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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL -
Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorial Staff:
B. BKITTAIN WILSON,
A. J. NiCKLiN,
CARLETON CHACE,
L. M. ROBINSON,
AUGUST J. TIMPE,
Wit. B. WHITE,
BOSTON O F F I C E :
JOKH H. WILSON, 324 Washington St.
Telephone, Main 6950.
GLAD HBNDMSON,
L. E. BOWIES.
CHICAGO O F F I C E :
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Lyman Bill.
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 c this
paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information cone ining
which will be cheerfully given upon request.
T PiiinA
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Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition,. 1900 Silver Medal.. .Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma. .. .Pan-American Exposition, 1901 Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal. .Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905.
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NEW YORK, DECEMBER 11, 1915
EDITORIAL
CTIVITY in almost every factory throughout the Union fur-
nishes undeniable evidence that 1915 is going out in a whirl
of excitement. The last two months of the year will establish new
records of accomplishments in many industries.
It is to be hoped that the present active business conditions are
not merely a temporary trade feverishness, due to unusual demands
made upon America by the people of the war-torn lands of Europe.
It is believed by many in this country that America is entering upon
an era of prosperity which will last for a period of years, and that
we will not slump back immediately after the close of the war.
So far as the piano industry is concerned, it needs many things.
In the first place, it needs a thorough building up in the way of edu-
cational effort, carried on by those who are vitally interested in mak-
ing the American people think pianos not merely as an article of
furniture successfully rounding out the room equipment, but as a
factor in our lives which will give pleasure, comfort and entertain-
ment to all members of the family.
We cannot expect to sit back and have the piano business con-
stantly developing without aid on the part of those whose invest-
ments and whose business interests are wholly wrapped up in the
future of the industry. Something must be done in the way of
healthy co-operation by piano manufacturers and dealers in order
that the best results may be achieved.
In another portion of this paper we present a few opinions
from members of the trade located in various parts of the country
concerning the co-operative plan of national publicity, as suggested
by the Editor of The Music Trade Review in the early part of the
year.
Space prohibits the presentation of the many communications
which we have received. It is gratifying to note that there is prac-
tically a unanimity of opinion concerning the desirability of con-
certed action on the part of piano manufacturers and piano mer-
chants in the promotion of public interest in the piano and player-
piano, and there is a fixed belief in the minds of many that the
result of this aroused interest will crystallize in the adoption of a
well-defined, systematic plan, sanctioned and supported by the
various elements of the music trade.
A
H
OLIDA.Y activity has caught many napping, so to speak, be-
cause during the lean months of the first part of the year
adequate preparations were not made to take care of the accentuated
trade about which many had doubts earlier in the season.
Piano manufacturers did not feel like carrying the entire bur-
den of piling up stock. Hence, there has been but little accumu-
lation, and with the greatly reduced time on which most factories
were operated during the early months of the year, it was impos-
sible to create reserve supplies in the way of completed instruments.
The music trade is not the only one which is going to suffer a
holiday shortage on that account, for many other industries are
facing the same conditions. There is one thing, however, which is
particularly pleasing and that is that the "reverts," instruments
which have been taken back on account of non-payment of instal-
ments, cannot be relied upon to take the place of lower priced
pianos.
Thousands of "revert" instruments have been taken into ware-
rooms, rehabilitated, and made to fill a certain void in the dealer's
stock, and as a result manufacturers of instruments whose grade
would be particularly affected by such transaction have suffered
materially.
This condition, however, will not be evidenced during the New
Year for the "revert" source of supply has become practically
exhausted.
There is another condition, however, which is rather unpleasant
which piano manufacturers will have to face during the New Year,
and that is the increased cost of production.
Statements made by various supply manufacturers in another
part of this publication will serve to give a fairly correct idea of
how the supply men view the trade outlook. They cannot continue
prices on the same basis because raw materials in various lines have
gone skyward at such an alarming rate that it is out of all reason
to expect that 1914 prices can be maintained, and piano manufac-
turers who in turn must face a rising tide of cost on all of the mate-
rials which enter into pianos, will be compelled to ask more for their
instruments. That condition seems to be unavoidable, and it is not
one which shows that the manufacturers desire increased profits, but
is if simply one of the many changes which are brought about by the
European war upsetting the economic conditions of the world.
O-OPERATION in all lines of human endeavor is one of the
marked features in the recent development of American
industrial forces.
The spirit of co-operation is broadcast in the land, and there
is a healthy desire on the part of. American manufacturers to co-
operate with merchants, and as a result of that co-operation greater
efficiency is evidenced in the distribution of products.
It is a new spirit which has been steadily developing, and it is
obvious that mutual advantages are resulting from these conditions.
Only a little while ago great corporations were accused of
selfishness, and, yet, to-day we find that they are the fountains, as
it were, of the spirit of healthy co-operation.
Take for illustration the American Steel & Wire Co. The
vice-president and sales manager of the company, Frank Baackes,
is a man who has a keen, comprehensive and intelligent grasp of
the entire commercial situation. Brought as he is into daily con-
tact with the selling forces of this great corporation, he has realized
the advantage of the spirit of co-operation in all of the vast ramifi-
cations of the great corporation which he directs.
He has surrounded himself with staff leaders and thinkers, so
that his particular views are carried out in a practical manner.
The piano industry has benefited through the association with
it of Frank E. Morton, acoustic engineer of the American Steel
& Wire Co. He has blazed a new trail, as it were. Quietly and
unostentatiously he has been a scientific as well as practical aid to
piano manufacturers, through his knowledge of acoustics and scale
drafting.
The entire experimental department of this great organization
has been of distinct service to the piano industry, and small manu-
facturers, as well as the large, have been able to avail themselves
of the services of a corporation whose resources are endless, and
whose constant investigation into the realm of acoustics has been a
constant aid in tonal development. It is this kind of constructive
work—that healthy and helpful co-operation between industrial and
distributing forces—which makes for advance in efficiency.
C