PRESTO
May 29, 1920.
music to the place it should have occupied for a half century past.
It's no longer a beg-your-pardon business,but one that sets the pace
for younger ones whose vigor is supposed to be in keeping with their
youth.
A GREAT SONG=WRITER
The newspapers have been telling of the doings of a political
worker named Will S. Hays. It is nothing more than a coincidence,
but to music dealers who have been at it for some time the name
recalls interesting conditions. For there was a time when another
Will S. Hays was the most prolific, as well as most popular, of all the
song-writers. And, even more remarkable, his hold upon the public
ear, and the piano rack, persisted for a longer time than that of any
other American song-writer in history.
Will S. Hays started away back in the '60's with "Evangeline,"
one of the most musical of all the fine old songs. It is sung even today
by lovers of the kind of sentiment that clings to the "We have loved
each other long and true" sort of thing. And the songs of Will S.
Hays came in close succession until, nearly forty years later, he wrote
"Sweet Marie" and "Molly Darling." And between the song first
mentioned and the last he put forth such "hits" as "Write Me a Let-
ter from Home," "Norah O'Neal" and a hundred others.
Will S. Hays, the song writer, belonged to a school of melodists
now about forgotten. They have no successors of their kind. He
was contemporaneous with the first Frank Howard—there were three
of them—Harrison Millard, H. P. Danks and Henry C. Work. Just
before he arrived, Stephen C. Foster, king of them all, had died. But
most of the old-time song writers were negro minstrels, whereas Will
S. Hays was a newspaper man who stuck to one publication nearly all
of his life. He was river editor of the Louisville Journal at a time
when the Ohio River meant a great deal to the large cities of the val-
ley and even more to the smaller towns. He used to write his verses,
print them in the newspaper and then set them to good melodies and
send them to the publishers on a royalty basis. His first, strange to
say, was copyrighted by H. N. Higgins in Chicago. That song was
"Evangeline."
After that J. L. Peters—at one time America's greatest song pub-
lisher—was Hays' publisher, and his fortune was largely due to this
fact. But Peters died very poor, clerking in a New Orleans music
store. The song writer also died poor, still writing river notes for the
Louisville newspaper, the items steadily growing fewer and smaller
as the Ohio receded and the railroads won over the traffic. Some of
Will S. Hays' songs will be sung by great-grandmothers of this gen-
eration, for they are of the kind that live through the ages.
AMBITIOUS PROJECTS
The piano business in this country is 138 years old. The auto-
mobile business is 16 years old. The furniture trade dates back to
the hewing of log houses between scraps with wild Indians. The
clothing business runs back to the landing of Columbus, and the first
piece of sheet music on this side was printed by William Johnson in
1760. At the present time we find the piano business being boosted
by a system founded by the British, which led to the Revolutionary
War. It was the stamp act, by which tea was penalized, leading to the
caddies being tossed into Boston Bay in 1773. But the piano stamp
is a willing offering and by it the general music trade, and the na-
tional hunger for musical instruments, is to be stimulated and sat-
isfied.
The thought just now is that of all the industries and trades, that
of music is the first to be inspired to a stamp tax for purposes of pro-
motion. There is suggestion in this fact. Music, the most natural
of all the instructive desires, is stimulated in a way unknown to any
of the more material vocations. In no other line of industry or trade
has it been considered that by popular subscription, or special con-
tribution, could the spread of a popular demand be created or en-
larged. The wonder is that the plan has not attracted the attention
of other lines of industry and created emulation.
It is perhaps true that in no other business has there ever been
such an elaborate organization for promotion purposes as that which
has grown out of Mr. Paul B. Klugh's Music Industries Chamber of
Commerce. Whether that gentleman in his initiative dreamed of
anything like the present development we, of course, do not know.
But it would not be easy to imagine a more perfect illustration of
American ingenuity in executive evolution than the organization
whose headquarters are at 105 W. 40th Street, New York.
In the group there at work are keen, intellectual and aggressive
representatives of the law, of journalism, of the lyceum. stage and
of the art of publicity and promotion. Of course, such an aggregation
of special talents must mean a corresponding investment in money.
The idea of a series of stamps for revenue was the ingenious plan of
one of the executives, and it has met with a ready response by many
in the piano industry and trade. Where once a few dollars would have
been considered an extravagance, a hundred thousand and more are
willingly contributed by the small stamp system for the general pro-
motion of the entire music trade.
As the average retail music merchant may see it, just now, the
result in actual trade increase may not be great. He will perhaps ask
how more pianos can be sold when the factories can turn out little
more than one-half the number of instruments called for. At first the
reasoning seems plausible. But it is not to sell more, but to sell bet-
ter, and at better prices. The thought behind all the effort of the
strong organization in New York is to reach the public, to stimulate
the appetite for better music and better musical instruments; to have
music given its place at the front upon the stage of the people's lives.
To do this all at once would be impossible.
The gentlemen responsible for the great and systematized effort
of the Music Instrument Chamber of Commerce are in deep earnest.
They do not expect miracles. And it would be a miracle if all mem-
bers of the trade were to respond spontaneously and favorably to
the propositions of the various bureaus. It will take time, and what
is time in the piano business? It is commonly supposed to be money.
And that's what must be contributed to keep the ambitious projects of
the progressive organizations of today doing the work for which they
have been formed and made potentially powerful.
According to sensational newspaper dispatches Mr. Daniel G.
Ried, the "tin plate magnate," has been sued by one of his ex-wives
for the recovery of numerous personal articles, including a splendid
Steinway grand piano. Little more than twenty years ago the mil-
lionaire defendant was paying teller in a bank at Richmond, Ind., at
a salary of about $20 a week. And he made a "side line" of discount-
ing installment notes for a local piano dealer. The only moral is that
sometimes shavers of piano paper become multi-millionaires.
* * *
In a very exhaustive talk before the Music Supply Association on
May 20th., Mr. Howard S. Mott, a New York banker, declared that
at last "the peak of prices has been reached—at least for the present
time being." The qualification isn't wholly filled with good cheer, but
Mr. Mott gives encouragement in the conclusion that "the outlook
should be regarded not as a cause for discouragement, but merely as
an opportunity again to exercise the virtues of prudence and good
judgment."
3*5
*k
*'•?
In these days the call upon the skill of the re-builders of fine
pianos is great. It is said that E. Leins Piano Co., New York, was
never so rushed with special work as now. The E. Leins pianos
are always in demand with a select lot of trade. But the rebuilding
department is a special hobby of Mr. Leins personally, which fact has
made it known in all parts of the country.
»?»
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The "Prices Cannot Break Now" message, which is reproduced in
part in this issue, was written by Chicago's leading haberdasher. It
was considered so timely and true that the Apollo Piano Co., of De-
Kalb, 111., reprinted it, in large circular form, and will send it complete
to any piano dealer on request. It's well worth reading.
* * #
We give considerable space this week to the remarks of Mr. Paul
B. Klugh at the recent convention of supply men. But what Mr.
Klugh said is so well worth reading that we do not begrudge any of
. the space. The Autopiano Co. president has a clean-cut way of say-
ing things, and he possesses ideas.
*
:'i5
#
The bankers are no longer looking askance at piano paper. They
know that it is good security. But most of them are also doing all
possible to discourage the long-time installment notes. With pianos
scarce and the demand active, why long time terms, anyway?
* * *
Collections are said to be easier than in many years past. We
mean in the retail trade, where people have more money than ever be-
fore. Cash sales are also in larger proportion than before and the
installments, in time sales, are better. Still, don't neglect to collect.
* * *
Professional preachers are not usually credited with being espe-
cially practical. But Rev. Frank Crane said something when he ad-
vised his hearers to "think success." That is the kind of philosophy
all young men embarking in life and business should consider.
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