The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1914)

4 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. QUESTIONS OF VITAL INTEREST WERE DISCUSSED At the Recent Annual Meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States Held in Washington Bearing on the Talking Machine Trade — Oldfield Bill Denounced and the Maintenance of Retail or Resale Prices to Be Investigated Officially. ' M tcial to The Talking Machine World.) Washington, D. C, March 6. — At the second annual meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States which was held in this city late last month, not only were many topics of national interest affecting every phase of business discussed, but questions of immediate moment to talking machine men, such as the Oldfield bill and the matter of resale of prices were up for consideration. It was perhaps the most representative gathering of the leading business men of the country ever assembled, and the discussions and reports were carried on on a broad plane with a splendid spirit of good will on all sides, the aim being to arrive at conclusions that would tend to uplift the commercial affairs of the United States and elucidate many of the perplexing questions that are now up for consideration. The Oldfield Bill Denounced. The talking machine trade interests were concerned when on the very first day of the Chamber meeting the committee on patents, trade-marks and copyrights brought in a report vigorously denouncing the Oldfield bill, which strikes at price maintenance and recommending the amendment of the Kahn act, which is a measure looked upon with suspicion by many manufacturers of musical instruments of a class that are liable to involve a conflict of foreign and American patents. Recommendations were made for the creation of an expert commission empowered to investigate the patent laws and for the establishment of a court of patent appeals, to which cases may be taken by either party to a patent suit. This court of patent appeals would do away with confusion such as has, on certain occasions, being precipitated in the music trade when a patent has been declared by the Circuit Court of Appeals in one district to be valid and to have been infringed, whereas the Circuit Court of Appeals in another district had held this self-same patent to be invalid. In criticising the compulsory license provisions of the Oldfield bill, the Chamber of Commerce committee said : "The enactment into law of this provision would surely tend to induce everyone to keep his inventions secret and never place them upon the public patent record." In condemning the Oldfield bill for the limitations it places upon the right to enforce restrictions on the sale or use of patented articles, the report submitted to the national Chamber of Commerce says: "The restriction of conditions of use and sale is a ques tion of the 'distribution' of the particular manufacturers' goods and is not one in which the public is interested. The retail dealers are heartily in favor of having the manufacturer maintain a fixed retail price." Maintenance of Retail or Resale Prices. One entire session of the Chamber meeting was given over to a discussion of the subject of the maintenance of retail or resale prices, and in the end it was decided to appoint a special committee to investigate this subject also. An interesting feature of the presentation of this subject was an announcement by the United States Commissioner of Corporations, Joseph E. Davies, who has been charged by the Secretary of Commerce with the making of an official investigation of this subject. Commissioner Davies let out the secret that an effort is now being made in certain quarters to have price maintenance sanctioned by law ; that is, to have an express statute enacted that will give manufacturers under certain conditions the right to fix the prices at which the articles of their manufacture, respectively, shall be sold to the ultimate consumers. Then, telling of his own plans, he said: "The Bureau of Corporations is now engaged in an exhaustive study of the question from an economic point of view. It is our purpose to make that investigation fair and impartial, without preconceived bias, prejudice or judgment. We are collecting our information from both sides and with equal fairness. We are meeting with cooperation in this investigation and we ask your continued aid as business men in our work." Protection from Price Juggling. "Protection from Price Juggling" was discussed by William H. Ingersoll, of New York, a member of the American Fair Trade League, which has enrolled members from the talking machine and music trade. Mr. Ingersoll was particularly severe in his denunciation of price cutting and "bargain offers," saying that this form of advertising tended to undermine public confidence in advertising statements of all kinds. Said he: "In all of this advertising goods are offered at approximately one-third less than they are said to be worth, and such a perpetual avalanche of bargains would tax our credulity unless substantiated by very tangible evidence that real bargains of such proportion are possible. "When a well-known article is sold at a cut price, the first effect is a stimulated demand, if the offer is bona fide. Oftentimes such offers are made with a very limited stock on hand, however, and 'something else' is offered to those who arrive after 10 o'clock. The secondary effect is that people are led to believe that they ought to get the goods regularly at the reduced price and that those who charge more are exacting extortionate profits; the goods are cheapened in their estimation ; they are no longer satisfied to pay former prices, so that the good will of the maker is seriously impaired." Attack Quantity Discounts. Men engaged in the various branches of the trade may find food for reflection in an attack which this speaker at the Chamber made upon the present system of quantity discounts. His statement on this score was: "It is worthy of note that the present unscientific, unfair scale of quantity discounts allowed generally to large buyers is turning the retail business into one, not of merchandising, but of financial manipulation to combine outlets so as to gain buying power and be able to underbuy the general run of merchants. A premium is put upon mere size, permitting wastefulness of management through unearned buying advantage, penalizing the small independent dealer, closing the way to the newcomer and making it impossible for the individual retailer to compete regardless of how capable he may be. Quantity discounts should be reduced to a scientific scale or abolished, as rebates for quantity freight shipments have been abolished under the law." The so-called anti-trust bills which are now before Congress were strongly opposed, and it was the general belief of those present that in their present form they would work a distinct hardship to and harass the business of the country. There was also an interesting discussion upon the effect of the "chain store" upon modern business conditions, and in order to indicate the spread of the chain store idea it was stated at the meeting that Boyd's Dispatch now lists more than 10,000 separate chain store systems in this country, and the fear was expressed by some speakers that the power which resides in the great chain store systems is a decided menace if there is any possibility that it will be used for price dictation or for the elimination of the individual retailer. JULIAN ELTINGE FALLS IN LINE. C. S. Calveard, manager of the Victrola department of the Montenegro-Riehm Music Co., Louisville, Ky., recently closed a sale of unusual importance in the nature of a Victrola and a large supply of records to Julian Eltinge, the well-known actor and female impersonator. Mr, Eltinge was delighted with the musical qualities of the Victrola and contemplates placing it in his private car to accompany him on all his travels. Some people go to a moving picture show because it doesn't make them think. Others go because it does. And there you are. It Requires No Great Stretch of the Imagination to Realize That Eastern Service Must Be Good CONSIDER: The fact that we have been handling talking machines, records and supplies exclusively for nineteen years. : That our entire time, energy and attention is devoted to one line. : That constant application is given to the betterment of our service. : That our stock is large, complete and up-to-date, and our shipping facilities unusual. THEN YOU HAVE some of the reasons why EASTERN SERVICE is different from the ordinary. The absolute proof is in the trying. Try it. EASTERN TALKING MACHINE COMPANY 177 TREMONT STREET, BOSTON, MASS. EDISON FOR NINETEEN YEARS TALKING MACHINES EXCLUSIVELY VICTOR