PRESTO
THE COOPERATIVE
PIANO FACTORY
Comment of the "World's Greatest News-
paper" Sounds Like an Echo of the Views
of a Piano Man Who Once Made Co-
operation His Close Study.
The Chicago Tribune has printed an editorial on
the subject of the plan of the Chicago locked-out
prano workers for the establishing of a co-operative
factory. Particulars of the new enterprise ap-
peared in Presto of last week. The Tribune edi-
torial was as follows:
A Co-operative Experiment.
In order to make the tests and attendant lessons
as comprehensive and convincing as possible, The
Tribune hopes the union piano workers' co-operative
factory will get away to as good a start as possible.
To that end we contribute this general advertisement
of the two projects without solicitation and without
cost.
If any untoward incidents or exceptional difficul-
ties should cause failure, such failure would be at-
tributed entirely to those factors, and no good would
be accomplished. If, on the other hand, the way to
success isi made as smooth as possible, the demon-
stration of success will be largely upon the merits
of the business and will contribute invaluable ele-
ments to our economic, and perhaps to our social
and political life.
The experiment will teach the union men directly
involved, and all others who watch it, just what busi-
ness management includes. It will reveal to the
participants that brain is as essential to success as
brawn; that skilled minds are as essential as skilled
hands; that wise buying of raw materials and effici-
ent sale and distribution of finished products are as
essential as efficient factory methods. It will mean
a realization of the complex relationships of modern
business and the necessity of a reasonable policy of
give and take. It will convince the honest seeker
after truth that the mind is entitled as justly to its
reward as the hand, and that capital, representing
the accumulation of products of both mind and hand,
is also necessary and entitled to a share in the re-
ward.
All this knowledge will come to the organized
labor involved if the ventures are a success. If such
knowledge is brought home to the millions who do
not have it now, it will mean much easier going for
us all in the futtire. Therefore we wish the co-op-
erative factories a success.
Will Meet Approval.
It is probable that most piano men, including
the manufacturers, will indorse all that the Tribune
said on the subject of co-operative experiment in
their line of industry. As an experiment it may be
instructive, even if earlier attempts along the same
line did not prove successful. The world moves,
and the piano business moves with it. But what
is fully as interesting just now is the fact that a
piano man of international renown, and who is still
active in the business of selling pianos, made prac-
tically the same comments on the same subject
nearly a quarter century ago.
Of course the subject of co-operation between
employer and employe is now an old one. It has
occupied the minds of many thinking men in all
lines of industry, and it has been discussed by
countless men of literature who have turned their
attention to problems of economics.
An Echo of '95.
It was far back in the nineties—about 1895—that
Alfred Dolge, at that time the foremost piano sup-
ply manufacturer in the world, delivered a series of
addresses on economic theories as applied, to in-
dustrial life and progress. At the time Mr. Dolge
had put into operation his theories of education as
the salvation of labor and plans of workmen's pen-
sion and profit sharing.
Since that time the same ideas have been advo-
cated by other forward-looking men, and some of
Mr. Dolge's ideas have been made the basis of prac-
tical co-operation in other lines of industry than
that of piano manufacture. Therefore it will be
interesting and, also instructive, to reproduce, in
connection with what the Chicago Tribune edi-
torial has said, some of Mr. Dolge's old, but still
new, ideas upon a subject of vital interest to hu-
man progress.
Mr. Dolge was not a believer in the so-called
plan of "profit sharing", as now adopted by a num-
ber of large concerns with varying degrees of suc-
cess. He opposed paternalism, and the key-note of
his principle at this point found expression in the
declaration that "Nothing can permanently im-
prove the social condition of any class which it
does not receive as the economic result of its own
efforts. Production and not philanthropy there-
fore must be the basis of any economic distribution
of wealth."
Still more to the point made by the Tribune edi-
torial—that to prove successful the co-operative
piano factory must possess "management" and the
experience that pertains, not to the inside of the
factory walls so much as to the office and outside
the factory itself—the following from one of Mr.
Dolge's old-time addresses seems to apply with
perfect and potent force; and it is, furthermore, as
entertaining as a modern novelette, in the imper-
sonal and narrative style of its presentation.
"You propose to form, according to socialistic
principles, a company in which each workingman
has equal right, equal share of the profits—in fact,
a company which runs the entire concern simply and
only for the equal benefit of each workingman em-
ployed in the concern. This would naturally con-
stitute every one his own boss, and you would be a
company of 500 to 600 bosses. You would, as hon-
est men, not take my property from me, but you
would allow a certain rent and perhaps finally ask
me to remain as manager with you, on equal shares
with the most unskilled^workingman we have. Sup-
pose all this.
"I would certainly refuse such an offer and would
tell you that I consider my services worth at least
$25,000 a year—at least that is what I could earn
elsewhere—and as true socialists you must admit
that I have a right to sell my labor) at the highest
price that can be obtained. You would, therefore,
dispense with my services and choose some one from
your midst as a manager. But who can manage 600
bosses, pray? Naturally, some one would be will-
ing, if it were only for the glory of the thing, to ac-
cept that position.
Familiar Pitfalls.
"Do you believe that the money would be as
promptly at hand when pay-day comes, as now?
Do you suppose the factory would be managed
profitably enough by all those bosses so that you
could draw the same wages as now? No, gentle-
men, your first yearly business meeting would be a
sad affair, and your leading men would say, 'Let us
look around for a good manager,' and when they
had looked around and had found that such a one
could not be picked up on the roadside, how many
votes do you think would be cast for getting a good
boss, even at a salary of $25,000 a year? I tell you
every single vote would be cast for the $25,000 man,
and I even venture to say that if I were in the mar-
ket you would all ask me to come back on my own
terms; every one of you would be willing to transfer
your stock to me unreservedly, if I only would
come back and steer the ship once more as of old.
"Why? Because I could not only earn my $25,000
salary, but sufficient more to pay you promptly good
wages, better than you could possibly earn when
you were a company of bosses. I wish to know how
our skilled mechanics would like it, if, according
to socialistic doctrines, at the end of the year the
laborer should get just as much as the skilled me-
chanic?
"We cannot buck against nature; neither must we
think that we deserve special credit if one or the
other of us has been more favored with natural
gifts than the majority, and while enjoying such
advantages, we must be mindful of our duties to our
fellow men. Let us always be fair-minded, and
while giving credit where credit is due, let us all
strive to better our conditions by thrift, economy and
work, and then there will never be a strike.
Nobody's Business.
"However, before dropping this subject I wish to
say, particularly to those who were or are members
of labor organizations, that I consider it none of
my business if any one of you belongs to the trades
unions, any more than I care whether you are
Catholics, or Methodists, or Baptists, or whether
you were born in America, Germany or on the Fiji
Islands. I do not care about it, and have no right
to ask you about it ; because we live in a country
where everybody has the right to his opinion or
belief.
"But what I do care about is whether you are
good workmen who are willing to do an honest
day's work for a day's wages; whether you are in-
dustrious, saving, straightforward—in short, men of
character and good common sense. I have a right
to care about that, because if you lack these quali-
ties, if you rather incline to be a 'walking delegate'
living on the hard earnings of your fellow work-
men, instead of earning your living by honest work,
I do not want to associate with you; I do not care
to work with you."
A Theorist "Made Good."
All of the extracts from Mr. Dolge's speech of
more than two-score years ago is worth repeating,
even now, after change has worked a different pat-
tern upon the fabric of labor. The problem re-
mains in a large sense the same. The systems pro-
posed, and the plans for betterment are no better,
and what the piano leader of long ago said to his
workers of that day might be as well said at this
time. Nor must it be neglected to say that Mr.
Dolge's absence abroad—on a trip around the world
—permits the republication of his views. The fact
that he has actually proved his capacity to earn the
large sum named in his speech of long ago, seems
to release his words again without possibility of
critical comment even by his most bitter enemies—
if he still has any enemies who read this paper,
which we doubt.
Certainly the piano workers who have decided
to start a co-operative factory may find food for
thought, and even something more, in the speech of
Alfred Dolge, an extract from which has here been
presented.
December 18, 192i.
F. RADLE, INC., SATISFIES
DEALERS' CHRISTMAS WANTS
Pride in Ability to Make 'Em Good and Ship 'Em
Quick Animates New York Manufacturers.
Dealers handling the F. Radle pianos and players
are finding the instruments
full of power to at-
tract the discriminating 1 Christmas buyer. The F.
Radle Player de Luxe has been especially strong
in the appeal to the holiday customer of musical
tastes and the ability to judge artistic merits in
a player.
The. pleasant results of the dealers' activities
everywhere are seen in the activity in the shipping
room of F. Radle, Inc., 606 to 611 W. 36th street,
New York. It is a matter of particular pride in
E. J. RADLE.
every department in the factory that urgent orders
from dealers at a time like this are gotten out and
shipped with the utmost promptness.
There are many features that appeal to dealers
in the pianos and players of F. Radle, Inc. And
these, too, are only the reflection of the insistent
/requirements of discriminating ultimate consum-
ers. F. Radle dealers are dealers whose purpose it
is to build a trade that will endure and they know
that the first essential is all 'round merit in the in-
struments. Radle dealers want quality, tone, style,
and durability, and their wants are answered in
every instrument that leaves the F. Radle, Inc.,
factory.
BOOK OF NEW YORK MUSIC WEEK.,
The story of New York's first Music.Week in
book form is at last out. The delay was caused
by a combination of circumstances. Complimen-
tary copies are to be sent to all governors, mayors
of the leading cities, members of Music Commis-
sions, presidents of Chambers of Commerce, im-*
portant music leaders, etc., and also to all members
of the music trade who may request same within
the next two months or until February 15, 1921. As
the book has necessitated large expense it is to be
put on public sale at $2.00 per copy and no copies
will be sent to the trade after that date, as that
would interfere with the public sale. Not more
than one free copy will be sent to any one dealer
or firm at any time. Additional copies, however,
will be sold to the trade at $1.00 per copy.
GOLDSMITH CO. ON FULL TIME.
The Goldsmith Piano Company, 1223 Miller
street, Chicago, is one of the few piano factories
in Chicago that are running at full time at present.
Mr. Goldsmith is optimistic about the outlook for
good business in 1921, and he is preparing for it
by manufacturing pianos and playerpianos as fast
as possible. His trade comes from various sec-
tions of the country, the best dealers handling his-
lines, all well-made instruments. Goldsmith dealers
are satisfied dealers, whose customers are satisfied
customers. In that way every deal is a pleasant
transaction.
,
Q R S ARTISTS HELPED.
Max Kortlander, Pete Wendling, Victor Arden'
and Phil Ohman were Q R S Music Co.'s artists who
added to the joys of the formal opening of the new
player roll department of the Meiklejohn Co., Provi-
dence, R. I., recently. These clever music roll re-
corders played their own compositions and other Q
R S hits for delighted visitors to the handsome store,
at 297 Weybossett street. The new roll department-
of the Meiklejohn Co. is oneof the most complete
places for the stocking and selling rolls in the United
States.
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