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REVIEW
THE
flUSIC TI(ADE
VOL. LXIX. No. 25
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman BUI, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York. Dec. 20, 1919
Single Copies 10 Cents
$2.00 Per Year
Labor Shortag
T
H E question of vocational training in the piano trade is not one of the future, but distinctly of the
present. It is not a case of preparing men to take their places in the various departments of the factory
during the years to come, but of training men right now to become useful factors in piano pro-
duction. Men are needed and needed badly, for upon the supply of workers depends the increased output
of musical instruments during the coming year.
The problem so far as training goes is not a complex one. The men sought need not be university grad-
uates, or men with technical education. So long as they have average intelligence and the willingness to work
and learn they can soon be developed to a point where they can fit into one or another of the many departments
in the factory.
It is not a case of meeting a strike situation—that is an emergency—neither is it a case of meeting conditions
peculiar to this particular industry. The shortage of labor is prevalent throughout the country and in every
industry. Manufacturers are not only hindered in increasing their production through the scarcity of available
men, but have difficulty in keeping their organizations recruited up to even the normal standard. In bidding for
skilled and unskilled workers, therefore, piano manufacturers are in direct competition with the manufacturers
in practically every other industry.
According to those in the trade who have given the matter consideration, the answer lies in making work
in the piano factory sufficiently attractive to draw men away from other industries, or at least to make them
consider such work in comparison with employment in other lines. Where statistics are available it is shown
that, so far as the average of wages is concerned, piano factories stand well up in the list of industries. This is
particularly true in New York State, where official figures indicate that the percentage of increase in wages paid
in piano factories during the past year was exceeded in only three other industries.
It is not a matter of hours, for piano factories now are operating on the basis of an eight-hour day, and
. the industries in which a shorter schedule of hours maintains can be numbered on the fingers of one hand. So
far as healthful environment is concerned, the modern piano factory stands high. The very nature of the work
makes necessary plenty of light and air and a certain amount of cleanliness. There are no "occupational
diseases" to be contracted in a piano plant.
With all the advantages that may be offered in the matter of wages, hours and environment in the piano
factory—advantages exceeded in few, if any, industries—there should be found some basis for developing an
appeal to the worker that will give to the piano manufacturer an even break, or better, in the matter of building
up factory personnel in competition with manufacturers in other fields.
The piano manufacturing trade is not in any great measure dependent upon certain seasons for business ac-
tivity, and even under normal conditions, to say nothing of conditions that now exist, the worker is practically
assured of year-round employment.
It may be that concerted drives in various piano manufacturing centers will serve the purpose of interesting
a goodly number of possible recruits. Certainly some co-operative move should be made to bring the attractive-
ness of piano-making to the prospective worker instead of waiting for him to seek the opportunity and
perhaps be induced to enter other fields.
The key of the production problem lies with labor. If an effort to recruit workers meets with success, and
these workers can be encouraged to produce to the limit of their capacity, then the coming months will hold
more promise for manufacturers and retailers generally. It may be that some additional expense will be incurred
in obtaining and keeping the workers, but just now it is more desirable that a piano be produced at a cost
considerably above normal than that it be not produced at all.