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THE
MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
H
E is gone and we have to make good without him. Candidly,
the organization which Colonel Bill so painstakingly created
has that probl.m before it. It is a problem, happily; of which the
solution is already evident. It is our business simply to carry out
the plain, practical, farseeing policies which he laid down. He was
a farseeing man. The future of the player business claimed his
attention fifteen years ago, and when the present writer began to
contribute to The Review, some twelve years ago, Colonel Bill
was already revolving those plans for service which culminated
in the publication of The Review's technical library and in the
Player Section. The plans which he at that time had begun to
work out have been weighed and not found wanting. Time has,
in fact, simply shown that he foresaw the future rightly and
planned wisely to bring his organization up to a point of efficiency
where it could deal with the situation as it developed. At the
present time The Review devotes more attention specifically to the
player than do all other trade papers combined. This attention to
one branch of the piano industry is justified by the enormous im-
portance of that branch, an importance which grows yearly. At
the saire time, it has been evident from the start that there could
be no intelligent treatment of this subject save in a systematic, in-
telligent manner, worked out after careful thought. To those who
have been entrusted with the preparation of the monthly Player
Section has been left a measure of freedom for the development of
ideas and the expression of opinion, a measure, be it said, both
broad and generous. The sense of responsibility thus developed
will, the present writer ventures to hope, continue to carry the
Player Section further along toward that co-ordination of perfect
service and perfect satisfaction which is the goal of all sincere
trade paper editing.
I
^ H E really remarkable lack of interest shown by the trade at
large towards the whole subject of educational betterment is
well realized by those who are undertaking to find methods and
means for the extension of such education. The public-spirited
manufacturers who support the Danquard School in New York,
who co-operate with that school, who support and co-operate with
thi- Chicago Player School, and in every way do their best to help
along a movement of the greatest importance and interest, know
well that there arc two great obstacles in the way of a complete
realization of their ideals. These may most concisely be described
as Prejudice and Ignorance. There are actually manufacturers who
fear the spread of technical knowledge among their employes on
MAKE PIANOS OUT OF OLD PLAYERS
By Stripping Player Actions Out of Old Sixty-
five-Note Players Taken in Exchange, and
Turning Them into Straight Pianos, Dealers
Can Solve a Rather Difficult Problem.
What to do with used sixty-five-note player-
pianos, taken back in exchange for eighty-eight-
note instruments, is a problem that is growing
more serious with the piano dealer every day.
Public knowledge of the • difference between the
sixty-fivc-note and the eighty-eight-note player has
become so general that the average purchaser can-
not be interested in the former, and the sale of
the older players, even at greatly reduced rates, is
very difficult. Manager A. J. Lehmkuhl, of Lyon
& Healy, Chicago, has suggested a very practical
method of disposing of used sixty-five-note players.
He says :
"Just strip the player actions out of the sixty-
five-note players and convert them into straight
pianos, and sell them as such. This practise has
been established in our concern, and not long ago
we put forty-two used instruments of this class
through such a course and placed them on the floor
as second-hand pianos, and had no difficulty in dis-
posing of them. If every dealer will adopt this
course there will shortly be no problem to contend
11
the ground that thereby some valuable trade secret might be dis-
covered. Yet it is the solemn truth to say that if all the trade
secrets of all the piano manufacturers could be spread out in a row
it would be found that a majority of them were common property,
jealously guarded only because their owners severally did not know
enough to detect their possession by others. Trad.' secrets are
nearly always sheer nonsense. We don't want secrets, we want
knowledge. It matters not a scrap that an individual manufac-
turer inherits some traditional way of doing things if once some
rival comes along with scientific knowledge. Exact knowledge,
which goes to the bottom of things, is better than all the alleged
s crets in the world. In fact, there are no real secrets, and the
alleged ones are very nearly all "secrets" that should be forgotten
at the earliest opportunity.
HE fact is that the trade schools, such as the Danquard and the
Chicago Player School, are doing a good work. They are
Leaching practical men, like tuners and repairers, the truth about
player mechanism. They are showing these men that there are no
secrets which cannot be at once laid open to the mechanical sense
of the student, and, furthermore, they are showing that the ability
to understand, to adjust and to repair all makes of players can be
Taught as easily in respect of twenty different tyjxs as of one.
Technical knowledge, be it known, never has hurt any business, and
it is the rankest sort of foolishness to suppose that such training has
any but the best effects upon the industry. The truth is that only
ignorance, that creator of fear and hand-maiden of prejudice and
bigotry, is responsible for the indifference or the hostility occa-
sionally discovered among those who should be the most eager to
assist in the carrying on of a good work.
T
FTER the great War is over there will certainly be a condition
of affairs in the industrial world which will compel the notice
of us all. If there is on^ direction in which the American manu-
facturer is inefficient it is in his unwillingness to look beyond the
borders of his own country. There is going to be an industrial war
in the world after the present war i.s all over. That war is going
to affect every business man in the United States, and every labor-
ing man, too. Now is the time to prepare ourselves to take our
rightful place in the world's markets. One way of preparing is to
encourage technical education. There are very few methods more
important, easier to organize or more lasting in their effects.
A
with, as the sixty-five-note player will gradually
bo eliminated and this echo of the days of pioneer-
ing in the player field will cease. This method of
disposing of these old players enables the dealer to
solve the problem they present without loss, subter-
fuge or delay in disposing of the trade-ins.' 1
PLAYER ROLLS IN PUBLIC LIBRARY.
St. Louis Library Has Established a Circulating
Department for Music Rolls, and Finds the
Plan Works Out Successfully.
(Special to The Review.")
ST. LOUIS, MO., January 24.—The Public Library
here, after a month's trial, reports that their cir-
culating music roll department has proven a great
success. More than 500 player rolls are listed, and
patrons are allowed to take rolls home and use
them for a week or ten days, the same rules ap-
plying to the rolls as apply to the taking of books
from the library. The rolls are classified, cata-
loged according to subjects, and separated accord-
ing to the type of instrument to which they are
adapted. Librarian Bostwick states that he ex-
pects the music roll department to become one of the
most popular and useful features of the library.
The library has no appropriation for the purchase
of rolls, individual contributions of money and of
used rolls being depended upon to enlarge and
maintain the department.
One public-spirited
woman recently donated 160 rolls to the- library,
and many smaller donations have been received.
A certificate of voluntary dissolution has been
filed by the Orient Music Co., of Hartford, Conn.
Store Rack for 500 Music Rolls-$12
6}^ feet high, 3 feet wide, holding 500 rolls. Made of metal with
bright copper finish. Keeps rolls properly classified and displays
them so you SELL rolls instead of storing them. Send the $12
today on a money-back-unless-satiified plan.
If yon want mere detail*
before sending the f i t .
ask /•«- Folder No. «.
The
Syracuse Wire Works, Syracuse,