Getting Something For Nothing

It seems impossible that there are still people who believe that they can “get something for nothing.” Whenever you see an advertisement of a business house making an unusual offer, you may be sure that the firm expects to receive something in return. The return may be advertising or your good will or your patronage, and very often there is a justice in a special offer. However, there is a limit to all things, and when an agent calls upon you and offers to give you a membership to a musical society conferring special benefits, discounts, etc., and at the same time shows you a certificate which he claims is worth $10.00 but which you may receive without cost, it is high time for your American common sense to come to the front and tell this agent with a smile that the certificate is worth just exactly as much as the paper it is printed upon, and that the society is simply a blind to induce you to patronize a particular music company. There are all sorts of schemes of this kind afloat to capture the musician’s dollars. Most of them go under the false colors of some great educational movement. They are no more educational institutions than the Standard Oil is an educational institution, and those who patronize them deserve the sympathy of all.