Presto

PRESTO
CITY THRILLED
BY MUSIC LOVE
Col. F. B. T. Hollenberg Sets Little Rock
Aflame with Enthusiasm and Robert Law-
rence Does the Rest Till the Arkan-
sas City Is All Smiles and Singing.
Success
marked
the first period of
the campaign for
establishment
o f
community singing
on a broad scale
throughout Arkan-
sas which Robert
Lawrence, of the
National Bureau for
the Advancement of
Music opened last
week under the aus-
pices of the Little
Rock Music Commission, of which F. B. T. Hollen-
berg is chairman.
In accordance with the program formulated in
mid-summer, the first period, from September 27
to October 2 inclusive, was devoted to preliminary
work, including interviews with representatives of
industries, department stores, educational institu-
tions, churches, clubs, lodges and other organiza-
tions desiring to promote community singing and
the holding of demonstration "sings."
Training Period.
The second period, from October 18 to 30, in-
clusive, will be the training period. The third per-
iod, beginning November 22 and ending on Thanks-
giving Day, will be called "Community Sing Week,"
and the crowning feature of the campaign will be
held on Thanksgiving Day.
Mr. Lawrence arrived in Little Rock September
27. At Colonel Hollenberg's suggestion Benjamin D.
Brickhouse, mayor of Little Rock, appointed a
music commission, which is handling the details of
Mr. Lawrence's campaign. Of this commission,
Mr. Hollenberg himself was made chairman. The
other members are George B. Rose, a well known
attorney and patron of arts; Gordon M. Peay, pres-
ident of the W. E. Worthen Company Bank; L. C.
Herrington, president of the Typographical Union;
Mrs. H. H. Foster, perhaps the leading patron of
music in Arkansas; Mrs. Will Henniger, teacher of
singing; Saul Harris, who controls all the theatres
and picture shows in Little Rock; J. L. Bond, State
Superintendent of Public Instruction; and Mayor
Brickhouse.
Col. Hollenberg's Part.
Colonel Hollenberg has guaranteed the entire cost
of the campaign, but all of the music dealers in
Little Rock and a great many others insisted upon
sharing the expenses, with the result that the total
cost of the campaign, amounting approximately to
$1,700, will be so distributed that it will be a burden
to no one person or concern.
"The work here has been unusually successful,"
says Mr. Lawrence in a report to the Chamber.
"We have held the following sings: Junior High
School, 1,500 persons; Draughton's Business Col-
lege, 200; Robson-Roders Co., 60; general meeting
at the High School, 400; Blass' Department Store,
200; Senior High School, 1,500; Miller Manufactur-
ing Co., 100; Lions Club (Business men), 60; Tele-
phone Co., 100; Colored High School, 400; Business
Women's Club, 75; Rotary Club, 100.
"The following sings are scheduled to occur:
Three picture shows, Pfeifers Department Store,
Argenta High School, W. E. L. Bruce Co., Catholic
School, Missouri Railroad Shops.
"From this you will see that by Saturday night I
shall have held twenty-one demonstration sings dur-
ing the week. This covers the ground very thor-
oughly, and a great deal of interest has been
aroused."
WIDER USES FOR THE
LESLEY PATCHING VARNISH
Three More Distributing Stations Added for Con-
venience of Customers by Indianapolis Company.
The interest of manufacturers, dealers and tuners
grows every month for Lesley's Patching Varnish,
the popular product of the Lesley's Chemical Co..
Indianapolis, Ind. Frank Lesley, manager of the
company, reports further extensions of the Lesley
Chemical Co.'s agency which provide three addi-
tional distributing points for the convenience of the
trade.
In Dallas, Texas, the Sonora Distributing Co. has
been made an agent for the Lesley products. This
company is now supplied with stock from which
customers in the Southwestern States may be sup-
plied.
The New England States will be served with Les-
ley's Patching Varnish and the other useful com-
modities made by the Indianapolis company by the
Lansing Sales Co., Boston, Mass. This company is
also supplied with the necessary stock for filling
New England orders.
A stock of the specialties of Lesley's Chemical
Co. is ready for exportation to Ca Cuba De Fono-
grafos, No. 89 O'Reilly street, Habana, Cuba, which
company will be pleased to fill orders from Cuban
customers as soon as express service for Cuba is
available. The American Express Co. has an em-
bargo on shipments to that point.
The new service station which Lesley's Chemical
Co. opened in the downtown district of Indianapolis
on September 1 is now in busy running order. Three
students were taught during the month.
Besides patching varnish, the company makes the
following useful commodities: piano polish, crack-
filling varnish, dusting fluid, stain spirit glue, metal
polish, auto body polish and finishers' supplies.
MOVEMENTS OF MEN
OF THE TRADE NOTED
Brief Items Recording the Whereabouts of Promi-
nent Ones.
James Guyette is manager of the W. T. Brows
Piano Co., Jacksonville, 111. The house is over 40
years in business and points to its record as a surety
to prospective piano or playerpiano buyers.
E. W. Strong is manager of the piano department
of Sifnond's Music Store, Ottawa, 111.
Miss Helen Allison is manager of the player roll
department of Byron Mauzy, San Francisco. The
line composes the Q R S and Mel-o-dee rolls.
C. J. Doser is a new man on the sales staff of the
small goods department of Lyon & Healy, Chicago.
T. W. Perkins has joined the sales force of the
player department of Lyon & Healy, Chicago.
Albert F. Price, vice-president of the Price &
Teeple Piano Company, has returned to Chicago
from a trip to Memphis and Little Rock. He found
the weather very hot down there.
C. R. Huston, traveler in Minnestota and Wis-
consin for the Baldwin Piano Company, spent last
Saturday in Chicago at the Baldwin offices.
Walter Kiehn resigned his position as managing
editor of the Chicago Musical Times last Saturday
and on Monday began work in the sales and adver-
tising department of the Gulbransen-Dickinson com-
pany. Mr. Kiehn is an alert young man and will,
undoubtedly, make good in his new position.
C. G. Gulbransen, superintendent of the Gulbran-
sen-Dickinson company's factory, Chicago, moved
his office into the new building on Monday of this
week. It is on the second floor.
E. J. Wolmer, who recently resigned from the
Kieselhorst Piano Co., St. Louis, has returned to
California.
Frank Hamm, a traveling man for the Tri-Sales
Co., has joined the piano sales forces of the Kiesel-
horst Piano Co., St. Louis.
Otto J. De Moll, of O. J. De Moll & Co., Wash-
ington, D. C, is the most active member of a com-
mittee appointed by the Merchants' and Manu-
facturers' Association to stimulate the Do Your
Christmas Shopping Early spirit.
Henry P. Veatch, Chicago manager of the Pack-
ard Piano Company's business, was in Chester, 111.,
on Wednesday of this week.
C. J. Scheiman, treasurer of the Packard Piano
Company, Fort Wayne, Ind., was in Chicago one
dav this week. He was accompanied by W. H.
Wiebke, assistant treasurer of the house.
STEINERT OFFICIAL HONORED.
Jerome F. Murphy, of Boston, was accorded a
pleasant surprise visit last Thursday night by his
associates of the M. Steinert & Sons' organization
of that city. Mr. Murphy is treasurer of the M.
Steinert & Sons Co., and general manager of the
Jev/ett Piano Company. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy
were presented with a mahogany library table and
a floor lamp. Many messages were read from friends
and associates.
PIANO PRICES REDUCED.
There is unusual interest in the announcement of
Lyon & Healy in this issue of Presto. The great
Chicago hcuse declares a price reduction and, in
view of the source of the announcement, it becomes
of great significance. When Lvon & Healy say
something, the trade listens. The announcement
menns a reduction in the price of a high grade piano
and, without doubt, the trade will take it seriously
and the result will be an impetus in the demand
for Lyon & Healy pianos which has had few paraf-
lels in their class.
October 9, 1920.
LABOR TURNOVER IN
MUSIC INDUSTRIES
Excellent Conditions in Plants Denoted by the
Flattering Report on Conditions Made
by Journal of Commerce.
"Most of the employes are very highly skilled
workers of the older type. They look upon them-
selves as craftsmen. Wages are high and work is
steady. Moreover, the men have a superintendent
they like. As a result, the annual turnover is less
than 50 per cent," is the report on labor turnover in
one of the musical instrument factories investigated
recently by the Journal of Commerce, New York.
The average yearly rate of labor shift or "turnover"
in 1920 for skilled and semi-skilled factory workers
in New York City is 125 per cent and for unskilled
factory workers 265 per cent, according" to reports
made to the Industrial Bureau of the Merchants' As-
sociation by forty-two manufacturing concerns rep-
resenting fifteen different industries and employing a
total average force of 41,375 workers.
In about two-thirds of the plants studied the turn-
over lay between 100 and 250 per cent, but the total
range for all plants extended from a minimum of
16/$ per cent to a maximum of 338 per cent, says the
Journal of Commerce, which adds: The cost of re-
placements, according to the testimony of employ-
ers, varies from $10 for unskilled to $250 for highly
skilled workers. A fair average for semi-skilled em-
ployes is $50 or more.
Three musical instrument factories were covered
in this study of various industries. In most cases
the period investigated was the first eight months of
1920. The turnover of factory labor increased dur-
ing the war and some time after the signing of the
armistice. The tendency now, however, seems to be
in the opposite direction.
For the purpose of this report, therefore, labor
turnover has been computed by dividing the number
of employes replaced during a year by the average
number of persons on the payroll during the same
period. For example, if there was an average of 100
men on the payroll of a concern during the year, and
200 additional employes had to be secured during
that time to replace those who were fired, died or
quit for any other cause, the turnover would be twice
the average number on the payroll, or 200 per cent.
In a decreasing payroll replacements will equal the
number of people hired, while in an increasing one
they will equal the number of separations from the
plant.
It is apparent that the turnover among plants em-
ploying mainly unskilled workers is much larger
than in factories where the operatives are more
skilled. In the former group, six out of fourteen, or
43 per cent of the concerns, have a turnover between
200 per cent and 250 per cent. Among the latter
group twelve out of twenty-eight, or 43 per cent,
have turnovers between 100 per cent and 150 per
cent. The difference between these two groups is
most clearly shown by the actual figures.
NEW ORLEANS MANAGER
ENTERTAINS HIS SALESMEN
Sales Force of Junius Hart Piano Co. Are Dinner
Guests of George A. Stecker.
General Manager George A. Stecker, of the Junius
Hart Piano House, New Orleans, La., recently en-
tertained the sales and office force at Maylie & Es-
parbo's. It was another of those get-together af-
fairs, in which the "boys," incidental to the enjoy-
ment of the menu, exchanged ideas tending to the
promotion of the efficiency of the service and piano
salesmanship generally.
General Manager Stecker presided and indulged
in a little heart-to-heart congratulatory talk on the
increase of business and the hustling co-operation of
the force which so largely contributed to the suc-
cess. Among those present were: J. F. White,
Paul T. Ashton, F. W. Tudury, F. C. Schmitt, H. W.
Couturie, Jr., Wm. G. Burck, Henry Mische, H. F.
Vidclange, Hugh Martin, Frank Desplas.
PIANO STRIKE POSTPONED.
A national referendum is being held by the
Piano, Organ p.nd Musical Instrument Makers'
International Union of America on the question
of the postponement of the proposed national strike
of the 50.000 piano, organ and musical instrument
makers, it was announced last Saturday, in New
York City, by John Whitehill. vice-president of the
international union. Mr. Whitehill said that he did
not consider the present time opportune for a na-
tional strike. He thought it most likely that the
workers would vote for postponement. There are
about 20,000 piano and organ makers in New York
City alone.
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