Presto

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.
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