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REVIEW
THE
VOL. LXXXIV. No. 12 Piblished Every Saturday. Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., 383 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y., Mar. 19, 1927
8ln
* £ . S ° K rl . ? - * *
40.4% Have Pianos
In 1,940,183 American Homes
Survey Conducted By the General Federation of Women's Clubs
Shows Highest Percentage of Pianos Is in Cities Which Have
100,000 Population and Over—Saturation Point Not Yet Reached
PPROXIMATELY 60 per cent of fam-
ilies throughout the country are without
pianos, according to a nation-wide home
equipment survey completed only recently by
the General Federation of Women's Clubs and
prepared by the Crowell Publishing Co. This
means that two-thirds of the homes in the
United States are still to be supplied with
pianos, and, barring that small proportion
A
piano, and is being used by the sales promo-
tion committee of the National Piano Manu-
facturers' Association in its campaign. It is
recognized as being just as essential to revive
interest in the piano already in the home, and
which perhaps is silent, as it is to create a
field for new instruments, for on one depends
in no small measure the success of the other.
In carrying out the survey, which is most
Under
1,000
to
2,500
TOTAL
States Represented
Communities Reporting
Total Number of Families
Families Owning:
Number
Percent
1,000
the percentage rose again to 43.1 in cities of
from 25,000 to 50,000 population. The survey
also covered the ownership of phonographs and
radio receiving sets, approximately the same
number of families being interviewed as in the
case of pianos. The average for phonographs
was 46.2, almost 6 per cent greater than for
pianos, while the figures for radio receivers
was 24.1, a percentage that proved somewhat
Population Cla sses of Communities
10,000
25,000
2,500
5,000
to
to
to
to
5,000
25,000
50,000
10,000
50,000
to
100,000
100,000
and
Over
4-8
1,200
1,940,183
40
499
62,958
42
328
124,056
37
164
144.363
36
94
164,815
28
62
231,716
15
10
24
205,976
16
316,567
9
10
689,732
782,994
40.4
23,250
36.9
50,628
54,007
37.4
61,711
37.4
87,343
37.7
88,721
43.1
116,491
36.8
300,843
43.6
•40.8
Pianos in Homes According to General Federation of Women's Clubs' Survey
which for one reason or another may not be
regarded as prospects for the purchase of even
the most modestly priced instruments, there
still remain a sufficient number of homes
logically waiting for a piano to keep the fac-
tories and the distributing forces of this trade
working at full tilt for many years to come.
In many respects the results of the survey
came as a surprise to those conducting it and
others interested in the figures that might be
brought to light. For instance, of 6,578,013
families checked, 56 per cent have telephone
service. Of 4,101,581 families interviewed, 55.7
per cent had automobiles, and, finally, of 1,940,-
183 families in 1,200 separate communities,
782,994, or 40.4 per cent, owned pianos. This
result was particularly interesting for the rea-
son that the proportion was somewhat higher
than many of the trade believe and affords an
excellent basis upon which to establish the
campaign for a revival of public interest in the
thorough, communities in all the forty-eight
States were visited, they being divided into
eight distinct classes, according to population,
and ranging from towns of less than 1,000
population to cities of 100,000 and over. Al-
though the survey covered many items in home
equipment likely to indicate the progress made
in American standards of living, ranging from
sanitary equipment to home furnishings, the
trade will naturally be interested in the figures
regarding musical instruments. For the sake
of convenience, that section of the survey deal-
ing with pianos is reproduced in full.
It is to be accepted as particularly significant
that the greatest buying market for pianos ap-
pears to be in cities of over 100,000 population,
where the percentage of families owning such
instruments is 43.6. It seems almost para-
doxical, however, that in cities ranging from
50,000 to 100,000 there were found the lowest
average of piano owners, namely, 36.8, while
of a surprise. It is considered, too, that pianos
made an excellent showing in comparison to
phonographs, with the difference in price range
being taken into consideration.
Some results of the survey are summed up
particularly well by Mary Sherman, president
of the General Federation of Women's Clubs,
who in making some comparisons brought
about by the survey said in the Woman's Home
Companion, in part:
"Let us first consider communities of 1,000
population or under. In such commmunities
54.3 per cent of the homes are equipped with
telephones; 60.5 per cent of the families in
these communities own automobiles; 18.7 per
cent have radios; 29 per cent have phonographs,
and 36.9 per cent own pianos.
"Moving up to the class of towns between
1,000 and 2,500 we find that 58 per cent have
telephones; 60.4 per cent automobiles; 19.9 oer
(Continued
on f>age 4)