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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
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11
VALUE OF PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE IN ACTION MAKING
HIGHER FREIGHT SCHEDULES
Forcefully Shown in the Success of th« Firm of Strauch Bros., Makers of the Well-known
Strauch Grand and Upright Piano Actions—Each Member of the Firm a Practical Action
Maker Ever Since the Business Was Started by Feter D. Strauch in 1867.
To Be Filed by l the Eastern Railroads—Con-
template Increasing the Present Tariff Ap-
proximately Five Per Cent.
What practical knowledge of the mechanical
features and necessities of a manufacturing busi-
ness means to the success of a firm is forcefully
shown in the progress which Strauch Bros., 20-30
Tenth avenue, New York, have made as piano
action makers. Although the business was started
in the days when the piano industry was in its in-
fancy in t h i s
country, it has
g r o w n to tre-
mendous propor-
tions, a n d t h e
Strauch g r a n d
and upright piano
actions are known
from coast to
coast as well as
in foreign coun-
tries. Peter 1).
Strauch founded
this great busi-
ness in 1867, but
it was not until
he had won his
laurels as an ex-
pert piano action
maker and had
Peter D. Strauch.
b ee n engaged in
Founder of the Strauch Business t h a t business for
several years, having been apprenticed with F.
Frickinger, of Nassau, N. Y.
It was there that he secured his first position
in this country when he came from Germany in
1851. He was then a mere lad, but was of prac-
tical mind and most thorough in everything he
did. He finally became so expert in the making of
actions that he was given an interest in the busi-
ness by Mr. Frickinger. After this he was suc-
cessful as a partner in the firm, but always had
many ideas of his own which he wished to de-
velop, so in 1863 he came to New York after sell-
ing out his interests in the Frickinger business.
All these years that he had been working at the
bench and as employer also he had been turning
his individual ideas over in his mind, lay-
ing plans to launch
them at the first oppor-
tunity.
He lacked c e r t a i n
knowledge w h i c h he
wished, so he entered
several well-known piano
factories of that day in
Mew York and worked
diligently in various de-
partments, acquiring the
knowledge which he de-
sired, by actual experi-
ence. In .this way he
learned the requirements
William E. Strauch.
o f p i a n o manufacturers.
In 18()7 he founded the firm which now bears his
name and laid the foundation of one of the great-
est action manufacturing firms in the world.
His practical experience had taught him that a
certain standard of quality must be maintained
and he set out to do it. The business was founded
just at the time that the upright action was some-
what of a novelty, but he had certain principles
which hie believed could not fail, owing to his ex-
tensive knowledge of the piano action and piano
business, so he plodded ahead, slow at first, but
gradually gaining in prestige and reputation each
month. He discarded all old and European models
and from his own. mind built and established what
has become known as the "Strauch system." It
has been the maintenance of this system which has
done much toward the success of the business. A
few years" ago he retired.
The present heads of the house, Albert T. Strauch
and William E. Strauch, are thoroughly practical
piano action makers, their knowledge gained
through the same manner in which their father
received his, but under somewhat better and more
modern circumstances. Albert T. Strauch has al-
Daniel Willard, president of the Baltimore and
ways handled the financial end of the business, but
Ohio
Railroad and chairman of the rate commit-
none the less a practical man. He entered
the factory of his father in 1881, where tee of the presidents of Eastern railroads, issued
he remained for four years, working at the bench a statement recently saying that, while it was pro-
and gaining the knowledge which to-day has given posed shortly to file new tariffs with the Interstate
him the name of an authority on piano action Commerce Commission contemplating an increase
of approximately 5 per cent, in freight rates, this
making. For the supervising and selling end of
action
would not be taken for the purpose of "forc-
the business he has information at his fingers' tips
ing early action" on the part of the Commission.
which is invaluable.
He explained that when the Commission recently
W'illiam E. Strauch, who for many years has
refused the request of the railroads to reopen the
supervised the actual manufacturing, having acted
at superintendent of the factory, followed some- case known as "I. C. C. No. 34,000" in order that
they "might be given an opportunity to show the
what the same course of procedure his father did
reasons
which in their opinion justify the in-
so that he would be thoroughly proficient in his
crease,"
the
Commission stated that it would order
official capacity. 'Before he entered the Strauch
1 lant in 1887 he spent several years studying piano an investigation of the case on its own initiative,
construction, working at the bench in each depart- but that two members in a minority report had
ment of the factory under the well-known piano stated that in order to do this the tariffs in ques-
maker Andres Holmstrom, of James & Holmstrom. tion/would have to be filed and be before the Com-
Then he went through the action factory in the mission as evidence.
"In view of the objections raised by the mem-
same manner until he
bers' of the Commission above referred to," said
had mastered each detail
Air. Willard, "the railroads concluded to go ahead,
in the construction of
with the preparation of new tariffs along the lines
Strauch grand and up-
indicated in their application, and to file such tariffs
right actions, thus ac-
as sooii as they could be prepared, in order that
quiring the knowledge
actual tariffs might be before the Commission when
by practical experience,
the matter comes up for consideration, thus meet- 1
which is necessary to
ing the objections raised in the minority
produce actions of that
report.
•
standard of quality al-
ways maintained since
The filing of the tariffs as now contemplated!
the founding of the busi-
docs not in any sense indicate friction between the!
ness. To-day the plant
railroads and the commission, but quite the con-
is one of the largest and
trary. It indicates, if anything, a desire on the
finest in the world for
part of the railroads to comply fully with the ex-
Albert T. Strauch.
manufacturing piano ac-
pressed wishes of the Commission, and should be
tions, and it has 'been through their practical knowl- so understood by the public. The tariffs to be filed
edge of the manufacturing of these actions that
will very likely be suspended by the Commission
the present members of the firm have kept the until an inquiry of the whole question can be con-
Strauch product among the foremost in the land.
ducted."
GIVE INDUSTRY A CHANCE.
DEATH OF J ^ W . GLEASON.
Business Men's Association Wants to Campaign
on that Line.
J. VV. Gleason, for over a quarter of a century
an active figure in the music trade in Western
Canada, and who in 1909 resigned as superinten-
dent of agencies for the Karn-Morris Piano and
Organ Co., Ltd., to engage in farming, died at
his home in Calgary, Alta., recently of cancer.
The Business Men's Association to Untax In-
dustry wants the New \ o r k municipal campaign
tought out along the lines of giving industry a
chance. In a statement issued recently by the
organization's president, John T. McRoy, it is set
forth that there will be an inevitable increase in
thr- city's debt during the next administration, due
in large measure to the policy of the city in the
past of paying for short-lived improvements by
fifty-year bonds and to the fact that the cost of
the dual subway system, instead of being assessed
upon the land benefited thereby, is paid for by the
city as a whole, and that this will be a heavy burden
on industry. Says the statement:
"Factory and labor legislation t.o protect the
lives of the workers of the State will also greatly
increase the cost of doing 'business in New York
City. What is known as the 'Occupancy bill' will
increase the amount of floor space to be provided
in many factories from a quarter to nearly a half.
Obviously this will greatly increase the already
large profits of land owners in the city.
"We are advised by industrial bureaus of sev-
eral great railroads leading out of New York that
they are receiving many applications for sites out-
side the city by owners of large manufacturing
plants here who are oppressed by high rents, high
taxes and the high cost of land.
"Obviously the industries and the commerce of
the city are the great creators and maintainers of
land values in the city. Despite this fact the
Legislature is continuously enacting laws which
militate against industry and commerce and in
favor of land speculation. Wa?te in all city de-
partments, whether through graft or inefficiency,
should be stopped, but even that will not appreci-
ably lighten the unjust and detrimental burden.
upon industry under our present tax system."
Prestige Plus Profit
Equals Permanence
This is a little business equa-
tion which holds good in
pianos as in all. other lines.
Your profits—you know what
they are, or you ought to.
Your prestige—that is the
reputation which you have
earned of selling real pianos
at a fair price.
Your permanence results
. from the other two. It means
you are there to stay with a
surer hold on prosperity each
year.
The practical application of
the whole thing is: "Push the
Cable-Nelson line of pianos
and player-pianos."
CABLE-NELSON PIANO CO.
CHICAGO