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THE
MUSIC
TRADE
ONFIRMED readers of this Section—and we shall suppose,
for purposes of publication, that there are such—will no
doubt observe with some interest the appearance in, and as part of,
The Review a new department or branch known as the Automatic
Section. It is not our purpose to call any special attention to the
possibilities of this new extension of The Review's activities, for
this has already been done better by the proper persons in the
proper place. But it is our intention to point out that the mere
fact of this special Section being deemed necessary shows the auto-
matic business, so called, to have arrived at a state of prosperity
and a condition of magnitude which player men in general would
be well advised to consider thoughtfully. On the one hand, we
are not among the believers in a player made as nearly as possible
like a refined and elaborate coin-operated electric piano; a refined
and highly elaborated form of pure automatism, no doubt, but such
a form in real meaning and no more. On the contrary, we believe
thoroughly in the idea of personal control as the distinguishing
feature of the player-piano as distinguished from its humbler
brethren. On the other hand, we are obliged to admit that the
player man may learn much from his automatic (if we may so
speak) colleagues in the way of mechanical ingenuity. For while
the player-piano has been gradually refined mainly by the elimina-
tion of the useless and the superfluous, the automatic, per contra,
has progressed through increasing complexity; using this term in
its best sense. The parallel lines of direction, however, which have
guided the two industries, begin to converge. The coming of the
film-player introduces into the so-called automatic field the per-
sonal work of a more or less skilled "player-pianist"; and thus
the two ideas begin to approach within speaking distance of each
other. Just how far the tendencies will converge it is not now
possible to say; but it is a safe guess that just as the player-piano a
few years ago began to look for a time as if it would end up by be-
coming purely automatic, so now the automatic begins to show signs
of becoming an immensely elaborate, ingenious and efficient form of
personally played player-piano. The progress of this industry as it
will now be so carefully and completely reported in the Automatic
Section of The Review will have more than passing interest.
C
w
E have no sympathy with the professional optimist; with the
man who "optimizes" (to commit a barbarism for the sake
REVIEW
13
of the sound) as a matter of business; who thinks it necessary to
talk loudly about how good he feels, when really he does not know
how to feel at all, except to feel bad. So, we have little sympathy
with the sort of talk that is so often handed around concerning the
possibilities of trade quickly recovering from the troubles caused
by the European situation. In very fact, we believe now, as we
have always believed, that the European war need necessarily make
no difference whatever to those who go about their business intelli-
gently. Of course, those who have been careless, or have frenziedly
financed, are suffering. But then, nobody will pretend that these
persons have been intelligent. As Huxley says about Nature (we
quote from memory), "It is not a word and a blow and the blow
first; it is the blow without the word. And you are left to find out
why your ears are boxed." Those who sow the wind should not
complain if they have to reap the whirlwind. Still, this is not in-
telligence, and never was intelligence. What we mean is that if you
use intelligence about your business, it will take more than an Euro-
pean war to spoil it. Those who doubt the accuracy of this state-
ment are respectfully requested to read the remarks published in
the Point of View Department of this Section this week.
T
HE fact of the matter is that the player business, anyhow, is a
business which has been astonishingly free from retail in-
telligence in most quarters, ever since it began to be a business.
Certain great houses from the first, of course, saw the light, saw
what they had to do, and set the minds included within their organi-
zations to work to devise intelligent means for selling. And these
houses have won out. To-day, the dealer who has used inteiligence
finds that he can still sell player-pianos. And the truth is*that so
long as these men continue to use intelligence they will C5ontm«e"t6
sell player-pianos. It is simply a matter of approaching the tlj|t*g
from an entirely impartial aspect, and working out your conclusions
to their logical end. Such men as those who have talked to us this
week in the Point of View Department are illustrating in their daily
business the successful application, in these very times, of the prin-
ciples for which they contend. And what they have done others
can do. Napoleon said, "Circumstances: I create circumstances,"
and while he perhaps exaggerated the personal note, he did at least
speak one great truth: that the things which surround are, ulti-
mately, our own creation.
PRAISE SCHULZJ>LAYER BOOK.
In Connection with Comments on "What the
Manual for Ultimate Consumer Should Con-
tain," This Book and Its Making Wins Fa-
vor of Editors of the "Little Schoolmaster."
Under the title, "What the Manual for the Ulti-
mate Consumer Should Contain," a writer in last
week's Printers' Ink refers to the recent player
publication issued by the M. Schulz Co., Chicago,
111., as follows :
"Good use of illustrations in a consumers'
manual is shown in the Schulz Player Book, re-
cently issued by the M. Schulz Co. as a help- for
users of its player-piano. In this book the text
descriptive of the player mechanism is paralleled
the full depth of the page by a cut of that portion
of the instrument which is being described; and
in the case of the first appearance of a word or
technical term indicative of an essential feature
of the mechanism the word is surrounded by a
red arrow which leads direct to the corresponding
feature in the illustration.
"This gives the reader little excuse for not
knowing what the author of the manual refers
to in his comments. The player-piano is an ex-
ample of a product which naturally needs to be
supplemented by a comprehensive manual if a
satisfied customer is to be secured. The mechan-
ical phases of the subject are so interwoven with
the artistic that only by approaching the proposi-
tion from just the right angle may truly
factory resujts be obtained,"
THIS IS "IT"
Our
"Duplex"
No. 125
Player-Roll
Cabinet
Capacity 60 Rolls
At Player Piano Height.
(Patented June 16th, 1914)
JUST WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR
A practical combination Bench with Music Roll Cabinet all combined in one.
The illustration shows it at player height. To make it piano height simply
raise the top, revolve the center, and you have a regular duet size piano bench
15x36.
It will prove a money-maker for you. Write for catalog and price?'
CHICAGO PIANO BENCH CO.
1115-1125 W. Lake St.
CHICAGO,- ILL.