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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
MEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SP1LLANE, Managing Editor
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Player-Piano and
Technical Departments.
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning, regu-
lating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos are
dealt 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 given upon request.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Diploma
Paris Exposition, 1900
Silver Medal- •.Charleston Exposition, 1902
Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal-• Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905
X.ONO DISTAJTCTC TELEPHONES—NUMBERS 5982—5983 MADISON SQ.
Connecting- all Departments
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NEW
YORK,
APRIL
18, 1914
EDITORIAL
B
USINESS prospects throughout the country are improving.
Crop conditions at this time of the year were never hetter,
and the only cloud on the horizon is the activity of our law-
makers in Washington, who are not giving the country a chance
to recuperate from the radical changes in the tariff, currency and
other matters which have been the subjects of adjustment by
Congress. The dilatory tactics of the Interstate Commerce Com-
mission in withholding a decision regarding higher freight rates
for railroads is also a serious hindrance to business advance.
The people of the country are getting weary of regulative
legislation and the apparent animus toward business men and
business institutions which prevails in Washington. There is
a growing sentiment that it is time that there should be a let-up
and allow the country to get a breathing spell.
We have still to face considerable anti-trust legislation, with
a suggested Interstate Trade Commission, which plans to super-
vise business as the railroads are now supervised. Heaven knows
if a law is passed to supervise business generally along the same
snail-like plan that the railroads are now supervised, it will be a
serious hindrance to business expansion and business health.
As we have frequently remarked, there seems to be a verita-
ble craze among legislators at the present time for supervision.
We are fast becoming Russianized in a manner that is simply
abhorrent to real Americans and admirers of democratic govern-
ment. Our "supervising" tendencies are the very antithesis of
the ideals adhered to by the founders of our government.
T
HE attainment of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of
the house of Kranich & Bach, which is referred to at some
length in another part of this issue of The Review, brings forci-
bly to mind the achievements of this famous piano manufactur-
ing establishment—the personalities that have contributed to
its success, and the broad-minded, artistic policy which has ever
been adhered to in the conduct of the business.
Anniversary celebrations may be termed milestones on the
road to progress, as they enable one to measure accomplishments
and plan out new achievements—hence this golden anniversary
of Kranich & Bach brings before us the aims and purposes of
the founders of this business—their especial qualifications—their
ideals and realizations.
Helmuth Kranich was an intensely practical man who de-
voted himself to the production of pianos with a zeal and enthu-
siasm born of a desire to produce the best possible product, while
his partner, Jacques Bach, was a business man of splendid quali-
fications—cultured, refined—a man who made hosts of friends
personally and for his house in his country-wide travels.
That such men should succeed was inevitable. They
stamped their individuality on the Kranich & Bach products.
They builded not for a day, but for all time. They exercised the
most painstaking care in the manufacture of their products, hold-
ing ever in mind the highest ideals, to the end that recognition
should come to them as thoroughly upright piano manufacturers,
whose products were entitled to the widest recognition from dis-
criminating musicians.
When these pioneers passed away they bequeathed to their
children a record as piano manufacturers and honorable men,
which the present members of the house of Kranich & Bach have
not only cherished, but splendidly perpetuated. For they have
moved along careful, progressive lines, never making a move that
would tarnish the Kranich & Bach prestige, but rather, through
the production of pianos and player-pianos of great worth, have
distinctly augmented the reputation handed down to them in a
manner that has won national recognition.
It rarely happens that the sons of the founders of a business
should be associated with the same concern after fifty years of
existence, all imbued with the same ideals, the same aspirations,
the same purposes as were possessed by their fathers—creating
instruments that represent the highest expressions of musical
art, made by men of creative and executive ability who are
pushing on to new conquests and new achievements.
But such is the record of the conscientious, capable gentle-
men who to-day control the destinies of Kramch & Bach.
T
HE average business man, whether he makes and sells pianos
or is engaged in some other branch of trade, is, if he is suc-
cessful, a believer in modern business methods—in efficiency in
business. The great trouble with many successful men is, however,
that they are so busy looking after the details of trade that they do
not have the time or inclination to look after their personal efficiency
and keep it up to a fixed standard, a matter as vital as the proper
condition of the business itself.
A new society has been organized in New York, which has the
support of the leading insurance companies, and which has for its
abject the periodical physical examination of those who subscribe
to it or are eligible to enjoy its service for other reasons. The
society is based on the old idea that "an ounce of prevention is
worth a pound of cure" and plans to reduce or eliminate organic
troubles in the human body by discovering and treating such in-
cipient trouble before it has a chance to develop to dangerous pro-
portions.
The insurance companies endorse and support the new idea,
not from any feeling of philanthropy, but because by anticipating
and counteracting in the beginning the ailments of their policyhold-
ers they can secure more premiums per policy and therefore make
more money. Can the individual business man afford, any more
than the insurance company, to risk illness?
The factory and its equipment are inspected regularly, and the
slightest sign of trouble, even a loose bolt on a machine, brings
quick relief, and yet the head of the factory gaes for years, perhaps,
without undergoing a single inspection.
In all too many cases the business man feels that he cannot
spare the time from his desk to go under an examination at regular
intervals, or to treat minor ailments, with the result that he is finally
compelled to give up business entirely at the end to overcome some
serious ailment that has been years in developing.
The officials of a company are certainly as valuable to its prog-
ress as the machinery used for manufacture of its product, so why
should he not give his physical welfare the same attention? It's
good business!