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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
14
MARCH 24, 1923
There is no lack of cry at the present time problem is a sales problem finally. Thus the
concerning the question of factory personnel. dealer's responsibility is again joined to that
My tuner friends are aware that in their own of the manufacturer.
Let me add one word in this place on another
open air, taken into the kiln storage, then dried profession the personnel question is equally im-
in the kilns, then brought into the millroom. portant, although in a different way. The ques- element in the personnel question, an element
If the manufacturing process is to be profitable tion in the factories relates to two points par- which constitutes the second of the points of
it must be continuous. If it is to be continuous ticularly. First, there is the fact that the eco- which I spoke some lines back. There is a
nomic conditions of industry are changing so certain group of men and women which holds to
there must be a constant supply of seasoned
lumber to the millroom and of complete acces- rapidly that piano making, most conservative the belief that the salvation of industry lies in
sory parts to the stockroom. When the lumber of all major industries, is being rapidly forced "self-government," in the representation of la-
has progressed through the millroom it begins to consider its production problems from the bor upon the bodies which are entrusted with
to meet the procession of plates, wire, bass- most modern standpoints. This is only another
industrial direction and in profit sharing of
strings, actions, hammers, keys, stains, fillers way of saying that the old hand processes are some kind. All such ideas should, I think, be
and varnishes which proceed from the various necessarily being reformed, in many cases whol- treated sympathetically, but with caution. In
stockrooms and take their place, step by step, in ly out of existence; while, on the other hand, vast industries, where personal contact between
the assembly. The principal problem of manu- the need for technical direction remains as great
individual worker and body of direction has
facturing after the primary problem has been as ever.
been almost wholly destroyed by force of cir-
solved of organizing a constant supply of lum-
How to reconcile the need for technical di- cumstances, it is probable that representative
ber and parts from outside the factory is to see rectors with the fact of the available personnel government supplies the best means for secur-
that the procession of fabricated wood parts being rapidly reduced to the simple tasks of
ing industrial and social justice. But it is equally
from the millrooms keeps step with the parallel machine tending is a problem of enormous im- certain, I believe, that such methods are mainly
procession of completed actions, keys, plates, portance. It has not been solved as yet, even mechanical and serve only to secure justice
etc., from the stockrooms. Into these hoppers approximately. Meanwhile one is compelled to when it otherwise cannot be secured at all. In
must first be kept pouring a constant supply of
contemplate, with polite surprise not untem- smaller industries it is very doubtful whether
lumber and of parts. From them then must
pered with amusement, the rise of a race of pro- the workman prefers a voice in management and
come a parallel supply of partially completed duction men who know nothing about piano in profit to square treatment as a man and an
material for the various assembly departments. making, and the desperate efforts by superin- equal, the best available pay and physical condi-
It is highly necessary to realize that lumber tendents of less well-trained abilities to keep up tions suitable to modern ideas of comfort. Less
is a commodity which demands the most care- with their younger rivals by resort to the slave- work and more pay may not seem to represent
ful treatment by processes which cannot be hur- driving methods of a stage Simon Legree.
a high ideal, but, if rightly understood and ap-
The Economic Determinant
ried. It is sometimes possible to purchase in
plied, it decidedly represents an ideal both prac-
the open market job lots of kiln-dried lumber.
Let it be observed in this connection that the tical and immediately applicable.
Industrial
But it is never possible that such lumber shall economic factor here plays a determining part peace is mainly a matter of industrial justice,
be satisfactory. In nearly every case it has to in this situation. The piano worker is deterio- which is personal justice writ large.
be re-treated in the manufacturer's own kilns, rating in quality, but not merely or mainly be-
In Conclusion:
thereby losing in one way any advantages its cause he is becoming a machine tender. His
Contributions to this department arc always
purchase in dried condition might have pro- real trouble is economic. His earning power is welcomed and should be addressed to William
duced for the manufacturer. Save in the most
too small for the amount of skill his work re- Braid White, care The Music Trade Review,
critical emergency, no piano manufacturer ever quires, as compared with other lines of indus- 373 Fourth avenue, New York, N. Y.
thinks of falling back upon so uncertain a ref- try. The reason for this lamentable state of
uge. He prefers to take great chances and to affairs is easy to understand. The. profits of
We are in receipt of a very handsome photo-
guess liberally, six months in advance, at his the piano business are small, actually extremely graph of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, a
probable requirements.
small. Better wages can only come from larger body of musicians which is going big these days
output, the adoption of mechanical standards in the musical field and in which Melville Clark,
The Strain of Building a Surplus
and mass production. But these, in turn, de- of the Melville Clark Co., the prominent music
I am laying special stress upon all this in
pend upon public demand and public demand is dealer of Syracuse, is keenly interested, being
order that the nature of the buying and pur-
very much below what it ought to be. The president of the Symphony Society.
chase-planning end of the manufacturer's work
may be better understood, so that dealers and
others may come to realize what a tremendous
strain they throw upon the facilities of manu-
facturers by their common habit of ordering in
scattered bunches. The manufacturer who by
long experience has learned that he may fairly
expect a certain calculable demand for his goods
during certain short seasons of the year will,
of course, if he be wise, carry on his production
throughout the slack months and thus build up
a big surplus from which goods may be rapidly
shipped when the rush of orders comes. But
few dealers and fewer still among outside tech-
nicians seem to realize that to do anything like
this means to make, more or less on chance, a
vast investment each year, an investment sub-
ject to the hazard of fire and large enough to
strain quite severely the resources of any save
the largest houses. Every manufacturer, of
course, tries to carry such a surplus and the
larger houses succeed in doing it; but the bur-
den they must thereby assume has finally to be
passed on and distributed somehow. In prac-
tice it is passed on to the ultimate consumer,
•with effects disadvantageous to the entire in-
dustry.
That is why, among other things, dealers who
desire to obtain the very best service are mor-
ally obligated to do all they can to co-operate
with manufacturers by accumulating stocks for
themselves during the slack seasons and doing
all they possibly can to anticipate their busy
season requirements.
Of course, I am able to touch only upon the
outer fringe of these complex problems, but
each of them is vastly important and deserves
the most careful consideration by everybody in
the trade, not merely by the manufacturers
themselves: In precisely the same way, though
PIANO AND PLAYER HARDWARE, FELTS AND TOOLS
the reason may not be quite so obvious, the
NEW YORK SINCE 1848
4th Avenue and 13th Street
next great problem to which I shall allude cries
with equal force for attention and sympathetic
treatment.
OUR TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT
(Continued from page 13)
Tuners and Repairers
We have just issued a little 20
page price list of
PIANO MATERIALS AND TOOLS
and will send a copy upon request.
It is in convenient form and of in-
terest to every Tuner and Repairer.
Simply ask for Circular No. 244
HAMMACHER, SCHLEMMER & CO.