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THE: MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
A
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorlal Stall:
B. BRITTAIN WILSON,
A. J. NICKLTN,
CARLETON CHACE.
AUGUST J. TIMPE,
L. M. ROBINSON,
WM. B. WHITE,
BOSTON OFFICE:
CHICAGO OFFICE:
JOHN H. WILSON, 824 Washinfrton St.
Telephone, Main 6950.
PHILADELPHIA:
R. W. KAUFFMAN. -
GLAD HENDERSON,
L. E. BOWEM.
E. P. VAN HARLINGEN, 87 South Wabash Ave.
ALBERT G. BRENTON, Assistant.
Room 806. Telephone, Central 414
MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL:
ST. LOUIS:
ADOLF EDSTEN.
CLYBE JENNINGS
SAN FRANCISCO: S. H. GRAY. 88 First St.
DETROIT, MICH.: MORRIS J. WHITE.
CINCINNATI. O.: JACOB W. WALTERS.
BALTIMORE. MD.: A. ROBERT FRENCH.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND^ STANLEY H. SMITH.
MILWAUKEE, WIS.: L. E. MEYER.
LONDON, ENGLAND: 1 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall St tf E. C.
Published Every Saturday at 373 Fourth Avenue, New York
Enttted at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
SUBSCRIPTION, (including postage), United States and Mexico, $3.00 per year; Canada,
tS.SO: all other countries, $4.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.50 per inch, single column, per insertion. On quarterly or
vearly contracts, a special discount is allowed. Advertising Pages, $75.00.
REMITTANCES* in other than currency forms, should be made payable to Edward
T.vman Rill.
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning, regu-
TM»hnlj*al n o n a r l m o n l o latin* and repairing of pianos and player-pianos are
l C C U U l t « l lM?|ldl IIMTIMS. dealth with, will be found in another section of this
paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information concerning which
will be cheerfully Riven upon request.
Player-Piano and
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900
Silver Medal.. .Charleston Exposition, 1908
Diploma... .Pan-American Exposition. 1901
Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal. .Lewis-Clark Exposition. 1905
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES-NUMBERS S982-5983 MADISON SQUARE
Connecting all Departments.
Cable address •• "Elbill, N e w York.**
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 9, 1912.
EDITORIAL
A
SUGGESTION of some importance was made by L. S. Sher-
man, head of the great Pacific Coast house of Sherman, Clay
& Co., during his recent visit to New York, when he pointed out
that a great deal of harm had been done the straight piano business
by injudicious and poorly considered- advertising of the player-
piano—that in order to make a case for the player-piano many
piano merchants deemed it necessary to "knock" the straight piano
which he termed "the backbone of the business 1 ."
This criticism is not without reason. There are plenty of argu-
ments-to use in connection with the exploitation of the player-piano
without endeavoring to put the straight piano in the "has been"
class." Piano merchants who give serious thought to the quality of
their advertising should be most careful when handling this subject.
Mr. Sherman has put this matter very aptly as follows:
"The merchant in his player advertisement practically tells the
public that it is folly to buy a straight piano, and, as a result, many
prospective purchasers are doubtless scared off from buying any-
thing at all. They say to themselves: 'The straight piano is no
good, and we can't afford the player just now; better wait and see
if the players will get any cheaper.'"
Mr. Sherman also complained of the custom which has grown
to be an abuse, of giving music rolls free with the player-piano, and
not featuring this department of the business along more digni-
fied and profitable lines. In other words, following the example
of the talking machine dealers, who make a good profit on the
sales of records.
The music roll situation is unquestionably a pretty bad one in
many parts of the country, and it would be a much better plan were
prices on music rolls fixed by the manufacturers and maintained by
the piano merchant. At the present time, too, many piano mer-
chants handling music rolls have the "cut price" habit, with the
result that they not only harm the entire business, but make it most
difficult for those piano merchants who believe in conducting the
music roll business on sane, profitable lines, to succeed.
LL piano manufacturers are vitally interested in the main'
tenance of fair and honorable methods in every department
of the trade, and when the product of a brother manufacturer is
assailed maliciously by an unscrupulous sheet, it becomes at once a
matter of trade interest, and when an alleged trade newspaper by
insinuations and innuendo seeks to convey a false impression con-
cerning a reputable product, the trade must be aroused, and surely
members of a piano industry cannot ignore such attacks'.
It is said that the Piano Manufacturers' National Association
will support its members against any unfair attacks by trade news-
papers to the extent of withdrawing advertising patronage from an
offending publication, and there recently appeared an insinuation in
an alleged trade newspaper that the old-established piano of Decker
& Son, New York, is what is colloquially termed a "stencil" piano.
Will the piano manufacturers ignore this attack upon one of their
members? We shall see.
Could any statement be more malicious or untruthful? It is
obvious that if any dealers 1 read the article and are low enough
in their business methods, they will use such a statement to defeat
sales. In other words, it is placing a dishonorable argument in the
hands of men who are base enough to use it and to think of it, such
a statement from a paper which draws sustenance from piano manu-
facturers. Are men so indifferent that they will calmly ignore such
insults ?
On account of such misleading and false statements Decker &
Son have been compelled to issue a warning to the trade that any
infringers of the name or imitators of the piano will be prosecuted
to the full extent of the law.
The Decker & Son piano, which is termed in trade circles the
Decker piano, is put forth from the factory of Decker & Son (Inc.).
The piano represents the work of three generations of Deckers, the
business having been founded by the late Myron A. Decker at
Albany in 1856.
This business has always been in the hands of members' of the
Decker family, and the instruments made by the Deckers have won
a splendid reputation throughout the entire country.
The Decker factory is located at 697-703 East 135th street, and
the structure which they occupy was built for the manufacture of
Decker & Son pianos.
The business methods 1 of the firm have always been honorably,
straightforward, and Frank C. Decker, son of the founder, was
once president of the Piano Manufacturers' National Association.
He is a man who has always held to high business ideals, and now
what must his brother members of the association think to see his
product attacked by a characterless sheet? The question is, will
men continue to support such a publication by advertising patronage ?
It is true the number is steadily diminishing, but there are still
some members of the Piano Manufacturers' National Association
who sit calmly by and give patronage to a publication which attacks
brother members, yes, even a former president of the national as-
sociation as well as the New York association.
T
HE great majority of people can be classified in one or other
of two psychological types, corresponding to the great senses
of sight and hearing.
These classes sometimes are called the "visuals" and the "audi-
tives," respectively. The "visuals" or visualizers seem to conduct
the majority of their mental processes by visual symbolism. They
"think in pictures"; their mental method is graphic. The majority
of women belong to this group, and, of course, the majority of
painters, sculptors, architects, decorators, engineers and mechani-
catty gifted people. Such people readily apprehend space relations,
and can conceive new ones. If they possess this power in high
degree they may paint fine pictures, build new types of architecture,
conceive new machines'.
The auditives, on the other hand, think more in sounds and
words and not in pictures. They naturally include the musicians,
the men of letters and the scientific and philosophic people. They
are more numerous among men than among women. They notice
things around them less, and are more commonly credited with
being "absent-minded."
If great development of either is rare, vastly rarer is great de-
velopment of both in one and the same individual. Such indi-
viduals stand out as the few ffapreme examples of what we call
versatility, and of these the most notable representative in the his-
tory of the world is Leonardo da Vinci,