The Edison phonograph monthly (Jan-Dec 1912)

EDISON PHONOGRAPH MONTHLY FOR DEC, 1912 sure to realize that the Home Recorder doubles the value of the Edison to any purchaser and that it likewise doubles the effectiveness of his sales talks, because he has twice as much to offer as his competitors, at a very slight increase in cost. We urge upon every Edison Dealer that, if he has not already done so, he procure at once a complete Home Recording Outfit and familiarize himself with the making and shaving of the Records. Every Dealer knows that if he can perform an operation deftly and without any apparent effort, his customers will be eager to try it. If, on the other hand, he seems to have the slightest difficulty, they immediately decide that the mechanism, whatever it may be, is too complicated for them and the sale is lost. As a matter of fact the making of a Record is extremely simple and the use of the hand shaving machine presents no difficulties if the instructions are carried out. But the Dealer needs a certain amount of practice in order to obtain that dexterity which comes only through practice — so get that Recording Outfit now and do a little experimenting. We want you to be thoroughly familiar with the outfit when customers come to your store to investigate the Home Recording Outfit — and they will come shortly for we are going to put this Home Record making proposition up to them in a convincing way. There is going to be a great deal more said about this subject than we have ever said before and those Dealers who are prepared to meet the demand are going to profit by it. When you have practiced a little with the making of Records — talking Records will do if you cannot sing — and have become familiar with the handling of the shaving machine, invite some of the church singers in your neighborhood to come in and sing a few songs into the Edison. Or if there is a local celebrity — singer or instrumentalist — ask him or her to make some Records. In the majority of towns and small cities the newspapers will be glad to accept such an item as a reading notice. If your paper is not so inclined, it will be glad to accept the item and an advertisement inviting all those who are interested in music or public speaking to come to your store and "Hear themselves as others hear them." By the way, the Blarney Stone booklet contains instructions for the playing of twelve games by means of the Home Recording outfit. Why not suggest to your patrons and others that they play these games the next time they have a party. PIRATES OR PROFITS? THAT Oldfield Bill is still staring you and us in the face and threatening to become a law. A letter from you will help materially in fighting it. Your Senators and Congressmen may assume that you favor the Bill if you do not protest against it, but the receipt of a personal letter from you, stating frankly your opposition to the Bill and your reasons for opposing it, is bound to be effective. Immediate action on your part, however, is absolutely vital, or it will be too late. The question merely resolves itself into this — do you want the business of this country plunged into a wild throat-cutting melee or do you prefer to know what your own stock is worth from day to day, and to know what you as a consumer are getting for your money? Do you prefer to sell out to a mail-order house or a department store for a song, or continue as an independent and prosperous merchant? After all, your interests and the consumer's interests are one and the same thing. In fact, you are the consumer in everything but the Phonograph business. You know perfectly well that a company which sells one article at or below cost must make a correspondingly excessive profit on some other article or nail up the front door. Surely it is better to pay a reasonable profit on every article you buy and to know that you are getting the genuine article than to "beat the manufacturer" on one article and pay double on some other, only to wonder if that cheap article is up to the standard after all. Under price-cutting competition the Dealer is forced to eke out his profit by the substitution of articles "just as good" for the standard articles which he was able to sell at a profit under the maintenance of price system. You have seen the results of that sort of thing in merchandise that is not subject to price regulation. In these days of reform and near-reform there are many who mistake mere change for progress. This Oldfield Bill is a case very much in point, for by it a radical change is to be brought about, carrying us back to the old days of haggling and bartering where no man's prices could be trusted and every purchase was in fact a speculation contingent upon someone's else ability to squeeze a big profit out of some other article and slash the price on the thing that you had just bought. What you as a consumer and Dealer need and what we as manufacturers need is the assurance that the goods we buy and sell are standardized products. We can never know this if they are offered at all sorts of prices. The cut price breeds suspicion; the fixed price fosters confidence. If you want to do your share toward preserving the present order of things and maintaining the high standard of fixed-price articles voice your protest against the Oldfield Bill at once.