Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1920 1762

PRESTO
May 1, 1920.
bors with, often, an utter disregard of either themselves or their
creditors. The consequence was a lack of profit at both ends. And
that lack has kept the piano makers and the piano merchants so fully
occupied with discounting paper that little time was left for the real
end of all good business.
We have been talking of the piano business as it was conducted
in years gone by. Today it is different. So that the answer to the
Why is not now what it might have been before the change for the
better came. But the conditions that now annoy the trade have their
starting point back in the times when things were as has been stated.
In time the workers who have deserted the piano factories because
other lines offer them, or seem to offer them, larger reward for their
skill, will come back again. And when they do come back things
will be better and production will again be more nearly adequate.
Of course the unrest that has disturbed nearly all departments of
industry has contributed to the lack of piano workers. The piano
factories, especially in the East, have suffered from this cause almost
as much as any other industry. That, too, is righting itself. But the
advanced cost of everything that goes into pianos is a condition that
can not soon be overcome by even the return of the workers, or the
cessation of the strikes. It is something that demands a proportionate
increase in the manufacturers' prices, and a corresponding advance
in the selling prices of the retailers.
Perhaps the fact that pianos are not plentiful is the tonic most
needed to cure some of the evil habits by which the piano trade was
nearly ruined in the days of greater plenty. And if that is so it is
well for the trade to have reason to ask Why? For in finding the
answer the dealers may also find the way out of the old-time mis-
takes and make the piano trade again the best business on earth—
as it should be.
THE SEASON AND THE SHOW
The Music Industries Chamber of Commerce has started a wise
investigation. The purpose is to discover the feeling of the piano
trade, and associated interests, as to which season is best for holding
the annual convention, and whether or not the show is wanted. We
believe that these two questions are of vital importance to the music
trade's associations, and we hope that the piano men, and other music
merchants, will respond promptly and conclusively.
Of course it may not be just the thing for a trade paper to voice
a positive opinion in such matters. Only the men who sell the goods
can say whether their business will be most hurt, if at all, by absence
from the store in mid-winter, or by a two weeks' vacation in the
Springtime or Summer. And perhaps the question of a show, and its
effects upon the manufacturers, can only be judged in the factory
offices. It may, furthermore, be said that to measure the matter from
so small a point of view is not wise for the dealer. But to the average
piano dealer—the "small" dealer—it is often a matter of large im-
portance. And usually the average dealer has many reasons why
some certain season may suit him best to turn his back upon the
scenes of his work in search of combined education and entertainment.
Usually the winter is the better season for piano selling. In the
new months of the year the people's homes are thrown open to the
Spring sunshine and out-of-doors begins to woo. The dealer may as
well break away and let his prospects take a long breath, meanwhile
thinking over the advantages of the beautiful playerpiano about which
they have been told so much. And then, too, the dealer's side of it.
The rare inducements of the Springtime and Summer for sight seeing
and the delights of change and open-air recreation. The convention
in New York City is more than a series of business meetings. The
great city is filled with points of interest. The visitor finds himself
thrilled with the rush of the streets, and the city parks, all along
famed Broadway, seem to welcome him with their greenery and birds
of song. Then, too, Coney Island begins to blaze at night, the boats
are running and the attractions are so numerous that after the meet-
ings the only problem is where not- to go.
Same when the convention is in Chicago. Spring and Summer are
waking the wonders of the boulevards and the great public parks. The
towers at night sparkle with electricity and the lake invites the lover
of the swelling waves. Winter in both New York and Chicago sug-
gests shivering misery, snow drifts, blizzards, delayed trains and
general demoralization. With no opportunity for the kind of cheer
that once drew merry crowds into the brilliantly lighted cafes, there
seems a dullness exaggerated, however good the change really may
be for all of us.
So that, when the votes are counted, it is probable that the time
for holding the conventions will be changed back again to June.
What do you say? Presto invites you to tell us that, and if enough
of you do it we will be glad to give up the space in which to make
your choice clearly known.
About the Music Show, this paper has from the first expressed its
views. The judgment of Mr. C. C. Conway seemed to us a wise one.
In both New York and Chicago, permanent music shows exist which,
in many respects, surpass anything that can be gathered together for
a few weeks' parade. The annual convention of the music trade is for
the music trade man, and not for the entertainment of the public.
Perhaps we are wrong. In any event we will be glad to sustain the
views of the manufacturers and the merchants whether the verdict
be for a show or no show.
THE MAN AHEAD
Good advice for both employer and employe is "Think in the
terms of the man that's ahead of the man that's ahead of you." By
thinking in that way, the employe learns the secret springs of success
that have been tapped by the employer. By thinking in that way, the
employer learns the secret springs of success that have been tapped
by his customers, by his rivals in business, by pioneers in special lines
of endeavor everywhere.
Arthur Brisbane, the "highest salaried editor in the world," ac-
cording to the Hearst newspapers, has said that nothing can perma-
nently rule the world but brains, and he's palpably right when brains
works in brainy fashion, which it doesn't often do. Just now muscle
seems to be sitting in the seat of the mighty. The white collar crowd
are somewhere near the bottom of the heap. A machinist's helper
draws three or four times as much wages today as an editorial writer
or a bookkeeper. The machinist's helper on Sundays wears silk shirts
at $12 and $16 apiece, while the bookkeeper and editor are seriously
considering joining the overalls brigade. Many of them are moving
out of their flats because they can not stand the latest raise in rents.
But the poor brain-worm is supposed to be getting ready to turn.
And the business man is getting ready to turn. The turn is expected
some time before the presidential election or thereabouts. And great
will be the turning thereof, so they say. The bubble of high prices is
said to be slated for a puncture before many moons. The war taught
men and women new forms of initiative and new ways of becoming
independent of long-cherished modes of doing things. It brought the
farmer and the piano manufacturer into their own—it put class in the
piano merchants' business. It remains to be seen whether or not
brains will so guide the affairs of their own and their employes as to
make the seeming ills of trade and industry real blessings to the world,
including the possessors of the brains and experience. It is not cer-
tain that conditions of today are really bad. There are philosophers
who see in the new order of things a better world, of greater oppor-
tunities and broader progress. It will depend upon how brains acts
and lays plans for the future.
The piano industry is controlled by men of brains. We have no
doubt as to its future. It is greater today than ever. It has only re-
cently emerged from the uncertain light of experimentation in its
methods and progress. It is a substantial, ambitious and steadily
developing department of the nation's business. Whatever the change
due to altered conditions and a new world, the piano industry and
trade will move forward and the results of the change will funda-
mentally be betterment. So don't let yourself be startled by the
threats and prophecies of what is going to be. You are all right, and
there is little suggestion of storms on the horizon of the business in
which you are engaged.
Among the uninvented things that will make some men rich are
a woman's waist material that can not be seen at all; a phonograph
from which the sounds of scratching and sepulchral tones have been
entirely eliminated; a wireless piano; a bowless violin; a cough-drop
that will immediately cure singers' hoarseness, and an automatic
workman who will immediately do the bidding of any boss without
ever a thought of going on strike. And, even more wonderful, the
Reproducing piano that will perform exactly like all the great pianists
combined with the artists themselves thousands of miles away.
Periods of rest in Eastern shoe factories are permitted, during
which the workers "smoke and chat." Perhaps the piano factories will
pause awhile for the toilers to play and sing.
The latest in the exposition line is the "Used Automobile Show."
Will that diversion ever worry the piano trade? Not just now, in
any event.
Do you want another Music Trade Show? If you do, and there
are enough of you, it will be in Chicago—perhaps next summer.
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
May 1, 1920.
MUSIC INDUSTRIES CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE SEEKS SHIPMENT FACTS
PRACTICAL PIANO MAKER
IS STEINWAY PRESIDENT
In Effort to Oppose Elimination of the Commodity Rate and Other Re=
visions, Committee of Chamber Requires Figures.
Frederick T. Steinway, Head of the Distin-
guished House, Was Long Superintend-
ent of the Factory.
With the desire to obtain transportation figures,
Alfred L. Smith, general manager of the Music In-
dustries Chamber of Commerce, has addressed a let-
ter to piano manufacturers. The information de-
sired relates to shipments of pianos westward and
when collected will provide strong arguments in the
Chamber's fight against the elimination of the com-
modity rate from eastern points. The letter fol-
lows:
As you may know, there is a proposal before the
Interstate Commerce Commission to revise the rail-
road's freight rates from eastern points to Pacific
Coast points, which, if it receives the approval of
the commission, will result very unfavorably to east-
ern shippers and Pacific Coast receivers and musical
instruments.
For instance, as a part of the general rate revision,
it is proposed to eliminate the commodity rate of
$3.31 T /. (12,000 lb. minimum carload) which is now
in effect for pianos to San Francisco, and $2.87^
(24,000 lb. minimum carload), which is now the rate
for phonographs and accessories, and substitute for
these commodity rates, the regular class rates which
at present are $4 for both pianos and phonographs
and accessories.
Still Higher Figures.
In addition to this change from the low com-
modity rate to the high class rate, this high class
rate is to be increased to a still higher figure. We
have not at hand, at the present moment, the exact
proposed figure for the new class rate, but it will
be considerably higher than the class rate now in
effect.
It is proposed to eliminate the commodity rate
both from Chicago and from eastern seaboard
points, that is, all points east of Buffalo and Pitts-
burgh. Hearings of the Interstate Commerce Com-
mission will be held in New York for the first week
in May; and in Chicago the following week. The
Chamber is making arrangements to co-operate with
the Chicago Piano and Organ Association to present
the Chicago case at the Chicago hearing. A special
committee of the Chamber has also been appointed to
look into the matter of the elimination of the com-
modity rate from eastern points.
This committee consists of W. E. Rammencamp,
Kohler & Campbell, 11th avenue and 50th street,
New York.; O. A. Card, Kohler & Chase, 2 W. 140th
street, New York; E. J. Dingley, Victor Talking Ma-
chine Co., Camden, N. J.
In presenting a case of the music industry prop-
erly before the commission, it is necessary that the
committee have the facts showing the total ship-
ments, both by rail and water, from points east of
Buffalo and Pittsburgh, to certain far western dis-
tributing points. Without this information the
Chamber can make no effective protest against the
elimination of the commodity rate. However, the
committee realizes that individual shippers will not
care to make public to the committee the volume of
their business with certain parts of the country.
Therefore, it has been planned to have this informa-
tion submitted confidentially to the general manager
of the Chamber, who will consolidate the reports
from individual shippers into a single statement,
which will show merely the total number of carload
shipments of all shippers from east points to the
Pacific Coast.
Held Confidential.
In this way, the information which each concern
gives will be kept in the strictest confidence, and
will not be revealed either directly or indirectly to
members of the committee or any other person ex-
cept the member of the office force who actually
performs the mathematical operations of consolidat-
ing the figures.
We are explaining our method of operation in de-
tail so that every shipper will feel certain that his
interests will be protected completely by the strict-
est confidence in the matter, and will therefore make
it a special point to provide complete and accurate
figures.
Will you, therefore, kindly supply us at yom very
earliest convenience with the information called for
upon the enclosed blank?
The information from all shippers should be in
our hands not later than Thursday, April 22nd.
0UT=0F=T0WN DEALERS
ENCOUNTERED IN CHICAGO
piano dealer, was in Chicago late last week and left
substantial orders.
Retail Piano Men, Eager for Uprights, Grands and
Players, Enliven Things in Offices.
Letters have been received this week by the Gul-
bransen-Dickinson Company, Chicago, from Ha-
waii and Ponce, Porto Rico, containing inquiries
about the instruments of the concern, based on no-
tices read in the Saturday Evening Post, showing
the far-away places to which that magazine reaches,
just as Presto does. Foreign trade at Gulbransen's
is biding time, awaiting the early settlement of the
strike in the East, so that shipments from the Chi-
cago factory can be made with assurance of delivery
within a reasonable transportation time. The com-
pany is now using three lines of railroads to get its
shipments out, which is a very unsatisfactory ararnge-
ment on the part of the transportation companies
for a manufacturing house that has calls for its
goods from all corners of civilization and some from
lands that heretofore have not been in the forefront
in either culture or cash.
Mr. Palmer, of DeKalb, 111., was in Chicago this
last week, and called on piano manufacturers.
Frank R. Perrot, of Buhler & Company, Perth-
town, Australia, was in Chicago last week.
Frank V. Belknap, of Eddyville, Iowa, called on
piano and player piano manufacturers last week in
Chicago.
Mr. Stratton, a representative of the Manly Piano
Co., was in Chicago last week and called on piano
manufacturers.
George Joosten, of Peoria, 111., was in Chicago in
the latter part of last week and called on piano
manufacturers.
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Bellis, of Fresno, Calif., were
in Chicago last week on their way eastward. After
visiting New York and Boston, Mr. and Mrs. Bellis
will return to California via New Orleans. Mr. Bel-
lis is an enthusiastic Adam Schaaf piano representa-
tives in Fresno.
W. L. Saunders, of the Sheaffer Jewelry & Music
Company, Fort Madison, Iowa, was in Chicago this
week. Mr. Saunders is recovering from poor health.
He came in from Excelsior Springs, Mo., and went
on home from Chicago.
Frank R. Perrot, chairman and director of Buhler
& Company of Perth, West Australia, called on
Price and Teeple Piano Company this week.
Harry T. Sipe, traveler for Adam Schaaf, Inc.,
and one of the most popular men on the road, was
in Chicago, at headquarters, entertaining customers,
most of the week.
Charles Price, representative of the Price & Tee-
ple Piano Company, who was in Chicago on a busi-
ness trip, has returned to his home in Cleveland, O.
L. J. Spurgin, of Oskaloosa, Iowa, was in Chicago
late last week ordering playerpianos for his store.
W r orley W. Benedict, of Shenandoah, Iowa, the
GULBRANSEN FAR-AWAY TRADE.
SANDEEN MUSIC HOUSE.
The Sandeen Music House of Springfield, 111., was
incorporated last week to deal in pianos and musical
supplies at 121 North Main street. The capital
stock of $20,00 is held as follows: S. A. Sandeen,
$19,800; Mary Sandeen, $100, and L. E. Carlson. $100.
S. A. Sandeen was in Chicago last week on business
connected with the stock of music goods for his
firm. He recently acquired the lease of the "Spa"
in Springfield.
THE TRADE'S GOLF TOURNAMENT.
The National Golf Association of the Piano Trade
announces that it will hold its tournament at At-
lantic City, N. J., on June 21, 22 and 23. W. V.
Swords, of the Aeolian Company, New York, is
president of the association, and Herbert W. Hill
is treasurer.
A company in Honolulu has written to the Gul-
bransen-Dickinson Company, Chicago, regarding its
latest quota of playerpianos: "The instruments ar-
rived in good shape and we like them."
While, as a rule, the managerial heads of the great
piano industries are no longer of the practical order
of piano makers, who once looked after the factory
product, there are still a few of that kind in the
prominent industries. A notable instance is that of
President Fredk. T. Steinway, of Steinway & Sons,
who has just returned to Steinway Hall, in New
York, after a severe illness which concerned that
gentleman's friends.
Mr. Steinway, son of one of the second gener-
ation of the famous American piano manufacturers,
is an expert in every department of the factory
work. For a long time he was the actual head of
the big Steinway factories in Steinway, L. I. He is
so familiar with every operation in the creation of
the piano that he can detect, at a glance or a sound,
the faintest suggestion of a blemish or a tonal de-
fect. The value of that practical skill to the famous
instruments of his house may readily be seen, even
if Mr. Steinway's parts in it are now mainly execu-
tive.
It is certain that the piano industry presents few
examples of the head of a great house who has put
in a good share of his life and experience within the
factory walls; who knows every part of the instru-
ment, and its construction, with the intimacy of the
practical worker; who has descended from the foun-
der of one of the oldest of the industries, and who
is still in the prime of his vigor and ambitions. Mr.
Steinway is recognized as one of the hard workers,
and his return to health is cause for congratulation
at Steinway Hall, and generally throughout the
widespread interests of the Steinway pianos.
RESUMES OPERATIONS.
The H. C: Bay company's piano factory, Bluffton,
Ind., resumed operations at full blast last week, ac-
cording to the announcement of Superintendent
Erickson. Mr. Erickson stated that although the
embargoes were not lifted, enough material was in
the factory to start work and it was hoped that the
freight strike would lift so that shipment of finished
products could be made. Much materal was shipped
in by express the past two weeks.
JOIN NEW YORK ASSOCIATION.
Lindler & Collins, the Unit Player Action Co. and
the Otto Higel Co. were elected to membership in
the New York Piano Manufacturers' Association at
a recent meeting at the Hotel Commodore. The
piano supply trades are now fairly well represented
in the association.
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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