The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1911)

THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. TRADE NEWS FROM ST. LOUIS. Talking Machine IVlen Well Satisfied with Business for the First Month of the Year — E. B. Walthall Loses Father — Two Victrolas for Brewer — Interesting Personal Items — What the Various Houses Are Doing. (Special to the Talking Machine World.) St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 6, 1911. The talking machine business for January was up to the season of the year, some concerns reporting that their trade showed an improvement over the same period a year ago. E. B. Walthall, manager of the Columbia Phonograph Co., was called to his home in Kentucky by a telegram on Dec. 21, his father having died suddenly. He returned here on Jan. 6. During his absence C. L. Byars looked after the business in a very able manner. William M. Todd, accountant of the Columbia Phonograph Co., left Jan. 21 to enter the account SONORA The Instrument of Quality Highest Class Talking '^'^^ ^"^"^ and Machines , ^^S^ , Records Styles 0 and P, $25 list. Other lUaehines $40, $50, $60, $75, $100 and $200 Stands and Cabinets, $10, $30 and $50 We are happy to be able to say that we now have a most desirable line of records to sell with our machines, and that we will add to the list at the rate of about 40 titles per month, all of the highest grade of their kind. They are all hill and valley (sapphire), cut for use with sapphire point. SAPPHIRE RECORDS AND SAPPHIRE POINTS ARE PRACTICALLY INDESTRUCTIBLE. Think of these advantages calmly and conclude what they mean. Our TONE MODERATOR, AUTOMATIC STOP, INVISIBLE HORN and ■ other points of favorable comparison make ■ Sonora goods exceedingly attractive. That you, Mr. Dealer, are reading these lines may indicate to you that we are still doing business, and that bluster alone does ; not constitute facts. We are very much alive, and will be heard from effectively in many ways before many days. 1911 will not be very far gone before you will be glad to be a "Sonora man," or wish you were. We want general agents of good standing \ and responsibihty. Sonora Phonograph Co. 78 Reade Street, New York ing department of the company at their Bridgeport, Conn., factory. He is succeeded by B. F. Moore, formerly with the National Bank of Commerce here. C. Kauffman, traveler for the Columbia Phonograph Co., is making his regular trip through southwest Missouri, and is having a good business. The Aeolian Co. report having had a very active trade in their wholesale department, and that they had a good business in their retail department, with a large run on the new Caruso records. C. O. Thompson, in charge of the wholesale talking machine department of the Aeolian Co., has resigned. Mr. Thompson had made himself very popular with all whom he had come in contact with by his very agreeable and obliging ways. All his friends wish him the best of success. L. A. Cummins, traveler for this concern, is now on a trip through Illinois and Kentucky. The Silverstone Talking Machine Co. report having had a seasonable month. They completed their new Grand Opera booth on Jan. 15. It is encased in art glass and handsomely decorated, presenting a very attractive appearance. The Koerber-Brenner Music Co. report their January trade as being well up to the season. W. A. Brenner, secretary of this concern, will return the latter Dart of February from a six weeks' trip to the coast. J. J. Clegg, traveler for this concern, is now on a three months' trip through the Southwest. A. M. Page, traveler for the same concern, is on a three months' trip through the North. D. K. Myers, the well known Zonophone jobber, reports trade for January as being fair with improving prospects. The Thiebes Piano Co. report the sale of two Victrolas to a prominent local brewer, who bought one for his sister-in-law. He also had a selection of $200 worth of records sent with each instrument on approval. The records were so satisfying that he thanked the firm for the nice selections and kept them all. This firm reports a good January trade. The Bollman Bros.' Piano Co. report their talking machine business quite satisfactory for the month. O. A. Gressing, manager of the talking machine department of the Aeolian Co. at New York and branches, is expected here shortly on a visit. "Doc" O'Neil, the globe trotter of the Victor Talking Machine Co., spent a few days here recently on his way home from a trip to the Orient. The doctor had some very enthusiastic audiences listening to his entertaining tales of his trip. J. M. Means, formerly assistant manager of the talking machine department of the O. K. Houck Piano Co., Memphis, has been made manager of the same department. S. W. Goldsmith, traveler for the Victor Talking Machine Co., from the home office, spent a few days here recently calling on the trade. William Vedder, of the Excelsior Co., Cape Girardeau, Mo., a talking machine dealer, was a recent visitor here. WHERE CLOCKS SAVED TIME. With Time Always in Sight Employes Did Not Have to Stop Work and Begin Gossiping. Every employe who watches the clock is losing time. Yet clock watching is necessary in planning work. Employes watch clocks because they are set at tasks and want to keep posted on the passing of time as their work progresses through the day. The superintendent of a big city office was annoyed by the constant interchange among employes of information, touching the date and the hour, says System. To eliminate these inquiries he installed a large wall clock at each end of the office and arranged all desks so that everyone could see one or the other. Under each clock he placed a large calendar— the_ largest he could get. Over each calendar he placed an electric lamp that was lighted at dusk. Thus at a glance, any employe could learn the date, hour, minute and second, without disturbing anyone else in the process. The clocks cost $24 a year; the lights were estimated at $3 a year for current and maintenance; the calendars were supplied gratis by a firm whose imprint they bore. The manager saved the entire year's investment during the first month in employes' time that had formerly been wasted. Fifth and last. When you come to your place of business each morning have the determination in view that you will earn your salary that day, and when you leave at night be sure that all orders which have been given you have been looked after properly. Thus you will increase your employer's business, secure your own advancement, and make yourself a man to be desired, and one who is never out of a good position. WHICH ARE YOU— LIFTER OR LEANER? There are two kinds of people on earth to-day; Just two kinds of people, no more, I say. Not the sinner and saint, for it's well understood, The good are half bad and the bad are half good. Not the rich and the poor, for to rate a man's wealth. You must first know the state of his conscience and health. Not the humble and proud, for in life's little span. Who puts on vain airs is not counted a man. Not the happy and sad, for the swift flying years Bring each man his laughter and each man his tears. No; the two kinds of people on earth I mean. Are the people who lift and the people who lean. Wherever you go, you will find the earth's masses Are always divided in just there two classes. And oddly enough, you will find too, I wean. There's only one lifter to twenty who lean. In which class are you? Are you easing the load Of overtaxed lifters, who toil down the road? Or, are you a leaner, who lets others share Your portion of labor and worry and care? — Ella Wheeler Wilcox, in The Cosmopolitan. GEO. P. METZQER'S CAREER As Published in Tab oid Form in Printer's Ink Recently. Among the interesting paragraphs appearing in Printer's Ink recently in connection with the publication of the portraits of a number of the contributors to that magazine during 1910 were the following facts connected with the career of Geo. P. Metzger, advertising manager of the Columbia Phonograph Co., New York, who has recently written a number of interesting and able articles on advertising for that publication : "George P. Metzger, advertising manager, Columbia Phonograph Co., was born in Kansas in 1871, but came East while very young. He was a 'printers' devil' on the Lynn, Mass., Bee, until it failed, and then became proofreader on the Springfield Republican. Determining to learn selling he got a factory experience with a typewriter concern and later started a bicycle business of his own. He later traveled for 'Vim' tires and got started ill advertising through writing catalogs. Mr. Metzger's next experience was in connection with the Wanamaker Book Club. After having served as advertising manager of Everybody's Magazine he became the chief member of the Hampton's Advertising Agency staff and continued there until he formed his present connection." A. 0. PETIT m NEW COMPANY. A. O. Petit, formerly head Of the Edisonia Co., Newark, N. J., and well-known in the talking machine trade, is the head of the Petit Realty Co., recently incorporated in that city with capital stock of $100,000 for the purpose of acting as real estate dealers, builders, contractors, etc. You positively cannot succeed now with any kind of salesmanship but the honest kind. No other sort is scientific, practical, or useful in any way. It would not seem that there is need to reiterate such a statement, but one meets constantly with young men who have yet to learn that straight honesty in selling is of paramount importance.