The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1907)

i NEWS FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Dealers Making Great Preparations for Holiday Trade — IVlany Visitors from Out of Town at Warerooms of Los Angeles Jobbers — Good Business Being Transacted in Spanish Records with Mexico — Active Campaign Being Carried on by Leading Jobbers with Decided Success — Business Steadily Expanding in This Growing Section of the Pacific Coast. {Special to The Talking Machine World.) Los Angeles, Cal., Oct. 31, 1907. Out-of-town dealers are making great preparations for the holidays, orders are coming in from all parts, and so are the dealers. Mr. and Mrs. G. L. Robins, of Porterville, are making a short visit for pleasure and business combined. George L. Snider, of Kern City, while in this city added the Zonophone to his line of Edison goods and will carry a complete line of Zonophone records. Miss M. B. Sullivan, of San Diego, who has charge of the talking machine department of Theale & Co.'s store in that city, has paid a visit to Los Angeles, placing a nice order for Victors ana records, with Sherman, Clay & Co. B. M. Clark, an Edison dealer of Hemet, Cal., has spent several days in this city, leaving an order with Southern California Music Co. for Edison phonographs of the new equipment. The Santa Barbara branch of the Southern California Music Co. has just opened its talking machine department after a general remodeling, under its new manager, W. J. Reynard, who has charge of that department, while the Riverside store of the same firm is undergoing a similar treatment. J. B. Brown Music Co., of Los Angeles, are advertising their instalment plan extensively and are making a big gain with it. Charles Ruggles, manager of Sherman, Clay & Co.'s wholesale Victor branch, has just returned from a trip around the "Kite," visiting the dealers of Redlands, Riverside, San Bernardino and other important towns where he has enthused the dealers with the new Victor instalment plan. He has also put in a full line of Victors with The Wiley B. Allen Co., of San Diego, where all dealers seem to be as busy as bees. The new Spanish catalogs of Victor records have been welcomed by the dealers, as they add a great deal of ease to handling the trade for these goods for which there is a great demand in this section, owing to the fact that there are a great many Spanish and Mexican residents in and about Los Angeles. The trade from the sister country (Mexico) is remarkably good and has proved to be a great field for dealers in this city for both wholesale and retail. Some dealers have devoted separate departments to this class of trade, with clerks and correspondents to take charge of it. Juan de la Puente, of the Southern California Music Company, reports a number of recent sales to visiting residents of Old Mexico. The Exton Mnsic Co. have been selling a number of new "Star" machines, for which they are agents, and their recently added Edison department has been a great success. Manager Stidham, of the Columbia Phonograph Co.'s branch, is much pleased with the business in the new location on Broadway. The increase in business has been great over last year and with the new Symphony Grand and new type B. Q. Cylinder Graphophone (the latest Columbia improvements recently received). He expects to do the biggest business that company has seen in this city. The new "Marconi" disc records have added a great deal to their business and are proving a great success. The select catar log of these records will please any owner of a talking machine. The Talking Machine Co. are just putting the last finishing touches on their new Edison department, which is complete in every detail, carrying in stock all sizes of machines and a full catalog of records, both foreign and domestic. Mr. Geissler, of The Geo. J. Birkel Music Co., is very , much pleased with the results of their Victor department. Since being enlarged it has taken most all his attention. He is very proud of his system of keeping the stock and says it can't be beat for convenience and accuracy. A. J. Caldwell is in this city with the view of opening a new store in the near future. He formally owned an Edison and Zonophone business, which he sold to Avery & Co., of Redlands, Cal. Robert IngersoU, Pacific Coast agent for the Regina Co., and Mr. "Wurlitzer" Gerlich, have both been making a stay in this vicinity calling on the dealers and gathering orders. RECORDS FOR THE SPIRIT WORLD Ah Wing Tong, Deceased, the Bearer of Some Extraordinary Records, Addressed to the Ancestors of Countrymen in the Great Beyond. Every little while a story goes the rounds of a new use fo the talking machine and Chinatown in New York has furnished its full quota of these stories. The latest from that section, however, takes the palm and sheds still further light on the wisdom of the Celestial. Ah Wing Tong, a Chinaman with much pedigree but very few material possessions, after a few years' struggle to win success in this country, got discouraged and gave up the ghost very suddenly. His friends kept the death secret until a wandering settlement worker discovered it and reported the matter to the police. When an officer visited the single room which had been occupied by the deceased he found a large gathering of friends, but no casket. There was a big packing case in the corner, however, and upon inquiring regarding the whereabouts of the corpse the Chinamen present pointed to the case and informed the policeman that the body had been placed in it for shipment to China, where it was to be buried among the acres of graves occupied by the ancestors of the deceased. The matter was reported to the Board of Health who sent an officer to investigate the case. Upon the box being opened the corpse was discovered, tightly packed therein, while all the remaining space was taken up by a talking machine and numerous records. In order to get at the bottom of the matter the officer had his interpreter try the records on the machine. The first contained a sort of introduction from Ah Wing Tong to his ancestors in the Great Beyond, as follows: "From your humble and obedient servant. Ah Wing Tong, man-born child of Ah Wong Tong and his gracious mother, Yakamo, whose lovable spirits now sit with Confucius. "Greeting: My lowly and unworthy spirit will shortly join those of my exalted ancestors, and from those countrymen who have honored my de spicable home by mourning my sudden departure, i have the great pleasure of bearing a message to their honorable ancestors who have also gone before. They desire in this devil land the protection of their ancestors, and give their honorable promise that much incense will they burn at the little temple in the big city, should much wash work prove that their honorable prayer is answered. "To the Great One who sees everything and knows not injustice, Confucius." The other records tried by the officer were very ingenious considering that they came from Ah after he was dead and were mostly addressed to spirits gone before, asking various favors. From the size of the collection each mourner must have sent a message to nearly every one of his ancestors and Ah, who was to be the bearer, had unselfishly failed to include for himself a single favor. After the proper regulations had been filled and a leaden casket — bought hy subscription from the mourners — had been filled with the corpse and as many records as it would hold, the messages were sent on their way, consigned to-a point in Southern Manchuria. IT DRAWS COMPOUND INTEREST. The trouble with most advertisers is that they expect immediate returns from their ads. One advertiser illustrates the principle of advertising in this way: "The money expended for advertising is the same as if placed at compound in-terest." The profits from the advertising ar6 virtually the interest on the investment. The sums spent for advertising are properly chargeable to capital account because the resulting good will is something that has value, which if the advertising has been properly done can usually be sold for the face value of the investment. The rate of interest is determined by the skill with which the investment is made. Just as the quickest way to increase invested wealth is by compounding the interest, so the quickest way to realize results from advertising is to compound the returns. PHILIP T. DODGE ELECTED DIRECTOR. Philip T. Dodge, president of the Mergenthaler Linotype Co., and one of the distinguished figures in the financial world, has been elected a member of the executive committee of the American Graphophone Co., succeeding the late Wm. E. Bond. This adds another illustrious name to the many composing the executive board of this great organization. ATT E IV T I O N ! NEW ENGLAND DEALERS If you handle both EDISON and VICTOR, we can offer you an advantage no other New England jobbing house can — One Source of Supply for both EDISOIN RHOINOGRAPHS -^^P VICTOR MAOHIINBS one; SHIPMEirVT-OINE EXPRESSAQE THERE'S AN ADVANTAGE! Try the Eastern's Policy of Service. THE EASTERN TALKING MACHINE CO. 177 TREMOINT ST., BOSTON, IVIASS. Distributors of EDISON and VICTOR MACHINES, Records and all Supplies Eastern Agents for HERZOG DISK and CYLINDER RECORD CABINETS