Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1920 1767

Page 4 Text:

PRESTO
PRESTO
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AT 407 SOUTH DEAR-
BORN STREET, OLD COLONY BUILDING, CHICAGO, ILL.
C A. DANIELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT
Editors
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.
Entered 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. J No «xtra
rge in U. S. possessions, Canada, Cuba and Mexico
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Address all communications for the editorial or business departments to PRESTO
PUBLISHING CO., Chicago, III.
Advertising Rate«t*.Three dollars per Inch (13 ems pica) for single Insortioaa,
8Ix 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 1 ' 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 an'd
•ffectually all the houses handling musical instruments of both the Eastern and West-
ern hemispheres.
The Presto Buyeis' Guide Is the only reliable index to the American Mustoal
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 muil«
trades are invited and when accepted will be paid for. Address all communications to
Prett* Publishing CO., Chicago, III.
SATURDAY, JUNE 5, 1920.
MRS. FRANK D. ABBOTT
ABBOTT—Eva S. Abbott died Tuesday, June 1,
wife of Frank D. Abbott of Chicago and Glen
Ellyn, 111., mother of Mrs. Bertha Abbott Miller
of Glen Ellyn, sister of Mrs. Cornelia S. Waite,
Chicago; Mrs. Emma S. Baker, New Haven,
Conn., and Mrs. Mary C. List, Thetford Mines,
Quebec. Funeral services Friday, 9:30 a. m., at
chapel, 4227 Cottage Grove avenue. Interment
private at Glen Ellyn, 111.
Facing with wonderful fortitude, for several years, the summons
which she knew might come at any moment, Mrs. Frank D. Abbott,
wife of the founder of this paper, died of cerebral hemorrhage at noon
of last Tuesday, June 1. The call came with a suddenness that left
husband and friends stunned and bewildered. For, while Mrs. Abbott
had so long awaited the end, which she knew was inevitable, to
others her cheerfulness and the philosophy of her faith carried no sug-
gestion of death and surrounded her with an atmosphere of hopeful-
ness and confidence which disarmed the apprehensions of her family.
Happily the summons came so suddenly that there was no least
shade of pain, and the transition from, artificial sleep to the peaceful
repose that ushers the eternal rest was as that of a child that closes
its eyes at night to wake again in the beauty of the morning. But the
pall that dims the comings and goings of the husband, daughter, and
friends who knew Mrs. Abbott well, can not soon be lifted.
Mrs. Abbott was one of the intellectual order of women whose
attainments were hidden beneath her dislike of anything resembling
display. She was a student of the uncommon in art and literature,
and she was herself a ready writer of both prose and poetry. In the
early days of this paper, too, she sustained a share of the editorial
responsibilities, and proved herself in that work also well equipped.
But more than all, aside from her domestic ties, Mrs. Abbott's chief
delight was in travel, the cultivation of flowers and in the reading of
good books. She was also a linguist, some of her translations from
French, German and Spanish bearing evidence of her varied talents.
One of the trade papers last week dug up a word that belongs to
the antediluvian period. It told of a "scoop," of which it had been
in some way guilty. When Chas. A. Dana promulgated his famous
list of terms taboo, "scoop" was the first one among the journalistic
sibilants.
* * *
Irrefutable arguments in favor of standardization in the piano
industry are presented in this issue of Presto. No retailer can read
the remarks of the prominent supply manufacturers without realizing
that if there is to be any lessening of prices the standardization prop-
osition is one of vital importance. In years past the effort was to
June 5, 1920.
see how many styles could be created. When one manufacturer tried
to change the tide, and announced but a single case design, varied
only by the finishes, his plan was received so coldly that he had to
shut up shop in less than two years.
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Memorial Day means as much to the music trade, by reason of
personal bereavements, as to almost any other. It is estimated that
the piano industry contributed 108 heroes to the list of American
dead of the war. The first man killed was an employe of the piano
industry of F. Radle, New York.
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The story of the recent New York Music Show is to be told in
book form. The accomplishments of the special week of music have
been written up by Mr. C. M. Tremaine, and the Music Industries
Chamber of Commerce assumes the responsibility of putting it forth.
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A literarily-inclined young piano man writes to Presto that he has
compiled a list of 300 beautiful paragraphs about music by famous
authors, ancient and modern. And he wants to know whether Mr.
C. M. Tremaine is offering any reward for research of that kind.
Respectfully submitted.
* * *
After a month's sojourn in the Middle West, buying pianos and.
contracting for future supplies, Mr. Frank R. Perrot, of Australia,
has gone to New York. There he will remain for another month, on
the same mission for his houses in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
From New York Mr. Perrot will sail for London, and expects to be
back in Australia before winter. During his stay in Chicago Mr.
Perrot invested nearly $100,000 in pianos and phonographs.
Mr. Frank E. Morton thinks that there should be just three sizes
of uprights and four sizes of grands. He is for standardization in the
material sense, at least. This subject was very fully discussed in
Presto a year or more ago. But why does Mr. Morton think that
"the supply man has been too tolerant of the people who have been
using him." The piano manufacturers, on the contrary, believe that
they have been using the products of the supply man—and not
enough of them, at that.
* * *
Death has made another deep mark in the ranks of the music
trade in the passing of O. K. Houck, head of the very active and
progressive houses which bear his name at Little Rock and Memphis.
Mr. Houck may also be named among the piano manufacturers, for
he was a director in one of the most prominent eastern industries and
for years a piano which was named after him played a good part in
the trade. As a man, O. K. Houck was all that was genial, honest,
large-minded and ambitious. He was versatile and so personally pop-
ular that Memphis regarded him as the foremost citizen in many of
her most liberal activities. No trade or industry can have too many
such men as O. K. Houck, and every one of them that passes leaves
a void which for a long time can not be filled.
COST SYSTEMS
Every now and then this paper is asked for a practical cost sys-
tem applicable to the piano business in a general way. The latest
request of this kind comes from the Public Library of Newark, N. J.,
and we have been obliged to reply that to this time no working model
of a piano cost system is available. There have, it is true, been many
attempts to formulate rules for the guidance of piano manufacturers
in the regulation of factory management, and for security in predicat-
ing prices. But to this time no skill sufficient to be trusted upon
general principles has been developed so far as a uniform piano cost
system is concerned.
To experienced piano men this doesn't seem strange. There is,
especially in such times as the present, no basis upon which to found
a reliable cost system. Even the largest and most thoroughly organ-
ized piano industry can not with absolute certainty so adjust and
classify the figures pertaining to the various factory departments as
to present anything like a permanent cost system. The fluctuations
in every item that goes into the piano, the uncertainty of labor and
the long-sustained doubt concerning the fundamental supplies, make
it impossible to draw conclusions with enough certainty to formulate
anything like a fixed rule.
In the piano industry a cost system must take into consideration
every item that in any way affects the ultimate expense, from the
first sawing of the lumber to the delivery at the factory. The over-
head, in all its various particulars, must equally be considered and
the time of skilled labor taken into the problem through the almost
numberless processes of manufacture. It is a complicated problem
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/

Page 5 Text:

PRESTO
June 5, 1920.
and every piano manufacturer has his own way of reaching the totals.
There have been printed in Presto a good many of the formulas
by which piano costs have been approximated. Some of them are em-
ployed with satisfaction by very successful industries. And there are
several large piano industries which employ special cost experts who
keep the offices fully informed, in such a way that results are made
secure while insuring, also, the best possible figures to customers.
Under this head it is common among well-posted piano men to refer
to the American Piano Co. as being especially well equipped in the
particular referred to. In fact we have ourselves more than once
been advised to consult that great concern when some special prob-
lem of first cost has been submitted to us for solution. No doubt
other large piano industries are similarly fortified—in fact we know
they are.
But it still remains true that many of the piano manufacturers in
the past, and possibly also at the present time, are not absolutely sure
about the cost of their instruments. They permit guess work to enter
into the equation. And that is not safe, especially in such times as
the present.
It there is any cost system applicable to the proposed standardiza-
tion of the industry, now is a good time in which to perfect it. And
we would be glad to have an outline, if only to satisfy the frequent
requests that come to this paper from sources that have a deeper
motive in their inquiries than curiosity.
ON COMMISSION
Who can tell why the average man who thinks he can sell pianos
—in fact, says he knows he can—demands that his reward be fixed
upon a salary basis? And often it doesn't seem to matter whether the
salary is small or large. The primary requisite is that it be guaran-
teed and paid promptly every Saturday P. M. There is something of
a mystery concealed in this condition.
If a man, really can do things in the way of closing sales, what
difference can it make whether he receives $100 on commission ac-
count or $40 on the regular payroll? We would say one difference
is just about $60 and that to the good of the firm. That is, if the sales-
man can really do things, as aforesaid. Of course, if he only thinks
he is a salesman the difference may be the other way and spell a loss
of about $40 to the house. It's all a matter of quality, or kind or ca-
pacity on the part of the salesman. And if he really is a salesman
there must be something lacking in his department of self-confidence
and the essential quality of faith in his own abilities.
There are kinds of business in which the commission basis seems
a misfit; in fact, is out of the question. You can't expect a depart-
ment store clerk to sell provender or common dress goods on a
percentage. Nor is it reasonable to expect that a "white wing" in a
large city street can gather up after the passing of the prancing steed
on a commission basis. But in the selling of large things, as houses
and lots, automobiles, life insurance and pianos, the commission
seems to fit splendidly. We know, too, that even in those big oppor-
tunities employers very often oppose the profit sharing plan of pay-
ment. They prefer to hand out the weekly salaries and hang on to
the big end of the dividends. No one can blame them. It is the atti-
tude of the salesmen that causes wonderment.
The self-reliant, capable and progressive piano salesman who has
the chance to work for himself while the house pays the rent and
carries the investment, often presents a puzzle hard for the book-
keeper to understand. Here's Henry, for instance, selling, on an aver-
age, a piano every day in the week. Of course, he's a good man and
his employer appreciates him. This is seen in his pay check, which
is perhaps $75 every Saturday. But where is Henry's spirit, when
it is figured that on a commission basis he would get, say, something
like $200 every day before Sunday? We are not fixing up any sched-
ules at all, and the figures are not in any sense accurate. That would
depend upon Henry himself, and the house. But if Henry can close
six sales every week and his house understands its business, surely
the salary is pretty small, everything, including Henry's manly inde-
pendence and ambition, being fully considered.
But it remains true that the average salesman will whine about
his poor little pay while the house figures out that if he had more
"get-up-and-get" and didn't make it so long between sales, things
would be better all 'round. And Henry protests that he could sell
more pianos if his pay was better. Could anything be plainer than
that all he needs is a readjustment of settlements to fit his ambitions?
On a commission basis he couldn't stop selling, if he wanted to, as long
as there was a prospect in sight. The obsession that, having closed a
sale today, no more need be expected this week would be dispensed,
and every sale would mean so much to Henry that there would be too
few hours in the day for closing sales.
It is something like a spirit of dependence, lacking self-confidence
and defective nerve, that causes the fear of the commission basis
among piano men. The salesman who saves his money and goes into
business for himself is doing business on a commission. He takes the
chance. He risks not only his time, but his capital also, upon his own
capacity, persistency and courage. The man who is selling for an-
other man on a commission basis has no worries about "overhead" or
other big financial burdens. He just sells pianos and splits the profits
with the house. Which proposition seems the better to a really com-
petent and courageous salesman?
Very few piano men get rich on what they draw in salaries.
Many of them have laid the foundation of fortunes by working "on
commission." Shall we name them? We could do it and the list
would include several names that are to be seen in the warerooms
shining above the ivory keys of high-grade pianos.
Two expressions of opinion at the recent piano supply conven-
tion are of especial interest. Mr. Millegan, of the Fairbanks Company,
plate makers, said that piano manufacturers are the best payers his
concern has to deal with. He likes the piano men. Mr. Lester I.
Miller, of the Superior Foundry Co., also plate makers, expressed
preference for the automobile industry, declaring that it was net cash
every tenth of the month. Therefore Mr. Miller said "there is no
reason why the piano industry should be on a different basis."
Perhaps in a hundred years or less the automobile industry will not
be paying spot cash on the tenth of every month.
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Employes of big concerns are sometimes apt to consider their self-
importance proportionate to the importance of the house to which
their presence gives no special credit. Such men forget—if they ever
knew—that courtesy is a factor in the usefulness of any employe, of
any house, however large. The good manager spots incivility in any:
department of the business. And the good manager proves his fitness
for his job by firing the discourteous employe wherever he may be
found.
* * *
Next week the next president of the United States will probably
be named in Chicago. Patriotic citizens of the second greatest
American city are this week trying to sacrifice their spare bed-rooms,
garrets, barns and sleeping porches to the highest bidders. Politics
comes high but we must have it, and this is the year when it becomes
most acute. If you are coming to Chicago to try to buy more pianos
for the fall trade, don't do it next week.
* * *
This paper has for years advocated the plan recommended by
Mr. E. B. Richardson, at the recent supply men's convention, that
fewer piano styles be made. There was a time when a single New
York industry in its catalogue presented no fewer than sixteen differ-
ent styles of case designs. Multiplicity of styles adds to the troubles
of the retailers and often renders the finest catalogue a hindrance
instead of a help to the salesman.
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If people who go to the "movies" twice a week would go once
and invest the money thus saved in a good music roll, see what it
would mean in added enjoyment. And if people who think it wise to
go to the movies every night in the week would figure up the cost,
and put the investment into a playerpiano, they could meet the pay-
ments with what they save, to say nothing of their improved eyesight.
* * *
How does it happen that the alarming shortage of print-paper
doesn't dam the flood of trashy novels with gaudy covers? Paper is
largely a product of timber. A share of the difficulty in piano produc-
tion is due to lacking lumber supplies. How many more good pianos
might be made if the output of mushy fiction could be cut down one-
half?
* * *
No one will deny that the best advertised player music rolls in
the market are the Q R S. And who will deny equally that the Q
R S Music Roll Company presents the best illustration the music
industry can show of great success quickly attained?
* * *
The National Bureau for the Advancement of Music doesn't shy
even at politics. It won't be easy for any Investigating Committee
formed of near-statesmen to side-track the things of music to the non-
essential spur, as long as "music in the home puts sunshine in the
heart." Haven't the legislators any homes of their own?
* * *
A representative was told by an advertising man that Presto is
"not like other music journals." If that was a criticism, let us have
more of it!
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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