The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1914)

THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. 33 Annual Banquet of The Jobbers' Association Held at Barnay's Restaurant, Atlantic City, on July 7, Was a Notable Affair— Over Two Hundred Jobbers and Guests Present— Addresses Made by Louis F. Geissler, Col, Edward Lyman Bill and Congressman McCoy. (Special to The Talking Machine World.) Atlantic City, N. J., July 8. — The annual banquet of the National Association of Talking Machine Jobbers, for which elaborate preparations had been made, was held at Barnay's Restaurant last night and was particularly notable for the large attendance, over 200 jobbers and their guests being present. The committee had worked hard to make the banquet a success, and despite certain drawbacks due to the service offered achieved its purpose in a most satisfactory degree. The menu was presented in a most attractive form in a folder of sky blue, printed in dark blue and silver ; a most effective combination. The dinner proper was carried on amidst general jollification. Burton J. Pierce and his famous "Angel Chorus" to the number of thirteen occupied a large round table in the center of the room and made themselves heard at the slightest excuse. The banqueter who did not make an effort to add to the general joyousness was mighty lonesome. Following the lighting of the cigars, James F. Bowers was introduced as toastmaster by Joseph C. Roush, the retiring president, and proceeded to attend to the duties of his office in his well-known and inimitable manner, first paying a most graceful compliment to the many ladies present, and thus insuring respect and attention. The toastmaster introduced as the first speaker Louis F. Geissler, general manager of the Victor Talking Machine Co., who was received with tumultous applause by the assembled diners and who said : Louis F. Geissler's Address. I express my appreciation of the honor of being again requested to address your association. This is the eighth consecutive year that this compliment has been paid me as the representative of my company, and, as the years have rolled by, the members of your association and your families have grown closer and closer to me and entered into my business life, until you have preempted the recesses of a very friendly heart. In consequence of the frequent and pleasant meetings with your committees, and our distributers in person, it becomes increasingly difficult to hit upon a subject for discussion here that has not already received attention at such meetings, and I will refrain from recapitulating statements made at past annual banquets, as it seems to me that I have covered in past talks all the main points of our own company's organization and its condition as well as the patent field in its generalities as far as you would be interested. I have also, from time to time, appealed to you for co-operation and assistance in defending your own and our position in the fields of patents and commercial methods and I may say that, with very few exceptions, we have to thank you for the heartiest response. Improved Methods of Merchandising. We are, moreover, thankful to-day for the very evident disposition on the part of dealers and merchants generally throughout America to take a prominent and assertive position in the ranks of those merchants committed to broad, decent and fair methods of merchandising. Since your last annual meeting, we have passed through one of the most crucial tests in our history; I refer to the unsettlement and doubt relative to the maintenance of the one price system as engendered by recent court decisions and agitations, which happily have almost disappeared and our dealers have gone on their way, with the least possible inconvenience to their business, endorsing and showing thereby the utmost confidence in the newly adopted distributing methods of our company. No one can expect uninterrupted and unqualified success in any enterprise or undertakingthere will always be ups and downs — but, during this time, there has been no toleration of the degrading practices of price cutting nor will such practices, in the future, become more than a passing incident in the history of the art. A Prophecy That Was Fulfilled. I would like to quote one of the opening paragraphs of my talk to you last year at Niagara Falls, touching on the business conditions then existent. I said, that : "While probably few of you have been affected and some sections of the United States are absolutely free, there is no doubt that taken in its entirety, i. e., including the field of industrial securities, there is a declining tendency noticeable in total business results. However, the continuous and increasing demand of ninety-five million popu Louis F. Geissler. lation in this country, to say nothing of our wonderfully increasing export trade, is always sufficient to make certain a vast volume of business for the merchant and manufacturer." Notwithstanding the demonstrated truth of that statement of a year ago, you all know how we have been blessed with a peculiar success, not only during the last half of 1913 but the first half of 1914; but, to claim that business conditions at the present time are generally satisfactory would be foolish. There are several and various causes for business depression apparent to us all, but every man of business experience and thought realizes that it is only a question of time when we shall see a decided improvement and this country will again surpass her past records for prosperity. Evidence accumulates that nature is this year determined to compensate us for the afflictions or deficiencies of business or politics. Your ever increasing success — which is reflected in our own — at times when other industries are not prosperous, is inconceivable to outsiders, and, in some cases, has aroused a spirit of jealous envy. The failure of imitators and usurpers to successfully detract from your success must be apparent on all sides. The "bigness" of your success has been, and will continue to be, the magnet to draw the attacks of pigmies. The "big things" that our Government has accomplished and the big things that private citizens have achieved were once the glory of America and have been our boast. It is an easy matter to find people who will whack and hammer the prosperity of the successful. Few people realize how interwoven are the interests of all. A Mania for Littleness. The recent proposal of one of our senators that no corporation in any line of business should be allowed more than a specified capital is characteristic of the mania for littleness which has seized on the legislators, but, when the destinies of nations are determined by most colossal international trade wars, who shall and how can we restrict the assets of American giants without respect to the enormous resources of their competitors; it would conduce only to America's downfall, for there is no place for pigmies in a war of titans. Roosevelt remarked but a few days since — and I hope his sentiment may be a plank in the platform of any winning party : "That we must encourage honest business and allow that business concentration which will give the power necessary to serve. This policy of the encouragement of decent business is as important to the welfare of our people as is our other policy of effective warfare against corrupt and unfair business." Size and strength are, however, by no means synonymous ; sad is the lot of the giant in business who lacks the strength to bear the burden of his size. Abraham S. Hewitt once remarked that "Many large combinations carried within themselves the seeds of suicide." He referred particularly to abuse of power to control output and prices, and, through the unfortunate history of great business concerns which have unduly expanded within the last generation, this fact has been frequently illustrated. Fortunately for us, and our constituents, there are no entangling alliances, no combinations or understandings with competitors to hamper us in an expansion with which we hope to successfully cope. I should like to take this opportunity to impress upon the minds of my merchant auditors, in connection with the laudable ambition to do a big business, that all important — but recently hackneyed — phrase of "Safety First" — "Safety First." For Permanent and Healthful Increase. The Victor Co. is very anxious to go on increasing its business, but along permanent and healthful lines — through certain mediums and a certain quality of concerns, which are, in a great measure, a guarantee of permanent success. Relative to expansion, it may be that even we do not appreciate nor grasp the possibilities of expansion in the talking machine trade, but, at least, we have been proof against allurements and blandishments on dozens of occasions where our goods have been sought in enormous quantities by those whom we considered undesirable representatives. We have inveighed against inordinate expansion on the part of those with more enterprise and imagination than cool judgment and capital. We quite naturally desire our distributers and dealers to continue successfully in their present expansions ; but — "Safety First" — not a permanent dollar is to be gained by dangerous accounts. Your own bad debts and your own overstocked dealers are our liabilities ; we would pay, in the end, by a decreasing business and loss of enthusiasm for our wares. We do not consider a machine nor a record really sold until it has reached the hands of the consumer. On the Subject of Credits. Your credit department is either one of your •most expert salesmen or a serious drag upon your business. (Continued on page 34.)