Presto

MUSICAL
TIMES
PRESTO
Established
1884
Established
1881
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE JOURNAL
10 Cents a
1 Year
Copy
$1.25
10 Months.. .$1.00
6 Months. .75 cents
CHICAGO, ILL., SEPTEMBER 15, 1929
Issued Seml-Monthl.v
First and Third Saturdays
WORK OF OHIO MUSIC MERCHANTS ASSN. CONVENTION
Swapping of Most Interesting Experiences, Explanations of Contracts, Credits, Garnishee, Methods of Collecting,
How Radio Is Handled and Much More at Three Wonderful Round=Table Days in Columbus
By HENRY MacMULLAN
1£7 Registrations.
The number of persons who registered at the con-
vention was 187. Last year 265 registered at Toledo.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS.
The election of officers to serve the association
for the coming year resulted as follows:
President—Otto B. Heaton, Columbus.
OTTO P.. HEATOX.
Vice-President—Anthony L. Maresh, Cleveland.
Treasurer—E. O. Callander, Zanesville.
Secretary—Rexford C. Hyre, Cleveland.
Trustee (to serve five years)—Phil Wyman, of
the Baldwin Piano Company, Cincinnati.
Trustee (to serve one year)—Carl E Summers,
Jackson.
TO CINCINNATI NEXT YEAR.
Cincinnati captured next year's convention. Invi-
tations came from Cincinnati's mayor, from hotels
and from H. C. Blackwell, president of the Chamber
of Commerce.
The convention of the Music Merchants' Association
of Ohio was the most informative series of sessions
any combined group of musical instrument dealers
ever held at any time or in any country, and this was
due to the intimacy of the talks that were elic'ted at
round table discussions on all three days of the
convention.
The leaders of these discussions were Rexford C.
Hyre, attorney of Cleveland, secretary of the asso-
ciation; Charles H. Yahrling, of Youngstown; and
Otto B. Heaton, of Columbus, vice-president of the
association.
Law and Piano and Radio Discussed.
"Legal and Collection Problems" was the, general
head of Monday's Round Table talks. To go into
all that was said at this session would require a
book's length, but Presto-Times will present the
salient points. "I often think," said Mr. Hyre, "that
the average music merchant is afraid to go to his
law-yer to ask a question about his business." Mr.
Hyre called attention to laws that are advantageous
to piano men, and it was his opinion that even before
a sale is made out the dealer should consider care-
fully the question of contract and collections The
dealer must as a duty to himself consider the prop-
osition from its worst standpoint. First of all, he
should consider the form of the contract.
"No form of contract that man has ever been able
to make is fool-proof," said Mr. Hyre. "Attorneys
can find a flaw in the strongest contract ever made."
Different Ways of Collecting.
Sending notices in advance was discussed as a topic.
Most of those present told of their methods and how
they followed up with other processes. Some fol-
lowed up delinquents right away (within two or three
days; the longest time suggested to wait was fifty
days). One man said: "Day after tomorrow." Those
who took part in the discussion included Dan Sum-
mey, of Cincinnati; J. W. Greene Company's presi-
dent. W. W. Smith, of Toledo; Claude M. Alford,
of Marion; A. N. Maresh, of Cleveland, and Rex
Hyre, of Cleveland. Brittain Wilson, of the Music
Trade Review, New York, told of a method used
successfully in the eastern metropolis by a dealer
\Uio sent telegrams tiled at such a time that the whole
family would be home for the evening dinner. In
that way everybody in that family knew just what
was what, for they'd all be curious to know what
was in the telegram that had interrupted the meal.
And daddy, if he had spent the piano payment gam-
bling in stocks and hadn't paid it, would be obliged
to make an explanatory confession, faked or other-
wise.
Making Collections Harder.
"The hardest thing for an attorney to do is to carry
out blaffs that dealers want him to make," said Mr.
Hyre. "Threats that they never mean to perform.
And, having failed to carry out those threats, it
becomes a most difficult problem afterward for either
them or their lawyer to collect anything at all. Never
bluff." He explained that form letters were handed
to the lawyer to mail; the purpose of such letters was
not to see the attorney at all but to drive the slow-
pay customer into the store to make settlement there.
Ownership and Possession.
Mr Hyre explained the difference between owner-
ship and possession. After a man signs a contract,
he is the owner of that piano, although the dealer
holding a chattel mortgage against it may have the
largest interest in it. A written contract in Ohio
holds good for fifteen years. Mr. Hyre explained
the processes of law in getting an equity in redemp-
t:'on, and that a chattel mortgage is the same as a
real estate mortgage in effect. A chattel mortgage
must be foreclosed. The difficulty in small towns is
that they have no courts of record, but a dealer there
gets quicker action than in a large city like Cleve-
land or Columbus. The small towns have only jus-
tices of the peace (Mrs. Herbold of Galion verified
that). The jurisdiction of a justice of the peace in
Ohio is up to $300. Anything claimed under $100
must be tried in a justice court.
Under a new law of 1927 20 per cent of a man's
income usable for the necessities of life may be
reached in a lawsuit and 10 per cent of such funds
may be reached for other things, such as claims for
piano payments. Or payments on radios. The law
gives power to attach all above $75 monthly.
It was ordered that a booklet be printed for circu-
lation among the members giving the gist of these
explanations.
Selling to Minors.
Answering a question raised by President Claude
Alford, of Canton, Ohio, Mr. Hyre said contracts
made by persons under legal age were voidable but
not void if the person so purchasing wanted to con-
tinue paying out. But a minor can demand back
all he has paid, regardless of what condition the piano
is in or even if the piano is lost or has been destroyed
by fire. "Every dealer who deals with a minor is
doing a foolish and dangerous thing," said Mr. Hyre.
"But that does not relieve a minor from criminal
prosecution if he has made any false representations
about his age Get the parents' signature; don't have
the minor sign at all."
Mr. Hyre then told of the kind of installment con-
tract that is pretty generally used in Ohio. He said:
"A contract is a meeting of the minds when two
people agree to the same thing. Our principal activi-
ties in life are contracting." He then discussed the
question of what is the best contract, declaring that
a written contract is far better than an oral one. Then
the time sale form was taken up and its features
thrashed to a frazzle. It is the form being pretty gener-
ally used in Ohio at the present time. Each legal docu-
ment in it is an entity in itself and can be used
separately; the note and the chattel mortgage can
be torn off the large sheet and used separately.
Single-Signature Contracts.
W. W. Smith, of Toledo, president of the J. W.
Greene Co., objected to this form of contract because
it had too much fine print on it and because it re-
qu'red the signature of the buyer more than one
place. He said the great amount of fine print scared
the customer off from signing at all; that he had
a form of a single signature; and he was astonished
to find that Frank Frazelle, of Toledo, had been
using the one-signature form for years. The Whit-
ney, Blaine & Wildermuth Co., of Toledo, are using
the one-signature form. Further discussion brought
out that the New York Central Railroad Company
is using the one-signature form, and also some of
the other big national organizations. This was be-
lieved to be because the contracts were to be nego-
tiable. The one-signature form was said to be ac-
ceptable to any financing company or bank.
Must Record Chattel Mortgages.
Mr. Hyre advised dealers to record chattel mort-
gages held on pianos or radio, just the same as they
would record real estate mortgages.
Conditional sales were discussed by A. N. Maresh
of Cleveland, Otto Muehlhauser, of Cleveland, and
also by others.
Mr. Hyre explained that under the Ohio law after
25 per cent of the amount has been paid on a pur-
chase the dealer cannot repossess until he refunds at
least 50 per cent of the amount the customer has
paid in. That's the reason why the conditional sales
contract is not used in Ohio. Turning of contracts
over to the collection department came in for a whirl.
The dealer ought to have some kind of a fixed policy
as to what the dealer ought to do for the customer.
Otto Muehlhauser told of his radio customers and
W. W. Smith said his cost system showed that radio
free service cost his house less than one-half of 1
per cent.
Can't Control Static.
Guaranteeing the ability of being able to tune in
on any station at any time wanted came in for a
roast. A judge in Cleveland had declared that there
was no sense in such a guarantee because static was
an act of God and not under human control.
Collections of interest was handled Mr. Hyre said
some dealers collected the largest amount of interest
at first; others the smallest at first; others more fool-
ish let it accumulate and tried to collect it all at the
end of the period. A terrible mistake."
Principal and Interest.
A better plan suggested by Mr. Hyre was to have
payments apply on principal and interest both. At
the end of the period if one had to bring suit, the
suit would be for principal only and not for principal
and interest.
Said Mr. Hyre: "I feel that a successful collection
department is connected with salesmanship." He
then told a story of the days when he was beginning
as a lawyer, or just a cub lawyer, when H. P. Nelson
turned over some collecting to him in Cleveland.
Young Hyre had said to the pushing Chicago piano
manufacturer: "Mr. Nelson, I suppose in cases where
I am unable to collect you want me to bring action
to recover the piano?" "Hell, no," replied Mr. Nel-
son; "we don't want the pianos back—we want the
money; keep right on calling on them for collections."
Mr. Hyre had previously asked permission of Mrs.
J. G. Herbold, piano dealer of Galion, Ohio, the only
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