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THE
AUGUST 30, 1919
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
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Being the Observations, Grave and Gay, of the Untamed, Corn-fed Philoso-
pher of The Review's Staff, to wit, the Editor of This Player Section, on
Matters Pertinent and Impertinent Alike, and Designed to Interest and Edify
White for the Harvest!
the usual result of robber prices.
answer is: More Production.
Again the
As Piffle Before the Wind
We are suffering these days, my dear brethren,
from a surplus of advice on all subjects, politi-
"Oh I see said the Earl but my own idear is
cal, economic and social. The fact, obvious to
the most enthusiastic prophet of the new order, that these things are as piffle before the wind;"
whatever that may be, that most of the advice which is written and spelled just as I want it
is being offered unsolicited and by persons sin- and is not to be disturbed or altered by the in-
gularly unfitted to give counsel to anyone on telligent proofreader. For that gem is from the
any practical matter whatever, does not in the most scrumptious book of the season, from the
least ameliorate the situation. We are deluged immortal masterpiece of the to-be-immortal
with a flood of half-baked ideas, scarcely one Daisy Ashford, from "The Young Visiters"
of which will bear the slightest serious examina- (spelling exactly as written, if you please),
tion. Yet the remedy for all the world's eco- which is not intended as a puff, but to intro-
nomic troubles can be pronounced in one short duce so many of my readers as have not
word-. That word is Production. Don't think, yet delighted themselves with the story of Mr.
I beg you, that 1 am trying to be epigrammatic Salteena and his plan for becoming a gentleman
or smart, or to imitate the parlor world-saviors. tc an absolutely new and quite unexpectedly per-
Far from it. On the contrary, I am merely fect description of about three-fourths of all the
stating a fact, which, while all truth, is simple, conversation we hear to-day on the questions
even terribly simple. The reasoning is ele- wherewith so many among us perplex ourselves.
mentary. The world for five years has been "Piffle before the wind." O! joyful words! What
destroying its equipment and its stock of goods, more beautiful and complete characterization
until its surplus, whether in staples or in lux- has ever been made or ever could be made by
uries, is simply wiped out. Some of the nations anybody of, say, the explanation a manufac-
find themselves deeply in debt. To get out of turer makes for failure to deliver goods, or a
debt they must sell goods in enormous quan- dealer for failure to send a man who can fix
tities. They badly need to increase their pro- the player or a tuner when he finds that the
duction. Other nations, notably our own, find trouble is a bit beyond him, or a customer
themselves creditors. But to realize on this when the monthly instalment cannot quite con-
position means that the debtors must be encour- veniently be met. "Piffle before the wind": a
aged and aided to sell their own products. If
solemn joy possesses us: the language has re-
our debtors cannot do business the balance of ceived a priceless increment and the trade paper
international exchange will be so much against man a sure and ever-reliable stimulator of
them that they will be still more seriously em- thought. (N. B. For goodness' sake read "The
barrassed. Then our own position will be no Young Visiters.")
better and high prices for all necessities will
Cheer Up! Worse Is to Come!
persist. They will persist because we shall be
unable to sell freely abroad at prices which the
Not being a wiseacre I shall leave it to some-
other nations can pay in their own currency.
one
else to say that the piano and player-piano
So there will be a shortage all round. The
greater the shortage the greater the scramble business any way is not trying to get out of
for what is left, and the better chance for producing goods. Granted; but that does not
profiteering. The answer is "More Produc- alter the fact that the piano man owes it to
tion." A world is begging for goods, and there himself to recognize that during the next few
is general discontent because shortage produces years every branch of industry must find ways
and means for increasing the output of labor
WRIGHT-PUYER-ACTION
DISTINGUISHED BY THE CLASS OF PIANOS
IN WHICH IT IS FOUND
DURABLE, RESPONSIVE and ACCESSIBLE
BUILT ON THE UNIT SYSTEM
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WKKJHI
O
C A M C f^f\
THE PLAYERCRAFTERS OF
Cfc oUINo LAJ., WORCESTER, MASS.
without increasing the length of the working
day. We are entering upon eras of change and
rapid progress. We are going to find a world
better able than ever before to judge merit and
to obtain the best of everything. The demand
for pianos and player-pianos seems vast to some
as it stands to-day; but see how easily we de-
ceive ourselves. We piano men have one big
fault; we don't understand, and so don't half
believe in, the bigness and needfulness to the
world of our own instruments. We don't half
enough see through the mists and shadows of
tradition and custom to the plain fact that the
player-piano is more important to the world by
far than expensive automobiles are, or ever will
be. That's what's the matter with us. We don't
believe enough in our industry and so we fail to
see that the world will respond instantaneously
to any and every effort we may make to produce
a sufficient quantity* of player-pianos for the
world's needs. We must begin now
yes now, right now when the labor difficulty and
material difficulty and all the rest of the difficul-
ties are at their height . . . to plan, and plan
in a large way, for the future. The largest fact
with which we have to deal to-day is not any
one of the temporary troubles that pester us:
it is the fact that a recovered and busy world is
going very shortly to make demands on us
compared with which anything we have yet ex-
perienced is a joke.
The Prehistoric Survival
There was a time, of course, when the player-
piano was so new and untried that literally
everything about it was in the nature of an ex-
periment. In those happily far-distant days
each manufacturer had to work out all his de-
tails for himself. It is not surprising that some
of the results were rather queer. To-day, for-
tunately, we have improved most of our fool-
ishness out of existence, but there remain some
relics to remind us that we are not yet quite per-
fect. One of these is to be found in the chaotic
treatment of expression lay-outs. In a sort of
way we have arrived at a rough agreement as to
the number and function of the levers we wish
to use for tempo, damper and hammer-lift pur-
poses. But we have not yet had wisdom enough
to see that a standard form of lay-out would
be not only convenient but positively advanta-
geous in every way to the popularity of the
player-piano. At present there is no system at
all, and the manner of laying out the levers has
not been studied by anybody from the point of
view of the player-pianist. Hence it is to be
found that most of the player-pianos on the
market are most inconveniently arranged for
purposes of manipulation. The design has been
entrusted to mechanics in the factory. Why not
have the matter studied out by a representa-
tive committee? Incidentally, L,. C. Singer con-
tributes some valuable thought on this question
elsewhere in this section.
Greatest Annual Output^
TANDARD PLAYER^CTIOK
Standard thoTWorld Over