The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1912)

THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. 35 CONVENTION OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TALKING MACHINE JOBBERS— (Continued from page 34) E. F. Taft and E. T. Towell Starting on a Ride Along the Boardwalk. profitable one also, and I am glad to know that your several annual meetings have been notable regarding the continued good fellowship and the closer working of your membership to the benefit of this great and important branch of trade. Regretting my inability to be present and again thus have the opportunity of meeting you, I am, with best wishes for the continued success of your organization, yours very s i ncerely, "C. K. Haddon." Following the reading of the letters, the next speaker to be called upon was Edward Lyman Bill, editor of The Talking Machine World, who was introduced as the man who had accomplished as much as any other individual for the advancement of the talking machine trade, through the medium of his publications and his personal influence. Mr. Bill said: Address of Edward Lyman Bill. "In responding to an invitation from your secretary to say a few words to my friends, the talking machine jobbers, at this banquet, I replied that it seemed I had been such a regular part of the annual show since the formation of the association that it might be well to keep me out of sight for the present year. He, however, would not accede to my wishes, and so I wrote him that I would put on a new record and start the motor as usual, provided he would permit me to use an autostop, so that the machine could be shut off at will am once more at the banqueting board of my good friends of the talking machine trade. "It has been practically a year since we have met for a friendly discussion of business matters and a pleasant discussion of an enticing menu. A year —one whole year— that means much to the life of the nation and more to the life of an individual. Perhaps it has meant much to all of us who may be sitting her; to-night. It may have meant substantial advance for some and the turning back of the wheels for others. Edward Lyman Bill. He assented, so here I "We. are all subject to the resistless law of change — "The old world may turn upon its axis And all humankind turn with it Heads or tails, live and die make Love and pay our taxes." "And so it goes — changes everywhere, even the old political parties are undergoing radical changes amounting to disintegration almost ; and, perhaps it is well that business men should change. "The whole subject of merchandizing distribution needs a more careful and scientific analysis than many of us have seemed to think it necessary to make. "Sales making in all branches of the industry is changing — methods of reaching the public are constantly changing, and no business man who expects to conduct a successful trade enterprise can be long indifferent to the radical changes which are steadily going on in every industry. "If we remain indifferent to those changes and fail to accustom our own business plans to harmonize with them, then we must expect to suffer a certain defeat. "As for methods — as for plans, there seems to be no fixed standard — no general trade recipe which a man' may learn and apply afterward to his own field of distribution. "That is not possible, but we can analyze them all — we can then determine what particular fragments or parts may fit in best in our own particular case. "I question whether there ever will be in the history of merchandizing fixed or unchangeable plans which may be adopted by merchants in all lines as being specially applicable to broaden their own business enterprise. "One man will naturally work out certain ideas and develop particular theories which he himself thinks will win him the best results in his own territory, and another man may work along entirely different lines in any section of the country, and yet both may win distinguished success. '•'The principle of efficiency is well defined as meaning tjie relation between a determined standard and the actual performance now in production; but it is difficult to devise rules which will apply successfully to every business so that satisfactory results may be achieved; but men must have ideals, else I affirm they cannot do good work. Then let us work for an ideal in the distribution of merchandise that will stand for efficiency. "While there may be a variety of ideas and theories as to the conduct of individual business enterprises, yet there is one standard which may be undeviatingly applied to the world of trade, and that is the standard of business honesty — a standard which insures to every purchaser a full equivalent for the money invested, and I believe that while methods may change and views of men may differ as to plans and theories, yet these fundamentals will exist as long as time endures. "The average merchant — I mean by that the small dealer, has but a limited idea of his function in the great field of merchandizing. A Group of Jobbers After a Dip in the Briny. Mrs. Louis Jay Gerson at Valley Forge. "Search where you will, it will be found that the small merchant will say that there are too many competitors in the field and that it is always the other fellows that ought to get out — not himself. "There are too many in almost any business field —no question about that ; but you will find invariably that it is the unsuccessful man who rests in this belief and does not attempt to make his position a stronger one. "One may sit down and argue that too many merchants in a local field means salaries, wages, insurance and all other expenses which must be charged up to each individual business. "True, but one man does not want to quit to make it easier for his fellow-merchant — so there is where a careful analysis is necessary. "Personally, I believe that many of these men must be ground out of existence because they lack the ability to size up the business situation correctly—to size up competition right, if you will, and to govern their acts accordingly. "Too many merchants in every line, of course, there are— too much expense, surely. How can we help it? "Can we form a great co-operative business society or company? "Not yet; for the world is not ready for that move at the present time, and until we reach a time when ideals become realities we must struggle along as best we can, attempting to successfully solve the business problems which come to us one and all, for there will always be problems to solve between the creative, that is the manufacturers, and the distributing forces and the man who works out the best solution to the problem shows himself a bigger brained and a bigger force in the world than the man who sits supinely by, criticizes, and does nothing. "The talking machine men of this country have reason to take pride in their accomplishments of the past and the great producing forces back of them are pushing them on with their own unconquerable energy to bigger and better things all the while." Mr. Bill was followed by Col. W. F. Dabney, business manager of the Chamber of Commerce of Richmond, Va., who had extended a cordial and eloquent invitation to the jobbers to meet in his, the capital city of the Old Dominion, for their 1913 convention at the open meeting in the afternon. Colonel Dabney is a fluent talker and delivered a clever address along general lines, in which -humor and sentiment were mixed in just the right proportions to be attractive. The next speaker introduced by the toastmaster was J. Newcomb Blackman, the newly elected president of the association, who made harmony in association ranks the keynote of his speerh, saying : Remarks of J. Newcomb Blackman. "Mr. Chairman, Toastmaster, Friends, Fellow Members, Ladies and Gentlemen— It is rather embarrassing for me to attempt to hold your at(Continucd on page 36.)