Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1918 Vol. 66 N. 8

Page 3 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
PLAYER SECTON
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 23, 1918
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The Demands Which the War Will Make Upon Both Labor and Supplies
During the Present Year Make It Imperative for Player-Piano Manufacturers
to Increase Their Manufacturing Efficiency Through Every Possible Method
The outstanding problem of the present time
is conservation of energy.
By this is meant
the very definite question of producing as
much as possible from the man-power and ma-
terial capacity of the nation, during a period
when both will be largely absorbed in military
work, while the probable demand for the prod-
ucts of industry will be enormously increased.
Tying 1 our discussion down to our own in-
dustry, the situation comes to this: In the first
place, there is every reason to anticipate a very
large demand for player-pianos during the com-
ing year. In the second place, there is the al-
most complete certainty to be faced that ma-
terial will be scarce and labor just as scarce.
Therefore, how are we to fill the demand?
Labor Shortage
A few considerations on the question of labor
will not be out of place. There are as many
opinions concerning the duration of the war as
there are people to voice opinions. Most of
them, of course, are worthless; but the best in-
formed seem to be neither excessively optimistic
nor at all pessimistic. The campaign of 1918
may finish it all up, and in that case next year
will see us with the labor market in better con-
dition. When the end comes it will come with
astonishing suddenness; that much is perfectly
certain.
Hut suppose we take'the middle view and look
to the campaign of 1919 as final. In that case
it may be expected that the drafts of man-power
for the army will account for not less than three
million men and that twice as many will be di-
rectly engaged in work intended for the mili-
tary and naval needs of the war. To these men
will by that time have been added probably a
million women; so that we may say with reason
that during the year 1918 it -will not be exces-
sively conservative to estimate that one-tenth
of the population, or one-fifth of the available
labor power, will be absorbed in non-pacific in-
dustry.
Naturally, the effect upon the labor situation
for industries like ours will necessarily be acute.
We shall be short of men.
The Material and Supply Situation
It is not to be expected that this nation will
continue during the remainder of the year 1918
in the same state of confusion with regard to
transportation tljat has characterized the early
winter. It is quite certain, in fact, that there
will be a progressive improvement, as the Gov-
ernment finds itself taking a tighter grip on
the situation. Therefore, the anticipated short-
age of supplies for manufacturing will not, in
all probability, be traceable to transportation
troubles if it continues to exist at all. Xor shall
we rind the same difficulty regarding the ship-
ment westward of manufactured goods, since
the great movements of raw material will be
mainly eastward and the cars may return loaded
with manufactured products for internal con-
sumption. Any difficulty, in fact, is much more
likely to supervene through a definite shortage
of raw material, such as we have already ex-
perienced to some extent and are likely to hear
more of as time goes on.
Such a situation as this we must face frankly.
If the needs of airplane manufacture, for in-
stance, absorb so much piano wire and spruce,
even of o ducing mills are overstrained, the piano busi-
ness will have to wait. If there is any difficulty
in getting leather, the cause will be found in
military needs. And so on. We cannot help
these matters. But it is safe to say that, with
due organization, there is raw material enough
in the country for all needs, military and non-
military alike. Give us a little time and we shall
get these matters of organization settled to the
satisfaction of all. That much we can say rea-
sonably, liven if production must be cut down
somewhat, we shall simply have to concentrate
on better class goods. That, in reality, is the
goal towards which we arc all the time tending.
The Demand
In the face of conditions, then, which spell
difficulty, even though not insuperable difficulty,
in keeping up the quantity of output, we are
faced with the probability of a very much in-
creased retail demand.
The predictions that
were made by croakers when we entered the
war nearly a year ago, the shriekings of those
who were commanding us to stop everything
(including all the activities that produce the
means for financing the war), have pretty well
been suppressed. A healthier and saner tone
now prevails. It is becoming understood that
the business of the nation is to win the war, and
that winning the war means having the money
with which to win it. This money must, come
from the people; and they can only get it by-
having commerce and industry to produce wealth
for them. Otherwise we shall be in the plight
of that mining village of which one has heard,
where the mines petered out and the few inhabi-
tants who had been unable to get away were
eking out a frugal living by taking in each
other's washing!
Cons derations such as these teach us tliat
the war activities of the nation, combined with
the drafting of man power for service abroad
which will create a shortage of skilled labor,
will re>ult in an enormous increase in the earn-
ing power of the people. The experience of
Great Britain shows that the enormous activ-
ities of modern war so stimulate industry that a
state of almost unbelievable prosperity exists
among the working classes.
It is this increase in earning power which will
lead to a parallel increase in buying. People
who have never been able to buy an upright
piano will have one, people who have only
dreamed of a player-piano will have one. Peo-
ple who have longed in vain for a baby grand,
will have one. The retail demand will be enor-
mous; and there is no wisdom in imagining
aught else.
Organizing Production
But it is obvious that we must organize pro-
duction if we are to come anywhere near filling
this demand which we see coming into existence
already. We have to increase our production
under conditions that would normally tend
largely to decrease it. How is this to be done?
For one thing the labor question must be
taken up; now and definitely. But this does not
mean merely the matter of replacing one lot of
nun with another lot of men and women. It
means really analyzing the whole question of
distributing our labor through the processes of
manufacture. Every man who can be replaced
by the development of an automatic process is
a man who in after-the-war days will not be
needed in the industry. The man who cannot
be replaced by the development of an automatic
machine process may, however, be replaced by a
woman. There is no doubt of this.
Female Labor
I n a player factory the following departments
can certainly be organized on a basis of female
labor only:
Motor—Assembling motors, testing motors,
assembling miscellaneous non-speaking' pneu-
matics, testing same, gluing up motor pneu-
matics.
Bottom Action—Gluing up bellows cloths, as-
sembling bellows, testing bellows.
Top Action—Making pneumatics, making
valves, gluing up pouch boards, assembling top
actions.
Testing—Testing top actions, timing motors,
adjusting expression devices, etc.
This leaves the mill work and the shipping to
be done by male labor. Probably there will be
little need for any experiments in fitting female
labor to this sort of work.
A few words here are to the point. There
is too much inclnation to treat this important
(Continued on ['age 4)

Page 4 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
CONSERVING ENERGY
(Continued from page 3)
subject of female labor lightly. We have seen
alleged "current events" films supposed to be
illustrating war activities in which professional
models, movie people and others were most pal-
pably pretending to do work at machines of va-
rious sorts, when in fact the thing was so badly
done as to cause derision even amongst the
most careless. Indeed, a working class audi-
ence sees through fakes of this sort instantly.
This will not do. We don't want fun made of
it. In the player business we have used women
for a long time in pneumatic and valve work.
We can use them in every part of player ac-
tion making save only the heavy mill work. But
we must be reasonably serious about it.
Labor Saving
But this is not all. There is the still equally
important question of substituting machine for
hand work. To give a few examples, dipping
can be used for shellac work to a greater extent,
the gluing of pneumatics on chests can be
speeded up by the use of machinery to spread
the glue, and other detail refinements of the
kind can be studied out. The writer has seen
encouraging steps recently taken in these di-
rections.
As a matter of fact also, there is to be seen
an encouraging tendency towards less expen-
sive methods of construction which shall yet be
even more efficient than the older ones. It is
only necessary to mention the gradual progress
of the unit-valve idea to see what may be done
But still more productive of definite results
is likely to be the discovery by superintendents
of means for increasing the output of existing
machinery. In these days the study of ef-
ficiency methods is no longer, for our industry,
a mere question of increasing profits. It has
become a question of keeping the industry going.
Faced with shortage of labor on one side and
increased demand on the other, we must make
our available machinery more efficient, by in-
creasing the efficiency of the operators, and we
must do all we can to increase the use of labor
saving devices. Unless we can do this we shall
not be able to adjust our industry to the new
conditions of war.
The Player-Piano of
Ultimate Type!
The general ideas of simplicity, fool-proofness, leaklessness, easy
pumping, and so on, which have from the beginning characterized the
remarkable production known as
The M. Schulz Company
Player-Piano
have been steadfastly adhered to during seven years of unexampled
commercial and technical success. Of this player-piano it may truly
be said, whatever may be said truly of any other, that it has proved
itself to be:
The Lightest Pumper The Most Popularly Appealing
The Least Troublesome
The Best Seller
that has appeared as yet on the market; making all allowances and
balancing all probabilities on either side.
This wonderful record, which we can prove, is mainly due to the
splendid technical points of Schulz construction, and especially to the
Sure-Seat Valve (Single
System) never leaks, never
sticks, never stops working.
and to the
Wonderful Walk-Step
Pedals and Bellows-System
producing highest vacuum
with least effort.
Other constructional refinements of equal significance are set forth,
for your benefit, in the SCHULZ
PLAYER
BOOK which
we ask )) ou t° let us ^nd you. It is a pocket player encyclopedia.
We have a Real Dealer proposition that you
would like to know about. Suppose you write us.
M. SCHULZ COMPANY
Established 1869
General Offices
Schulz Building
3 Factories in
711 Milwaukee Ave.
CHICAGO
CHICAGO
Southern Wholesale Branch
1530 Candler Bldg.
ATLANTA, GA.
FEBRUARY 23, 1918
MAKING PLAYER ACTION PARTS
New Department in Strauch Factory, New York
—Many Automatic Machines Place Strauch
Bros, in Position to Turn Out These Parts
Economically for Player Action Makers
A new department has been installed in the
extensive factory of Strauch Bros., 22 Tenth
avenue, New York, in which particular atten-
tion is how being given to the manufacturing
of parts for player actions. For some time past
the executives of this concern have been making
a thorough study of the development of the
player action business, and have familiarized
themselves with the requirements of manufac-
turers who produce player actions.
Already several representative manufacturers
have placed good-sized orders with Strauch
Bros, for various parts to be used in their player
action. The Strauch factory is particularly well
equipped for this kind of work. A large num-
ber of automatic machines, some of which make
as many as nine distinct operations in the turn-
ing out and finishing of a small part, have been
perfected by the Strauch mechanical experts and
are in daily use. Besides this Strauch Bros,
have also the facilities for storing a vast quan-
tity of well seasoned lumber, and have at their
command other necessities which enter into the
construction of player action parts, so that lit-
tle delay is caused in turning out this work.
Another feature is the fact that the working
force is made up of many old-time piano action
manufacturers, who are skilled in the careful
production of many intricate parts similar in con-
struction to those which are necessary in a
player action.
Albert T. Strauch stated to a representative
of The Review this week: "We have found that
we can be of service to a great many player
action manufacturers and piano manufacturers
who make their own player actions by supplying
them with certain parts for their actions more
economically than they can make them them-
selves. We are now doing this for several large
concerns, and would be very glad to hear from
others. Any manufacturer who has any player
action parts which he would care to have made
will, T am sure, find it profitable to consult us.
and we will be very glad to submit estimates,
but would like to have the manufacturer send
us a sample so that we can judge accurately
just what the cost will be."
AUTOMATIC PATENT GRANTED
Device Patented Relative to the Construction of
Automatic Players
WASHINGTON, D. C, February 18.—The Rudolph
Wurlitzer Mfg. Co., North Tonawanda, N. Y.,
are the owners through assignment by Elmer L.
Ouchie, Detroit, Mich., of Patent No. 1,252,479
for an automatic musical instrument.
This invention relates to keyed musical in-
struments, such as pianos, which are adapted to
be played either automatically or manually, and
more particularly to an instrument of this kind
in which a plurality of trackers and music sheets
are employed.
One object of the invention is the provision
of an efficient and reliable instrument of this
character which is capable of playing continu-
ously, and which permits the operator to start
or stop either of the music sheets at will.
Further objects of the invention are to pro-
vide simple and reliable means for cutting off
one tracker from the wind chest while the other
is in service, and to improve the construction of
the instrument in various other respects.
HOLD ANNUAL MEETING
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH., February 18.—The an-
nual meeting of the National Piano Manufac-
turing Co. of this city was held last week, and
an excellent report was made regarding" busi-
ness for 1917. Walter Ioor was re-elected presi-
dent, Joseph Renihan vice-president, and S. D.
Thompson secretary-treasurer.

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