Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1927 Vol. 85 N. 26

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
WESTERN COMMENT
"The Moving Finger Having Writ
REVIEW OFFICE, REPUBLIC BUILDING, CHICAGO, I I I . , DEC. 24,
99
the technical policies of the industry to some sort of rational con-
clusion, anticipating by a decade the present insistent demand for
betterments in construction and in tone. To come nearer home,
this paper, The Review, years ago inaugurated weekly technical
discussions, and persisted with them in face of almost complete
apathy extending over a space of years long enough to discourage
the most optimistic editor; to-day technical discussions are no
longer regarded as superfluous, in fact are being encouraged on
all sides, because the need for technical betterment has become uni-
versally recognized. At least four years since, this paper began
to say, quite simply but quite directly, that the piano industry was
passing into a new phase of its course, and that the merits of the
piano as a musical instrument must henceforth furnish the basis
of all merchandising. For some time indeed it was a case of vox
clamantis in deserto, but the truth always refuses to remain forever
concealed, so that to-day what was then unheeded is universally
admitted to have been well founded, accurate and true. As a mat-
ter of fact, the great leaders of our industry probably saw the facts
quite as early; but no one of these gentlemen could possibly have
had the opportunity of getting outside his own circle of ideas and
of viewing the situation as a whole, which the detached observer
constantly has. Hence it was left, as it is always left, to a trade
paper to see the coming storm, to utter the warning cry and to
say what must be done to meet the onrushing winds and waves.
And for precisely such reasons as are here disclosed the trade paper
is always doing for its industry what that industry cannot do for
itself—seeing things clearly, seeing them whole and presenting them
to the industry.
1927
IT hath ever been the custom among scribes to value their utter-
ances highly, but one may feel fairly well assured that the world
which alternately laughs and storms at them
would find things extremely uninteresting without
the
them. Trade papers have always had to do what
Scribe
in effect is a thankless piece of work in the world.
When they have told the truth they have been damned for a parcel
of interfering rogues; when they have conceded the truth they
have been damned as venial, if not actually corrupt and purchased,
liars. When business is good an industry is prone to think that its
trade papers are of little value and their good offices no longer
needed. When business is not so good an industry often thinks
that at any rate expenses can always be cut down, and that the
trade papers are the obvious targets for the first arrows to be shot
in that direction. The fact that only when business is not so good
does the trade paper, if it is worth anything at all, show its
strength and its value, is one of those obvious facts than which
nothing is more easily forgotten; and the men who conduct these
periodicals may be forgiven for sometimes reflecting upon the
brevity of human memories and the thinness of human gratitude.
For after all the trade papers are usually right. Their editors and
correspondents see things with the eyes of detached observers,-and
under whatever obligations they may find themselves in a business
way to their advertising customers, they can never lose the habit
of looking on all sides of a question or of forming from this wide-
circling view conclusions more or less impartial and almost certainly
shrewd. One might venture to say that the true worth of the trade
paper only appears when the industry it serves finds itself in some
sort of a trouble, between perchance the horns of some dilemma,
and is calling insistently for guidance, counsel and assistance. It
is precisely then that the real worth of a trade paper appears.
Careful examination usually discloses the fact that the conditions
which are the subject of complaint have been foreseen, and that
to some extent at least the trade has been forewarned of their im-
minence. It is even fair to go farther and to say that all the in-
dividual members of any industry ought to follow the almost uni-
versal example of their leaders, and read with anxious care week
by week the news and the editorial comments which the trade
papers contain. For trade paper editors, however they may differ
among themselves in mental grasp and capacity, are one and all
trained observers. They view, not a little corner, but the whole
scene; and what they see they have learned, by dint of long ex-
perience, to understand; and to interpret to those who do not under-
stand.
AN industry is an organism, and like any other functions well
only when it is guided by some central nerve ganglion or brain.
In general the ideas and traditions which have grown up around
an industry give rise to certain well defined and
Organism
commonly accepted lines of policy and practice,
„ .
which furnish which might be called its nervous
system. But just as the nervous system of the
human organism must be controlled by some overriding mental
power, so also must the policies of a business organism be con-
trolled by some dominating wisdom, centered in a complete and
accurate grasp of facts and of the probable course of events. For
an industry, which is the large-scale unit among business organisms,
persistently to survive and to grow ever stronger, needed brain
power must come from the correlated, added, united understand-
ings of many human minds. Many men must think alike, must
accept the same principles, and by those principles must guide their
business conduct. It is not unfair to say that a successful industry
is no more than an enlarged and somewhat differentiated copy of a
successful individual business house. If for a moment one might
venture upon the personal, one might point to the remarkable ex-
ample of persistence of tradition and policy which the Steinway
house discloses. Now, a family group is quite as liable to dissen-
sion and even disruption as the most miscellaneous assemblage of
promoters and stockholders. Unity must be present in thought
and men must be willing to subordinate personal convictions to the
sense of the majority, before stability of policy wisely chosen and
the success which follows therefrom can be even anticipated, much
less enjoyed. Those who know the Steinways will recognize here
a description of the methods and causes of their success. Even
thus must the piano industry learn to acquire a group consciousness.
To the extent to which it acquires this will it be successful. To
the extent to which it fails, in so doing, will it also fail of the
future success towards which it now so eagerly strains its sight.
ONE is led to reflections of this somewhat discursive kind by the
notorious facts of the present situation in the piano industry.
Nothing is more certain than that the music trade papers have
long foreseen the approach of changes in public
taste, of formidable competition from new direc-
Pudding's
tions, of the tremendous difficult task of obtaining
Proof
needed new policies of merchandising as well as
of manufacturing. Nothing is more certain to him who will take
the trouble to look back over the files during the last two or three
years than that the trade papers have over and over again voiced
parables, but nevertheless accurately and on the whole wisely, their
conviction that the industry was about to enter into a new phase,
and that the transition might be painful. Ten years ago, in the
midst of a specious temporary prosperity induced by war conditions,
trade papers gave up innumerable pages of their costly space, week-
after week, to presenting accounts of an elaborate attempt to bring
14
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
CHICAGO AND THE MIDDLE WEST
Frank W. Kirk, Manager, 1302 Republic Building, South State St., Chicago
Chicago P. & O. Association Pledges
Full Support to Chicago Piano Contest
At Special Meeting Held at the Great Northern Hotel, Organization Subscribes Sub-
stantial Fund to Event—E. P. Lapham the Speaker
/CHICAGO, ILL., December 15.—In addition to
^ pledging full co-operation and support to the
second annual Chicago Piano Playing Tourna-
ment, the Chicago Piano & Organ Association at
a special meeting held at the Great Northern Hotel
to-day subscribed a substantial amount to the
fund that is being raised among the members of
the local trade to carry out the program for
next year.
There is every indication that the 1928 contest
will have the full support of every local member
and house, for the trade as a whole realizes the
future benefits to be derived from such effort and
investment that may be made to promote an an-
nual contest and are entering upon the work with
unusual zeal to carry it to a successful end.
Before discussing the plans of the coming tour-
nament at the meeting, during which short talks
were given by Roger O'Connor, of Kranich &
Bach, president of the Association, Charles E.
Byrne, of the Steger & Sons Piano Mfg. Co., Adam
Schneider and others, an interesting picture of
present and future conditions was drawn by E.
P. Lapham.
Mr. Lapham was associated with the trade for
many years before entering the financial field
through his connection with Dangler, Lapham &
Co., and his knowledge of economic and financial
conditions as well as his long experience in the
music business enables him to speak with author-
ity on conditions in general and how they affect
the music business in particular. He said in part:
"With the radio business increasing from
$2,000,000 to $600,000,000 in six years' time, and
when the Commonwealth Edison Co., some twenty-
five years ago, wished to negotiate a $2,000,000 loan
they were compelled to send a special emissary to
London to obtain this money, while at the present
time a $75,000,000 bond issue is absorbed over
night, you can see how impossible it is to use
the old yardstick in business measurement.
"The present custom of the so-called hand-to-
mouth buying is saving merchants from being
caught as formerly with large stocks, which, with
a drop in prices, had to be written off as con-
siderable loss. This saving has been offset some-
what by his meeting with heavy sales losses the
last season, caused by unseasonable weather which
has existed all over the country."
After giving a brief review of the various in-
dustries, including textiles, steel, automobiles, real
estate and the agricultural situation, Mr. Lapham
said:
"Aiany bank presidents are tremendously op-
timistic for the coming year. Henry Ford has
just said: 'My outlook lor the coming year is
based on ample evidence of continued and increas-
ing material prosperity. National wealth is in-
creasing, individuals have more money, taxes are
on ihe decrease, and governmental economy has
made lor better business in all lines.'
"Crops and future prospects are good, it being
estimated that the product of the farmer will
amount to $1,1)00,000,000 this year. There is an
increase of millions of dollars in deposits in our
savings banks, largely due, in my opinion, to high
wages paid, and also to prohibition. Bond prices
are highest since 1913, and going higher, railroads
are prospering, the Government changed from a
debtor to a creditor nation, and high wages with
labor well employed. Imports are falling off and
exports increasing to the amount of $356,000,000
in the past nine months, which assures no deple-
tion of our gold supply. There are many large
projects to be started during 1928 in Chicago.
These are some of the reasons for sustained busi-
ness and a prosperous future."
Among those present at the meeting were
President Roger O'Connor; Vice-President R. J.
Cook, Cable Piano Co.; Secretary J. V. Sill, W.
W. Kimball Co.; Treasurer Adam Schneider; E.
F. Lapham, C. J. Steger and Chas. E. Byrne,
Steger & Sons Piano Co.; William Collins, H. C.
Bay Co.; Ben Strub, Standard Pneumatic Action
Co.; James T. Bristol, James T. Bristol, Inc.;
Jack Cheney, Piano & Organ Supply Co.; Roy
Hibschmann, Motor Player Corp.; E. P. Whit-
more, Eugene Whelan, David Kimball, W. W.
Kimball Co.; Chas. Burtzloff, Kohler Industries;
E. Hill, of P. A. Starck Co.
AT almost regular, and certainly at frequent intervals during the
last four years this paper, The Review, has told the piano industry,
the small goods industry, the sheet music industry, and all those
sub groups which together make up what we col-
~, eace> ,
lectively name the music industries that the day
Goodwill,
Victory
ot
-
i
AT
/-
• •
- i
*"v
-r
Urges Music Temple
for Chicago Memorial
V. F. Grabil, of Sherwood School of Music,
Outlines Plan Before the Chicago Piano Club
The need for a fitting and desirable memorial
to Chicago's heroes by the erection of a temple
of music was emphasized by Victor F. Grabil,
band leader, at the last weekly meeting of the
Chicago Piano Club.
Mr. Grabil, who is associated with the Sher-
wood School of Music, proposed that the most
fitting memorial would be a beautiful and com-
modious music pavilion, or temple of music, to
be located in Grant Park.
This same proposal was presented to the pub-
lic by Mr. Grabil through the daily papers, and
in his talk to the members of the Piano Club
he urged the further promotion of this idea.
He said:
"Chicago is widely advertised as one of the
foremost art-music centers. We have the Field
Museum, the Art Institute and other museums.
During the Winter we have a richly diversified
musical program with the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra and the Chicago Civic Opera taking
the lead, but during the Summer we have prac-
tically nothing musical.
"It is estimated that we have 25,000 music
students studying here in the Summer, many
of them being teachers from colleges and
schools all over America. They cannot but
wonder at the total lack of good music within
the city during that time.
"An artistic pavilion could be so constructed
as to afford a large seating capacity and, by be-
ing opened on the sides and rear, allow for many
additional listeners. With a scientifically con-
structed band shell at one end many thousands
could hear the music in comfort, and concerts
could be given regardless of weather condi-
tions."
It was announced that the next meeting of
the club would be held after the first of the
year on January 8, 1928.
Wins in New Field
Members of the local trade who know W. A.
Sheaffer, formerly a piano dealer at Ft. Madi-
son, la., referred to the notice which appeared
{Continued on piiflc 16)
be interpreter. The trade paper Daniels are indeed, as always,
ready to interpret the writing, but their services by now should
scarcely be needed. For the writing is plain and the language
familiar. "Ye have fought amongst yourselves. Ye have wounded
each other. Cease now from your contentions, for the enemy is
at the gate. Band together, raise the banner of Music for the
People, and go forth to fight as one man, brother shoulder to
shoulder with brother. For the enemy is powerful, the enemy is
strong and the enemy lusteth for blood. His banners are Novelty,
Aggressiveness, Money. He is young, insolent with success and
drunk with power. To meet him, whether his war-cry be motor
car, real estate, fur coat, or iceless icebox, you too must be strong.
Insolent, noisy, aggressive you need not be, for you are of old
and honorable lineage. But victorious you can be, for the goddess
whom ye serve is the most gracious and the most puissant of god-
desses. Her name is Music, whom strong men and gracious ladies
alike delight to worship. With her sign on your banners ye cannot
fail." These are the words and this the interpretation. Could one
offer to friends of the music industries, whom one has the happy
privilege of addressing on this page, any better Christmas wish than
that they may heed the writing on the wall and obey the command
it reveals. For that way lies Victory.
OCCIDENS.
/-i
Competition is here. O. L. Cheney,
the New York banker, who first brought this
name into general use, has well said that the old day of internecine
warfare among the members of an industry is already dead, and
that it has been succeeded by the day of large scale war among
great embattled armies, each comprising a great industry and each
composed of individual members working in harmony and obeying
commands laid down by a general staff of merchandising and adver-
tising experts. If ever there has been an industry intensely cen-
trifugal, intensely inclined to fly off into its constituent elements
at the least excuse, or at no excuse at all, that industry has been,
and is, ours. If ever there was an industry of which the con-
stituent elements delight in fighting among themselves, in see-
ing how much damage each can do to his neighbor, who should
be his brother, it is our industry. Yet if ever the handwriting
flashed plain upon the wall of destiny, it flashes now. And its
Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin may be read by almost any would-
15

Download Page 14: PDF File | Image

Download Page 15 PDF File | Image

Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).

Pro Tip: You can flip pages on the issue easily by using the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard.