THE
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VOL. LXXVII. No.3. Pablished Every Sat1lrday. Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 383 Madison Ave., New York, N. Y. July 21. 1923
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Training Workers in the Piano Factories
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ESPITE the activ iti es of the Committee on Vocation al Training of the ~ew York Piano Manufac
turers' Association and the annual repo rt of that committee testifying to the fact that a number of
manufac turers had seen fit to taKe up this matter as a practice rath er than a theory, there does not
seem to be any general move in the trade to place the training of piano factory workers on a gene ral
and sound basts. ' Perhaps the manufacturers feel that training worke rs in any large nu mbers would prove too
expensive, a proposition invi evv uf the results that might be expected. Thus the fact remains that what has
been dq.t). ~ ,along the' lines of vocational trail),i.nghas been done by the indi vidual.
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i;~ 'this connection it is interes ting' to ~10te that the British piano industry has served its labor problem
in a considerable measure by maintaining a trade school in which apprentices are taught the various divisi ons
of piano manufacture, the school having' at its·command a well equipped fact ory wherein the students can have
th e advantages of practical instruction.
The English plan has wo rked out very successfully, the school having been in exic;;tence for a number of
years \",ith the attendance increasing regularly. Over 250 youn g men were in training at the scho(Jl recently
and spent 45 ,000 hours in improving themselves.
In addition 200 di sabled men, mostly war veterans, were
trained in special branch es of piano making and placed in the factori es. Th e school has now under considera
ti on a plan whereby those already employed in piano fact ories may have the advantages of ad vanced and speci
training by attending- it one day each week. Under thi s plan th e ambitious \vorker receives fifty-two days
training annually at a cost to the manuf,acturer of on e day'!' pay each week and a tuition fee 01 .£3 . The
plan has been developed as a result of th e belief on the part of the piano men that next to bringing new
workers into the factory the best plan f or overcoming the labor shortage is to impro\re the efficiency of the
workers already employed, and it .is held that instruction one day each week at the school will enable the young
man to do better and more rapid work and aid in carrying the in'creased burden which · would ordinarily he
placed on the shoulders~ of new and perhaps inexperienced men.
The Review on numerous occasions has called attention to what the British trade is doing in connection
with training piano workers, and it-might be well f or the Committee on Vocational Training of the ~ational
Piano Manufacturers' Associati on to look into thi s matter with a view of utilizing, if possible, some of the
methods of their British brethren.
Some time ago the Un ited States Training Ser vice of the Department of ,Labor compiled a rather ex
tensive treatise on "Instructi on in Piano Making" for the guidance of those who contemplated courses for
workers or prospecti ve workers, but there is no record of such information havi~g been put to practical use
on any large scale. It has been demonstrated that piano manufacturers by co-operating with the local high
schools can sec ure boys for training on a basis that proves sat isfactory both to the school authorities and to the
factory management , and it should be possible to present this plan in pamphlet form Lefore the :YIanufacturers'
Association for the guidance of piano makers as a body.
The question is not so much that of getting a worker f or the factory as it is of getting workers of a
satistactory type- those vv'ho are interested in the business and who find it sufficiently alluring to make them
consid er it as a regular vocation . Factories that have built up this interest and family support have very little
trouLle in keeping their force s well organized although the problem increases in difficulty in ratio to the size
of the city in which the fact ory is located. Nondescript and temporary labor regardless of how skilled, gen
erally proves an expensive proposition because the manufacturer is never jUS( sure of the solidarity of his or
ga nizati on. vVhen the training of youn g wo rkers includes not on ly practical piano building but also an or·
g-anization spiri t then much \vill have beC"11 accomplished for the permanent good of the indl1stry as a whole
and \,,,ill eliminate one of its greatest obstacles.
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