Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
JANUARY 18, 1919
13
THE ACTIVITIES OF T H E AEOLIAN CO. DURING THE W A R — ( C o n t i n u e d from p a g e 1 1 )
Then someone had an idea—it was put into
practice, tested and found to be practicable.
There was organized a department of buyers,
the members of this department visited the
homes of owners of pianos and player-pianos
and purchased such instruments as could be
bought at prices that would make their resale
profitable.
It was through the successful efforts of this
purchasing department that the selling force
was kept supplied with instruments in suffi-
cient quantities to do a profitable business. At
the close of the war more men were engaged
in buying pianos than in selling them.
What They Did in France
In France Mr. Brown, the manager, and his
assistants, had problems equally as difficult as
those in England, but never for a moment did
these men falter or complain. If they felt dis-
couraged at any time, and it would have been
almost impossible for them not to have felt
so, they kept it to themselves, and the results
they were able to obtain in France and in Spain
are almost incredible.
Not only did the French company purchase
instruments from the public, as did the English
house, but they even started to manufacture on
a small scale, and without a factory or an or-
ganization and without previous experience, they
succeeded in producing a small number of ex-
cellent Pianola actions, which they fitted into
pianos they were able to purchase.
In spite of all their handicaps the French com-
pany has shown a profit in each year of the war.
In Far-Off Australia
Mr. Reid and his staff in Australia have made
a notable record during the war. The cost of
getting instruments into Australia was almost
prohibitive.
Ocean freight rates rose and
continued to rise until, at one time, the cost
of shipping an instrument to Australia was
about seven times what it was before the war.
Insurance, also, increased enormously, until at
last it came to a point where, with the high im-
port duty, the expense of getting an instru-
ment into Australia was greater than the cost
of the instrument itself. Freight and Govern-
ment embargoes were added to the other dif-
ficulties. '
The Aeolian-Vocalion became very popular
in Australia and in order to obtain a sufficient
number of these instruments it became neces-
sary to manufacture the cases and certain of
the parts. This was done successfully.
In spite of the many difficulties the Australian
business has continued to develop and is to-day
in a more prosperous condition than in any
time in its history.
Difficulties in America
Many of you know something of the difficult
conditions we here in America have encountered.
1 do not intend to enumerate them here—that
they were met and overcome is sufficient. What
I would like to point out briefly is what has
been accomplished in the way of progress and
development during the war.
First, let me say that the war threw a great
FOTOPLAYER
for the finest
Motion Picture
Theatres
AMERICAN PHOTO
PLAYER CO.
San Francisco
N«w York
Chicago
strain upon our factories by making it necessary
for them to furnish instruments for Australia,
Spain, South America and other markets which
had always been supplied by European factories.
With the shortage of labor and materials it was
extremely difficult to supply instruments for
our own markets, and the added burden of pro-
ducing sufficient instruments for the foreign de-
mand was a very great one. Through the
splendid initiative of the purchasing and manu-
facturing departments, the situation was met and
successfully handled.
When the war began we had started to put
upon the market the Aeolian-Vocalion. Our
entrance into the phonograph business as manu-
facturers was a step of the greatest importance,
involving as it did serious manufacturing, sell-
ing and financial considerations.
It was suggested that, perhaps, in view of the
very great uncertainty of the future, it might
be wise to postpone our entrance into this new
industry until after the war, but it was unani-
mously decided to go ahead. Everyone in a
position of authority was determined that the
company should take no backward step.
Success of the Aeolian-Vocalion
I need not tell you of the phenomenal suc-
cess of the Aeolian-Vocalion.
This instru-
ment makes its strongest appeal to the more
musically cultured. Its tonal superiority is so
pronounced that its acceptance was immediate
and enthusiastic both here and abroad. Never
has the company put upon the market an in-
strument that reflected greater credit upon the
musical and mechanical skill of our organiza-
tion.
The Vocalion record has been developed dur-
ing the war. To the staff in Forty-third street
and to the members of the Vocalion depart-
ment in Meriden, the company owes a debt of
thanks for their splendid work in producing, in
the face of many obstacles and countless dis-
couragements, the best phonograph record in
the world.
The Duo-Art and the Duo-Art music rolls
are not products of the war period, but they
have been developed and greatly improved in
the past four years by the men whose enthusi-
astic belief in this wonderful instrument has in-
spired them to constantly greater efforts in the
pursuit of their high ideals.
Every department of the business shares in
the splendid work of the past four years—each
has made its effort and done its part. All the
distinguished service crosses are not won upon
the battlefields.
IT our company bestowed
crosses for distinguished services, there are
men and women in our organization who have
given everything they had to the work that was
theirs; men and women whose names are syn-
onyms for loyalty and whose courage and en-
thusiasm have been a constant source of inspira-
tion to myself and others in positions of respon-
sibility.
Problems of Peace
Hostilities have ceased and the war is a thing
of the past, but the problems of the great
aftermath are still to be solved. The vast up-
heaval of civilization has brought to the sur-
face grave questions, the answers to which will
tax the greatest minds of this and coming gen-
erations.
These problems will affect the lives of all of
us. That our company may, with your help
and co-operation, contribute its share toward
their solution is my sincerest wish and greatest
ambition. I ask nothing more than that we do
as well in the time of peace as we did in that
of war.
A great poet, Walt Whitman, has said:
"From every fruition of success, no matter what,
shall come forth something to make a greater
struggle necessary."
The nations that fought in this war on the
side of liberty and justice have come out of it
stronger and better physically and spiritually.
But in the hour of victory they find themselves
confronted with new conditions, social, polit-
ical and industrial, to meet which will require
men of greater talents, broader sympathies and
loftier ideals. Peace finds a new world in place
of the old one—a better world but a more stren-
uous one.
Our Future—What Shall It Be?
We, as a company and as individuals, are bet-
ter and abler because of the difficulties we have
encountered and successfully overcome. The
future is ours—it will be what we choose to
make it. Whatever success it may have in store
for us will not be due to the work of any one
man or any single group of men. It will not
be the president or the manager or the different
department heads that will carry this business
to future and greater successes. They have
their parts to perform, but in each case it is
only a part. Every man and every woman in
the company's employ, each in his or her place,
is important to our ultimate development.
Don't think because your position at this time
is relatively a small one, that your best effort
is not needed. Each of us is necessary. The
man who opens the door of the automobiles
for our customers; the boys in the elevators;
the accountants; stenographers; salesmen and
saleswomen; the men in the engine-room; and
the men and boys who deliver our goods, every
man and woman in each and every factory, each
is a factor in this great business which we have
all helped to create.
The Spirit That Wins
I saw a letter a few days ago from a boy at
the front.
He has three gold service stripes
on his sleeve and on his breast is a small red
and green ribbon—the insignia of the Croix de
Guerre. He said: "I entered this war as a
private and I shall come out 'only a private,'
but I have the satisfaction of knowing I have
played the game and played it hard and I ask
for no more distinguished title than that of a
'Private in the American Army.' "
That is the spirit that won the war. It is
the spirit that will win victory in time of peace.
It is the spirit that cannot be defeated. Inci-
dentally there is an excellent motto there for
any of us who feel the need of one:
PLAY T H E GAME AND PLAY IT HARD
Consult the universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions
of any kind.
CHARACTER
"Admirable Quality; Acknowledged Reputation"
—(SlmdarJ Ditthnary)
PIANOS
Manufactured by
Smith, Barnes
= = = ^ ^ ^ ^ and =^=^ = : ^^ = ='
Strohber Co.
have for 33 years
justified their right
to be called
Pianos of Character
FACTORIES
North Milwaukee, Wit.
Chicagt, 111.
OFFICE
1872 Clyboura AWNM
Chicago, 10.