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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
MEW
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
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Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
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tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning,
IW>nartmf>nt« " " ^ " ^ " S a P d repairing of pianos and player-pianos
V e p d l UIIClllS are dealt with, will be found in another section of
this paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information concerning
which will be cheerfully given upon request.
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Vol. LXV1I1
NEW YORK, MARCH 22, 1919
No. 12
EDITORIAL 1
a single postponement of his plans owing to the develop-
A FTER
ment of an unexpected emergency, George W. Pound, general
counsel of the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce, started out
this week on his great coast-to-coast speaking tour under conditions
that were most auspicious. Members of the industry in the various
sections of the country to be visited display great enthusiasm over
the project, and from all accounts are making plans locally that will
serve to qualify the success of the entire venture. The postpone-
ment, of course, caused some inconvenience in the cities that were
to have been visited first, but the local chairman quickly got to work
to make fresh plans for Mr. Pound's visit, on a scale even more
elaborate than before if anything, and the results in the first city
visited on the tour—Pittsburgh—were certainly most gratifying.
The postponement was welcomed by many chairmen, giving them
more time in which to rally their forces and arrange for substantial
meetings.
The reports of Mr. Pound's progress as he works through to
the Pacific Coast and back again should prove of intense interest to
every individual interested in the development of the music industry.
RANK E. MORTON'S plea for the development of a special
F
trade terminology, made at the meeting of the New York Piano
Merchants' Association last week, is worthy of more than passing
MARCH 22, 1919
to familiarize the public through advertising with the names of the
various parts of the piano. The bridle, the wippin, the exhaust
bellows, or the primary or secondary pneumatics on the player-piano
mean nothing to the average owner, despite the fact that he has
most likely paid more for the player than his neighbor has for a
Ford, every part of which can be named instantly by his ten-year-
old son.
The piano business can truly be said to have been built up on
confidence. The average piano purchaser has absolutely no me-
chanical knowledge of piano construction or piano parts. The
question of quality and durability is left entirely to the word of
the dealer, and regrettable though it is, that word is not always
as dependable as the customer believes it is—hence disappointments.
Familiarity may breed contempt, but it also breeds in the cus-
tomer confidence in his own judgment. For the customer to under-
stand the various parts of the piano will cause him to regard it in a
matter of fact sort of way, and make him feel when the opportunity
arises for him to purchase an instrument that he is not simply
groping in the dark. The spreading of piano knowledge among the
public should make for increased sales in days to come when per-
haps actual salesmanship will be more necessary than it is during
these days of limited production.
HAT the members of the music industry in and about New
T
York are doing their full share in providing positions for
returned soldiers is indicated by the report of the United States
Employment Service to the effect that there is at the present time
no waiting list of applicants for positions in piano factories and
warerooms, and that when an applicant for such a position shows
up he is hardly registered before there is a demand for his services.
As a matter of fact, according to the officials of the Employment
Service, there are on file many applications from employers in the
trade, for which there are not men available, and it is the opinion
of the same officials that the demand for labor in the music field
will serve to absorb quickly into the industry all soldiers who may
return at a later date. Although it is admitted that there is a
genuine shortage of labor in most factories, the fact that the em-
ployers were quick to seek the services of ex-soldiers as they
returned reflects a commendable patriotic spirit as well as good
business sense.
Some few weeks ago The Review called attention to the fact
that there were half a dozen or so piano makers about to return
in the 27th Division, made up originally of drafted men from New
York and vicinity. Hardly had the issue of The Review been dis-
tributed before there were received at this office a score of inquiries
relative to how the men could be reached, these inquiries being
turned over to the army officers in charge of the employment bureau
of the division opened in New York.
Although we have had to deal particularly with the labor
requirements of the music industry, it is an admitted fact that ex-
soldiers who rank as skilled men in any sort of work are having
little or no trouble in either getting their old positions back or being
placed in new ones. This may be accepted as an excellent omen,
for men thus absorbed by the economic fabric of the country and
again made producers should prove excellent prospects for piano
and talking machine sales.
XPORT trade in musical instruments for the year ending
E
December 31, 1918, did not show such a falling off as was
generally expected because of the almost exclusive use of shipping
for the purpose of conveying our military forces and foods to the
war front in Europe. The figures, which were recently printed in
The Review, show that our total exports covering pianos, players,
attention. It is true, as Mr. Morton points out, that in demonstrat- organs, talking machines and musical merchandise of all kinds for
1918 amounted in value to $6,581,746, as compared with $7,291,390
ing the mechanical qualifications of the piano—that of tone—the
in 1917. This showed a decrease in exports for the twelve months
salesman is called upon to use terms borrowed from many other
of $709,644.
lines of business. When he says that tone is crisp he borrows a
term from the baker; when he says it is mellow he quotes the
This decline, while substantial, can be attributed not to any
fruiterer, and so on, and although the selling of pianos has pro- lack of demand for musical instruments in Europe, South America,
gressed very satisfactorily, we must say, even under the handicap of
and the Antipodes, but rather to the inability of ships to carry these
goods to their respective destinations—in fact, piano manufacturers
borrowed terms, at the same time it is most desirable that the
who had large shipments for Spain and Australia were compelled
industry have a terminology that is all its own, that will describe
to hold these goods four and live months awaiting shipment, and
tone, for instance, as it really is, rather than in comparison with
in one instance an American manufacturer had to hire a sailing
some product not at all associated with the art of music.
vessel to carry pianos and players from New York to Australia.
It may be well also, while evolving new terms for tone quality,