The talking machine world (Jan-June 1919)

40 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD January 15, 1919 The Trade In Boston And New England JOHN H. WILSON, MANAGER, 324 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MASS. Boston, Mass., January 3. — It may not as yet be easy to get used to writing the new year, 1919, and it may be some time yet before everyone will have fallen gracefully into the habit, but certain it is that the year is going to be momentous in business history. That seems to be the view taken by the trade everywhere. Whereas several months ago no one would have dared to make a prediction as to the future of business, now there are unexpected activities to be witnessed in every talking machine organization throughout the city, all of them falling over themselves in their eagerness to make ready for the big business. There was not an establishment throughout Boston that did not do a landoffice business in December, and there are those who see a continuation of this right through 1919, judging from the call this month. Need for an Organization One thing that would help materially to increase business generally and make for better feeling all around is a talking machine organization. On this the first of the new year it is most fitting to speak emphatically of this matter. The talking machine industry locally is almost the only line that is not represented by some official organization. Whether the lack of some sound trade body is due to feelings of mistrust on the part of certain men the writer is not altogether prepared to say, but he does know, if hearsay report is to be believed, that when an attempt was made several years ago to start an organization, which began auspiciously with a dinner at the Quincy House, one local dealer quite discouraged the members of his staff from joining. This was most unfortunate. Such a spirit never can make for corporate success. There should be a broad feeling, a mutual understanding, a fine spirit of cooperation, and all this can be created in no way so satisfactory as through a trade organization. To some of the enterprising spirits in the talking machine business in Boston this appeal is made: that the trade get together for individual, mutual collective benefit. Everyone would be the beneficiary of some well-organized organization. The benefits of such far outweigh the disadvantages — if there are any. In fact, there would be nothing to lose and everything to gain. Let the trade give this matter serious consideration. This department would like to hear from the trade touching this matter. If anyone can present a good valid reason for not organizing we will be glad to give publicity to said reasons in this department. Organize Emerson New England, Inc. Oscar W. Ray, whose identification with the Emerson Co. here in Boston won him many friends in the local field, and who temporarily dropped his talking machine interests to enter war work over in New York City, is back again in Boston and bids fair to be identified with the Emerson interests in a far larger way than ever before. Mr. Ray now becomes vice-president and general manager of the Emerson New England, Inc., whose sales offices comprise a large suite on the sixth floor of the Little Building. A few of these rooms Mr. Ray occupied before going over to New York. The Emerson New England, Inc., is a new concern with the following-named officers: President, Arthur H. Cushman, whose name is readily identified with Emerson interests; secretary, M. B. Ray; treasurer, James M. McLaughlin; and directors, Messrs. Cushman, Ray, McLaughlin and Oscar W. Ray (previously mentioned as vice-president and general manager), and Edward McLaughlin, the consulting lawyer of the concern. James M. McLaughlin, the treasurer, is a Boston man who has long been interested in the talking machine proposition largely from the educational standpoint. He was at one time director of music in the Boston public schools and is a close student of music in its best form. He has long recognized in the talking machine a valuable medium of instruction and he has become associated with this new concern with a strong desire to force home upon the public the Emerson's especial advantages in this particular field. The Emerson New England, Inc., will have an organization of ten people in the office, and five men on the road and these will cover all of New England. C. D. McKinnon will have the Boston territory. He has had four years' retail experience with the Victor, and was with the Emerson for a time in New York State. A. J. Deslaurier will have eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. H. L. Coombs will have western Massachusetts and Connecticut, and James M. McLaughlin, Jr., will cover Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. General Manager Ray, who will divide his time between Boston and New York, is most enthusiastic over the new proposition. He is a . man of far-seeing judgment and has distinct ideas as to the future of the Emerson proposition if conducted along painstaking business lines. He believes that the public will be receptive to good service, and with the line of goods that the Emerson not only now has but proposes to make distinctly adaptable to the needs of a music-loving public, he plans to give them the best of service. The new organization is one he knows that will command the attention of business men even apart from the more strictly field of music, and with a strong organization so far as its personnel goes he sees a most attractive future for the new concern. Eastern Talking Machine Co. Expansion George A. Dodge, the new head of the Eastern Talking Machine Co., who is making a strong bid for the 1919 business he is sure is coming, is Geo. A. Dodge planning several improvements in his Tremont street establishment, all with an eye to giving the public better service in these headquarters which now are altogether devoted to the retail business. Wholesale Manager Fitzgerald is now located at the Oxford street headquarters, which for the wholesale purposes are to be so enlarged that it will not be long before the entire building will be in use. Mr. Dodge has already enlarged his private office on the third floor of the retail store, and he is planning to have the executive offices for his clerks, which are on this The Signing of the Armistice While not immediately clearing up the obstacles to the resumption of normal conditions throughout the trade, does shed a light on the good business that can be expected in the future. The same hearty co-operation that we have extended in the solution of war-time problems will be continued in the still greater period of expansion that is ahead. EASTERN TALKING MACHINE CO. 177 Tremont Street BOSTON, MASS. Victor Distributors