Music Trade Review

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Eight St. Louis Piano Dealers Begin
Go-operative Advertising
St. Louis Piano Merchants Use Series of Full Page Advertisements in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to
Counteract Effect of Campaign Against the Stencil Piano and in an Endeavor to Restore Public
Confidence in the Piano Warerooms of That City — Campaign Based on Music
T
H E R E are those of the piano trade in St.
Louis who while endorsing the thought
back of the campaign carried on in that
city by the Better Business Bureau to protect
First
the period of poor business that has faced the
piano houses for some weeks past. The higher
priced and better known instruments sold with
fair regularity, but prospects for medium and
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HREE great and far-reaching in-
fluences are exerted in every
home where there is music—
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EASTER PROGRAM
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An early and lasting apprecia-
tion of beauty in art.
Press of
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Afellowship placing friendships
on the highest plane.
St. Louis
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Popular Song Program
A love home never to he lost
through the passing years.
These are the elements making for the finer man-
hood and womanhood that all fathers and all
mothers desire to see develop in their children.
The home with music is happier There you will
find culture understanding, contentment. And at
that ant when youth must have its fling, however
innoctntlv thoughts of home restrain
The musical instrument thai accomplishes so much
is the Piano To play a Piano is universally taught:
for those who do not play there is the Player-Piano.
There is also the Reproducing Piano, with author-
ized recordings by master musicians.
If there be any one of these instruments in your
home that may happen, for one reason or another,
to be only occasionally played, the accompanying
little programs may contain something to remind
you that in the comradeship of your Piano lies sym-
pathy with every mood and entertainment for any
occasion.
If you have no Piano at all, call at a Piano store
where the sale of Pianos is a business and a service.
You will find there Pianos of various grades and at
an appropriate range of prices.
You need not, however, worry about price. All es-
tablished Piano stores sell Pianos on convenient
terms, and if you have any sort of a musical instru-
ment of which you would like to dispose, a suitable
allowance will be made for it and acreDted as part
payment.
Buy a Piano—the favorite musical instrument in
millions of homes.
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the general public against bait piano advertis-
ing and the overvaluation of stencil instruments,
believe that this campaign which took the form
of display advertising in the local newspapers
and developed to a point where the Better Busi-
ness Bureau gave personal advice to prospec-
tive piano buyers, has worked to the disadvan-
tage of the trade.
That there is some basis for the belief that the
reform movement hindered sales is evident from
low priced lines appear to be affected by a
spirit of cautiousness that was evident in in-
creased sales resistance.
In an effort to overcome the inertia among
prospective piano buyers eight Olive street
piano houses have combined in a co-operative
advertising campaign using full pages in the
Post-Dispatch, the first of which appeared last
week. The newspaper has aided the merchants
in the preparation of their copy, which is of an
Tariff Commission to
Make No Casein Change
change in the rate of the duty on casein are
warranted by the data which it has been found
possible to secure in its investigation of the
cost of production in the domestic and foreign
fields.
"While the conversion costs in the United
States and in Argentina, which appears to be
the principal competing country, may be re-
garded as ascertained with reasonable accuracy,
it was impossible to obtain in Argentina data
which would establish or permit a satisfactory
computation of the cost of the primary raw
material, skimmed milk, of which casein is
made."
Supplemental reports were also made public
by the commission this week, among them being
the recommendation to reduce the tariff of 3.3
cents per pound on linseed oil to 2.7 cents per
pound. The reports have been in the hands of
the President for nearly a year.
States No Changes in Rates Are Warranted by
Data Submitted to It During Its Investi-
gation
WASHINGTON, D. C, April 3.—The Tariff Com-
mission, after making an extensive investigation
of the casein industry of the United States and
Argentina, failed to find any facts pointing to
any change in the tariff being warranted, it was
indicated in the report of the commission made
public to-day by Senator Robinson, of Arkansas,
chairman of the select committee of the Senate,
which is probing the activities of the commis-
sion. The report is summarized as follows:
"The Tariff Commission reports that, in its
judgment, no findings of fact pointing to any
impressive character and designed to emphasize
the general appeal of music in the home.
The first of these full page advertisements,
reproduced herewith, carried the caption "Play
More Music," and there were offered a half
dozen "little programs for pleasant hours with
your piano," or player-piano or reproducing
piano, with the suggestion:
"If there be any one of these instruments in
your home that may happen, for one reason or
another, to be only occasionally played, the
accompanying little programs may contain
something to remind you that in the comrade-
ship of your Piano lies sympathy with every
mood and entertainment for any occasion.
"If you have no Piano at all, call at a Piano
store where the sale of Pianos is a business and
a service. You will find there pianos of vari-
ous grades and at an appropriate range of
prices.
"You need not, however, worry about price.
All established Piano stores sell Pianos on con-
venient terms, and if you have any sort of a
musical instrument of which you would like to
dispose a suitable allowance will be made for it
and accepted as part payment.
"Buy a Piano—the favorite musical instru-
ment in millions of homes."
A number of other imposing advertisements
will be run as a part of the co-operative cam-
paign, and, although the piano men frankly
admit they that cannot expect immediate results
from their efforts, it is significant that business
began to pick up immediately after the first co-
operative advertisement had appeared.
One piano man in commenting upon the
effects of the Better Business Bureau campaign
and of the co-operative advertising that has fol-
lowed declared, "It is much the same as clear-
ing out the system of a sick man by drastic
remedies and leaving him in a weakened con-
dition, then building him up according to a
schedule that will insure his healthiness. The
piano manufacturers believe that, if advertising
will make piano prospects cautious, it is quite
possible to use the same medium for rebuilding
their confidence in the reputable piano houses of
the city and in the goods they have to offer.
Co-operative advertising has been successful
to some degree in the retail music trade, as
shown by the national campaign conducted by
the Bureau for the Advancement of Music and
individual campaigns as well.
Free Lessons in Youngstown
YOUNGSTOWN, O., April 5.—Whole classes learn
simultaneously to play the piano by means of
dummy instruments with cardboard keys at the
Yahrling-Rayner Music Co. here. Miss Bethel
Bailey is the instructress. A four-column pic-
ture of the class in session was reproduced this
week in the Youngstown papers, giving the local
music concern quite a nice bit of publicity.
To Exhibit at Outdoor Show
AKRON, O., April 6.—The George S. Dales Co.,
well-known local music house, will have an ex-
hibit of radio and portable phonographs at the
annual Outdoor Life Exhibition to be held at
Summit Beach Park for seven days, starting
Monday, April 5.