PRESTO
PRESTO
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strumenta; it analyzes all Pianos and Player- Pianos/ gives accurate estimates ex
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SATURDAY, MAY 8, 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.
THE BY-LAWS
There is more than news-interest in the publication of the By-
Laws of the Chicago Piano & Organ Association which appears else-
where in this paper. The purpose is rather to present something of
practical usefulness to the retail trade everywhere. And we feel sure
that the Chicago organization will take no exception to that use of
the rules and regulations.
It is probable that we have been asked by at least twenty embryo
piano associations for some special by-laws by which to formulate
plans for local purposes. The requests have come from Toronto to
Tampa, and from Kennebec to Kansas City. The order of procedure
adopted by the Chicago association is similar to that generally used,
and it seems to be a model for any other similar organization in the
trade.
At a time when the music propaganda is being prosecuted in man-
ner fairly tense in its enthusiasm and liberality, it must seem that
new piano trade associations would spring up in all of the cities of
considerable size. The broad-cast, or nation-wide, effort of the cen-
tral bureau, in New York, is doing good work. There a staff of skilled
executives is putting forth tons of literature and suggestion designed
to stimulate the appreciation of music, and so to enlarge the demand
for musical instruments.
While it can not be said that there has been any dearth of enthu-
siastic missionaries of music, it is true that until now no systematic,
businesslike campaign in its behalf has been set going. In the old
days music-love was left to the leaders of music and to the "conven-
tions," schools and traveling artists. The part of it that had to do
with the distribution of pianos was altogether in the hands of the local
music merchants. And that they did yeoman duty no one who is fa-
miliar with the traditions of the trade will deny.
What share in the great demand for pianos and player-pianos,
that makes the present time musical, is due to the work of the Bu-
May 8, 1920.
reau of Music in New York, no one can fairly say. That there are evi-
dences of a great awakening is certain. And it is the more remark-
able because of the general unrest and the high cost of the commoner
things of life. It is not a question of piano demand at this time, but of
supply. It is our opinion that to insure the continuance of this de-
mand for things musical the formation of local trade associations
is needed. That is the best insurance against a return of the profit-
killing, and generally demoralizing, customs which formerly cursed
the piano trade almost everywhere.
Read the by-laws of the Chicago piano men's association. Think
over seriously the advantages of a similar organization in your own
city. It need not be nearly so large in membership. That won't
lessen the interest of the usefulness of it. Let someone of force and
initiative take the lead in it and form a local association. In a business
sense, socially, and in the cause of fraternity and the better conduct of
the trade along profit-making lines, the association will repay many
times over. Help along the music-love movement in a way to also,
and directly, help yourselves.
THE PRICE PROBLEM
Some very forceful illustrations of the change which has come
upon the piano industry during the past decade, and more, have re-
cently been drawn to the attention of this paper. And with those de-
velopments in the industry have come effects and results by which
the principles and purposes of the better class of manufacturers have
sometimes been severely tested. For it is the industry with high as-
pirations and the determination to improve, in defiance of conditions
that tempt to the sacrifice of quality that must feel the effects of the
changes which have been pushing prices steadily upward. The so-
called commercial piano makers must share in the conditions, but for
them there is always a margin of salvage impossible to the higher
grades of industries.
And it would be most remarkable if the absolutely necessary ad-
vance in wholesale prices did not meet with the kind of opposition that
grows out of a lack of understanding on the part of the buyer. And
this seems to apply with particular force to the export trade. It is
not easy for an importer abroad, who has been buying some special
American piano for many years, to realize that the present-day cost
of the fundamentals of the industry render a large advance absolutely
necessary. The foreign buyer who is asked to pay from two to
three times the price asked for the same piano ten or more years ago,
can not at once comprehend the situation. It may not yet have be-
come a part of his knowledge that every item that goes into the in-
strument today costs the manufacturer even proportionately more
than the increase in the price of the completed piano. It doesn't
seem possible that in some instances the cost of materials has gone
up to not fifty per cent, not one hundred per cent, but four hundred
per cent more than the same essential cost five years ago. This ap-
plies to the articles in piano manufacture that are most easily compre-
hended. By way of illustration, perhaps, lumber is as good as any-
thing. Oak, for instance, which was once considered high at $48 per
thousand is today soaring above the $225 point. And labor, more or
less skilled, for which the piano makers used to pay a cheerful $2.50
a day is now very hard to get at $1 an hour. From eight to ten dol-
lars a day for the work that goes to fashion and finish the materials
that cost from four to five times the prices of ten years ago, may
help to make it easy to understand why the high-grade piano of today
is a matter of more expense to the manufacturer than he can safely
consider when he predicts the selling price to a cash customer across
the sea, or even nearer home.
A case of peculiar aspect recently came to this paper's notice. It
was that of a New York piano manufacturer who had been challenged
by a customer abroad, because of the seemingly great advance in
prices. The manufacturer had been selling to the foreign house for
twenty years or more, and the relations between buyer and seller had
always been cordial. The foreign house had promoted the piano so
loyally that it has become an asset in the retailer's business. To change
would mean a loss of prestige and, aside from that, there was no
desire to change. The buyer made a trip to New York and made his
protest personally to the manufacturer. He could not, seemingly, un-
derstand that conditions not only forced the increase in price, as a mat-
ter of self protection to the industry, but that even the large increase
left the manufacturer in positon to sacrifice his profits. He could not
add enough to cover the difference between the former and present
cost and still keep his friend and customer contented. So he sacrificed
his own modest profit, and even that did not suffice to save him from
criticism, if not the loss of his long-time representative.
The case just referred to is, no doubt, typical of many others. The
changes which have shaped the American piano industry during the
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