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SEPTEMBER 21, 1918
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
9
REVIEW
ORGAN BUILDERS' ASSOCIATION COMPLETELY ORGANIZED
Constitution and By-Laws of New Trade Association Adopted at Meeting Held Last Week in the
New York Offices of the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce—Those Present
A meeting to complete the organization of the
Organ Builders' Association of America, which
was launched in Chicago on September 3, was
held in the offices of the Music Industries
Chamber of Commerce, this city, on last Friday,
at which time constitution and by-laws were
adopted and other details of the organization
work completed.
Nearly twoscore organ and organ supply con-
cerns from all sections of the country were rep-
resented in person or by proxy at the meeting,
and the general situation in the trade at the
present time was threshed out thoroughly. John
T. Austin, of the Austin Organ Co., Hartford,
Conn., who was elected president at the Chicago
meeting, presided, and after A. A. Wangerin,
of the Wangerin-Weickhardt Co., Milwaukee,
the secretary, read the minutes of the first meet-
ing for the information of those who had not
been present, George W. Pound, general coun-
sel of the Music Industries Chamber of Com-
merce, talked at length upon the necessity
of an association of organ builders at this par-
ticular time, for the protection of the industry.
Mr. Pound declared that there had long been
a genuine need for an organization of organ
builders, but that one of the results of the war
was to prove to American business men that
they must follow the example of their con-
temporaries in England, France and even Ger-
many, and organize and centralize their indus-
try to insure their own protection and progress.
One of the most important reasons for getting
together now, he declared, was the fact that the
Government refused to recognize individuals and
would treat only with authorized representatives
of industries as a whole.
Mr. Pound also dwelt upon the opportunities
now facing American manufacturers for the de-
velopment of export trade, and declared that
while before the war America controlled only 5
per cent, of foreign business, she now controls
in excess of 75 per cent, of the export trade of
the world. He also reviewed the situation in
Washington at the beginning of the war, out-
lined the progress of the War Revenue bill of
1917, and what the organization had accom-
plished in reducing the burden placed on the
music industry, and told what might be done
in the case of the new War Revenue bill now
before the Senate Finance Committee. He de-
clared that Government officials wanted facts
from industries upon which to base their calcu-
lations, and in the early days of the war had
scoffed at the music trade generally for being
unable to furnish those facts, a condition that
has been remedied most successfully.
Mr. Pound spoke at some length on the ques-
tion of priority in the matter of supplies of
metals, and urged that the organ makers secure
as large a stock as possible of tin plate before
the Government began to regulate its distribu-
tion. He declared that both copper and brass
were scarce and becoming scarcer, and told of
the difficulties being faced in securing steel for
musical instruments.
Before closing Mr.
Pound called attention to the necessity for
standard laws in all the States relating to chat-
tel mortgages, and endorsed strongly the plan
for the adoption of a National Conditional Sales
Act.
After several other speakers had been heard
the constitution and by-laws of the new associa-
tion, drafted since the Chicago meeting, were
read and adopted with few changes. The con-
stitution sets forth that the organization was
fo'rmed for the "mutual protection and promo-
tion of trade interests." Membership will be
open to all manufacturers of organs and organ
supplies, and it is provided that the annual
meeting will be held at the same time and place
as the annual meetings of other recognized as-
sociations in the trade. The new association
enjoys membership in the Music Industries
Chamber of Commerce, and will be represented
by the usual committee of seven, consisting of
the president, two members of the executive
board, and four members at large, to be se-
lected by the president.
The members went on record as being op-
posed to the suggested excise tax of 10 per cent,
on the manufacturer's price of organs, claiming
that it would spell the ruination of many con-
cerns in the trade, especially in view of the fact
that it would be added to the regular war taxes
on capital, profits, etc., to be met by the organ
men.
The officers of the new association are: John
T. Austin, of the Austin Organ Co., Hartford,
Conn., president; C. C. Kilgen, of Geo. Kilgen
& Son, St. Louis, vice-president; A. A. Wan-
gerin, of Wangerin-Weickhardt Co., Milwaukee,
Wis., secretary, and Farney R. Wurlitzer, of
the Rudolph Wurlitzer Co., Cincinnati, treas-
urer. The board of directors is composed of
eleven members, and includes the president,
vice-president, secretary and the treasurer, to-
gether with W. C. Pilcher, of Henry Pilcher's
Sons, Louisville, Ky.; Robert J. Bennett, of the
Bennett Organ Co., Rock Island, 111.; and J. B.
Kohler, of the Kohler-Liebich Co., Chicago;
Ernest S. Skinner, of the Austin Organ Co.,
Hartford, Conn.; E. E. Mayland, of R. H. May-
land's Sons, Brooklyn, N. Y.; J. H. Odell, of
Odell & Co., New York, and Arthur H. Co-
burn, Coburn Organ Co., Chicago, 111.
Those present at the New York meeting, who
were also represented in Chicago, included: Aus-
tin Organ Co., Hartford, Conn.; George Kilgen &
Son, St. Louis, Mo.; Estey Organ Co., Brattle-
boro, Vt.; Ernest M. Skinner, Boston, Mass.;
W. W. Kimball Co., Chicago, 111.; Rudolph Wur-
litzer Co., North Tonawanda, N. Y.; M. P.
Moller, Hagerstown, Md.; Wangerin-Weick-
hardt Co., Milwaukee, Wis.; American Photo
Player Co., San Francisco, Cal.; Spencer Tur-
bine Co., Hartford, Conn.; Kinetic Engineering
Co., Philadelphia, Pa.; and Jerome B. Meyer &
Sons, Milwaukee, Wis.
Those concerns who were represented in the
meeting in New York for the first time were:
C. S. Haskell, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa.; Hook &
Hastings Co., Kendall Green, Mass.; Tellers-
Kaub Organ Co., Erie, Pa.; J. H. & C. S. Odell
& Co., New York; J. B. Hedges, Westfield,
Mass.; Reuben Midmer & Son, Inc., Brooklyn,
N. Y.; Hall Organ Co., West Haven, Conn.;
Aeolian Co., New York; R. H. Mayland's Sons,
Brooktyn, N. Y.; and Badger Pipe & Supply Co.,
New York.
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