Presto

PRESTO
CALLS FOR TRUTH
ABOUT PRICES
Complaints Before Better Business Bureau
Show Need for Careful Statements About
Reductions in Order to Retain
Confidence of Public.
The Better Business Bureau of the Music Indus-
tries Chamber of Commerce is receiving complaints
daily which point the extreme need of careful atten-
tion to statements about prices and terms, in the
advertising and selling efforts of present-day con-
ditions.
"Your Last Chance," "Virtual Resumption of Pre-
War Prices," "No More Will Be Sold at These
Prices," and like claims, are not fooling the public
as much as they are harming the advertiser and
the entire trade.
"Weigh every word of your store advertisement
carefully. Be fair with the public and yourself,"
advises a bulletin of a western trade association, in
a field of merchandising which has had a longer
period of price agitation to guide it than the music
trade. This bulletin continues:
"When a merchant advertises a $125 coat for $75,
is it not quite logical for the public to believe that
if he is making a fair profit at $75 he must have had
the intention of profiteering when he marked the
garment $125? Therefore, when using comparative
prices, the utmost care should be exercised. The item
to be advertised should be thoroughly investigated
to see that not a point in the link of evidence is
missing. Drastic reductions without adequate and
logical reasons do the merchant who is advertising
them infinitely more harm than good."
"Another phrase which is being used to a great
extent at the present time is 'Pre-War Prices.' We
should all bear in mind that the public knows, as
well as we do, just what pre-war prices were, and
unless the condition absolutely warrants it the term
'Pre-War Prices' destroys confidence. Below is a
list of 1914 prices, as compared with 1920 prices on
certain lines. Can you honestly advertise 1914 prices,
or arc they merely 'reduced 1920 prices?'"
The Truth About Prices.
Under the heading "The Truth About Prices," a
western merchant publishes this announcement:
"The problem today of the merchant, as well as the
manufacturer, is to stabilize business as much as
possible; and, as we see it, the elimination of hysteria
in advertising will have as good and as lasting an
effect as any other remedy that can be proposed.
The present situation regarding low prices was some-
thing that everyone anticipated. It was regarded as
an absolute certainty that when conditions became
normal and production reached a higher point, the
surplus created would result in price deflation.
"It is our opinion that we should have met this
emergency in a sane and sensible way, and adjusted
ourselves to the new price conditions without any
undue alarm. When prices were going up, the an-
nouncements were frankly made by some establish-
ments and were evaded by others; so now, when the
prices are down, instead of being announced quite
simply, directly and accurately, they have been made
the basis of an advertising campaign in this country
that is both destructive to advertising and to con-
fidence in business.
Trade Standards Hit.
The lowering of price levels has brought many
manufacturers as well as music merchants to a part-
ing of the ways in their interpretation of the right
and wrong of music merchandising. With the "buy-
er's strike" retarding sales, considerable of the spirit
has returned of "every man for himself and the devil
take the hindermost." Nearly all the "bargain"
advertisers who have been criticised in the past have
burst forth in full bloom with radical claims of price
cutting. Others seldom complained of previously
are attempting to justify price claims and statements
which could not be justified by any but present
conditions.
A new high record of 69 matters affecting the
music trade came to the attention of the Better Busi-
ness Bureau of the Chamber during November, the
first month of the fourth year of its existence. Of
these 38 were new and 31 old. During the three
years' existence of the Bureau, which began opera-
tions in October, 1917, efforts to maintain certain
standards have met with a fair degree of success.
These standards referred to comparative prices, in-
terest charging, "FREE" gifts, trading on other
names, specifying "used" instruments, etc. Now
that advertising and selling efforts have some very
real obstacles to overcome, a marked decline in stand-
ards is noted.
Yet there are efforts to justify the threadbare ex-
cuses offered for "sacrifice" sales. A readiness to
explain or apologize for the methods criticized, shows
a desire to make a virtue of what seems to be a
necessity. The music trade has come through the
readjustment period so far much more creditably
than a majority of lines. It is noteworthy that the
counsel for the Chamber, Mr. Pound, has reported
the need for higher standards of trade practice in
gaining respectful hearings on behalf of the music
industry at Washington.
Criticisms and Complaints.
A batch of criticisms or complaints received at
the Better Business Bureau during November are
quoted by that branch of the Music Industries
Chamber of Commerce. They are omitted here be-
cause their publication could only furnish bad head-
lines for a certain class of dealers who will advertise
to suit their own ideas, regardless of any ethical
consideration.
PROPOSED PROGRAM OF
FEDERAL TAX REVISION
Committee's View Is That the Excess Profits Tax
Should Be Repealed.
A proposed program of federal tax revision, sug-
gesting radical changes in present methods of levy,
was put to a referendum vote of the membership
of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States
last week: One of the different propositions upon
which the Chamber's members are being asked to
express their views is "The excess profits tax should
be repealed."
The first proposal of the committee is that the
excess profits tax should be repealed immediately.
Reasons for levying the tax, it holds, have passed,
and its continuance retards the progress of read-
justment. Objections raised to the tax are that it
produces inequities; that it is difficult of administra-
tion; that price reductions will decrease revenue from
this source; that it encourages extravagance.
The negative argument suggests that original diffi-
culties in administration are disappearing; that any
tax designed to produce large revenues will produce
inequities; that its effect on prices may have been
exaggerated and that there might be practical ad-
vantage in retaining a tax to which business has
been adjusted rather than change to a tax theoret-
ically sounder.
WM. G. FREDERICK IS NEW
BALTIMORE MANAGER
Former Newspaper Reporter Finds His Best "Beat"
in Work for Knabe Warerooms, Inc.
Wm. G. Frederick, who for about a year has been
connected with Knabe Warerooms, Inc., Baltimore,
Md., and Washington, D. C, of which J. H. Wil-
liams is president, has, through hard work and ex-
traordinary ability, been made manager of the Bal-
timore store.
Mr. Frederick's former experience before entering
the piano business was in newspaper work. He was
a reporter for the New York World and the Louis-
ville Courier Journal. Business has already shown
an improvement under his management and he is
well liked by the entire organization.
Mr. Frederick is an Ampico enthusiast and is of
the belief that the reproducing piano is the instru-
ment of the future.
STARCK REVOLVING TREE.
The P. A. Starck Piano Company, 210-212 South
Wabash avenue, Chicago, has a large Christmas
tree revolving on a turn-table on one side of which
is a Starck playerpiano. This makes the Starck
window one of the most conspicuous displays to be
seen in Wabash avenue in connection with the
holiday season, causing many children and their
parents to stop and admire it. Meanwhile the
Starck company's salesmen on the inside are doing
their best in accommodating customers with
demonstrations of the instruments with which the
store is well stocked. While trade is not so rush-
ing as it has been in other years at this time of
the year, yet the Starck house is getting a liberal
share of the custom.
PLEA TO RETAILERS.
The St. Louis piano men are back of the move-
ment of the Associated Retailers, which organiza-
tion recently formulated "The St. Louis Plan."
The object of the plan is to check any tendency of
business to drag and methods for the purpose were
devised at a meeting of the Associated Retailers
held last week. A statement of the exigence of the
plan also formulated a buying policy that would
check the inclination of the manufacturing indus-
tries to retard production. "Buy now" is the tenor
of the plea issued to retailers. Such a course, the
statement says, offers an opportunity for more sat-
isfactory buying than will be possible after Jan. 1.
December 18, 1920.
PROMOTING A STATE
BODY IN PENNSYLVANIA
State Convention Call to Pittsburgh January
17 and 18 Stimulates Local Asso-
ciation Efforts.
Efforts to bring about the attendance of repre-
sentative delegations from Philadelphia and Lan-
caster to attend the state convention of Pennsyl-
vania Music Merchants in Pittsburgh, January 17
and 18, have brought about a revival of interest in
local associations in those cities. "We are very de-
sirous of forming a strong local organization, fol-
lowing your suggestion of sending a strong delega-
tion to Pittsburgh to participate in an organization
of a state body," writes S. Z. Moore of Kirk Johnson
& Co., Lancaster. "Our house would be glad to
assume the responsibilities of arranging a 'get-to-
gether' luncheon or dinner, and I believe that we can
arrange to have all the houses represented."
The need for local association work is emphasized
by the correspondence of Philadelphia houses, whose
experience with association effort in the past has
made some of them reluctant to go into the project
wholeheartedly. "However, if you consider it a good
thing, I will say 'Yes' on general principles," writes
P. J. Cunningham of the Cunningham Piano Co. to
G. C. Ramsdell of Ramsdell & Sons, who has taken
the initiative in promoting the movement in Phil-
adelphia.
Other letters which have come to Secretary C. L.
Dennis of the National Association of Music Mer-
chants, who is co-operating with officers of the Piano
Merchants' Association of Pittsburgh in stimulating
interest in the state organization, point out very clear-
ly how much there is to be done to create a proper
spirit of co-operative competition among the mer-
chants of Pennsylvania, as in other states. The suc-
cess of the Ohio association has been an incentive
to the organizers of the Pennsylvania movement.
"Cut throat competition of the worst kind" is
charged by one merchant, who sees the need of out-
side influence for the benefit of the local trade: "I
have recently become identified with the music trade
and soon discovered that an organization of interests
in this vicinity is an absolute necessity, for some of
the errors in the method of conducting business are
most expensive, and the fundamental reason for their
elimination should be brought before the people by
someone not identified with the local interests, and,
therefore, any assistance which you can give us will
be much appreciated.
"Briefly some of the things which should be rem-
edied are as follows: No limiting time to lease paper.
Some leases running as high as 54 months. No in-
terest charged on unpaid balances. Salesmen re-
muneration altogether unscientific. Free tuning giv-
en for a year. No limit to the amount of music rolls
and records given away free. War tax absorbed byt
the dealer. Piano moving done without pay. On a
prospective sale with all competing the competition
is entirely void of ethical or moral principles. Com-
petition is cut throat of the worst kind."
QUICK REPUBLIC SERVICE.
The immediate service which the Republic is giv-
ing to customers is proving a great aid to all deal-
ers. All orders are put through immediately with
the minimum of delay so that only a few minutes
elapse between the receipt of an order and its be-
ing completely filled by the Republic Shipping De-
partment. Markets which the Republic has opened
up recently are promising ones in Peru, Alaska,
Australia, Honolulu and Japan. H. Custin, the
largest dealer in musical merchandise in Havana has
already taken over the distribution of Republic rolls
in Cuba and reports a big demand. Cubans do not
care particularly for ballads and sentimental selec-
tions, but their appetite for livelier music is well
nigh insatiable.
GETS THE CHRISTMAS CUSTOMER.
"The supreme gift, the gift that will stand out
above anything else in the home, is the piano," says
the G. W. P. Jones Music Co., Washington, Pa., a
firm which is waging a spirited campaign for holiday
sales, and getting them, too. In the line named by
the firm are included the Steinway, Stultz & Bauer,
Weaver, Tonk, York, Brinkerhoff and others. The
"House That Jones Built" shows a fine range of
grands and players for the fastidious Christmas cus-
tomer.
JOINS BEAUMONT FIRM.
L. S. Johnson has joined the Pierce-Goodell Piano
Co., Beaumont, Tex. Mr. Johnson, who is well
known in the piano trade of the Lone Star state, has
been named on the board of directors and also as
vice-president and sales manager. The firm, which
recently increased its capital from $30,000 to $100,000,
has excellent quarters in the Kiet building.
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