Presto

PRESTO
NEW YEAR'S GIFT
BYBRECKWOLDTCO.
Free Insurance For All Workers in Big Dolge-
ville Piano Supply Plant Is Mark of
Pleasant eRlations Between Employer
and Employes.
The Julius Breck-
woldt Co., Dolgeville,
N. Y., has adopted the
group insurance plan.
It is an instance of the
satisfactory labor con-
ditions in that city and
the pleasant relations
between the company
and its employes. The
adoption of the group
insurance plan is a
concrete example of
appreciation shown to
loyal workers in the
big piano supply fac-
tory.
Every employe of
the company on the
pay roll for six months
will receive an insur-
ance policy in the New
JULIUS BREKWOLDT.
York Equitable Life
Assurance Society, the
amount to be graded according to period the in-
sured has been in the employ of the company as
follows:
Describe Terms.
Six months. $500; one year, $600; two years, $700;
three years, $800; four years, $900; five years, $1,000.
Advancing in the same steps of $100 annually until
the maximum is reached at 10 years with a policy
of $1,500. The premiums on these policies will
amount to a large sum each year which the Breck-
woldt company will bear in full.
There are absolutely
no strings, no restric-
tions, no quibbles. It
is a straight out, bona
fide gift of a life in-
surance policy in one
of the soundest as well
as one of the largest
life insurance com-
panies in the world,
and no physical or
other sort of examina-
tion will be required to
make the eligible em-
ploye a policy holder.
When it is consid-
ered that the employes
of the Julius Breck-
woldt Company, all
men except part of the
office force, range from
38 to 72 years of age,
WILLIAM A. BREKWOLDT
the majority of whom
have been in the concern's employ for the maxi-
mum period required to receive the highest amount
of insurance covered by the contract, the generous
and magnanimous proportions of this New Year's
endowment will be realized and its value appre-
ciated.
Each employe participating in this bounty which
means practically the whole pay roll, was presented
with a blank certificate of notification last week,
preliminary to the issuance of the regular policies
which will be delivered as soon as they are ready,
early in January.
No Strings.
Employes whose period of employment entitles
them to less than the maximum amount of insur-
ance, or $1,500, will receive the annual advance com-
ing to them in the form of a rider attached to the
original policy each year till the full amount is
reached. The only condition that can work a for-
feiture of their policy will be resignation or dis-
charge from the company's employ, which would
automatically cancel it.
This company has always been foremost in any
movement for the material interests of Dolgeville.
The big piano supply plant is one of which the
citizens are proud. It is equipped with evt. _,
modern device for the convenient handling of all
material and their consumption of spruce lumber,
exclusively used in the manufacture of sounding
boards, exceeds that of any other industry. Up-
wards of 15 million feet are used annually and
they operate large mills at Fulton Chain and Tup-
pcr Lake besides controlling vast areas of standing
spruce timber in various parts of this country and
Canada.
Julius Breckwoldt established the business in 1896
and its expansion and marvelous growth has been
due to the energy and great executive ability of the
chief. He is prominent socially, president of the
Dolgeville National Bank and highly regarded in
financial and business circles of the county. His
son, William A. Breckwoldt, secretary-treasurer of
the company, has grown up with the business and
is a master of all the intricate details. He is an
active factor in the management of the factory and
has taken much of the burden of its duties from the
shoulders of his father, proving a most efficient as-
sistant and wise promoter of the policies of the
company.
January 15, 1920.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
OF TUNERS GROWS
Meetings in Grand Rapids and Flint, Mich.,
and in Birmingham, Ala., Result in
Three More Local Organizations.
W. F. McClellan, secretary of the National Asso-
ciation of Piano Tuners has just returned from a
very successful trip to Grand Rapids, Mich., and
Flint, Mich. Meetings were held in both cities, the
Grand Rapids meeting at the Pantlind Hotel, Sun-
day, Jan. 4. All but two of the known tuners of
that city attended. Eleven applications were signed,
and one application for re-instatement, all of whom
were duly examined and approved.
Aside from the tuners who attended, George E.
Martin, late of the Danquard Player School, New
York; Mr. Sigler of the Sigler Player Action Co.,
Reversing the Custom, Prominent Retailers Make and M. B. Witter, manager piano department.
Young & Chaffee, also of Grand Rapids, were pres-
Formal Call Upon Trade Paper.
ent. Mr. Martin addressed the meeting urging all to
Early this week two fine looking gentlemen—fact join the association, elaborating on the advantages
of organization, and offering to assist any and all
—called at the editorial offices of Presto. One of
them announced that they were piano men who tuners in acquiring knowledge of the player
had come to pay their respects to the editorial staff. mechanism.
Information solicited while in Grand Rapids
They didn't want anything; they were not on busi-
ness; they especially requested that no "puffs" or shows that the majority of the merchants favor the
elimination of free tuning. The matter will be
such like, be administered.
The two gentlemen entered the inner sanctum taken up at the next meeting of the piano merchants
and were seated before the staff realized it. Then there.
A meeting was held in Flint, Mich., Jan. 7. Ac-
after the customary ceremonies of a formal call,
one of the gentlemen said that, inasmuch as that cording to the best information obtainable, while
it was customary for trade paper men to call fre- there are only six tuners actively engaged in the
quently upon the piano men, he and his partner had work in that city, five out of the six have became
decided to reverse the order of things and do the members, and the sixth has declared his intention
to come in later. A number of tuners up through
calling themselves.
The idea was such a good one, and so novel, that that part of the country have given up tuning and
the only blemish upon the occasion was what hap- gone into the automobile factories and other kinds
pened last July 1st, and will be ratified by automatic of work, claiming they can make more money in
introduction to the Constitution next week, Friday. other lines.
Notwithstanding the fact that there are only six
The callers were George W. Grosvenor and E.
F. Lapham of the Grosvenor, Lapham & Co., 410 tuners in Flint, they are determined to have a local
S. Boul. Mich., Chicago, one of the most successful division of the national association, so that they
retail piano houses in the country. And Grosvenor, may carry on the work of educating the people in
Lapham & Co. have been developing even faster the care of the piano in the most efficient and ef-
than ever since becoming the Chicago headquarters fective manner.
Geo. C. Johnston of Chicago, representative of
of the Haddorff line. "The outlook for this year,"
said Mr. Grosvenor, "is better than at any time in the tuners association, who is now on a trip through
the South, reports the formation of a division in
the nearly thirty years of our business career."
Birmingham, Ala. The following officers were
elected to carry on the work until a permanent or-
RETURNS TO MUSIC TRADE.
ganization is effected: W. A. Thomas, chairman;
Will Shaw, former editor of The Democrat, W. R. Scott, vice-chairman, and Chas. Lovette, sec-
Aleda, 111., will open a music store in that city next retary and treasurer. Eight applications have been
spring, probably immediately following his return turned in from Birmingham up to January 9.
Mr. Johnston also reports that in a number of
from San Diego, Cal., where he will spend the win-
ter. According to Mr. Shaw, he will handle prac- towns in that locality piano tuners are required to
tically the same line of musical instruments which take out a license before they can practice tuning.
License fees run from $10 to $25.
he carried when in the music business in Aledo
some years ago. His previous experience in this
line extends over a period of from six to seven
years, when he left it to become half owner and edi-
tor of The Democrat over four years ago. Sales-
rooms have been arranged for.
UNUSUAL EVENT IN THE
ANNALS OF THE PIANO TRADE
NEW STORE BUILDING MARKS
SUCCESS OF WISCONSIN FIRM
NEW STORE IN MACON, GA.
The great success of the music department of
Burden, Smith & Co, Macon, Ga., has led to an
extension of the business outside of the big depart-
ment store. The company has opened a new music
store at 404 Cherry street, which is in charge of
Curtis and Fred Guttenberger. The music depart-
ment in the big store will be continued and will
remain under the management of J. J. Oberry. The
department was established about three years ago
with the Estey, Sohmer, McPhail, Kohler & Camp-
bell pianos and players, and the Autopiano.
Everything Required from Modern Service to Be
Installed by Daly Music Co.
CABLE CO. TRAVELERS MEET.
The Daly Music Co. of Grand Rapids, Wis., has
plans for the erection of a new store for its busi-
ness. The new building will have a frontage of 66
feet, a depth of 132 feet and will be two stories high.
Extensive display windows, special demonstration
rooms, and other features will be embodied in the
new structure. There will be a separate section for
each line of goods carried. The piano department
will be the most important of course but the talking
machines will be allotted another large section. In
addition the store will have a gift shop and a new
jewelry department.
Mrs. Daly states that the Daly Music Co. has
been in operation in Grand Rapids since 1886 when
it was established by her husband, who came to
Wisconsin from the East where he had been in
the piano business. They selected the Cable line
at that early date and have been exclusive dealers
for The Cable Company ever since. Upon the death
of Mr. Daly in 1903, Mrs. Daly took over the busi-
ness and has been very successful,
A year ago the downtown store was opened and
the remarkable success it has enjoyed prompted the
building of the new structure. The new store will
cost at least $10,000 and will be one of the most at-
tractive business places in the city.
The annual meeting of the travelers of The Cable
Company was held in the office of C. E. Jackson, at
the company's headquarters in Chicago last week.
The men had been called in by Mr. Jackson for an-
nual conference. All of the travelers report un-
usual conditions in the greatness of the demand and
the'inadequacy of the supply of pianos and player-
pianos. Cash sales have been common.
The O. K. Houck Piano Co., Little Rock, points
with pride this week to a splendid line which in-
cludes the following pianos and players: Duo-Art
Reproducing pianos, Pianola playerpianos. Steinway,
Vose, Jesse French & Sons, Weber, McPhail, Behr
Bros., A. B. Chase, Ludwig and others.
CLARK F. GROSS SELLS OUT.
Clark F. Gross, who a few months ago resigned
his place as traveler for the Gulbransen-Dickinson
Company to become a partner in the Ryder Music
Company, Pawhuska, Okla., has sold out his inter-
ests in the Ryder Music Company. His address
for a time will be at 130 South Laury avenue,
Springfield, Ohio. Mr. Gross is undecided whether
to establish himself in a retail agency or go out
as wholesale representative for some piano manu-
facturing company.
PRIDE IN THE LINE,
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