Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1920 1780

PRESTO
September 4, 1920.
considerable number of dealers doing a sizable business in players
but carrying only about enough rolls for give away stock."
The plain lesson is that the player roll department should be given
its proper importance in every piano store. It is true that every
playerpiano sold increases the market for player rolls. It is also true
that playerpiano dealers should provide for increases of stock to
accommodate that increase. If they do not so provide they must not
be surprised that the customers go to the more alert "neighborhood'*
stores. In such commodities as rolls and records it is thought the
buyer is likely to go where he can get the best service. If that is
'round the corner from his residence away out on the edge of the
city or in the suburban town, he considers it rather fortunate. The
Bulletin cleverly sums up the situation:
"The roll is a 'convenience line,' and the average buyer is apt to
make his purchases where he gets the best service. The neighborhood
store is handy, and is likely to get the business for that reason, unless
the larger downtown dealer can offer advantages in the way of better
selection, deliveries, etc. The best way to fight the neighborhood store
t's to anticipate it—head it off—get the business first, and hold it!"
WITHIN TWENTY YEARS
Less than twenty years ago the last serious effort was made to
effect a combination of the American piano industries. It was pretty
generally understood that the promoters of the ambitious scheme had
behind it capital to the extent of $19,000,000. Practically every piano
factory of any consequence at all was contemplated as a factor in the
combination, and the proposition was a liberal one so far as concerned
the compensation to individual owners. It was proposed to inventory
every plant and to pay in cash for every material asset in shape of
buildings and contents, as well as for everything "on hoofs and on
wheels." In those days the auto-truck played no part in the piano
industry.
So it is seen that the promise of the combination was a good one.
And, in consequence, it was unusual for a manufacturer to turn a deaf
ear to the proposition. But there were obstacles in the way of suc-
cessful accomplishment of the enterprise, of a kind no one could have
foreseen. And chief among them was the fact that, as the facts be-
came clear, there didn't seem to be substantial property enough in-
vested in piano manufacture to justify anything like the sum fixed by
the capitalists as the minimum upon which a satisfactory annual re-
turn might have been predicated. Every effort was made, within
legitimate bounds, to swell the possessions of the industry to the
desired figures. It couldn't be done. In some cases the assessed val-
ues of good names, added to the material assets, might easily have
reached the required figures. But good will in the piano business is
not even yet a recognized quantity when real money is the considera-
ST. LOUIS PIANO MAN
CONFIRMS A REPORT
An Incident of Russell Elam's Vacation
Proves to Him the Sad Truth of a
General Statement.
Russell Elam, manager of the piano department
of Scruggs, Vandervoort & Barney. St. Louis, is em-
joying a vacation in the Ozarks, where he says he
lias a splendid opportunity of witnessing the phe-
nomena of things that won't stay put. Not that he
lacks acquaintance with the phenomena every day
in St. Louis, for instances jar him at every turn.
The quality of elusiveness in certain people and
things usually provide Mr. Elam with daily and
even hourly chances for the study of characteristics.
He discovers a piano prospect, perhaps, which prom-
ises well. The prospective buyer of piano or player
is properly treated with a convincing line of argu-
ment and seems impressed. Everything looks like
a successful closing when the villain competitor en-
ters and—you know what very often happens.
Or maybe an important piano trade meeting ap-
proaches and it fills the St. Louis piano men with
the desire to oratorically lay bare the facts that
make a trade custom a problem. Like the others, Mr.
Elam is inspired to contribute to the problem solving.
Me primes himself with the elements and qualities
that constitute a trade evil. He prepares himself for a
masterly handling of his theme. Then when it
comes to his turn to speak and he is about to arise,
P. E. Conroy or J. E. Kieselhorst jumps up and beats
him to the oration, saying in a loud, practiced voice
everything that Mr. Elam had committed to mem-
ory. Bingo goes an opportunity.
When he climbed up Old Baldy, the highest of
Missouri's baby grand mountains, one day last week
tion. That is, the good will, save in exceptional instances, is not
measured by millions.
And so the scheme of a combination fell through, twenty years
ago, because the capital represented by the aggregate of industries
producing pianos did not represent as much as twenty millions of
dollars. There was not much said about it at the time. The large
piano industries whose owners had agreed to "go in" were indifferent.
The smaller manufacturers openly confessed their disappointment.
And the capitalists, who "held the bag," were inexorable. They
would not consider a prolonged effort to show that their expert esti-
mators were inefficient or prejudiced. They only knew that the
figures submitted failed to disclose a total investment of enough to
justify the "combination" and so their money was converted into a
plan just then being formulated in the automobile industry.
The purpose of this reminiscence is not merely to rehearse his-
tory. It is rather, to draw a contrast between the material values
involved in piano manufacture twenty years ago and today.
Within a few months a large piano industry, with headquarters
in New York City, was approached by the representative of another
individual piano manufacturer in the same city, with a proposition of
purchase. The larger industry agreed to give the matter consideration
and in time an inventory had been completed and a meeting arranged
with the proposed purchaser. It was then shown that the real assets
of the great New York concern exceeded the total sum which had
ben proposed as an offset to the entire industry twenty years ago.
The proposed individual purchaser of the great New York piano in-
dustry is a man of wealth who has been in the industry and trade for
a great many years. He is reportedly a multi-millionaire. His offer
was, as is commonly reported in New York, $12,000,000. As has been
said, his offer was promptly turned down. And the gentleman was
told that he could buy the great piano plant, together with its sev-
eral branches, for $18,000,000 cash. The counter proposition was
rejected.
This being a true story, could there be a better evidence of the
development of the American piano industry than that of the past
twenty years, during which a single great plant has been developed
to a position which parallels in money values that of the sum total
of all the piano industries less than a quarter-century ago, as esti-
mated by competent experts? The character of a business changes
with the changes in the vision of the men who make it. The piano
industry has been one of slow development because it could only
grow with the mental and material progress of the people. It has
finally attained to a point of such power that no one is surprised to
find a single industry the value of which may be estimated in the
millions whereas not so very long ago thousands would have been
large enough.
he could recall hundreds of things that had proved
elusive if he had been in a. retrospective mood. Rut
his mind was on his steps, for the path up to Andy
Buchanan's shanty, perched on the shoulder of the
mountain, was steep and rugged. It was with a
tired grunt he sank into the hickory rocker the
mountaineer set out for him.
"'My, what a view," he exclaimed, admiringly, as
he looked over the succession of forest-covered hills,
ranging from luxuriant greens to the delicate blues
of distant ranges. "'Gee, what a swell place to live!"
"Huh! You alls wouldn't say so if you had to tramp
down yander every time you wanted a dram a' co'n
whisky," said Andy Buchanan, with a disgusted
sweep of his corncob towards the village in the val-
lay three miles away.
"Why tramp every time you want a shot of
hootch?" asked Mr. Elam. "Why don't you keep a
couple of bottles of whisky?"
"Keep? Keep!" echoed the old man. "Whisky
don't keep!'
"That's what they all say," agreed the piano man.
JULY TRADE FIGURES.
Tulv exports were valued at $654,000,000, against
C00.000 in June of this year, and $569,000,000 in
Ju'y of last year. Kxports for the seven months'
period ending" with July amounted to $4,902,000,000,
nn inccrase of 6 per cent over the exports of $4,626,-
000 000 in the first seven months of last year. Im-
ports in Tuly were valued at $537,000,000, compared
with $553,000,000 in June, 1920, and $344,000,000 in
July of 1919. For the seven months ended with July
imports were $3,482,000,000, an increase of 78 per
cent over the imports of $1,954,000,000 in the first
seven months of 1919. The excess of exports over
imports amounted to $117,000,000 in July and $1,420,-
000 000 in the seven months ending with July of this
year, as compared with $225,000,000 for July and
$2,672,000,000 for the seven months ending with July
of last year.
R. B. ALDCROFTT GOES
TO WISCONSIN MEETING
Has a Passing Word with Presto Man in Chicago
on the Way Through.
R. B. Aldcroftt, president of De Rivas & Haris
Mfg. Co., Inc., New York, arrived in Chicago on
Tuesday of this week en route to the Wisconsin
Piano Dealers' Association meeting at Milwaukee,
where he was billed to speak about the work of the
Music Industries Chamber of Commerce, of which
he is president.
To a Presto representative, who met him at M.
J. Kennedy's office in the Republic Building. Chi-
cago, Mr. Aldcroft said that R. H. Zinke, of Milwau-
kee, was expecting a very large attendance at the.
convention. Mr. Aldcroftt had just hung up the re-
ceiver after telephoning to Frank E. Morton, of the
American Steel & Wire Company, who had assured
him that he, too, would attend. "There will be ad-
dresses on a number of timely topics," Mr. Aldcroftt
said.
Mr. Grim, traveler for the Tonk Mfg. Co., Chi-
cago, who was present, said: "There will be a dis-
appointed crowd of music trade men at Milwaukee
when they seek hotel accommodations, for the state
fair is on at that city and every room is occupied.
Never has Milwaukee -had such throngs of well-to-
do visitors as arc there right now."
GERMAN TUNING FIGURES.
At a meeting of the Rhine-Westphalian Piano
Dealers' Union, held in Essen on July 13, it was de-
cided inter alia, that the present charges for piano
tuning should continue, viz.: For a cottage 20
marks; for a grand, 25 marks; for local services and
for outside work the same fees plus fares and other
expenses.
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/
RE9TO
AMERICAN PIANO SUPPLY CO.
BUYS HAMMER BUSINESS
Hammer Department of W. House & Sons, Union-
ville, Conn., Secured by Supply Concorn.
The piano hammer department of Charles W.
House & Sons, Unionvill'e, Conn., has been pur-
chased by the American Piano Supply Co., Inc.,
New York. By the terms of the purchase the Amer-
ican Piano Supply Co. takes over all the equipment,
scales, patterns, etc., and will continue the manufac-
ture of hammers in Unionville for a few months.
At the same time hammers will be manufactured at
the new plant of the American Piano Supply Co.,
Bristol, Conn.
The acquisition of the hammer department of
Charles W. House & Sons is a fortunate event for
the American Piano Supply Co., to which the neces-
sity of providing for a greater supply of hammers
has long been an urgent one. The arrangement, too,
of continuing the manufacture of hammers in the
Unionville factory is fortunate. It means that the
experts trained in the Charles W. House & Sons
factory will continue with the American Piano Sup-
ply Co. The demands of- a rapidly growing cloth
business urged the Unionville manufacturers to dis-
pose of their hammer business.
INSCRIPTION ON LETTER
SHOCKS HARRY T. SIPE
But at the Notification of William F. Malcom's
Marriage He Manifested Great Delight.
"Your turn next—don't be a slacker," were the
ominous words scrawled across'the face of a letter
received last week by Harry T. Sipe, traveling man
for Adam Schaaf, Chicago. The letter, Mr. Sipe saw,
was post-marked August 19 at Atlanta, Ga., and had
vainly tried to overtake him in a short trip taken
recently from headquarters. He was at home at his
farm in Ridgeville, Ind., when the letter with the
alarming words was handed to him.
Mr. Sipe has the steady nerves of the man with a
clear conscience and an agricultural bent, but he
frankly admits he was disturbed by the portentous
message. The whiffletree which he was mending at
the moment dropped from a hand which shook with
foreboding. The r. f. d. man, crazy with curiosity,
delayed his rounds and fingered his goatee expect-
antly while Mr. Sipe glanced at the promise of his
''turn next" followed by the strange admonition in-
scribed on the envelope. When at last his tremulous
ringers opened the letter and he glanced at the con-
tents, he gave a whoop of delight. Another guy's
"turn" had come! This pleasant announcement and
invitation was what the envelope contained:
Mr. and Mrs. Chas. C. Hammond request the
honor of your presence at the marriage of their
uncle, Mr. William F, Malcom, of Atlanta, Georgia,
to Miss Naomi Hanshaw, of Harrisbtirg, Pennsyl-
vania, on Thursday evening, August 19th, at eight
o'clock, 79-B Lee street, Atlanta, Ga.
Mr. Malcom, who is the representative of Adam
Schaaf in Atlanta, is one of the progressive dealers
who are making Georgia one of the leading piano
and playerpiano states. His marriage to a charming
young lady of Harrisburg was really no surprise to
Mr. Sipe, who, through the delay in receiving the
letter, was regretfully absent from the ceremony.
SHOWING THE BRAMBACH
AT THE COUNTY FAIRS
Baby Grand of New York Manufacturers Center of
Attraction at Over Fifty Shows.
The Brambach baby grand piano as a popular
exhibit at county fairs, was the subject of an inter-
esting talk recently with one of the Brambach offi-
cials, who said: "The popularity of the Brambach
baby grand as a fair exhibit is but a natural result
of the desirability of this beautiful instrument for
advertising purposes. It has a charming appeal to
everyone seeing it and has musical merits that an-
swer the requirements of even the most fastidious of
musical tastes. Its compactness of design which
permits it to be used in the modern apartment and
its undeniably reasonable price, are two other fea-
tures that add to its advertising value. The instru-
ment when displayed in conjunction with the digni-
fied Brambach advertising literature offers an ex-
hibit which the dealers have recognized as a sure-
sales return proposition."
The fairs at which the Brambach baby grand was
featured were held in almost every state in the
Union. This shows that the Brambach, appeal is
country wide and is not confined to the larger cities.
It shows that the rural communities appreciate an
instrument of dignified design and appealing tdne.
Some of the larger fairs at which the Brambach
was or will be shown follow:
Franklin County, Malone, N. Y.; Davenport, la.;
Danville, 111.; Syracuse, N. Y.; Seymour, Wis.; Hor-
tonville, Wis.; Brower County, DePere, Wis.; Car-
roll, la.; Wheeling, W. Va.; Grant County Fair, Lan-
caster, W T is.; Rome, N. Y.; Vernon, N. Y.; Pans Hill,
N. Y.; Mercer, Pa.; Stoneboro, Pa.; Guilford, Conn.;
Northampton, Wis.; Greenfield, Mass.; Lancaster,
Pa.: Carlisle, Pa.; Centennial Expo., Carlisle, Pa.;
Tri-State Fair, Parsons, Kans.; Miss.-Ala. Fair, Me-
ridian, Miss.; State Fair, Jackson, Miss.; Canfield,
Ohio; Wheat Show, Wichita, Kans.; Clinton Co.
Fair, Wichita, Kans.; Montgomery Co. Fair, Wich-
ita, Kans.; Fountain Co. Fair, Wichita, Kans.; Sagi-
naw, Mich.; Nebraska State F'air, Lincoln, Nebr.;
Green County Fair, Paragould, Ark.; Marathon
County Fair, Wausau, Wis.; Salt Lake City, Utah;
Huron, S. D.; Birmingham, Ala.; Interstate Fair,
Sioux City, Iowa; Carrollton, Pa.; Marshall Coun,ty,
Towa.
September 4, 1920.
R. B. ALDCROFTT
AT WISCONSIN FAIR
President of the Music Industries Chamber of
Commerce Addresses Milwaukee Asso-
ciation on the Function of the Local
Organizations.
R. B. Aldcroft, president of the Music Industries
Chamber of Commerce, addressed the music mer-
chants of Milwaukee on Wednesday, the occasion
being the second annual trade conference conducted
under the auspices of the Wisconsin Association of
Music Industries, with the co-operation of the Mil-
waukee association. He dwelt particularly upon the
subject of National Playerpiano Week, and gener-
ally upon the work of the Music Industries Cham-
ber ot Commerce through the National Association
OUT-OF-TOWN DEALERS
ENCOUNTERED IN CHICAGO
Men in Search of Pianos and Players Make Things
Lively in Offices.
J. F. Reynolds, piano dealer of Canton, 111., was
in Chicago late last week buying pianos and player-
piano?.
Leslie Guild, of the Guild Music Company, To-
peka, Kan., was in Chicago in the latter part of
last week. He placed substantial orders for goods.
George H. Fleer, piano dealer of Elgin, 111., was
in Chicago late last week ordering more goods. His
trade at Elgin is active.
J. V. Dugan, head of Dugan's piano house, New
Orleans, La., was in Chicago ordering goods on
Tuesday of this week.
C L. Williams, of Moore Haven, Fla., who is just
opening a new piano store at that town in the Ever-
glades, was in Chicago on Tuesday of this week,
where he was met by a Presto representative, and
he said that he expected to do a good retail busi-
ness. Mr. Williams is a brother of M. R. Williams,
traveler for the Waltham Piano Co., of Milwaukee,
in Kansas, Oklahoma and part of Texas. M. R.
Williams served in the World's war overseas.
NIXSKY ON TUNING.
"All the pianos in a town in Russia are regis-
tered," writes M. Abbiatt, in Musique et Instruments,
a French paper. "They are public property. Natu-
rally the piano is the instrument mostly in use, for
the innumerable workmen's clubs, barracks, schools,
etc., must be provided with them. Nobody has the
right to sell them or to move them, at least not
without special permission from the commissary.
Pianos necessary to the needs of the people are
requisitioned, for with the nationalization of the fac-
tories and warehouses new supplies are no longer
available. In addition, all pianos left in homes aban-
doned by their owners are seized, and the number is
considerable. However, I know of no case where
the piano of a private person has been taken. It
goes without saying that no repairing or tuning is
done, and consequently all pianos are in a deplorable
condition." .
CHILD AND WALTHAM.
Burt L. Brown, the Manlius, 111., dealer, is a warm
exponent of the advantages of the Waltham player
made by the Waltham Piano Co., Milwaukee, in
arousing devotion to music in the child. This week
the dealer prints: ''The tone quality found in Wal-
tham-made instruments gives the child's mind the
proper conception of music, and this combined with
the expression devices in the Waltham player ren-
ders this superb instrument an instructive pleasure
for people of all ages."
DESCRIBES VOSE MERITS.
Talking of the Vosc grand, this week, Weiler's,
Quincy, 111, says: "Go where you will, every one
admires the Vose grand for its musical quality, su-
perb touch, full, brilliant tone,* and its remarkable
power of endurance. Tt is the great piano success
of the present day. It stands alone—in a class by
itself. The musical world is invited to make the
closest comparative tests and judge of its solid and
determined merits, impregnable as Gibraltar's rock."
A CHANCE IN ROLLS.
One of the appeals by the J. W. Jenkins Sons'
Music Co., Kansas City and elsewhere in the South-
west, made in the advertising for its twenty-third
annual midsummer sale, is one to the player owners
to "till up your roll library." The way to do it is
avail themselves of the thousands of slightly soiled
player music rolls at alluringly low prices.
R. B. ALDCUOFTT.
of Music Merchants. His address furnished addi-
tional light upon the enterprise and enabled the local
and state associations to make more definite their,
co-operation with the campaign.
The Wisconsin State Fair, one of the largest and
most successful expositions cf this kind held in the
United States each year, opened on Monday of this
week. More dealers made exhibits at the fair
grounds in West Allis, a suburb of Milwaukee, than
ever before. Likewise, more attention to the mat-
ter of attracting visitors into the stores downtown
was paid this year than at any time since the war
began. The reason was obvious. Business is de-
sired more now than for three or four years, durinc
which period the demand greatly exceeded the sup-
ply. A change to a "buyer's market" is becoming
apparent.
Plans for Publicity.
The Milwaukee Association of Music Industries,
at its regular monthly meeting, held Thursday eve-
ning at the Association of Commerce rooms, went
into committee of the whole on the joint subjects,
"Keep Up the Demand" and "Create New Business."
At the invitation of President Paul F. Netzow, the
three leading newspapers submitted many plans of
campaign to better fall and holiday business, each
contemplating a beginning with local co-operation in
National Playerpiano Week.
NORWAY BARS PIANOS.
Pianos and phonographs are among commodities
listed as barred from importation into Norway by
a government order effective August 19. The ac-
tion was taken in order to halt the decreasing value
of Norwegian money, largely caused by overwhelm-
ing imports, while exports declined. American trade
is thereby restricted, as the greater part of the ar-
ticles named have been imported from America. The
high dollar rate had already restricted the purchase
of American goods. The rate yesterday was 6.67
kroner to the dollar as against the normal rate of
3.72.
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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