Presto
Issue: 1924 1980 - Page 4
PRESTO
EFFORT TO PURIFY
RETAIL BUSINESS
Movement Started in New York, the Design
of Which Is to Protect Buyers of Every-
thing in the Stores, From Pins to
Pianos.
WAR ON DISHONESTY
Fund of Money Contributed to the End that Un-
truthful Advertising and Misrepresentation May
No Longer Discredit the Selling of Merchandise.
A movement of the New York Better Business Bu-
reau, designed to do away with a certain class of
unfair selling and untruthful advertising, must have
some interest in the piano and kindred trades. It
has been said that piano advertising is about as bad
as any could be—in some communities. We don't
believe it, but we do know that some of it has been
pretty bad.
It is reported that the New York bureau is col-
lecting $75,000 with which to stop the unfair business
methods indulged in by some retailers. Piano adver-
tising has been refined of late years. There is not
much of it that is really untruthful, though some of
the baby grand advertising may come just inside
the line.
The New York Campaign.
While the New York campaign against dishonest
retail methods at present applies to that city only,
the movement is expected to spread throughout the
country. The piano business—the entire music busi-
ness—should be about the cleanest in the list. Is it?
H. J. Kenner, vice-president and general manager
of the bureau, and H. R. Heydon, organization man-
ager, are in active charge of the campaign, designed
to reduce spurious advertising, fraudulent misrepre-
sentation of purchased articles and unfair competi-
tion among all kinds of merchants, those of estab-
lished reputation as well as the fly-by-nights and the
utterly bad ones. Both executives have had much
experience along similar lines in other cities. The
merchandise section is a new thing in New York,
though its sort of activity has proved successful in
thirty-eight other cities.
While conditions now are better than they were
years ago before the newspapers, advertising clubs
and other agencies combined in fighting unscrupu-
lous advertisers, Greater New York is so vast and
contains so many thousands of stores that many
evils have developed. All kinds of violations of busi-
ness ethics have been reported.
To Increase Confidence.
"We really have three things to do," said Mr.
Kenner. "We shall work for accuracy and depend-
ability in the printed and spoken words of
business,
both advertising and counter selling. W r e shall do
everything possible to increase the confidence of the
buying public. And we shall either help or force
certain merchants "to eliminate unethical practices
and develop higher standards.
"I do not mean to say that conditions here are
worse than in other cities. They are not. But the
problem is. more complex here because the city is so
large. As one of the nation's greatest shopping cen-
ters it has a reputation to maintain. Yet what do
we find?
"Some stores are offering for sale articles which
are either seconds or defective in some respects, yet
they are selling them at first-class prices without
warning customers of what they are buying. Others
KREITER
Pianos and Players
Have No Competition Where
Beauty of Cases and Tone
Sustain Profit Making Prices.
Everything the Highest but
the Price.
Inspect them Carefully and See.
Kreiter Mfg. Co., Inc.
320-322 W. Water St., Milwaukee, Wis.
Factory: Marinette, Wit.
arc passing off goods as having been imported when
they are not.
Posing as Manufacturers.
"There is another type of merchant who sells at
retail prices and poses as a manufacturer.
"Others are constantly misusing famous trade-
marks and names. Then there is 'bait advertising,'
where quality articles are offered at cut prices, the
buyer finding later on that the article was sold for
all it was worth in the first place because it was a
common lot. There are instances where merchants
advertise great quantities of articles when they have
only a few and the sales are made from other and
cheaper stocks.
"The bureau has two methods of handling differ-
ent situations. If upon investigation a store is proved
to be employing dishonest tactics, the proprietor will
be notified and confronted with the proof as assem-
bled by our investigators. If he alters the practice,
nothing more will be done about it . But if he con-
tinues, his case will be laid before the authorities,
where it is covered by the law. In other instances,
he will be shown up publicly as a fraud and a cheat.
Xo merchant, however small, can afford to be sub-
jected to either of these methods. It might put him
out of business.
A Music Store Cited.
"We recently had a complaint about a New York
musical store. It advertised a phonograph, both
machine and cabinet represented as of very popular
design and type. The advertisement read that it
could be bought for $2 down and $2 a week. We
found that the machine was a very cheap grade of the
kind advertised. The cabinet was a rank imitation.
The name plate had been removed from the machine
and placed on the cabinet. Further, a customer try-
ing to buy the outfit was disappointed to learn that
the $2 down meant only that the machine would be
held for him, that he must pay $10 before securing
possession.
"That store is well known in New York. We
wrote the proprietor and told him that we had dis-
covered the irregularity and that we would like to
have assurance that his methods would be discon-
tinued immediately. He wrote back making evasive
excuses, but in no way admitting that he was in the
wrong. We wrote again that unless we received a
letter from him stating unequivocally that he would
discontinue the practice at once we would take to the
District Attorney the merchandise we had bought
and lay charges of fraud against him. We received
the desired letter by return mail. By various means
we know he is conducting an honest business.
Trained in the Wrong School.
'"It seems that he was advertising that he was 'going
out of business.' He admitted that he might close
up in nine or ten months. We pointed out to him the
fact that he was actually driving customers away by
such advertising and misrepresentation. Now, that
man proved to be no crook at heart. He simply had
been trained in the wrong school of business. For
he asked us how to remedy conditions. We made
helpful suggestions. The result was a complete alter-
ation of his window cards, price lists and in some in-
stances his stock. He changed all his advertising,
and later on wrote the bureau thanking us for put-
ting him on the right track to success.
How Complaints Are Handled.
"Many complaints are handled and adjustments
made without the membership of the bureau being
informed. Other cases involve such advertising
principles that confidential reports are circulated
throughout the membership, not, however, to the
detriment of the honest man who is willing to cor-
rect his bad habits.
"We believe that New York shoppers can be pro-
tected without recourse to the prosecuting attorney,
except in rare instances. The department stores, fur
shops, clothing trade and woolen goods manufactur-
ers have already pledged their support to the mer-
chandise section. The other trades are being invited
to join."
The President of the Better Business Bureau is
Bayard Dominick of the Stock Exchange firm of
Dominick & Dominick. Colonel Michael Friedsam,
president of B. Altman & Co., is one of the leaders
in organizing the merchandise section.
PHONOGRAPH SMALL AS WATCH.
A Hungarian inventor in Paris is seeking to sell the
rights to a tiny phonograph the size of a watch. The
instrument has no horn, but a loud sound is obtained
by placing it on an ordinary glass which magnifies
the sound waves. Another box the size of a watch
holds a dozen disc records.
OPENS IN TITUSVILLE, PA.
The Edward T. Bates Piano Co. has opened a
new store in the Harris Block at 120 Diamond street,
Titusville, Pa. F. R. Robinson, state representative
for Hobart M. Cable Co., was present at the opening
to explain the advantages of the Hobart M. Cable
line, which is handled.
July 5, 1924.
EIGHT STARR PIANOS
FOR GIRLS' SCHOOL
Witlin Musical Instrument Company, Phila-
delphia, Fill Order for Beechwood School,
Teaching Institution, Jenkintown, Pa.
Eight Starr pianos, made by the Starr Piano Co.,
Richmond, Ind., have been installed in the Beech-
wood School, Jenkintown, Pa. The Beechwood
School, of which S. C. Wallace is principal, is a very
fashionable school for girls, instructing them in first,
second and third year college work.
The school is beautifully located on a high hill
overlooking Jenkintown and covers a great deal of
ground. It is made up of a number of large build-
ings, including a magnificent auditorium, containing
a large Moller organ, where recitals are given. In-
struction is given on this organ as well as in piano,
voice, harmony and musical technique.
The sale was made by Ben Witlin, president of the
Witlin Musical Instrument Co., Philadelphia, dis-
tributors of the Starr Piano Co.'s line in that city
and adjacent territory. The Witlin Musical Instru-
ment Co. is one of the most energetic representatives
of the Starr line and its success in placing the eight
Starrs in the Beechwood school is an added incident
to many similar successes.
The Starr Piano Co. is pleased that a school of
such high caliber has selected its instruments and
this school is only one of a thousand educational in-
stitutions now equipped with Starr made pianos. The
Starr Piano Co. is naturally proud of the fact that
instruments are found in so many schools through-
out the length and breadth of the country, in not only
this country, but throughout the world.
The Starr pianos have the fundamental quality
that assures success when used for school purposes.
Besides the pure, even character of scale and resultant
tone quality, they have the structural merits that
guarantee long use.
BUYS PITTSFIELD, ILL., BUSINESS.
Mark E. Smith, Pittsfield, 111., has purchased the
Perry C. Allen store building on the east side. He
has formed a partnership with Hubert Billings and
taken over the Allen jewelry and music stock, and
purposes to continue the business. They plan to con-
duct a clearing sale, dispose of the present stock of
jewelry and musical merchandise and then restock
with new goods. The store is to be remodeled and
improved, and Smith & Billings is the title of the
firm.
The Best Yet
Graceful lines, rugged construc-
tion, moderately priced. It's the
very best commercial piano from
every standpoint.
Style 32—4 ft. 4 in.
WESER
Pianos and Players
Sell Readily—Stay Sold
Send to-day for catalogue, prices and
details of our liberal financing plan
Weser Bros., Inc.
520 to 528 W. 43rd St., New York
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/
EFFORT TO PURIFY
RETAIL BUSINESS
Movement Started in New York, the Design
of Which Is to Protect Buyers of Every-
thing in the Stores, From Pins to
Pianos.
WAR ON DISHONESTY
Fund of Money Contributed to the End that Un-
truthful Advertising and Misrepresentation May
No Longer Discredit the Selling of Merchandise.
A movement of the New York Better Business Bu-
reau, designed to do away with a certain class of
unfair selling and untruthful advertising, must have
some interest in the piano and kindred trades. It
has been said that piano advertising is about as bad
as any could be—in some communities. We don't
believe it, but we do know that some of it has been
pretty bad.
It is reported that the New York bureau is col-
lecting $75,000 with which to stop the unfair business
methods indulged in by some retailers. Piano adver-
tising has been refined of late years. There is not
much of it that is really untruthful, though some of
the baby grand advertising may come just inside
the line.
The New York Campaign.
While the New York campaign against dishonest
retail methods at present applies to that city only,
the movement is expected to spread throughout the
country. The piano business—the entire music busi-
ness—should be about the cleanest in the list. Is it?
H. J. Kenner, vice-president and general manager
of the bureau, and H. R. Heydon, organization man-
ager, are in active charge of the campaign, designed
to reduce spurious advertising, fraudulent misrepre-
sentation of purchased articles and unfair competi-
tion among all kinds of merchants, those of estab-
lished reputation as well as the fly-by-nights and the
utterly bad ones. Both executives have had much
experience along similar lines in other cities. The
merchandise section is a new thing in New York,
though its sort of activity has proved successful in
thirty-eight other cities.
While conditions now are better than they were
years ago before the newspapers, advertising clubs
and other agencies combined in fighting unscrupu-
lous advertisers, Greater New York is so vast and
contains so many thousands of stores that many
evils have developed. All kinds of violations of busi-
ness ethics have been reported.
To Increase Confidence.
"We really have three things to do," said Mr.
Kenner. "We shall work for accuracy and depend-
ability in the printed and spoken words of
business,
both advertising and counter selling. W r e shall do
everything possible to increase the confidence of the
buying public. And we shall either help or force
certain merchants "to eliminate unethical practices
and develop higher standards.
"I do not mean to say that conditions here are
worse than in other cities. They are not. But the
problem is. more complex here because the city is so
large. As one of the nation's greatest shopping cen-
ters it has a reputation to maintain. Yet what do
we find?
"Some stores are offering for sale articles which
are either seconds or defective in some respects, yet
they are selling them at first-class prices without
warning customers of what they are buying. Others
KREITER
Pianos and Players
Have No Competition Where
Beauty of Cases and Tone
Sustain Profit Making Prices.
Everything the Highest but
the Price.
Inspect them Carefully and See.
Kreiter Mfg. Co., Inc.
320-322 W. Water St., Milwaukee, Wis.
Factory: Marinette, Wit.
arc passing off goods as having been imported when
they are not.
Posing as Manufacturers.
"There is another type of merchant who sells at
retail prices and poses as a manufacturer.
"Others are constantly misusing famous trade-
marks and names. Then there is 'bait advertising,'
where quality articles are offered at cut prices, the
buyer finding later on that the article was sold for
all it was worth in the first place because it was a
common lot. There are instances where merchants
advertise great quantities of articles when they have
only a few and the sales are made from other and
cheaper stocks.
"The bureau has two methods of handling differ-
ent situations. If upon investigation a store is proved
to be employing dishonest tactics, the proprietor will
be notified and confronted with the proof as assem-
bled by our investigators. If he alters the practice,
nothing more will be done about it . But if he con-
tinues, his case will be laid before the authorities,
where it is covered by the law. In other instances,
he will be shown up publicly as a fraud and a cheat.
Xo merchant, however small, can afford to be sub-
jected to either of these methods. It might put him
out of business.
A Music Store Cited.
"We recently had a complaint about a New York
musical store. It advertised a phonograph, both
machine and cabinet represented as of very popular
design and type. The advertisement read that it
could be bought for $2 down and $2 a week. We
found that the machine was a very cheap grade of the
kind advertised. The cabinet was a rank imitation.
The name plate had been removed from the machine
and placed on the cabinet. Further, a customer try-
ing to buy the outfit was disappointed to learn that
the $2 down meant only that the machine would be
held for him, that he must pay $10 before securing
possession.
"That store is well known in New York. We
wrote the proprietor and told him that we had dis-
covered the irregularity and that we would like to
have assurance that his methods would be discon-
tinued immediately. He wrote back making evasive
excuses, but in no way admitting that he was in the
wrong. We wrote again that unless we received a
letter from him stating unequivocally that he would
discontinue the practice at once we would take to the
District Attorney the merchandise we had bought
and lay charges of fraud against him. We received
the desired letter by return mail. By various means
we know he is conducting an honest business.
Trained in the Wrong School.
'"It seems that he was advertising that he was 'going
out of business.' He admitted that he might close
up in nine or ten months. We pointed out to him the
fact that he was actually driving customers away by
such advertising and misrepresentation. Now, that
man proved to be no crook at heart. He simply had
been trained in the wrong school of business. For
he asked us how to remedy conditions. We made
helpful suggestions. The result was a complete alter-
ation of his window cards, price lists and in some in-
stances his stock. He changed all his advertising,
and later on wrote the bureau thanking us for put-
ting him on the right track to success.
How Complaints Are Handled.
"Many complaints are handled and adjustments
made without the membership of the bureau being
informed. Other cases involve such advertising
principles that confidential reports are circulated
throughout the membership, not, however, to the
detriment of the honest man who is willing to cor-
rect his bad habits.
"We believe that New York shoppers can be pro-
tected without recourse to the prosecuting attorney,
except in rare instances. The department stores, fur
shops, clothing trade and woolen goods manufactur-
ers have already pledged their support to the mer-
chandise section. The other trades are being invited
to join."
The President of the Better Business Bureau is
Bayard Dominick of the Stock Exchange firm of
Dominick & Dominick. Colonel Michael Friedsam,
president of B. Altman & Co., is one of the leaders
in organizing the merchandise section.
PHONOGRAPH SMALL AS WATCH.
A Hungarian inventor in Paris is seeking to sell the
rights to a tiny phonograph the size of a watch. The
instrument has no horn, but a loud sound is obtained
by placing it on an ordinary glass which magnifies
the sound waves. Another box the size of a watch
holds a dozen disc records.
OPENS IN TITUSVILLE, PA.
The Edward T. Bates Piano Co. has opened a
new store in the Harris Block at 120 Diamond street,
Titusville, Pa. F. R. Robinson, state representative
for Hobart M. Cable Co., was present at the opening
to explain the advantages of the Hobart M. Cable
line, which is handled.
July 5, 1924.
EIGHT STARR PIANOS
FOR GIRLS' SCHOOL
Witlin Musical Instrument Company, Phila-
delphia, Fill Order for Beechwood School,
Teaching Institution, Jenkintown, Pa.
Eight Starr pianos, made by the Starr Piano Co.,
Richmond, Ind., have been installed in the Beech-
wood School, Jenkintown, Pa. The Beechwood
School, of which S. C. Wallace is principal, is a very
fashionable school for girls, instructing them in first,
second and third year college work.
The school is beautifully located on a high hill
overlooking Jenkintown and covers a great deal of
ground. It is made up of a number of large build-
ings, including a magnificent auditorium, containing
a large Moller organ, where recitals are given. In-
struction is given on this organ as well as in piano,
voice, harmony and musical technique.
The sale was made by Ben Witlin, president of the
Witlin Musical Instrument Co., Philadelphia, dis-
tributors of the Starr Piano Co.'s line in that city
and adjacent territory. The Witlin Musical Instru-
ment Co. is one of the most energetic representatives
of the Starr line and its success in placing the eight
Starrs in the Beechwood school is an added incident
to many similar successes.
The Starr Piano Co. is pleased that a school of
such high caliber has selected its instruments and
this school is only one of a thousand educational in-
stitutions now equipped with Starr made pianos. The
Starr Piano Co. is naturally proud of the fact that
instruments are found in so many schools through-
out the length and breadth of the country, in not only
this country, but throughout the world.
The Starr pianos have the fundamental quality
that assures success when used for school purposes.
Besides the pure, even character of scale and resultant
tone quality, they have the structural merits that
guarantee long use.
BUYS PITTSFIELD, ILL., BUSINESS.
Mark E. Smith, Pittsfield, 111., has purchased the
Perry C. Allen store building on the east side. He
has formed a partnership with Hubert Billings and
taken over the Allen jewelry and music stock, and
purposes to continue the business. They plan to con-
duct a clearing sale, dispose of the present stock of
jewelry and musical merchandise and then restock
with new goods. The store is to be remodeled and
improved, and Smith & Billings is the title of the
firm.
The Best Yet
Graceful lines, rugged construc-
tion, moderately priced. It's the
very best commercial piano from
every standpoint.
Style 32—4 ft. 4 in.
WESER
Pianos and Players
Sell Readily—Stay Sold
Send to-day for catalogue, prices and
details of our liberal financing plan
Weser Bros., Inc.
520 to 528 W. 43rd St., New York
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).