ft
list. The piano manufacturing companies were among the pioneers
in seeing to it that housing facilities were at hand for their workers.
Now, at a later time, municipalities and associations are coming to
the rescue. In another hundred years perhaps governments will pro-
vide houses on easy payments for all families needing them. The
first 175 houses of the 10,000 planned by the Chicago Housing Asso-
ciation are to be dedicated July 4. The 175 houses stand in South
Chicago.
When the bicycles first rolled, in large numbers, down the boule-
vards, piano men said their business would be ruined. It wasn't
hurt at all. When the automobile began to honk honk in the city
streets, the piano men again said that danger was ahead. It wasn't
at all. And when the talking machine began to libel the great artists
and fiddlers, the piano men once more bemoaned the fate of their
avocation. But the talking machine hasn't hurt the piano any, but
rather helped it. It doesn't pay to leave the piano store to hunt
trouble.
* * *
Do you know of any "cost system" that applies with any degree
of accuracy to the piano business? We have had many requests for
one. Every piano manufacturer has his own cost system, which
would not apply to any other factory, and in the retail trade not one
man in a thousand seems to know the meaning of the term. So many
things contribute to the cost of a piano that some of them are over-
looked entirely. Making pianos is different from other industries no
matter how much we proclaim to the contrary. If you know of a
good cost system in the piano business, won't you let us in?
* * *
Take more than one look at the Simplex Player Action Co.'s page
in this issue of Presto. It is an unusual adv. It tells more than some
books on the same subject. The combination of text and illustration
seems peculiarly good in the effect upon the understanding of the
average reader. It is, almost, the player action in one lesson. And
the advice to "show your prospect this device" is good because it will
bring conviction.
Of all the daily newspapers that have been crying about the
waste of white paper and the threatened dearth of it, do you know
of one that has cut its often needless bulk? And in the pleadings of
economy have you noticed that the advertisements are more vocifer-
ous than ever in their invitations to buy, and still buy more? It's a
consistent world, my brethren.
Even the most pronounced foe of the League of Nations can find
no fault with President Wilson's stand on the music question when
he says that "the man who disparages music as a luxury and non-
essential is doing the nation an injury. Music now, more than ever
ANOTHER PIANO INDUSTRY
PASSES INTO HISTORY
Van Dyke Piano Co., Scranton, Pa., Sells Factory
and Is Permanently Out of It.
June 19, 1920.
before, is a present national need. There is no better way to express
patriotism than through music."
Is there any reason why the music business should be divided
into several lines of special effort? The all 'round music store is com-
ing back. The stores where "everything in music" is sold represent
the real thing and we hope to see more of them. Even the phonograph
should be a part of every music store in which event the exclusive
"talking machine shop" could not long be self supporting.
* * *
When the people return to sanity, and the fever of getting more
money without consideration of where and how, things will settle
back to a basis of stability. But as long as the unions continue to make
demands, regardless of the ability of unorganized employers to pay
them, there can be small hope of betterment. If you like to draw
parallels from scripture, read Paul's Epistle to the Phillipians.
ifi
r^
iJS
i
For the first time in history the sheet music men are displaying
the sort of strength that keeps enterprise really alive. The National
Association of Sheet Music Dealers is really a live organization. The
membership is large and growing. It's because the sheet music men
have chosen men of brains to guide their plans and promotion.
*
-i-
*
True economy rests largely with the safety of investments by
people who have not heretofore had money to invest. The purchase
of a good piano is a good investment at any time. It is doubly good
at this time. People who invest in pianos have something to "show
for their money."
* * -\-
This issue of Presto has two of the best kind of evidences that
piano manufacturers think while they work. Mr. Schulz's article on
the influence of music in factories, and Mr. William Tonk's cartoon,
are of the kind of material this paper likes to print.
* * *
Already report comes that the piano industry in Germany is in
"fairly prosperous condition." Even in the wreckage of all material
things, bordering on despair, musical instruments are among the first
of the essentials to lift their heads and proclaim a new progress.
* * *
With about 15,000 dealers selling pianos, and with a gross pro-
ductiveness of 300,000 instruments a year, how much must the average
piano net the seller at retail? Figure it out and see if you can make
the average price too high.
* * *
Pianos are still too "cheap." They are sold by the retailers at
profits too small to justify the cost of doing business. If you are
selling 100 pianos yearly, what must your profit be on each sale?
HANDSOME STORE AT
POPLAR BLUFF, M0.
After twenty-two years of respectable striving the
Van Dyke Piano Co. of Scranton, Pa., has ceased to
be. The factory, on Capouse avenue, which was
built under the supervision of Joseph Keller, has
been sold for $100,000 to Linden Bros, of Philadel-
phia. When Joseph Keller left Bridgeport, Conn.,
he settled in Scranton and. associated with him a
local capitalist named Van Dyke. The instruments
produced were known as the Keller Bros, and they
were good ones.
Mr. Van Dyke died in 1902 and Mr. Keller soon
thereafter withdrew from the industry, which then
became the Van Dyke Piano Co., controlled by the
estate of the original capitalist, with W. N. Van
Dyke, a son, in charge. But Mr. Van Dyke was not
a piano man in the sense in which the word is usually
used. He didn't progress much and, while the busi-
ness prospered, it was not destined to grow.
The Van Dyke pianos, which succeeded the Keller
Bros., were always good ones and the dealers who
sold them were more than satisfied. They will re-
gret to give them up.
NEW MUSIC HOUSE FOR CHEROKEE.
J. V. Vaughn, of Amorilla, Texas, will open a first
class music house in Cherokee, Okla., in the near
future. Mr. Vaughn is an expert piano tuner and,
together with Mrs. Emmett Vaughn, will conduct
the business. They have located temporarily in the
Overland Sales Co. rooms. All kinds of musical
goods will be received as fast as the freights can
bring them and the new place of business will prob-
ably be ready by the first of July.
Among the enthusiatic representatives of the Jesse
French line of pianos and players is the Barnett
Music Co., of Pine Bluff, Mo. The store is one of
the handsomest and best appointed in that section
of the country, and the success attained by the man-
agement in selling the line from New Castle, lnd.,
has been developing from the time of taking hold
of them.
Accompanying this writing is a good picture of
the interior of the Barnett Music Co.'s establish-
ment. It shows the large stock, constantly kept in-
tact by new arrivals as fast as the warerooms be-
come depicted. It is such stores as this that give
standing to the music houses in the smaller cities,
and the reliability of the Barnett Music Co. makes
the business one of steadily increasing volume.
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