Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1920 1749

PRESTO
PRESTO
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY AT 407 SOUTH DEAR-
BORN STREET, OLD COLONY BUILDING, CHICAGO, ILL.
A. DANIELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT
Editora
Telephones: Chicago Tel. Co., Harrison 234; Auto. Tel. Co., Automatic 61-70S.
Private Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Commercial Cable Co.'s Code),
"PRESTO," Chicago.
Bntered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the Post Office, Chicago. Illinois,
%
under Act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4. Payable In advance. No « t r *
rice in TL S. Dossessions, Canada. Cuba and Mexico. ' "
~
Address all communications for the editorial or business departments to PRESTO
PUBLISHING CO., Chicago, III.
Advertising Ratet<-Three dollars per inch (13 ems pica) for single insertion*.
Bix dollars per inch p«r month, less twenty-five per cent on yearly contracts. Th«
Presto does not sell its editorial space. Payment Is not accepted for articles of de-
scriptive character or other matter appearing in the news columns. Business notices
will be Indicated by the word "advertisement" In accordance with the Act of August
24, 1912.
Rates for advertising in the Tear Book issue and Export Supplements of The
Presto will be made known upon application. The Presto Year Book and Export
issues have the most extensive circulation of any periodicals devoted to the musical
instrument trades and industries in all parts of the world, and reach completely and
•ffectually all the houses handling musical instruments of both the Eastern and West-
•rn hemispheres.
The Presto Buyeis' Guide is the only reliable Index to the American Muskml
Instruments; It analyzes all Pianos and Player-Pianos, gives accurate estimates •#
their values and contains a directory of their manufacturers.
& Items of news, photographs and other matter of general interest to the muiM
trades are invited and when accepted will be paid for. Address all communication* to
Prtste Publishing Co.. Chicago. III.
T H U R S D A Y , JANUARY, 29, 1920.
TO CORRESPONDENTS.
PRESTO IS ALWAYS GLAD TO RECEIVE NEWS OF THE
TRADE—ALL KINDS OF NEWS EXCEPT PERSONAL SLANDER
AND STORIES OF PETTY MISDEEDS BY INDIVIDUALS. PRESTO
WILL PRINT THE NAMES OF CORRESPONDENTS WHO SEND IN
"GOOD STUFF" OR ARE ON THE REGULAR STAFF. DON'T SEND
ANY PRETTY SKETCHES, LITERARY ARTICLES OR "PEN-PIC-
TURES." JUST PLAIN NEWS ABOUT THE TRADE—NOT ABOUT
CONCERTS OR AMATEUR MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENTS, BUT
ABOUT THE MEN WHO MAKE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND
THOSE WHO SELL THEM. REPORTS OF NEW STORES AND
THE MEN WHO MAKE RECORDS AS SALESMEN ARE GOOD. OF-
TEN THE PIANO SALESMEN ARE THE BEST CORRESPONDENTS
BECAUSE THEY KNOW WHAT THEY LIKE TO READ AND HAVE
THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR FINDING OUT WHAT IS "DOING" IN
THE TRADE IN THEIR VICINITY. SEND IN THE N E W S -
ALL YOU CAN GET OF IT—ESPECIALLY ABOUT YOUR OWN
BUSINESS.
A CONTRAST
Next week New York will have the biggest music show in this
country's history, save one. And that exception was the greatest
music show the world has ever witnessed. It took place in Jackson
Park, Chicago, nearly twenty-seven years ago, and it was known as
Section I of the Columbian World's Exposition.
At that music show there were 427 instruments—pianos and or-
gans—on display. They came from every civilized nation of the earth,
and they represented the finest skill in acoustics and activity in wood-
working up to that time. It may be that the highest attainment of that
time was crude as compared with the piano-results of today. But no
piano man who participated.in the glories of Section I in 1893 could
be made to believe it.
At the time of the greatest music show in all history, the automo-
bile had not been invented. It had scarcely yet disturbed the dreams
of any inventor. But since the motor came, it has been customary with
piano men to draw contrasts between the automobile industry and
their own. It has been common for the music love propagandists to
declare that, because the limousine fills large space in the newspapers,
without cost to the manufacturers, the piano should be equally the
subject of thrilling and free printer's ink discussion. The absurdity of
the proposition does not seem to have dawned upon some otherwise
bright minds even yet.
This week there is an automobile show in Chicago. Every news-
paper bulges with news, pictures and descriptive matter. Thousands of
dollars have been invested in advertising the cars on display. One of
the newspapers devoted two pages to the reproduction of trade-name
fac-similes, after the manner of the piano names in Presto Buyers'
Guide. An evening paper started the automobile show week with an
issue of about 100 pages, mostly about cars. Portraits of all the auto-
mobile industry presidents were published, together with pictures of
January 29, 1920.
their cars. And one of the newspapers declared that eventually the
auto would supersede the street car in the big cities.
And now the music show will be an attraction in New York. What
proportion of the newspapers of that city will be given over to t^e
pianos and other things of music? What will be the expenditures in
the advertising pages? How will the response of the public compare
with the crowds at the Chicago Automobile Show?
We hope that the comparison may be in favor of the New York
Music Show. But when we consider the vastness of the automobile
industry, it can create no suspicion should it be otherwise. For it is
said that the automobile industry now pays $747,000,000 in yearly
wages; that there are more than 6,500,000 motor cars in use in the
United States; that the number of persons employed in the automobile
industry and trade exceeds 1,000,000; that the automobile factories
pay $275,000,000 in yearly wages, the supply industries pay $228,000,-
000 and the dealers and garages pay out $184,000,000.
It is plain enough that to compare the figures of the piano with
those just quoted is out of reason. And to try to base any propaganda
of either publicity or piano promotion along similar lines is imprac-
ticable. The two industries, while catering to the social side of life, in
a sense, are essentially different. One is the canary bird in the sun-
parlor; the other the rooster in the rear, crowing loudly.
And these are some of the considerations that have led Presto to
suggest that it is easily possible to go too far into the realms of the
impractical in some of the plans of music propaganda. We still be-
lieve that the piano that is promoted as a unit, and along the independ-
ent lines of its own maker's initiative and enterprise, will win better
than can be possible by any co-operative effort designed for the general
"betterment." Advertising good for goodness' sake may be very well,
but advertising a good piano in a way to let the world know that
other pianos are not quite so good is a better plan.
THE MUSIC SHOW
For some reason not yet made clear the Music Show next week
will be an exposition of New York instruments so far as pertains to
pianos. According to late reports from Manager Green, only two Chi-
cago piano industries are entered and, with two others from the West,
the list of instruments east of New York ends. Therefore the Music
Show may not be representative in a national sense. Therefore, 1 also,
it can not convey to a large proportion of the trade anything like the
interest to which so large an enterprise should be entitled.
Nevertheless, no one will question the character and splendor of
the display so far as concerns the eastern piano industry. The list of
exhibitors, which appears elsewhere this week, proves that many of the
most influential piano industries will be liberally represented. And
the aggregation of talking machine industries surpasses, by far, any
display ever seen in this country. In fact the phonograph seems to
monopolize a very large share of the show. But the facts of the show
week may prove this impression an error. But why are the Western
pianos not in on the advantages of the big Music Show? How does it
happen that its possibilities are so generally permitted to pass?
We have our own ideas in the matter, of course. They have been
in a measure expressed so far as possible without in any degree haz-
arding the success of the project. And next time, whether this year's
show proves a success or not, we believe that more real piano under-
standing will be mixed with the undeniable show-man skill in forming
the basis of the best results in any future similar enterprise. It is not
possible to apply general show principles to piano trade promotion.
Not even the rules of automobile exhibitions can successfully be
adopted in similar displays of musical instruments.
But it is too early to talk about what might make still greater the
success of a Music Show that has not yet begun. It is certain that
the influential piano men who are behind the event in New York 'will
not be satisfied with anything short of correspondingly large results.
And the plans perfected for drawing crowds to the Grand Central
Palace are such as to insure that all Manhattan will be there, with a
good crowd, also, from outside the metropolis, near and far.
A look at the list of exhibitors is enough to guarantee plenty of
interest and instruction, to every dealer who may attend. It will be a
show well worth a trip from the furthermost points of the continent.
The representatives of the trade from the Pacific Coast will be there
in numbers almost equal to those from points in New Jersey and
Massachusetts. Of course the Middle-West will send crowds and the
week will prove an inspiration to every piano man who can get there.
This year there are not so many points of trade discussion at the
convention as have stirred some of the earlier meetings. Conditions in
the industry and trade have, in a large measure, settled back, and the
heaviest burdens, upon both manufacturer and dealer, have their foun-
dation in national complications and conditions. The real worries of
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/
PRESTO
January 29, 1920.
all concerned in the piano trade are no longer matters of details in
sales, settlements, terms or credits. Those are matters which just now
seem almost reminiscent. It is today more a question with the manu-
facturers of how to supply the demand, and with the dealers of how to
get the goods. With the increasing number of local association com-
mittees, it may still be a question of what has become known as "bet-
terment." But that is really not so important as the problem of in-
creasing taxation and soaring store rents and incidentals.
But things will work out to the advantage of the courageous and
consistent. And the Convention and Music Show will go far toward
giving the impetus and inspiration that are needed to make the way
of the future easier.
FIVE QUESTION POINTS
Why should there be exaggeration in putting forth the claims of
any* piano when the facts in the case are already sufficient for all pos-
sible purposes? And, in a time when the special pleading of business
is for "betterment" in all departments why should any piano house
set forth questionable points in the promotion of any popular or well-
known instrument?
The matter of accuracy in advertising has of late exercised the
attention of seme of the powerful men of the piano industry and trade.
But even yet there are occasional signs that the betterment has not
taken hold of the very men who should most have benefited by the
discussion and example of those by whose moral suasion trade evils
have been to a large degree exterminated.
During the late Col. E. S. Conway's life that influential piano man
insisted upon clean methods of retail advertising. He constantly ad-
monished the representatives of the house, in the upbuilding of which
he had so much to do, that they should not indulge in any statements
that could not be verified. And he specially decried misleading refer-
ences to the Kimball piano. And yet the following appeared only last
week in a newspaper published not far from Chicago:
Facts to your own interest: 1. Kimball pianos are used and endorsed by
more professional musicians and artists than any other make. 2. Kimball
pianos are used by more teachers and schools than any other make. 3. Kim-
ball pianos have more tone power and sweetness and will sustain longer than
any other make. 4. Kimball pianos contain more patented improvements
than any other make and will last a lifetime. 5. Kimball pianos are built
and fully warranted by more than twice the capital of any other piano concern
in the world.
If only cne of those five direct and very positive statements
created doubt there might be small cause for criticism. If only two of
the statements were questionable the lapses might be laid to misap-
prehension. If but three were untrue there might be no thought of
suggesting the need of the kind of "betterment" that is just now filling
large space in the arguments of the trade critics. But when all of the
five statements are, in a considerable sense, either in conflict with the
truth or so exaggerated as to be misleading, the call for the committee
on better advertising seems to be a fairly loud one.
We believe that no one in authority at Kimball Hall, in Chicago,
would indorse the Jansen & Joosten advertising. Whether the firm
named is really entitled to sign itself "factory distributers" or not, we
do not know. But the claim, in large type, seems to suggest an au-
thority in the five statements that the recklessness of the claims them-
selves does not justify.
We do not believe that Mr. C. N. Kimball would indorse the claim
that his pianos are "used and endorsed by more professional musicians
and artists than any other make." The statement seems to carry its
own contradiction in the minds of all who are informed as to which
of the great pianos are thus recognized in the art world.
Nor do we believe that Mr. Kimball would indorse the statement
that his pianos are "used by more teachers and schools than any other
make." There are so many pianos used in the schools that to deter-
mine that question conclusively would require a staff of census takers.
But we do not believe that the Jansen & Joosten claim would be veri-
fied.
As to the third claim of the Kimball factory distributors, it in-
volves several points impossible of authoritative settlement by any
individual. Of course the general opinion of the musical world could
not sustain the opinions of the advertisers, for there are really great
pianos that stand in conflict in the matter. And the "patented im-
provements" statement is almost grotesque in its assumption of in-
ventive preferment. No doubt the Kimball has some patented improve-
ments, but that is not a matter of imposing importance since the days
of the Columbian exposition.
Whether or not claim No. five is true or not does not affect piano
quality or durability at all. Whether the makers of the Chicago piano
can successfully sustain this statement of exceeding wealth, or not,
doesn't matter much. We believe that there are now other piano in-
dustries equally as wealthy, if not much "more so." In any event we
know that the Kimball piano is made by a house of wealth and backed
by a tradition of aggression and ambition.
The late W. W. Kimball was a shrewd business man and a suc-
cessful piano man. His assistant, Col. E. S. Conway, was equally a
great organizer and as fine a character as the piano trade has ever
known. They have both passed to their eternal peace, and the great
industry of their making is in other hands. Its place is established and
there need be no straying, by its representatives, from the pathway to
progress which was laid out and so long followed by the founders.
There must be no least temptation on the part of the Better Business
Bureau to discipline the sellers of the Kimballpiano. For the facts in
its case are good enough.
OUR DUTY IN THE NEW ERA
The contributor to whom allusion was made last week, as having
sent to Presto a powerful article on subjects so broad that doubt
arose as to its fitness for a trade paper, has sent in the following very
interesting communication:
Anent the editorial "A Trade Paper and Its Limitations" on page 7 of
Presto, January 22nd:
There was once a very religious man, and he went unto the secret place
to pray. And he prayed—
"O Lord, bless me and my wife,
My son John and his wife,
Us four and no more!"
Now, to a scribbler who imagines that he has things pent up in his skull
that should be uttered and who has uttered them in various forms, it really
does seem that the prayer above uttered did not go very far into christian-
izing the world.
Business and the world in general can not go back to the times before
the war. We are in a new era. In this era any thinker will realize that indi-
vidual duties that were have broadened, and now each individual's duty is to
view the present and the future from three perspectives—himself, his business
and his Government.
Individuals make America. Individual Americans were the deciding factor
in the world's war.
Individuals go into business. Practically all lines of business fraternize,
and all business is constantly touching elbows through the trade press. To
this condition was the winning of the war achieved more than by any other.
All business arose as one man and got behind the individual. If it had not
been for the individual American the war would not have been won. Had
business not backed the individual the individual would have been powerless.
Is it too much to say that America won the war because business went outside
its narrow function of making money and assumed and executed govern-
mental power, and backed the individual American?
Here the precedent was established that will rule from now on. Business
will demand business methods in governmental matters. Not the Big Business
idea of domination of the past, but the little business, the fraternized business,
the amalgamated business, the total business, the business that standardized,
conserved, donated, financed, operated bureaus at $1.00 per year salary, and as
the power behind the individual—the supreme power—will, and should, kill,
stamp out and do away with, the political trickery and jugglery of later years.
Are you serious in saying that the piano trade is not to be represented
in the great reconstruction—and that Business must proceed hap-hazardly,
without the assistance of the trade press?
The columns of Presto during the war, and since the armistice was signed,
would not lead to this conclusion. Yours very truly,
T. ROGERS LYONS.
We can not disagree with what Mr. Lyons says about the duties
of a trade paper in its relation to business in general and the influence
of individuals in the affairs of the nation. The greatest good of the
whole must be the special concern of the individual and, as that great
democrat Grover Cleveland said of politicians "he serves his party best
who serves his country best." But it is not a question of duty to the
world at large, or even to the nation, that creates trade paper limita-
MECHANICAL PlAWO
IM ACTIOH
Chicago Tribune,
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/

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