Music Trade Review
Issue: 1920 Vol. 71 N. 13 - Page 65
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
SEPTEMBER 25,
1920
THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
63
TELLS OHIO MERCHANTS OF TALKING MACHINE BUSINESS
Chas. K. Bennett, of Eclipse Musical Co., Presents Some Interesting Facts Regarding the Status
of the Talking Machine at the Convention in Youngstown, O., Last Week
The talking machine interests were represented
officially on the program of the convention of
the Piano Merchants' Association of Ohio at
Youngstown last week by Charles K. Bennett,
of the Eclipse Musical Co., Cleveland, who pre-
sented to the merchants some interesting facts
relative to the breadth and scope of the talk-
ing machine business as a whole. In his ad-
dress Mr. Bennett _said in part;
"The talking machine and its records have
become one of the largest and most important
factors in the musical world today. They have
been given an important part to play in the
Americanization of the foreign-born. They are
quite active in assisting in making America
musical and have been adopted quite generally
as a permanent unit in the education of children,
courses having been laid out which begin in the
kindergarten and graduate from there up to the
colleges, much in the same manner as a child
studies arithmetic.
"We find our machines in use in a great many
manufacturing and industrial plants, telephone
exchanges, .and, in fact, wherever a large number
of people are employed the talking machine has
been found necessary from a standpoint of im-
proving efficiency, promoting sociability and
good /will; and since the Victor Co. has made
it possible to obtain records of the world's most
famous artists and musical organizations, you
will find its machines and records in almost all
the homes in the country. I mention this mere*
ly to emphasize my point that the talking ma-
chine and its records are not a side line any more
but a business whose foundation consists of
one of God's greatest gifts—MUSIC—developed
and perfected to a point where you can have
in your own home an exact reproduction of
Caruso, Galli-Curci, the Boston Symphony Or-
chestra, and, in fact, all of the world's greatest
musicians and artists, not merely as 'canned'
music but an exact reproduction of their voices
and instruments, reproduced as perfectly as the
camera reproduces an object.
"The talking machine and its records have
made remarkable strides during the last few
years and their development and perfection
have come to a point where even those of us
who are handling this line of merchandise mar-
vel at the results. Compare the machines of
to-day with those of a few years ago, when $60
would buy the best on the market. Only re-
cently I was privileged to examine an instru-
ment which was to retail at $3,000. Why, gen-
tlemen, I actually recall the days when $3,000
would just about secure a jobbing agency.
Think of it—the talking machine in almost di-
rect competition with the automobile. It doesn't
seem possible.
"Now, as regards the commercial side. Let
me ask what other line of merchandise on the
market to-day has been advanced in price as
little as the talking machine? What other line
of merchandise received a SO per cent cut in its
retail prices as did the Red Seal records, and at
the same time leaving a very reasonable margin
of profit for the merchant? Gentlemen, those of
us who are in the talking machine business, rep-
resenting at least the standard lines, and per-
sonally I can speak only of the Victor, can be
very proud of the fact that we are furnishing
the public with an article of absolute necessity,
an article that has been accepted and adopted as
an important unit of education, on which there
has been no profiteering and at the same time
giving the public the very finest that money and
brains can produce. Speaking of profits, it is
as immoral to sell goods below a reasonable
profit as it is to sell them above, and only a
business slacker will do so. In my opinion, the
business slacker and the business profiteer be-
long exactly in the same class. They are, what
might be termed, careless business men, neither
wishing nor desiring permanent business or so-
cial welfare. We must have, most of all, a just,
fair and honorable profit basis upon which to
rest our ^business calculations and be satisfied
with a fair compensation in wages and a just
profit for capital. Unreasonable, wages and un-
reasonable profits are both unfair to the con-
sumer.
"The Victor Talking Machine Co., during the
last few years, handled an increase in the cost
of labor of about 166 per cent and an increase
in the cost of materials at least as great, with
only about 34 per cent increase in its catalog
prices.
"For the benefit of those who are not familiar
with the figures, I want to say that the Victor
Co. owns and operates 1,663 552 square feet of
factory floor space in one united plant at Cam-
den, and have under construction 218,023 square
feet more, with land available to double this
entire plant. They have 16j^ acres of lumber
piled from twenty to fifty feet high on every
available foot; the most valuable lumber pile in
the world and a 50 per cent extension under
way. They have 10,000 employees and could
use 5,000 more. They pay out $300,000 in weekly
wages in addition to their monthly salary pay
roll and expect to pay 50 per cent more as soon
as people can be found to take the money. They
are using 36,850,000 feet of high-grade lumber
per year and will use 50 per cent more soon.
They burn 55,000 tons of coal per year, and are
making preparations to burn 80,000 tons. The
Victor Co. is increasing its output as rapidly as
circumstances will permit, but Victor goods will
always be manufactured in Victor factories.
Control of the Victor Co. is not going to pass
into other hands nor is it going to be amalga-
mated with or absorbed by a trust or any other
combination.
"Now with regard to co-operation. The suc-
cess of this organization, or any other for that
matter, depends largely upon understanding and
co-operation. The World War was decided
through understanding and co-operation. The
success of a government is measured by under-
standing and co-operation, and so it will be,
gentlemen, in the talking machine business.
"We are assembled here representing one of
the most powerful gifts of God, and through
earnest and united effort on the part of all of
us America's ambition to have its people musi-
cal should certainly, in the course of time, be
fully realized. If you are in the musical busi-
ness legitimately and not merely profiteering, T
know this organization, and, in fact, all your
fellow merchants will grab you by the hand, give
you a hearty welcome, and through co-operation
put over this musical proposition on a tre-
mendous scale. The small merchant in the
small community is just as important a factor
in this regard as the big merchant in the large
city, and knowing this organization as I do,
its membership bears out what I say, and then
with a, complete understanding and proper co-
operation the same big success will be had
whether it is in a commercial business or
whether It is a question between labor and
capital."
CONFERENCE OF EDISON JOBBERS
T. J. Leonard Represented Laboratories at Im-
portant Gathering in Denver This Week
Thomas J. Leonard, general sales manager at
the Edison Laboratories, left late last week for
Denver, Colo., where he represented the Labora-
tories at the second semi-annual conference of
western Edison jobbers, which was held in that
city on September 20 and 21. The conference
consisted of a two-day business session, one of
which was devoted to the problems of the job-
bers' traveling representatives, who were also
present. Mr. Leonard contemplates visiting a
number of other Edison jobbing points on hi
way back to Orange.
io double
TJourlncome
and the proposition could be proved
sound from every angle, you wouldn't
hesitate, would you? Of course not,
but do you realize that a talking machine
department can be made to provide
sufficient revenue to take care of the
overhead on your entire establishment ?
Thousands of other retail music
chants have proved the above made
statement true and thousands of retail
music merchants have looked to T h e
Talking Machine World for guidance
in the matter of selecting the make of
talking machines they would handle, the
way they would map out their talking
machine department, etc.
The Talking Machine World is the
oldest and largest trade journal in the
world devoted exclusively to the talking
machine industry. N o w running over
250 pages per issue.
Some book, eh? Yes, and some encyclo'
pedia of the kind of information that
will positively double your income.
Don't miss your chance.
coupon now.
Send in the
TALKING MACHINE W0KLD,
373 Fourth Ave., New York City.
Please enter my subscription for one year. I want to
learn how to double my income via a talking machine
department. Bill me $2 at your convenience to" cover
cost of same.
N ame
Firm
Street
Citv and State
k
SEPTEMBER 25,
1920
THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
63
TELLS OHIO MERCHANTS OF TALKING MACHINE BUSINESS
Chas. K. Bennett, of Eclipse Musical Co., Presents Some Interesting Facts Regarding the Status
of the Talking Machine at the Convention in Youngstown, O., Last Week
The talking machine interests were represented
officially on the program of the convention of
the Piano Merchants' Association of Ohio at
Youngstown last week by Charles K. Bennett,
of the Eclipse Musical Co., Cleveland, who pre-
sented to the merchants some interesting facts
relative to the breadth and scope of the talk-
ing machine business as a whole. In his ad-
dress Mr. Bennett _said in part;
"The talking machine and its records have
become one of the largest and most important
factors in the musical world today. They have
been given an important part to play in the
Americanization of the foreign-born. They are
quite active in assisting in making America
musical and have been adopted quite generally
as a permanent unit in the education of children,
courses having been laid out which begin in the
kindergarten and graduate from there up to the
colleges, much in the same manner as a child
studies arithmetic.
"We find our machines in use in a great many
manufacturing and industrial plants, telephone
exchanges, .and, in fact, wherever a large number
of people are employed the talking machine has
been found necessary from a standpoint of im-
proving efficiency, promoting sociability and
good /will; and since the Victor Co. has made
it possible to obtain records of the world's most
famous artists and musical organizations, you
will find its machines and records in almost all
the homes in the country. I mention this mere*
ly to emphasize my point that the talking ma-
chine and its records are not a side line any more
but a business whose foundation consists of
one of God's greatest gifts—MUSIC—developed
and perfected to a point where you can have
in your own home an exact reproduction of
Caruso, Galli-Curci, the Boston Symphony Or-
chestra, and, in fact, all of the world's greatest
musicians and artists, not merely as 'canned'
music but an exact reproduction of their voices
and instruments, reproduced as perfectly as the
camera reproduces an object.
"The talking machine and its records have
made remarkable strides during the last few
years and their development and perfection
have come to a point where even those of us
who are handling this line of merchandise mar-
vel at the results. Compare the machines of
to-day with those of a few years ago, when $60
would buy the best on the market. Only re-
cently I was privileged to examine an instru-
ment which was to retail at $3,000. Why, gen-
tlemen, I actually recall the days when $3,000
would just about secure a jobbing agency.
Think of it—the talking machine in almost di-
rect competition with the automobile. It doesn't
seem possible.
"Now, as regards the commercial side. Let
me ask what other line of merchandise on the
market to-day has been advanced in price as
little as the talking machine? What other line
of merchandise received a SO per cent cut in its
retail prices as did the Red Seal records, and at
the same time leaving a very reasonable margin
of profit for the merchant? Gentlemen, those of
us who are in the talking machine business, rep-
resenting at least the standard lines, and per-
sonally I can speak only of the Victor, can be
very proud of the fact that we are furnishing
the public with an article of absolute necessity,
an article that has been accepted and adopted as
an important unit of education, on which there
has been no profiteering and at the same time
giving the public the very finest that money and
brains can produce. Speaking of profits, it is
as immoral to sell goods below a reasonable
profit as it is to sell them above, and only a
business slacker will do so. In my opinion, the
business slacker and the business profiteer be-
long exactly in the same class. They are, what
might be termed, careless business men, neither
wishing nor desiring permanent business or so-
cial welfare. We must have, most of all, a just,
fair and honorable profit basis upon which to
rest our ^business calculations and be satisfied
with a fair compensation in wages and a just
profit for capital. Unreasonable, wages and un-
reasonable profits are both unfair to the con-
sumer.
"The Victor Talking Machine Co., during the
last few years, handled an increase in the cost
of labor of about 166 per cent and an increase
in the cost of materials at least as great, with
only about 34 per cent increase in its catalog
prices.
"For the benefit of those who are not familiar
with the figures, I want to say that the Victor
Co. owns and operates 1,663 552 square feet of
factory floor space in one united plant at Cam-
den, and have under construction 218,023 square
feet more, with land available to double this
entire plant. They have 16j^ acres of lumber
piled from twenty to fifty feet high on every
available foot; the most valuable lumber pile in
the world and a 50 per cent extension under
way. They have 10,000 employees and could
use 5,000 more. They pay out $300,000 in weekly
wages in addition to their monthly salary pay
roll and expect to pay 50 per cent more as soon
as people can be found to take the money. They
are using 36,850,000 feet of high-grade lumber
per year and will use 50 per cent more soon.
They burn 55,000 tons of coal per year, and are
making preparations to burn 80,000 tons. The
Victor Co. is increasing its output as rapidly as
circumstances will permit, but Victor goods will
always be manufactured in Victor factories.
Control of the Victor Co. is not going to pass
into other hands nor is it going to be amalga-
mated with or absorbed by a trust or any other
combination.
"Now with regard to co-operation. The suc-
cess of this organization, or any other for that
matter, depends largely upon understanding and
co-operation. The World War was decided
through understanding and co-operation. The
success of a government is measured by under-
standing and co-operation, and so it will be,
gentlemen, in the talking machine business.
"We are assembled here representing one of
the most powerful gifts of God, and through
earnest and united effort on the part of all of
us America's ambition to have its people musi-
cal should certainly, in the course of time, be
fully realized. If you are in the musical busi-
ness legitimately and not merely profiteering, T
know this organization, and, in fact, all your
fellow merchants will grab you by the hand, give
you a hearty welcome, and through co-operation
put over this musical proposition on a tre-
mendous scale. The small merchant in the
small community is just as important a factor
in this regard as the big merchant in the large
city, and knowing this organization as I do,
its membership bears out what I say, and then
with a, complete understanding and proper co-
operation the same big success will be had
whether it is in a commercial business or
whether It is a question between labor and
capital."
CONFERENCE OF EDISON JOBBERS
T. J. Leonard Represented Laboratories at Im-
portant Gathering in Denver This Week
Thomas J. Leonard, general sales manager at
the Edison Laboratories, left late last week for
Denver, Colo., where he represented the Labora-
tories at the second semi-annual conference of
western Edison jobbers, which was held in that
city on September 20 and 21. The conference
consisted of a two-day business session, one of
which was devoted to the problems of the job-
bers' traveling representatives, who were also
present. Mr. Leonard contemplates visiting a
number of other Edison jobbing points on hi
way back to Orange.
io double
TJourlncome
and the proposition could be proved
sound from every angle, you wouldn't
hesitate, would you? Of course not,
but do you realize that a talking machine
department can be made to provide
sufficient revenue to take care of the
overhead on your entire establishment ?
Thousands of other retail music
chants have proved the above made
statement true and thousands of retail
music merchants have looked to T h e
Talking Machine World for guidance
in the matter of selecting the make of
talking machines they would handle, the
way they would map out their talking
machine department, etc.
The Talking Machine World is the
oldest and largest trade journal in the
world devoted exclusively to the talking
machine industry. N o w running over
250 pages per issue.
Some book, eh? Yes, and some encyclo'
pedia of the kind of information that
will positively double your income.
Don't miss your chance.
coupon now.
Send in the
TALKING MACHINE W0KLD,
373 Fourth Ave., New York City.
Please enter my subscription for one year. I want to
learn how to double my income via a talking machine
department. Bill me $2 at your convenience to" cover
cost of same.
N ame
Firm
Street
Citv and State
k
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