Presto

THE PRESTO BUYERS'
GUIDE CLASSIFIES ALL
PIANOS AND PLAYERS
AND THEIR MAKERS
PRESTO
Established 1884 THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
SEES NO CHANGE
IN PIANO PRICES
J. H. Parnham, Head of Kohler Industries,
Gives Facts Concerning Prices in the
Piano Industry and Tells Why Any
Downward Scale Is Impossible.
Recent price reductions in several lines of indus-
try have evidently inspired the retail piano trade
with the hope, if not the belief, that it would soon
see wholesale piano prices take a precipitate drop,
which ere long would land dealers in the buying
position they occupied in the days of 1913 and 1914.
That such a wish, or thought, can be put out of
the mind of the trade, and is not based on facts, is
made clear by John H. Parnham, in a talk he had
with representatives of the trade press last week.
Perhaps no man in the piano industry can speak
on this subject, which is now occupying the minds
of the trade, with greater authority than Mr. Parn-
ham, as he is not only the managing head of one
of the dominating factors in the piano industry but
is also president of the New York Piano Manufac-
turers Association, which fact gives double force
and weight to his statements, on this particular sub-
ject. Mr. Parnham said:
"1 feel that, in view of the widespread publicity
that has been given to needed reductions of prices
on some commodities, and because there is an exist-
ing belief in the minds of some of the trade that re-
ductions may quickly follow in the piano industry,
that a statement from me at this time would not be
amiss.
No More Pre-War Prices.
' I n the first place, the man in the piano trade
who expects to ever see piano prices range as low
as they were before the war, is basing his expec-
tancy upon unsound reasoning and a lack of know-
ledge of the facts. The trade will never see such
prices again.
"The whole world of endeavor has moved up to
a new and higher level of costs and prices. Wages
and raw materials entering into every known com-
modity are greatly in excess of what they were in
pre-war times. In some lines the advance in costs
has been greater than others. But you cannot touch
life, today, at a single one of its many and compli-
cated points of existence, without experiencing the
heavy tolls that this new order of things lay upon us.
"The individual finds it in his increased rentals and
cost of living. The merchant finds it in the in-
creased cost of doing business. The manufacturer,
also, finds it in the increased cost of labor, raw ma-
terials, taxes and rates for money.
"Just where and when this new order of things
will eventually find its mean level no one can tell.
But that there is and will continue to be a new
level which is a great deal higher than the 1913
and 1914 level is certain. Some commodities may
have to go still higher and many commodities will
have to come down. Many industries have un-
doubtedly been profiteering. There is no doubt that
many commodities have been sold at prices that are
far in excess of the prevailing level of costs as it
stands today. These will have to come down.
"But, on the other hand, there are many other in-
dustries which are barely getting by at their pres-
ent level of prices and among these is the piano in-
dustry. I see no chance, whatever, for piano prices
to come down, at present."
No Profiteering.
Mr. Parnham shows conclusively that the piano
industry has not profiteered. He makes the point
that the piano industry has been slow and reluctant
in raising its prices and that the many steps of ad-
vancement in its prices have been made in small
amounts of $5 and $10 at. a time and then only in
most instances, after the manufacturer had borne up
under two or three months of actual losses at his
old quotations.
"No trade or industry" said Mr. Parnham, "has
- been so reluctant and tardy in advancing its whole-
sale prices as the piano industry, and I appeal to
every piano manufacturer as to the truthfulness of
this statement. Piano manufacturers have been so
slow and loath to quote advancements, during the
past three and four years, that many of them have
taken losses on two or three months output before
they reluctantly sent out their new quotations, and
THE PRESTO YEAR BOOK
IS THE ONLY ANNUAL
REVKEW OP
THE MUSIC TRADES
/« c«nt«, 92.90 « r, ar
this at a time when they had a waiting market for
two instruments for every one they could then man-
ufacture.
''The result of this reluctance to raise wholesale
prices is, that the piano trade has been constantly
behind other lines of industry in its advancements
of prices and is today actually below the common
level of prevailing prices, on other like commodi-
ties, in which labor, steel and lumber play such an
important part.
Other Things Must Drop.
"I am not surprised," says Mr. Parnham, "at see-
ing reductions announced on certain lines of mer-
chandise. The surprise to me is that the break has
not come sooner. But the reductions announced
will have to go still lower before they are down to
the level of present piano prices, as compared with
the cost of producing.
"The piano manufacturer has been keenly alive to
the fact that wholesale prices have been mounting
to a point where retail prices will reach such a level
as to place a restriction on sales. The manufacturer
welcomes any indication that looks toward lessen-
ing his costs so that he may not put any further
retarding conditions in the way and can make it
easier for his dealers to secure a steady and even
flow of business, but the plain facts are that his
manufacturing costs are higher today than they were
six months ago.
"A grain of hope and comfort was felt the other
day when a reduction was announced by the Ameri-
can Wholesale Lumber Dealers Association on "the
price of lumber, but investigation discloses the fact
that the reductions apply to hard wood flooring and
cheap grades of lumber used in concrete construc-
tion and does not apply to the grades and charac-
ter of lumber suitable for use in piano manu-
facturing.
"I can, of course, only speak for the Kohler In-
dustries. But for them I can speak with authority
and I know that for them the difference of $15 per
instrument, at this time, would mean the difference
between a loss and a profit to us, and if this condi-
tion applies to us, it applies with equal or greater
force io others."
No Cause for Alarm.
Mr. Parnham, however, sees no cause for alarm,
if the trade exercises its usual good sense and ap-
plies its customary energy. He very aptly points
out that the best part of the year is ahead of the
retail trade, that even in the worst piano years the
trade has ever experienced, there has never been a
surplus of instrumnts during the last three months
of the year and that this, by no stretch of facts,
cannot be accounted as a bad piano year.
"There is no cause for worry," says Mr. Parnham,
"if the dealer will get out after business with his old
time energy and quit waiting for lessened prices
which are not now in sight. There is business and
plenty of it to be had. Crops are big and they are
bringing tremendous prices. Wages are high and
there is employment for almost everybody. The
best three months of the year are ahead of us. The
trouble is with ourselves. We have all become ac-
customed, during the past three or four years, to
wait for business to come to us, instead of going
out and getting it, and if, instead of waiting and
wishing for something that does not exist, we wilt
bend ourselves to our tasks with our old-time en-
ergy, we will end a most satisfactory and profitable
year.
"T cannot recall the time in my experience, when
in the leanest years the trade has known, that there
has been a surplus of instruments during October,
November and December and this can certainly not
be reckoned as a poor piano year. On the contrary,
it will round out a good piano year, if the dealer
will cease to wait for prices that cannot be lowered
now and go out for the business that conditions
warrant his getting."
TO REORGANIZE "INTERNATIONAL."
An important meeting of the creditors of the
International Piano Manufacturing Co. was held
at the office of the company, 481 Alden street, Fall
River, Mass., Friday afternoon, October 8th, at two
o'clock for the purpose of discussing, with the Re-
organizing Committee and Board of Directors,
plans for the re-organization and financing of the
company. Plans for the complete re-organizirig
have assumed tangible form, and a large attend-
ance of creditors was earnestly desired at the meet-
ing, which it is believed will be a great benefit to al!
concerned.
CHICAGO PIANO CLUB
PLANS GREAT THINGS
Elects M. J. Kennedy President, Raises An-
nual Dues to $10 and Outlines New
Lines of Work for Year.
The Chicago Piano Club gave a combined enter-
tainment, business meeting and dinner on Tuesday
night of this week at the City Club, 315 Plymouth
Court. The attendance was the largest ever seen
at a meeting of the club.
Ray Miller's "Black and White Melody Boys"
constituted only one of the several features of the
entertainment, which began before the dinner. This
galaxy of star entertainers are now playing at the
Ed Wynn Carnival at the Illinois theater, and they
gave their services free. These melody young men
are featured this month on Gennett, Aeolian, Pathe
and other records. Those who heard them Tues-
day night got some valuable tips that will augment
their record sales. A witty black-face comedian
and a singing and performing quartette of young
men added a large quota of mirth to the evening's
entertainment.
The club's committee of ways and means sub-
mitted an outline of big work it has proposed for
the coming year. The propositions were numbered,
something after the manner of President Wilson's
ten points. Only the first of these points was acted
upon Tuesday night—namely the dues were raised
from $2 a year to $10 a year for resident members
and $5 a year for non-resident members, that is,
those living outside of Chicago. The other points
were referred to the board of governors, who will
go over them carefully and report back.
The points cover the making of arrangements for
meeting places, lunching tables and dinners; the
appointment of committees to attend various musi-
cal affairs., including the performances of the Chi-
cago Symphony Orchestra; the arranging of month-
ly series of meetings throughout the season, with
educational features, such as player night, piano
night; connecting the club with the cause of the ad-
vancement of music as outlined by the Music In-
dustries Chamber of Commerce. The committee re-
ported in favor of a daily table at the Hotel Strat-
ford and a dinner at the City Club weekly.
M. J. Kennedy was unanimously elected as presi-
dent of the club; Walter S. Jenkins, vice-president;
James F. Bristol, secretary, and R. E. Davis, treas-
urer. The board of governors chosen consisted of
Kenneth W. Curtis, William Braid White, Mr. Mc-
Ginniss, Mr. Stapleton and Frank E. Morton.
Each one of the new officers when called upon
for a "speech' 7 responded by telling a funny story
to apply to his case. President Kennedy's was to
the effect that he did not want to fall down on the
job, nor have others fall because he fell. His story
was retold from the experience of a soldier who
came back from France. One day this young man'
asked his captain if he might take a ride on one of
the horses in the outfit. He was granted the privi-
lege, took a ride, but returned soon to report that
the horse had fallen over and died, so he wanted
another animal. "All right," said the captain, "but
don't take the middle one in the stable, because if
you do all the rest will fall down."
A letter of sympathy over his inability to attend
the meeting and of good cheer, penned by Frank E.
Morton, was signed by all in the meeting to be
forwarded to James F. Broderick, founder of the"
club, who is ill at his home.
G. L. SHAW'S TRIP.
George L. Shaw, credit manager of the H. C. Bay
Company, 806 Republic Building, Chicago, has just
returned from a trip in the interests of that house
which took h"m through southern Illinois, Tennes-
see and Mississippi. Mr. Shaw found the dealers
eat>er for the trade that is coming to them in the
next few weeks. They are using modern equipment
in the shape of piano loaders down there and are
going after substantial orders from substantial
people.
Otto Schulz, president of the M. Schulz Company,
who was a member of the Federal grand jury, is
now through with his work in that capacity and is
back at his desk.
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