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THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
(Registered in the U. S. Patent Office)
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
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J. B. Spillane, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Second Vice-President, Raymond Bill, 373
Fourth Ave., New York; Secretary. Edward Lyman Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York;
Assistant Treasurer, Wm. A. Low.
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
RAY BILL, B. B. WILSON, bRAID WHITE, Associate Editors
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Vol. LXXVI
NEW YORK, APRIL 28, 1923
No. 17
UTILIZING THE EXHIBITS AT THE CONVENTION
EPORTS from Chicago are to the effect that an increasing
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number of manufacturers have arranged to display their prod-
ucts in that city during Convention Week, June 4 to 9, either at
the Drake Hotel, convention headquarters, or at some other place
in the convention city.
In view of the number of exhibits that will be.prepared for
the benefit of the dealers, it is well to emphasize again the wisdom of
convention visitors in going to Chicago prepared to take advan-
tage of the opportunity to look over the lines, to place their orders
for the balance of the year and to make such new agency arrange-
ments as they deem fit and proper. From the angle of both the
manufacturer and the dealer such a move is desirable from sev-
eral standpoints, particularly that of economy in sales expense.
Incidentally at the convention and in the exhibit rooms the
dealer will find the executives of the various manufacturing com-
panies; who will be in a position to speak with authority regard-
ing new arrangements in respect to shipments, financing, etc., and
thus accomplish in a short time through personal contact what
might require weeks when negotiations have to be carried on with
the factory through the roadmen. This is a point that is well worth
considering, for it means the saving of time and trouble.
STANDARDIZATION BEGINS AT FUNDAMENTALS
HE question of standardization of piano parts continues to be
a live one in the industry. As it is discussed more frequently,
however, it becomes increasingly apparent that the standardization
problem is a real one and that no haphazard attempt to eliminate
surplus types and sizes in certain piano parts is going to bring any
general relief. Likewise it is brought strongly to mind that any
effective program of standardization rests upon the co-operation
of all manufacturers and not upon that of any one group.
In endorsing the suggestion of the Superintendents' Club in
the New York trade to the effect that action brackets be limited to
three sizes, the point was emphasized that even that move would
not prove really effective until the manufacturers themselves gave
thought to the proper setting of their action and followed a given
line of practice in that connection.
One action manufacturer called attention to the fact that he
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REVIEW
APRIL 28, 1923
was compelled to carry in stock to meet the demands of his cus-
tomers 168 styles in one single part, and that this great number could
be reduced to a half dozen or so if the majority of manufacturers
would look to the setting of their actions on a sound, scientific and
mechanical basis.
As this work of standardization progresses, it would seem as
though there were considerable logic in the claim of a New York
factory superintendent, published in The Review recently, to the
effect that in discussing piano standardization a start must be made
from the fundamentals, and that the logical place to start was in
the case itself, looking to an elimination of odd sizes that create
nothing but extra work for the case maker.
SKILLED LABOR AND FACTORY PRODUCTION
HE piano merchant who recently visited several of the large
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piano manufacturing centers and was informed in various quar-
ters of the difficulty experienced in getting a sufficient number of
trained men to bring production up to a point where it would keep
step with demand took occasion to express surprise that the piano
manufacturers should alone seem to have difficulty in getting a suffi-
cient quantity of the right kind of help.
The piano merchant was naturally in error. But it is probable
that there are many other piano retailers who hold the same view-
point. The fact of the matter is that practically every industry
where workers with a greater or less degree of skill are required
is finding difficulty in recruiting its forces up to the necessary level.
This is due in all probability to the expansion of industry, to the
effects of the war and largely to the restrictions placed on immi-
gration which bar out foreign workers, at the same time that thou-
sands who have accumulated what they consider a competence' in
this country are returning to their homelands.
That the unemployment situation which existed a couple of
years ago has switched entirely around and that there are not enough
men in many industries to fill the jobs that are open are responsible
for the efforts that are being made by manufacturers and business
interests to have the immigration laws changed to provide for the
entrance of desirable aliens on a selective rather than a quota basis.
The president of the National Piano Manufacturers' Associa-
tion and other members of that body have on certain occasions
emphasized the desirability of lifting the immigration bars suffi-
ciently to admit skilled and semi-skilled workers in order to fill the
gaps which now exist in the manufacturing plants and cannot be
be filled by American labor. Naturally, the movement is meeting
with strong opposition from organized labor and is not likely, for
some time to come, to reach a point where it will bring relief to
industries.
However, when the piano merchant is advised of the labor situa-
tion in the trade, he is informed of a condition that is general and
not local. He has every reason to prepare himself to place orders
as early and as liberally as possible for his own protection against
the time when the demand becomes even more out of proportion
to production than it is at present.
GROWING SCOPE OF EDUCATION EXPLOITATION
is a matter for congratulation that a number of piano manufac-
I seen T turers,
and particularly those featuring reproducing pianos, have
fit to take cognizance of the great opportunities for business
development that are offered through the medium of the educational
field. Such work of exploitation has well passed the experimental
stage, for the talking machine companies have for a number of years
made most successful efforts to develop a close tie-up with educators
throughout the country through the medium of music supervisors
and by other means.
In fact, so successful have the talking machine people been
that it is difficult for some of the companies to supply a sufficient
number of lecturers on the subject of musical education through
the medium of the talking machine to meet the demand for speakers
at educational conventions.
The piano, and the reproducing piano particularly, have much
to offer of interest from an educational standpoint. The latter
instrument provides the music student with a means for hearing the
great compositions of the masters played as they should be played
by the greatest of pianists. It provides also a definite example by
which the student may be guided, for it gives him all interpretations
of a composition.