The Edison phonograph monthly (Mar 1903-Feb 1904)

EDISON PHONOGRAPH MONTHLY. AN ENTHUSIASTIC DEALER. F. J. Collingwood, manager for the C. F. Jackson Co , Dealers at Norwalk, Ohio, under date of January 23, wrote the following letter to this Company, and later he gladly consented to its use in the Monthly : National Pho?io graph Company. Gentlemen— I have just finished playing over your selections gotten out for January, and I feel as though I must congratulate you upon your wonderful success in Record making; also your new Model C Reproducer. I have no doubt that you are bothered with similar letters, but I must give vent to my feelings. I have thought every time I have received the Records for each month that I would write you but have not until I received the January list, and they are all so very fine I had to do it. Would say that I have handled the make for several years, but since your new Reproducer came out and your Moulded Records I have no use for the . The $25.00 machine I sold at $15.00, and their records at fifteen cents to get rid of them, and now handle only the Edison Records and machines. Several evenings in the week I have a machine and Records at my house and ask people to come and hear them. I find it very amusing to see how perfectly carried away they are with the outfit, it being so much better than they could imagine. This has been the means of selling several Edison outfits. I have induced three customers this week to get rid of the machine which I had sold them and buy the Edison. People who have been down on talking machines are lovers of the new Edison. I would rather have an Edison Gem than the $20.00 or $25.00 machine. I have put them to a test side by side. It seems now as though you must stop trying to get anything better, for some of the Records now seem as if they were better than the real thing. The sale of an Edison Phono= graph is but the beginning of business. The sale of Records goes on indefinitely. TRADE NOTES. AFTER commenting favorably upon the Phonograph Monthly, F. N. Green, of Willimantic, Conn. , writes : "In making an exhibit of Edison Phonograph and Edison Moulded Records at the Stafford Springs Agricultural Society of Connecticut I was presented with a large diploma of merit for excellence of Edison Phonograph and Records over all other machines." A Dealer to whom we referred an inquiry concerning Edison goods writes: "As I believe it is of interest to you to know the results of my work among the people referred to on your inquiry card, I beg to advise you that I am now shipping a Phonograph with a complete outfit to the party at Woodburn, Va., and am expecting an order from one of the others at an early date. I will greatly appreciate further suggestions of the same character." A fact not generally known in the trade is that electric light companies throughout the country will bear the entire cost of installing electric signs where storekeepers will contract to burn a certain amount of light each year. A Phonograph dealer in Brooklyn has such a sign, and its advertising value is worth many times what it costs him. Bernard Bearwald, of 373 West nth street, New York City, sends a communication to the Phonograph Monthly in which he makes several excellent suggestions, and talks interestingly of his success in selling Phonographs. We regret that the length of the letter makes it impossible to publish it in full. One of his suggestions is that dealers should furnish us with a list of their customers, to whom we should send lists of the new Records each month, such lists to bear the name of the dealer. Such a plan would result in a large amount of business, but the lists would be so large and the cost so great as to be almost prohibitory. HOW A WESTERN JOBBER SOLD HIS 14=INCH HORNS. ONE of the problems that all Jobbers and large Dealers have to contend with is to find a way of disposing of their stock of 14-inch horns, left on their hands when customers exchange them for larger horns. A Western Jobber cleaned out his stock recently in a very clever manner. A political campaign in his city made such a demand for tin horns that the supply gave out. Seizing the opportunity, this Jobber had a lot of tin mouthpieces made to fit the 14-inch horns and soon sold his entire stock at a nominal but satisfactory figure. Quite clever, wasn't it ? THE MAY RECORD LIST. THE list of new titles for May, given on page 2 of this issue, number only twelve, but they are especially good. A feature of the list is a piano solo, " Violets," by Frank P. Banta, one of the best piano players for Record making in the country. This is probably the first really successful piano Record ever made. The list as a whole is well assorted and every owner of a Phonograph should have the entire dozen.