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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
ST. LOUIS PIANO TRADE REFLECTS GENERAL CONDITIONS
Business Shows Improvement in Some Directions, Though Local Dealers Have to Work Hard
to Close Sales—P. E. Conroy Goes South—Several Visitors in Town—Other News
ST. LOUIS, MO., January 31.—The improvement in
business conditions which began to manifest it-
self week before last became a little more pro-
nounced last week, but the development was
marked by a spottiness that was not altogether
reassuring. It was a spottiness which gave the
impression of a lack of firmness in the improve-
ment, but it might also have been a tendency for
the improvement to progress more rapidly at
some points than at others. Clearing sales at
several of the stores, in which used instruments
were offered at bargain prices, helped to stimu-
late the movement, but the success of these was
impaired somewhat by the continuance of real
Winter weather throughout the week. On the
whole there was a more cheerful feeling among
the music merchants, although they had to admit
that they had to work hard for all that they got
and that the improvement left a great deal to be
desired.
Charles W. Houston, of the A. B. Chase Piano
Co., who hit town at the end of the week after
doing Ohio and Indiana, was happy to say that
the reproducing piano business had been stead-
ily picking up since last August and was still at
it, as evidence of which he mentioned that he
picked up three new accounts on the way out.
Most of the business, he said, was in reproducing
grands and straight grands and the condition
was what he would call a good, healthy increase.
From here he went to Kansas City and was
then going to Omaha and through Iowa and
back home.
About this time every year P. E. Conroy,
president of the Conroy Piano Co., flits to Flor-
ida. He flitted Sunday. For the next five weeks
he can be found at the Royal Palm Hotel, Miami.
or basking in the sun on the sands hard by.
H. R. Dickinson, for the past several months
sales manager of the St. Louis Wurlitzer store,
has been transferred to Philadelphia to take
charge of the piano department of the Wurlitzer
store there.
Sidney N. Mayer, of J. & C. Fischer, New
York, came up from New Orleans and other
parts of the South last week and said conditions
down that way were pretty bad. From here he
went to Kansas City.
C. H. Lennox, of Carlin & Lennox, Indianapo-
lis, Ind., spent part of last week in St. Louis
visiting the music merchants and exchanging
ideas.
Albert Price, of the Price & Teeple Piano Co.,
Chicago, was here Tuesday and Wednesday,
starting on a trip through the South. He was
accompanied by Mrs. Price, who was going with
him as far as Little Rock, where she was to
visit relatives.
Robert Conroy, of the Conroy Piano Co., re-
turned a few days ago from New York, where he
had spent two weeks.
J. A. Kieselhorst, proprietor of the Kiesel-
horst Piano Co., at Alton, 111., is having plans
prepared for the erection of a new residence
there.
Fred Lehman, proprietor of the Lehman Music
House, East St. Louis, left last we'ek for Los
Angeles, Cal., to spend a month.
A. B. Furlong, general sales manager of the
Vocalstyle Music Roll Co., Cincinnati, O., spent
two days here last week introducing new rolls.
From here he went to Chicago.
E. Fred Colber, of William Knabe & Sons,
New York, was in St. Louis during the past
week.
Henry C. Lawrence, of Webster Groves, a St.
Louis suburb, was the winner of the $5,000
offered by the Edison organization for the best
Edison slogan. His offering was "The Fireside
Encore of the Artist." The Silverstone Music
Co. added $500 to the prize in recognition of the
winner being in this territory.
The Possibilities of
Continued Success
are greater when you handle instruments
whose reputation for quality and satisfaction
is internationally recognized. Such are the
EST. 1856
BUSINESS FOUNDED IN
EIGHTEEN FlfTY-SIX
S. SON
Pianos and Player-Pianos
which, established in accordance with the ideals of one
of the piano makers of the old school and always manu-
factured by a Decker, embody all the good qualities of
the old combined with those of a new generation.
"Made by a Decker Since 1856"
DECKER & SON, Inc.
697-701 East 135th Street
NEW YORK
FEBRUARY 4,
1922
DEATH OF WILLIAM H. WESER
Brother of Late John A. Weser and W. S. Weser,
of Weser Bros., Passes Away in California—
Not Connected With the Piano Business
Word has just come from Los Angeles to
Weser Bros., Inc., New York, to the effect that
William H. Weser
William H. Weser, who has been in California
for the past few years, has passed away.
The late William H. Weser had not been ac-
tively associated with the piano industry for
quite some time. His last years were spent in
California in an effort to regain his health. He
is survived by a widow and two daughters. His
brother, Winfield S. Weser, is vice-president
and general manager of Weser Bros., Inc.
IMPORTANT CHANGE IN LANCASTER
Business of Kirk Johnson & Co., Inc., Taken
Over By Steinman Hardware Co., and Concen-
trated in Single Store in Lancaster, Pa.
LANCASTER, PA., January 30.—Although the deal
was consummated October 1, 1921, the announce-
ment is just made that the stores of Kirk John-
son & Co., Inc., with headquarters in this city,
have been purchased by the Steinman Hardware
Co., of which Sylvester Z. Moore is president.
Mr. Moore has become president of Kirk John-
son & Co., Inc., and his brother, Adam Z. Moore,
has become treasurer and general manager. Syl-
vester Z. Moore is a prominent attorney of Lan-
caster, president of the Steinman Hardware Co.,
and has other important local interests.
The Lebanon and Coatesville stores have been
closed and the goods shipped to the Lancaster
store, and the Atlantic City store has been sold.
Kirk Johnson & Co., Inc., has been established
since 1884. The beautiful five-story building
now occupied by the company was included in
the transaction. The building was erected ex-
pressly for the piano business, is complete in all
its appointments and is one of the most up-to-
date and best-arranged piano stores to be found
anywhere.
The firm will adhere to the policy of buying on
a strictly cash basis, is said to have substantial
financial backing and will run the business on a
strictly high-class, one-price system. The com-
plete piano lines to be carried are not entirely
decided upon as yet. The Victor line of talking
machines, however, will be handled exclusively,
as will also the Q R S rolls. The company has
also a sheet music department. Kirk Johnson,
formerly president of the company, has retired
from the piano business.
Adam Z. Moore, treasurer and general man-
ager, said: "It is our aim to carry on the busi-
ness on a strictly one-price basis. We aim to
handle a high-class line of goods which we can
stand back of." Mr. Moore also stated that he
was a firm believer that the reproducing piano
would soon come into its own, and thought that
it would only be a short time before this instru-
ment will be sold in a great majority over ordi-
nary player-pianos and uprights.