Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1920 1781

Page 4 Text:

PRESXO
PRESTO
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AT 407 SOUTH DEAR-
BORN STREET, OLD COLONY BUILDING, CHICAGO, ILL.
C. A. DANIELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT
Editors
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, .Harrison 234. Private Phones to all De-
partments. Cable Address (Commercial Cable Co.'s Code), " P R E S T O , " Chicago.
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, a t the Post Office, Chicago, Illinois,
under Act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4. Payable In advance. No extra
charge in U. S. possessions, Canada, Cuba and Mexico.
Address all communications for the editorial or business departments to PRESTO
PUBLISHING CO., 407 So. Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
Advertising Rates:—Five dollars per inch (13 ems pica) for single insertions.
Complete schedule of rates for standing cards and special displays will be furnished
on request. The Presto does not sell its editorial space. Payment is not accepted for
articles of descriptive character or other matter appearing in the news columns. Busi-
ness notices will be indicated by the word "advertisement" in accordance with the
Act of August 24, 1912.
Rates for advertising in Presto Year Book Issue and Export Supplements of
Presto will be made known upon application. Presto Year Book and Export issues
have the most extensive circulation of any periodicals devoted to the musical in-
strument trades and industries in all parts of the world, and reach completely and
effectually all the houses handling musical instruments of both the Eastern and West-
ern hemispheres.
Presto Buyers' Guide is the only reliable index to the American Pianos and
Player-Pianos, it analyzes all instruments, classifies them, gives accurate estimates
of their value and contains a directory of their manufacturers.
Items of news and other matter of general interest to the music trades are in-
vited and when accepted will be paid for. All communications should be addressed to
Presto Publishing Co., 407 So. Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 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.
A SHIFTING
INDUSTRY
All over the country there are little hamlets which at some time
in their existence promised to grow into great cities. Every historian
has something to say about the points of interest which at some
earlier day were pointed out as the commercial centers of the future
or the prospective places of large industries. And so when some
careful chronicler of the American piano industry produces his his-
tory of the instrument, past and present, he will tell of the start,
struggles and finish of many whose names will by that time have
passed to forgetfulness. For piano making has been a shifting in-
dustry, and a long list of what have seemed names of promise in the
world of music have flashed up for a few years and died in the embers
of disappointment. And of course the places of their brief careers
have also faded away as the scenes of piano activity.
Will it be interesting to take a hurried look at some of the one-
time "piano towns" of the kind referred to? Will it be instructive or
in any way useful? Perhaps not largely, but everything that presents
historical facts, in any line of endeavor, must be of some value to
workers in the special field to which attention may be directed. And,
still more, it is often said that there is no manufactured article that
does so much in the upbuilding of a town or community as the piano.
No other product carries the name of the place of its manufacture
so far into the homes of the people, and keeps it there so long and so
conspicuously. There are pianos in homes thousands of miles distant
from the towns of their makers, which have been standing there for
five, ten, twenty or even fifty years. And, through all the years, the
pianos' names and the place of their creation have been shining
brightly upon the instruments' fall boards.
It is a fact but little known that the city of Dayton, Ohio, at one
time set forth claims to having produced the first complete American
piano. We all know that the old-time notion that Daniel Crehore,
of Milton, Mass., was the pioneer in this line, was fiction. And we
know that the story about John Jacob Astor having made the first
New York piano was not based upon fact. But how many in the
trade know that pianos were made in Milwaukee long before Chi-
September 11, 1920.
cago could lay claim to a piano maker? And of the later "piano
towns" that have lost their claims to the distinction implied there
are many. Prominent among them, because of the size and activities
of her one-time piano factories, is Erie, Pennsylvania. Most of us
still in harness can remember when the late C. C. Converse went to
Erie with the Burdett Organ Co., and later added pianos to his fac-
tory output. The Shaw Piano Co. became equally prominent, and
its factory was a very pretentious one. So, too, with the Colby Piano
Co., which grew to large proportions and drew to Erie a good many
competent, even distinguished, piano men.
Erie is no longer a "piano town" and there is no piano factory
there. So with Scranton, in the same state, while Pittsburgh, for some
reason, has never boasted a large piano industry. Michigan is a pro-
lific piano state, but many of the great industries are of Chicago
origin, and are "going strong." Of the towns which once claimed
piano activities, but which are now silent in that respect, it is im-
possible not to mention Ann Arbor, Jackson, Battle Creek and Sagi-
naw, all of which have been the scenes of musical instrument manu-
facture.
Indiana is one of the remarkable commonwealths with respect
to piano production as well as in the possession of poets and other
artists. But even Indiana has her share of deserted piano towns, of
which Peru may be termed the "late lamented." For Peru came very
near to the attainment of distinction as the home of the Chute &
Butler pianos, now no more. Ohio has quite a list of "former" piano
towns, among them being Springfield, Dayton and Ripley. It is fair
to say that both Peru and Springfield lost their piano factories by
fire and in no sense of failure.
If we were to go eastward it would be found that the list of
"has beens" would include a long row of otherwise thriving cities
and towns. There was, for instance, a time when Bridgeport, Conn.,
could boast of three thriving piano plants. There is no piano fac-
tory there now. When the reed organ was at the height of its pros-
perity, the "nutmeg state" was the world's center of that industry,
with Meriden, and Worcester, Mass., the head and front of it. Now
those industrial cities sustain their earlier reputations by the energies
and power of the Wilcox & White Co. and the Simplex Player Action
Co., respectively.
It is a shifting industry, truly, but the changes are, as a rule,
signs of progress. The piano has long been settled and fixed in its
place among the larger industries. The days of experimentation are
past, and it would be a very difficult matter for any prophet of the
future to point out any "piano town" of today as one doomed to lose
its place in the line of the music industries within the next decade.
The shifting from this time forward, promises to be in the way of
development, greater stability and improved methods of both manu-
facture and sale.
WHY SELL OUT?
It is a somewhat anomalistic condition that something like a
half-dozen going piano industries are willing to sell out if reason-
able propositions should happen to come their way. Considering that
the demand for instruments is not only good, but often beyond
precedent, and that there is reason to believe that it will so remain
for a long time to come, it may seem strange that any prosperous
piano industry should be in the market for a buyer. But a little re-
flection will show that there are reasons, and that the reasons have
to do, not with depression, but actually with a state of activity in
which the sole suggestion of doubt rests in the kind of perplexities
that pertain to underproduction due to an excessive demand. And
usually that is a condition welcomed by manufacturers in almost
any line of trade.
But of course there must be a cause for the readiness of so
many piano industries to embrace purchasers. One of the causes,
no doubt, is found in the rapid progress of the business during the
last few years. The controlling interests in the industries, having
attained one of the aims of all business within a comparatively
short time, and having some doubt as to the continuation of existing
attractive conditions, feel that they would prefer to make sure of
the results of their very active experiences. Others see in present
conditions a good time in which to sell, because their showing is
such as must seem an ample inducement to ambitious investors.
Still others, perhaps, do not like to cope with the uncertainties of
the restless and unreliable labor market. And the difficulties in
securing essential supplies also enter in, and help to decide even
prosperous piano manufacturers to flirt with what may seem the
unusually favorable time for "selling out."
Whatever the reasons, however, it is certain that some very
attractive opportunities present themselves to prospective purchasers
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).
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Page 5 Text:

September 11, 1920.
at this time. It would be easy for any investors, with a leaning
toward piano manufacture, to secure going concerns, of modern
equipment and possessing established outlets for maximum produc-
tion, at comparatively small cost. Small cost, that is, as com-
pared with the original investments in time, experience and money.
And no one who knows much about the piano business will
question the future possibilities of the industry and trade. Within
the past decade there have been more evidences of the money-mak-
ing character of the piano industry than almost ever before since the
first instrument was made in this country. And yet during the
period indicated there have been obstacles and perplexities to solve
and overcome beyond all that had been presented theretofore. Better
still, the piano industry and trade have at last arrived at a stage of
progress only dreamed of in years gone by. The trade has stabilized
and the methods by which public suspicion had been aroused have
been swept away. The morning of a new day in the retail trade has
begun, and the fruits of high-class piano manufacture are ripening.
There is the order and dignity of systematic procedure in both the
producing and selling departments of the business, and when things
in the industrial world generally become normal again, there will be
little to complain of and very much for which to be glad.
And how does the condition to which reference has been made
bear in upon the retail end of the piano industry? Isn't it possible,
also, that in the readiness of well-known industries to "sell out,"
there may be seen a result of the short-sightedness of the dealers
who rebel at the necessarily increased prices of pianos? If the
dealers were willing to bear their share of the burden of higher
prices isn't it conceivable that the manufacturers, who have been
supplying them but are confronted with withdrawal of orders, would
reconsider and conclude to redouble their efforts? We know that,
in at least one case, this is the exact condition. Perhaps it illustrates
the folly of "carrying all the eggs in one basket." When the few
customers—one large and several small ones—think they have cause
for crying "profiteer," and shift allegiance to some cheap line of in-
struments at risk of near-ruin to themselves, the manufacturer by
whose pianos they have prospered is left to begin all over again.
Rather than do that, he decides that it is a good time in which to sell
out. And if he succeeds in selling he, perhaps, may live to regret it
and to see his old industry bounding forward under new and possibly
wiser management.
The retailer, too, in such a case is a large loser. He has followed
the example of the dog in iEsop's fable and dropped the meaty bone
into the stream where his own shadow misled him to snatch an imagi-
nary larger bone. There is no better asset to any piano dealer than
OHIO ASSOCIATION
COMPLETES PLANS
Convention of Piano Merchants' Association
of Ohio in Youngstown Next Week Will
Be a Notable Music Trade
Event.
Plans for the convention of the Piano Merchants'
Association of Ohio, now completed, promise a rous-
ing success next week in Youngstown. President
William R. Graul and Secretary Rexford C. Hyre
are confident the meeting will be the most important
ever held in the state. The membership of the Ohio
association now numbers 170 dealers. Among the
newest on the new membership list are: Sherman
Ralyeat, Van Wert: Harry Barry, Greenville; J. A.
Bauer, Celina; D. S. Cartnell, Wapakoneta; Branch
E. Crippen, Marietta: H. W. Davidson, Marietta;
William O. Franke, Akron; W. R. Hudson, Troy;
Loren M. Hussey, Greenville; W. S. Hyer, Green-
ville; Clem F. Imfield, Hamilton; Walter O. Loy,
New Bremen; Lon E. Needier, Van Wert; Rudd W.
Randolph, Cleveland; F. Earl Shaffer, Van Wert; C.
E. Shaw, Lodi; Joseph O. Voress, Wapakoneta;
Tony Zender, Lima.
Interesting Days.
The business sessions will be held in the Hotel
Ohio, Youngstown, September 14. All meetings will
be held in the Assembly Hall of the hotel. Presi-
dent W. R. Graul will preside and an address of wel-
come will be made by Fred J. Weruock, mayor of
Youngstown.
At the noon session September 14, C. M. Tre-
maine, director of the National Rurtdii tor the Ad-
vancement of Music, will deliver an address on "Mu-
sic. A Municipal Necessity.'" Other addresses will
follows:
At 3:30 p. m. all members attending the convention
will be taken on an auto ride to the Youngstown
the instrument in which he has invested his personal efforts and
for which he has made a local fame. To such a dealer no advance in
price can justify a rupture between himself and the factory. And at
this particular time any retail piano dealer who can not see the need
of the manufacturer's increase in prices must be lacking in the kind
of common sense by which compensation is had between cause and
effect.
Without mentioning any names, there are several young-spirited
elderly men in the piano industry—we all know who they are. Gray
hair does not mean necessarily a gray spirit. Lew Fields, in the New
York Tribune of Sunday last, September 5, speaks up for youthful
elderly men as follows: "While you can't keep your hair young for-
ever, you can keep your mind in that state and that helps your
spirits and the soles of your feet wonderfully. Experience isn't to
be underestimated, but give me the man with youth in his two fists."
* * *
The snug little city of DeKalb, 111., is changing the character of
its distinction. It has been called the "Barb City" because barbed
wire was first produced there. Today it may more properly be called
the "Player City" because it claims two ambitious industries devoted
to as many departments of the Music industry. The Apollo Piano
Co. and the Clark Orchestra Roll Co. are making a new fame for
DeKalb, and the last-named industry occupies the identical factory
building wherein millions were made by the "barbed wire king."
•f
*
*
Like the flu and the hay fever, the long-time pianists break out
at irregular intervals. Just what gain there is to any one in the
banging of a key-pounder against time it strains the intelligence to
discover. But there must be champions in every ring, and the long-
distance piano pounders are as much entitled to their opportunities
as are the maulers with the mitts.
* * *
A strong belief in a gradual and natural readjustment of business
conditions without financial disorder or any sudden economic calam-
ity is expressed by the Committee on Statistics and Standards of the
Chamber of Commerce of the United States, in its semi-annual bulletin
on crop and general business conditions.
The fact that prices of clothing and other commodities have
declined greatly in the East, is no criterion by which to judge piano
prices, as pianos have never risen in price proportionate with these
commodities.
Country Club, where golf will be played and other
pastimes enjoyed.
Otto Schulz to Talk.
The "General Topic" for the morning session on
September 15 will be "Relations with Manufactur-
ers." Otto Schulz, president of the M. Schulz Co.,
Chicago, will talk on "The Piano and Playerpiano
Manufacturer."
Other Topics.
"Talking Machines and Their Records" will be the
topic of Charles K. Bennett, Eclipse Musical Co.,
Cleveland. Geo. H. Bliss will talk on "The Player
Roll Manufacturer," A. B. Smith, Akron, on ''Read-
justment of Wholesale Prices,"' and discussions gen-
erally will be led by Henry Dreher, M. V. De For-
eest, Sharon, Pa., and others.
The closing session on Wednesday afternoon will
be devoted to discussions and addresses which in-
clude one by Rexford C. Hyre and C. L. Dennis.
The election of officers will take place at this ses-
sion.
At 7 p. m. a dinner dance will be given at the Hotel
Ohio.
JAMES MUNN DIES.
Intelligence has been received from Sidney, N. Y.,
of the death of James Munn, of Walton, which oc-
curred at the hospital in Norwich, August 18. The
body was conveyed to Walton, where the funeral
services were held, with interment in the cemetery
there. Mr. Munn was an extensive dealer in musical
instruments and had established a factory in Walton.
He was a prominent business man with many warm
friends who sincerely mourn his death.
W. T. BRINKERHOFF TRAVELS.
Will T. Brinkerhoff, president of the Brinkerhoff
Piano Company, Chicago, left on Tuesday night of
this week for Detroit. He expects to travel about a
good deal in Michigan, and do some fishing in its
line streams during the next ten days which he will
devote to the double purpose of a vacation and busi-
ness.
EMERSON PIANO HOUSE
HAS CHANGED HANDS
Harry I. Spayd, W. Curtis Busher, John F. McDer-
mott and Rufus Peabody New Owners.
The Emerson Piano House, Decatur, 111., was sold
last week by the Emerson Piano Co., of Boston, to
Harry I. Spayd, who has been manager of the local
store since 1918. Associated with Mr. Spayd in the
purchase of the store are W. Curtis Busher, John F.
McDermott and Rufus Peabody, who have been
with Mr. Spayd in the business there. •
This is the only retail store that the Emerson com-
pany has operated. While the consideration is not
given, the store, fixtures and stock is known to
mount upwards into a pretty considerable figure.
Mr. Spayd was with the S. M. Lutz Company in
Decatur for twelve years and then manager of the
present store for the last two years. Mr. Busher
has been with the store six years and is manager of
the piano department. Mr. McDermott has been
employed three years as head of the talking machine
department, and Mr. Peabody has been in charge of
the office work for two years.
The new firm will still be known as The Emerson
Piano House and will handle the same line of goods
as at present. The store has shown a steady growth
and Mr. Spayd has been successful in his manage-
ment.
FACTORY BURGLARIZED.
A report was made to the Perth Amboy, N. J.,
police last week that the Kimberley Phonograph
Company's -factory at 228 Fayette street had been
entered and eight unfinished phonographs taken.
Later Mr. Isenberg of the firm was called and he
reported that three finished boxes had been taken.
It is said that a horse and wagon were seen in the
vicinity of the factory some time at night and it
possible that the loot was carried away in the
wagon.
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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