Music Trade Review

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DECEMBER 13,
1919
THE MUSIC TRADE
15
REVIEW
MUSIC TRADE VIEWS OUTLOOK FOR 1920 WITH OPTIMISM—(Continued from page 13)
making prediction for 1920 was rather difficult
owing to the present unsettled conditions of
the industrial world as well as the piano in-
dustry. He expressed the opinion, however,
that with the return to normal conditions there
would logically follow a good business era,
which would be felt in the piano trade.
E. G. Hays, of E. G. Hays & Co., said: "I
am very hopeful concerning trade prospects for
1920. While there is a great deal of unrest
and turmoil in the industrial world, it is bound
to end right, for at the rock bottom the prin-
ciples of Americanism, which are honest and
true, will prevail. I am not alarmed over the
present unrest, as it is but the aftermath of
the world war that must have its day and then
fade into insignificance. As far as I can see,
and exceedingly profitable year is ahead of us."
Hy Eilers, speaking for the remaining Eilers
institutions, of which he is the head, namely,
the Oregon Eilers Music House, at Portland,
and Spokane Eilers Music House, said that his
institutions are looking forward to, and prepar-
ing for, a very busy and profitable year. The
industrial unrest and the slowing down of in-
dustry due to the cessation of war activities
in many of the cities will, in his opinion, retard
trade and collections very much in such cities,
but a great trade in musical instruments can
very readily be developed throughout the agri-
cultural sections of the great Pacific West, in-
cluding Idaho. Stockmen, fruitmen, grainmen
and agriculturists generally and everywhere
have made a great deal of money and they are in
a position to buy instruments of the better grade
if these are properly called to their attention.
Though the price of farm commodities should de-
cline very materially, as he thinks will be the
our stock was limited this year we did a fine case next year, there will be found purchasing
business, far exceeding our expectations, and power sufficient to meet everyone's expecta-
if we had had more stock our sales would, I tions.
think, have been phenomenal. Our department
On the other hand, many of the cities will,
has been reorganized and we expect to double no doubt, suffer interruption and disturbance of
this year's business. The demand for Ampico one kind or another and many have even now
reproducing pianos is increasing and our vol- lost considerable population and this situation
ume of trade in this one respect will be big. should make the music merchant look with
The Northwest is prosperous and notwithstand- caution on his sales and particularly his credit
ing labor conditions we feel that a successful sales from now on in such cities.
with the workers all employed and earning high
wages, there is bound to be a prosperous pe-
riod ahead and one in which all lines of busi-
ness, the piano line by no means excluded, will
share in the general good times."
Theodore Hoffmann, of the J. M. Hoffmann
Co., said that the outlook was encouraging for
1920 provided that the piano manufacturers and
piano merchants would co-operate. He said: "A
spirit of co-operation must obtain between the
maker and the seller or the trade will suffer. I
believe that it will be possible to make the piano
trade as a whole very satisfactory to all con-
cerned if common sense methods prevail. We
must do away with some of the questionable
things that have hindered the trade. If this is
done 1920 will be a good year."
Excellent Outlook for Music in Portland, Ore.
PORTLAND, ORE., December 6.—The piano mer-
chants of Portland have every reason to con-
gratulate themselves and the companies they
represent upon the volume of sales made dur-
ing the last year. Business was undeniably
better than it has ever been, though prices were
higher and stock difficult ito obtain. What
stock could be obtained brought good prices,
big payments were regular and more cash sales
were made than during any former period. Had
more stock been available sales would have been
phenomenal. The unusual interest in pianos and
other musical instruments may be accounted for
in several ways. Portland is becoming, or
rather is, the musical center of the Northwest.
It has a splendid symphony orchestra, the
concerts largely attended and the interest in
these concerts growing; a remarkable opera as-
sociation and any number of music clubs and
organizations.
The Bush & Lane Piano Co. have had a good
year, but not the year they expected. "The
volume of sales," said Manager Thomas Wilkin-
son to The Review's correspondent, "was great-
er, of course, than last year, but not up to
our expectations, because we could not get
enough goods.
"It is difficult to prophesy what the condi-
tions will be in 1920. We were able to sell all
we could get and will be able to sell much more
next year if the disputes between labor and capi-
tal are settled. In the meantime the Bush &
Lane house of Portland will sell all the goods
we receive from the factory."
G. F. Johnson, of the G. F. Johnson Piano
Co., is optimistic. "A very satisfactory year,"
said Mr. Johnson. "We are prepared for a big
Christmas trade and look forward to a pros-
perous year during 1920. The demand for short-
er hours and more pay is absurd. When we
have more production business will readjust it-
self and the laboring man will enjoy prosperity
along with the producers."
Another optimist is Frank M. Case, the mana-
ger of the Wiley B. Allen Co. Mr. Case says:
"While we have experienced some trouble in
securing goods we took advantage of what was
annoying in this respect by selling only to the
best people, making very satisfactory terms
and noticing a very satisfactory growth over
the preceding year. The public, as a whole,
are already tired and disgusted with strikes.
The coming year will see less of these out-
breaks and the piano trade, as well as other
lines of business, will be in a better condition
than it has been this year as a result."
H. G. Reed, manager of the Reed-French Co.,
reports an exceptionally good year. "All year
we have done well in all departments," he said,
"and are prepared to furnish our customers with
a fine line of pianos next year. While I can-
not forecast the future, it is probable that a
readjustment of conditions will occur during
the coming year and that will make business
better for everyone."
"We are ordering heavily of stock for next
year," said W. A. Erwin, manager of the music
department of Lipman, Wolfe & Co. "While
Milwaukee Merchants Hope for Bigger Output
MILWAUKEE, WIS., December 6.—A survey of the
Milwaukee dealer trade reveals that brows are
knit only when the question is asked, "What
of 1920?" When business of 1919 is discussed
faces are wreathed in smiles. When the future
outlook is touched upon evidence of perplexity
is manifest. It all simmers down to the point
of fact that business in the new year will be
almost purely a matter of getting goods—of
filling a demand that has not been allowed to
die, although its dissipation was never once
suggested.
"We are in the hands of the manufacturers,
and the manufacturers are in the hands of their
workers," is a popular expression of dealers
when talking of the 1920 supply. If men will
quit their bickering and go to work there seems
to be a fair chance that before the end of
another year production will become at least
comparable to needs. If industrial turmoil con-,
tinues, and men do not work, manufacturers
will not be able to give their dealers any more
merchandise than they have given them in the
last three to six months. It all resolves itself
into a question of producing, which is the ques-
tion of every industry to-day.
Edmund Gram, best known as Steinway and
Aeolian representative in Milwaukee and Wis-
consin, and also owner of a factory, believes
the retail trade will simply have to wait for
production as the only alternative. Like other
representative dealers, the Gram house's busi-
ness this year, while far and away above any
previous year, has been curtailed anywhere from
25 to 50 per cent, by its inability to secure
enough instruments to fill actual orders.
Henry M. Steussy, general manager of the
Milwaukee Piano Mfg. Co., one of the largest
retailers of pianos in Milwaukee, says: "It looks
to me as if the only thing we can do is to
proceed as best we can with the merchandise
we can get. We were forced into the open
market in October to supplement our regular
lines so that we could make at least a fair
showing to our customers in the holiday sea-
son. What will happen next year is conjectural.
No doubt we are going to get a lot of goods,
but it is assured that we are going to need a
lot more than that, for this city is absorbing
instruments at an unprecedented rate, and with
only a part of the demand supplied there will
be no let-up in wants for a long time to come."
At the T. B. Bradford Piano Co., which is ex-
clusive dealer in the Mason & Hamlin, Chick-
eriug, Sohmer, Melville Clark and a long list
of other widely known makes, none would ven-
ture a guess as to what the new year might
develop, excepting that the present insistent
demand will most assuredly continue so long
as the trade is not supplied to the extent of
meeting current requirements. "We doubled our
1918 business in the first ten months of this
year, and the final report will show that we
have been limited in growth only by the limita-
tions imposed by the supply of goods," said
Hugh W. Randall, proprietor of the Bradford
firm.
"No matter how we are pinched for goods,
and how many people we are compelled to dis-
appoint. I view the present and future outlook
with satisfaction for the single reason that the
existing sellers' market has awakened the trade
to its senses in respect to credits," said L. M.
Kesselman, head of the Kesselman-O'Driscoll
Co., Plankinton Arcade. "A few months ago
our local association talked about shorter terms
and many members stood aghast. After a short
experience, every man who objected to cutting
down the length of paper came back and thanked
the association for suggesting it. It was the
same thing with the matter of charging in-
terest. In October, last year, we decided to
adopt a uniform interest clause on all contracts.
Within a year every dealer who did so earned
so much of what is rightfully his that none will
go back to the old order of things. But it took
extreme conditions such as we have to-day to
make us realize it. We are real merchants to-
day, in the same sense that we were storekeepers
a year ago."
A good point brought out by C. L. Nodine,
piano department manager at Gimbel Bros., is
that it is to the lasting credit of the industry
that the unusual conditions have not resulted
in a cheapening of quality.
"We all know what a fine opportunity this
sort of times lays open to manufacturers to
be careless about the standards of goods, since
people to-day will buy anything," said Mr.
Nodine. "I am glad to say that the piano
dealers will never have to be ashamed of the
merchandise they sold their customers. It
has frequently been told me by purchasers that
they were surprised that their instruments were
of such high quality, when they had imagined
that conditions in the labor and material mar-
kets were so unfavorable as to cheapen the
(Continued on page 18)