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THE: MUSIC TRADE
mm
REVIEW
sense and good business, too, to undertake a na- duct connecting the spaces upon the two sides of
tional publicity service on behalf of the player-
the diaphragm. This duct is generally very small
piano. The fundamental principles which lie at in diameter and is termed a "bleed-hole." Should
the bottom of the appeal which the player-piano this small duct become obstructed by dust from
makes to the public are the same in the case of
the air, by lint or fibers of paper scraped from the
one make as in that of another. The difficulty is music roll as it passes over the tracker board and
that there is no settled method of informing the carried down with the air sucked through the
public what the player-piano is and what is its tracker duct, or through any other cause, the ac-
Published Every Saturday at 373 Fourth Avenue, New York
value as an article of possession. It may seem
tion of the valves becomes sluggish and the music
SUBSCRIPTION, (including postage), United States and
fantastic to argue that there could ever be any sort
improperly reproduced and presently, if the bleed-
Mexico, $2.00 per year; Canada, $3.50; all other coun-
tries, $4.00.
of agreement between manufacturers as to the hole is not cleaned, the valves operating in con-
handling of their advertising appropriations, and
junction with it may cease to operate.
Telephones—Numbers 4677 and 467S Gramercy
that
in the case of dealers even less chance exists
Connecting all Departments
of obtaining common effort along these lines. The
TO BRING INDUSTRIAL PEACE.
answer to the objections is that the manufactur-
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 24, 1912
ers are the persons who should supervise the ad- Committee Formed to Back Taft's Idea of a
Federal Commission.
vertising of their product and who should, in fact,
There is hardly a more important aspect of the
do all the advertising of it, just as do the makers
Announcement was made Monday of the or-
player trade than that which is presented in con-
of automobiles, confining the dealer's publicity to ganization of a national committee to secure the
sidering the attitude of the retail dealer and sales-
the smallest of local advertisements. And, further,
appointment of a federal commission on industrial
man. So long as pianos and player-pianos are
it may be urged that the manufacturers might
relations which shall give publicity to American
sold to the public entirely through the agency
justly refuse to sell dealers who were unwilling
industry and in general carry out the ideas of
system the retailer will be the direct point of con-
to submit to such supervision, while also it is President Taft embodied in his recent message to
tact between manufacturer and public. And so
plausible to remark that the interests of manufac-
Congress urging the creation of such a commis-
long as this is so the attitude this retailer adopts
turers in pushing the player are very largely com-
sion. The commission is directly in line with the
toward the player-piano will be of the utmost
mon interests, so that community of action on
Anthracite Coal Commission, appointed by Presi-
importance. In an article in the present issue
broad lines is neither absurd nor unpractical.
dent Roosevelt in 1905.
attention is drawn to certain aspects of the retail
The chairman of the new committee is Edward
situation caused by the maintenance of a wrong
For the big and ugly fact remains, behind all T. Devine, editor of the Survey; the vice-chairman,
attitude by salesman and dealer. The reader is
forms of discussion, that a natural, healthy de- Adolph Lewisohn, and the secretary, Lillian D.
earnestly urged to study this article carefully, for
Wald, head worker in the nurses' settlement on
it contains much food for thought and presents mand for the player has not been created. And
the East Side. Among the members are many
in the clearest way a problem which mostpress- it does not need a person of immense mental power
ingly needs some sort of solution. The player- to see that the sort of advertising which is going economists and sociologists in and out of colleges
piano, be it observed, is still a fad and little else. on at present among dealers is not exactly calcu- and universities, such men and women as Louis
Nor is there the slightest chance that a healthy, lated to assist in such creation. In fact, it is D. Brandeis, of Boston; Jane Addams, of Hull
natural, country-wide demand can be created for it pretty plain that there is no advertising worthy of
House, Chicago; J. W. Jenks, of Cornell Univer-
the name at present being done, with the possible sity, who is a member of the federal immigration
until something like sanity characterizes the retail
selling, a condition of affairs which by no means exception of the announcements periodically made committee; Florence Kelly, secretary of the Na-
by the one largest of player houses, which is both
can be said as yet generally to exist.
tional Consumers' League; George Foster Pea-
manufacturer and retailer, and whose advertising body, ex-treasurer of the Democratic National
policy is governed by some sort of consistency.
Along similar lines is the article on the ''Dead
Committee; James B. Reynolds, who investigated
Player-Piano," which also appears in the present The problem is far too big to be ignored or to be the stock yards for President Roosevelt, and Ly-
number. It is already a matter of open confes- handled through the puny and often self-contra-
man Abbott, editor of the Outlook. Also Prof.
sion that the bigger difficulty in the player busi- dictory efforts of rival retailers. The thing that
T. N. Carver, of Harvard; Prof. Irving Fisher,
ness is not selling the player-piano but keeping has to be done is to create a demand for a product
of Yale; Prof. Ernst Freund, of the University of
it sold. Partly the trouble arising in doing this of human ingenuity into which enter a thousand
Chicago; Profs. Franklin H. Giddings and Edwin
may be charged against difficulties in maintenance, and one complex parts, which represents the in- E. R. A. Seligman, of Columbia, and Edward A.
vestment of considerable money, the benefit de-
but much is to be accounted for by the fact that
Ross, of the University of Wisconsin. Rabbi
rived from which is entirely aesthetic, and the Stephen S. Wise, of the Free Synagogue; Dr. J.
the interest of purchasers dies out too quickly.
superiority of appeal whereof over an ordinary
The article to which we here draw attention
H. Holmes, of the Church of the Messiah, and
analyzes carefully the reasons for this loss in in- piano is entirely a matter of inculcating a desire
Dr. Washington Gladden, of Columbus, O., are
for the actual personal reproduction of music in the members of the committee. Other members are
terest and shows that these are to be sought for
as much in the manner of presenting the player- m'nds of a non-piano-playing public. And it does representatives of the various charitable organi-
piano to the imagination of the customer, at the not seem so very absurd to assert that the trade at
zations in the city. Two of these are Prof. Henry
time of the sale, as to anything else. Again, in large would be a great deal better oft for some R. Seager, of Columbia, president of the National
sensible common effort along such lines of har- Association for Labor Legislation, and William J.
fact, it is shown that the retailer has the real
monious publicity as would tend to put public
responsibility of bringing about better conditions in
Schieffelin, president of the Citizens' Union.
the player trade, so far as concerns the public, demand, public understanding and public respect
The committee contends, so Mr. Devine said
for
the
player-piano
upon
a
considerably
higher
and that the influence exerted by those who sell
yesterday,
that the problem of industrial relations
directly to the people is an influence which ex- plane than they at present have reached.
should be attempted by the general public because
tends to every corner of the whole business.
that public is definitely affected by the strife be-
A letter is published on another page of this
tween capital and labor.
Any man of analytical tendencies, considering Player Section from a New York player-pianist
and observing the player trade as it appears to- which is respectfully committed to the considera-
PATENTS NEW JHJMPING DEVICE.
day, might well be struck with the absence of any tion of the music roll makers. What the writer
Thomas Danquard Assigns Rights to New In-
special knowledge anywhere concerning the atti- has to say about the arrangement of music rolls,
vention to Auto Pneumatic Action Co.—
tude which the public in general may be said to especially of those which deal with light music,
Some of the Claims Made.
have toward the player-piano. At the present time has been said in these columns more than once.
a great many of these instruments are being made He clearly squelches the theory that the public
(Special to The Review.)
Washington, D. C, Feb. 19, 1912.
and inventors are continually busying themselves re-ally wants a music roll to be so arranged as
A patent on a pumping device (No. 1,017,084)
with new devices intended to improve the expres- to strike just as many notes simultaneously as can
was granted this week to Thomas Danquard, New
sive capacity or the convenience of playing. But be crowded in.
York, assignor to the Auto Pneumatic Action Co.,
it is notable that there has as yet been no attempt
of New York.
to gather statistics for the purpose of discovering
PLAVER=PIANO IMPROVEMENT.
just exactly how the player is being handled in the
This invention relates to a bellows and fold-
( Special to The Review.)
home, how it wears, what parts get out of order
ing pedal construction for a musical instrument.
most quickly, and what the maintenance is, on the
Washington, D. C, Feb. 19, 1912.
The principal objects of the invention are to pro-
average, costing. And it is equally notable that
Einar Leschbrandt, Philadelphia, Pa., is the vide a simple and effective construction by which
some such information ought to be available, if
owner of patent No. 1,017,158 on a player-piano the bellows can be operated from a pedal located
only for the purpose of providing a basis whereon
This invention relates to improvements in air- at the side thereof in such a way as to get a
may be built some sort of reasonably intelligent actuated instruments, player-pianos, organs, etc.,
perfectly even strain on the bellows, thus doing
general campaign of exploitation and sales. Under in which the music is reproduced by pneumatically
away with the loss of power produced by the usual
the heading, "A National Player Inspection Serv- operated mechanism. In such apparatus there is side connections and reducing the strain on the
ice" this important topic is treated seriously and
parts.
employed a system of valves, which in conjunction
at length in the present issue. We believe the with an operating bellows or "striker," actuate the
Another object of the invention is to provide
suggestions put forth in that article to be worthy keys of the instrument. This operation is usually means for accomplishing the' above named results
the careful attention of the trade.
dependent upon the varying air pressure or ten- which can be connected with a folding pedal, par-
sion upon either side of a soft diaphragm, and in ticularly that type of folding pedal shown and de-
And this leads naturally to another and correla- order that this may respond promptly to the ten- scribed in previous patent No. 884,043, granted
tive topic, It seems to us that it would be good sion or pressure, it is necessary that there be a April 14, 1908 on a folding pedal,