
is fair, is it not?
373 Fourth Ave., New York