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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
5
Comparisons or Rather Contrasts Between the Player and the Automo-
bile Basis of Remarks by Paul B. Klugh—The Hand Played or Record
Roll Discussed in an Interesting Way by Harold A. Hirsh of Chicago.
Any connection between the automobile and the player, except in the sense that some automobile men
have player-pianos, and some player men have automobiles, may not be precisely apparent, but this is because
we look at things in a superficial manner. Paul B. Klugh has, however, set forth here a series of compari-
sons, or rather contrasts, between the two articles and between the attitudes of the public toward them, which
cannot fail to wake up every man who reads what he has said below.
In setting forth so prominently The Point of View developed by Mr. Klugh, we want to urge upon the
piano trade at large the great value of such studies as these. When we compare the tolerant, charitable,
broad-minded manner in which the public has accepted the automobile and all its attendant evils with the
bigotry, the narrow-mindedness, the intolerance which we in the player business have had to fight from the
beginning, we may well ask ourselves what precisely is the reason. Mr. Klugh has here enlightened us. Not
only so, but he has suggested some thoughts that should give us pause and should make us re-value our methods
with unusual care. For it is perfectly evident that the public is not to blame. We alone are at fault if the
public falls for any old thing in the one case and for virtually no old (or new) thing in the other.
Why have we allowed these things to develop? And are we to be content to let them continue? Can we
afford, in effect, to permit anything of the sort? These are the questions that all who read Air. Khigh's words
•will, we trust, earnestly consider.
Specifically, we asked Mr. Klugh this question: What did you see at the Automobile Show that made
you think of the Player business? The question was deliberate and not necessarily whimsical. The answer is
equally unexpected and equally serious.
Then we had another question in mind, which we asked another gentleman to answer, it was this: Do
you believe that the so-called hand-played or record roll is in all senses the last word in player music?
We asked this question of Harold A. Hirsh, Western manager of the Connorized Music Co. He has a
right to speak, for he knows the music-roll business from end to end. We had hoped that we should get a
novel and yet logical viewpoint from him; and we are not disappointed.
The Interesting Answer of Paul B. Klugh, Vice-President of The Cable
Company, Chicago, to the Question Propounded.
You have asked me what I saw at the automobile
show that made me think of player-pianos. The
question might easily be made to appear frivolous.
but I know that
you had a deeper
reason in asking.
And I can say
that I have seen
m u c h at t h e
automobile show
t h a t reminded
me of the player
business; and es-
pecially one thing
t h a t reminded
me of a feature
of our trade that
needs attention
very strongly. To
set forth clearly
what I mean, I
Paul B. Klugh.
shall say that my
text is: "The Intolerant Player-Piano Owner Is
the Tolerant Automobile Owner." And this is
what I have to say on that text:
One of the most interesting traits of human
nature is its peculiar mixture of forbearance and
intolerance. Did you ever notice the average
father's forbearance of his child's whims; and his
intolerance of the same in a child not his own?
This same man, perhaps, will buy a gun, and if he
neglects it so that it rusts inside the barrel, its ac-
curacy thus being destroyed, or if it rusts outside
because it has not been protected, he cheerfully
accepts the responsibility. That's forbearance. But
he'll buy a player-piano, place it beside an open
window so that the humid winds of the Mississippi
Valley can blow upon it in summer, and then he
will condemn the whole outfit because after a year's
neglect it doesn't work properly, or because one or
two parts have rusted. That's intolerance. That
same man doesn't like dirty water in his home; so
he buys a filter, and gladly pays to have it cleaned
periodically. He sees that the filter gets frequent
and regular attention, but his attitude toward the
player is that it should work forever without at-
tention. If he buys a typewriter for his office he
hires a professional to operate, oil and clean it. Yet
he will let Tom, Dick and Harry play his player
and never think of cleaning it. The point is that
coincident with the purchase of almost any mechan-
ical article the responsibility of keeping it in con-
dition, even at considerable expense, is accepted ;
but with the player one sticking key has been
known to cause the wrath of the Gods to be in-
voked in punishment of the dealer. And if the
latter dare to charge for fixing the trouble he is
eternally condemned.
But of all the contrasts which 1 have observed
perhaps the most glaring example is seen in the at-
titude of the average owner of an automobile
toward his purchase. I suppose it's a matter of
education, but we in the piano trade who are
manufacturers of piano-players have our goods
subjected to a kind of criticism and complaint,
which, if made to an automobile manufacturer or
dealer, would be treated with positive contempt.
Primarily, the guarantee is at the bottom of the
trouble. The piano trade has educated the people
to believe that they not only can buy goods for a
paltry sum down and the same paltry sum per
month, but they have taught the general public that
there is an unlimited guarantee behind the goods.
In fact, the guarantee matter has been so far over-
done that even five-year guarantees are no longer
unusual; while what shall we say to the twenty-
five-year guarantee recently advertised by one
house, or the "pianos guaranteed for life" of an-
other? I have never heard of an automobile being
guaranteed for more than one year, and even that
guarantee is so worded as to bi> in effect nugatory
compared with ours. Automobile people treat their
stock of repair parts and the profits accruing from
the sale of same as a large asset. Whoever heard
<>f a piano or player manufacturer making money
out of supply parts? 1 noticed last year, in the
failure of some automobile companies, that their
greatest assets were on the sale of parts for re-
placements and repairs. This has become such s.
valuable part of the automobile business and is so
well understood by the public that an Eastern com-
pany of considerable size has been organized and
maintained for the sole purpose of buying up re-
pair and replacement stocks and selling them to
owners. Nobody ever heard of this in the piano
business. Of course, the argument will be ad-
vanced that in the piano and player business you
do not need many repairs, whereas in the case of
the automobile you do. All right; that's a point
in favor of my argument, and stands as a testi-
monial to the sturdiness of construction and the
enduring character of the goods which the piano
trade turns out. This being the fact, it is fairly
reasonable to expect that, in regard to articles of
merchandise as complicated as player-pianos, which,
however, need so little attention and repair,
the owner's attitude should be one of for-
bearance.
I visited the automobile show last month a num-
ber of times, stood around automobile exhibits and
listened to the salesmen's talks (not that I had not
heard them before, for a have been their target
for many years), and I was interested in finding
out how the automobile man treats the criticisms
and complaints of owners of their own cars or of
others! At the exhibit of one world-famed auto-
Lp*ge. 7.)