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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
REVIEW
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
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Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning,
regulating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos
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.
Player-Piano and
Technical Departments
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Vol. LX1X
NEW YORK, AUGUST 2, 1919
No. 5
'ALL WORK AND NO PLAY
W
E are now entering on August, the great vacation month—the
period when millions of workers get a short respite from their
labors to store new energy and refresh their minds for another
campaign of active business. This surcease of one's daily habit
of toil is to be commended, and every business man should see to
it that his force does not overlook this short rest. It is just as
essential that the manufacturer or merchant should enforce this
rule among his employes as that he should periodically analyze the
health of his business.
Nature is always breaking down and repairing her own work,
and the piano manufacturer or merchant is not yet born who can
afford to let his business take its natural course without constant
watchfulness against the inroads of dry-rot. This watchfulness on
the part of piano merchants has a tendency to keep them alive to
the new methods that progressive dealers are following throughout
the country—those men who make good, the men who read the
trade papers, the men who do business.
It should bring content to every employer to know that his
workers are benefited by a vacation just as it pleases him to know
that his business is prospering. The men who are watchful of the
needs of their employes in the matter of recreation are usually the
men who are mentally awake and in touch with the very best
methods that win out in the business world.
AUGUST 2, 1919
that the noble lawmakers have not yet learned that the country is
no longer in the throes of combat, and are inclined to go along their
merry way "throwing the hooks into the business men," as the
expression goes.
In the opinion of some legislators apparently an individual,
firm or corporation making over $5,000 a year by the nature of
things comes under suspicion. When the income reaches $10,000
the matter is worthy of investigation, and if perchance strong busi-
ness efforts should result in an income of $20,000 annually, or
more, the Department of Justice must be informed, while the Sena-
tors devise laws that will take away for the benefit of the com-
munity this surplus income. To make a profit on a transaction is
likewise little short of criminal.
It is time to call a halt to this baiting of business, for it injures
not only capital, but the labor that derives its income from capital.
If the United States is to maintain its position as the leading in-
dustrial nation, and progress along those lines, business men must
be encouraged rather than harassed and it is hoped that the new
Congress, coming in after peace is signed, and with no war excite-
ment still lingering in the minds of its members, will be inclined to
view matters from at least a fairly rational angle, and stop, look
and listen before taking some more wallops at the men who are
helping to keep America prosperous.
THE DEMAND FOR GRAND PIANOS
A
SIGNIFICANT sign of the times is the tremendous demand
which now exists for grand pianos. This demand is not con-
fined to any one section, but must be considered as general, for
dealers are unable to get all the grand pianos needed from the
factories, and will not be able to gel them for some time to come.
The making of grand pianos is not a haphazard, hasty process. It
takes time, money and expert labor to produce them.
Not only are grand pianos in demand to-day, but there is also
a marked activity in the player-grand field. The increase in player-
grand sales marks always an increase in the number of persons who
are buying because they have the money and a desire for something
somewhat out of the ordinary.
It is not to be conveyed by this that everybody who buys a
player-grand is necessarily a lover of the best in music, but rather
that on the whole those who want player-grands have money and
intelligence.
It can be stated without offense that many of those who
buy an ordinary grand piano, when they are not musical, buy
because it is the thing for people in their financial class to do. If
they think of a player they will most likely think of an ordinary
upright to satisfy the needs of the young folks in addition to the
real piano, or grand.
Meanwhile, those who buy player-grands are more likely to be
those who not only have the money to buy, but also have the
intelligence to appreciate a fine piano and a tine player sufficiently
to wish to produce high-class music on the two combined.
Dealers who are not afraid to go after a fine class of trade
can sell player-grands just as they are now selling ordinary grands—
perhaps not in such numbers, but yet in sufficient quantities to bring
a commensurate reward for their efforts in a monetary way.
There are those dealers, however, who even to-day maintain
that in due course the player-grand will be a competitor with the
regular grand in the sales domain, but this condition has not arisen
as yet. Suffice it that grands are in greater demand to-day than
ever before in history, and a great many player-grands are also
finding a market.
STATISTICS ON PIANO-MAKING
BAITING OF BUSINESS MUST STOP
W
H I L E the war fever was at its height, the business men of
the country were inclined to be tolerant of the eagerness of
lawmakers, national, State and municipal, to pass and put into
effect measures burdensome to a greater or less degree, but declared
necessary to meet the existing emergency. It was felt by the more
hopeful that most of these wartime measures would be repealed
when the acute emergency no longer existed, and that legislators
might be expected to settle down to normal activities, and have some
consideration for the industrial interests of the country. Develop-
ments since the signing of the armistice, however, would indicate
D
ISCUSSING piano-making from the standpoint of fine cabinet
work, the Woodworker makes the following pertinent remarks :
"The making of pianos not only calls for much of the finest face
veneer produced, but also involves special skill in woodwork and
finishing, and the trade as a whole calls for a lot of material. One
authority estimates that there is a total of about 80,000,000 feet of
lumber used annually, and over 100,000,000 feet, surface measure,
of fine face veneer. The making of the keys alone calls for 3,000,-
000 feet of pine and basswood a year, while the action, which is in
the main made up of short maple dimensions, calls for 2,000,000
feet more."