PRESTO
The American Music Trade
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AT 407 SOUTH DEAR-
BORN STREET, OLD COLONY BUILDING, CHICAGO, ILL.
Editors
C. A. DANIELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 234. Private Phones to all
tments. Cable Address (Commercial Cable Co.'s Code), "PRESTO," Chicago.
partments
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the Post Office, Chicago, Illinois.
under Act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription, $2 a year; $ months, $1; Foreign, $4. Payable In advance. No extra
charge in United States possessions. 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.
Photographs of general trade interest are always welcome, and when used. If of
special concern, a charge will be made to cover cost of the engravings.
Rates for advertising in Presto Tear Book Issue and Export Supplements of
Presto will be made Known
upon application.
,
,-,.
Presto Year Book and Export issues
h most extensive
i circulation
i l t i
f any periodicals devoted to the musical in-
have the
of
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 Piano* and
Player-Pfanos, It analyzes all instruments, classifies them, gives accurate estimates
•f their value and contains a directory of their manufacturers.
Items of news and other matter of general interest to the music trades are in-
rfted and when accepted will be paid for. All communications should be addressed to
Presto Publishing Co.. 407 So. Dearborn Street. Chicago, III.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1922.
PRESTO CORRESPONDENCE
IT IS NOT CUSTOMARY WITH THIS PAPER TO PUBLISH REGU-
LAR CORRESPONDENCE FROM ANY POINTS. WE, HOWEVER,
HAVE RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVES IN NEW YORK, BOSTON,
SAN FRANCISCO, PORTLAND, CINCINNATI, INDIANAPOLIS, MIL-
WAUKEE AND OTHER LEADING MUSIC TRADE CENTERS, WHO
KEEP THIS PAPER INFORMED OF TRADE EVENTS AS THEY HAP-
PEN. AND PRESTO IS ALWAYS GLAD TO RECEIVE REAL NEWS
OF THE TRADE FROM WHATEVER SOURCES ANYWHERE AND
MATTER FROM SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS, IF USED, WILL BE
PAID FOR AT SPACE RATES. USUALLY PIANO MERCHANTS OR
SALESMEN IN THE SMALLER CITIES, ARE THE BEST OCCA-
SIONAL CORRESPONDENTS, AND THEIR ASSISTANCE IS INVITED.
ADVERTISING INFORMATION
Forms close promptly at noon every Thursday. News matter for
publication should be in not later than eleven o'clock on the same
day. Advertising copy should be in hand before Tuesday, five p. m.,
to insure preferred position. Full page display copy should be in
hand by Monday noon preceding publication day. Want advs. for cur-
rent week, to insure classification, must be at office of publication not
later than Wednesday noon.
SUCCESSFUL STYLES
The successful style of any piano, produced by any manufac-
turer, is, of course, the style that the dealers have found successful.
Therefore the interest in that particular style has a very special and
mutual interest to its manufacturer and the dealers who have profited
by its sale.
For a good many years, Presto has presented a fine assortment
of successful piano styles, in the Annual Year Book Issue of this
paper. It has been the most popular trade paper feature associated
with the piano.
Invitations have again been sent to the piano manufacturers to
avail themselves of the opportunity to let the trade compare the ex-
ternal beauty of their products with the offerings of other piano
makers. Presto bears the expense, and neglect to accept the invita-
tion can certainly not reflect to the credit of individual enterprise.
The idea is that the eye, as well as the ear, influences the trade
in choosing the best lines to sell. The musical characteristics can be,
in a way, also measured by words. But the publication of costly cata-
logues proves that the manufacturers know the value of the eye-
appeal by way of initial introduction.
This trade paper can see little sense in a bulky "Holiday Number,"
or "Christmas Number," of an industrial publication. It seems an-
omalous—out of plumb with the purposes and program. It is handing
sugar plums to the athlete. Such fancy luxuries are well enough in
December 23, 1922.
journals of light literature, designed for home reading by the ladies
and children. A sturdy trade paper has more serious work to do.
Presto Year Book was the first of the tribe of "fat" trade papers.
It at one tinje exceeded 200 pages. But it was not a "Christmas
Number." It has appeared, in years past, at the opening of the year,
filled with reviews of the twelve months gone, and giving the life of
the New Year by forecasts of what may come to the interests it rep-
resents. And it has made a feature of the styles of the old year, in
which there had been fixed the certainty of continued demand in the
future.
There have been no "fat" Presto Year Books since the great
war, and its attendant conditions, demanded the kind of industrial
retrenchment with which all branches of the music trade are familiar.
There may come more "fat" Year Book Issues, but not until the men
who make the material things of music are ready for them. Until
then Presto is ready and glad to do its share in furthering the inter-
ests of the industry and trade, for which it exists, in the spirit of the
only season of the year that is supposed to prefer rather to give than
to receive.
Therefore, and once again, use the Year Book Issue. Take the
invitation as it is intended, and let the dealers see your instruments in
comparison and contrast with those of others—your competitors, if
you will.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
UNIFORM LEASES
Usually the best advisers in any line of business are the men
who are in a sense behind the retailers—the manufacturers. In a
recent article by Mr. E. H. Story, president of the Story & Clark
Piano Co., that gentleman discussed the form of leases customarily
taken by dealers in settlement for instruments. And Mr. Story made
a suggestion which, we believe, it would be well for the committees
who are working upon plans for the next national convention to
consider.
Leading up to the suggestion which prompts this writing, Mr.
Story sketched the conditions which must cause the piano merchants
to regard their sales-leases as about the most important results of
their business. He said that seventy-five per cent of the piano sales
are made on time. "The sales are evidenced by the signature of the
purchaser on the installment lease." xA.nd Mr. Story added that the
lease is the foundation of the piano stores which have developed all
over the land, often into palatial homes of business. "And still," he
says, "little or no attention is paid to the details of this little piece of
paper"—the piano lease.
And Mr. Story gives emphasis to the constant changing of the old
state laws, and the introduction of new ones, as a consequence of
which the lease which may be binding this year may not hold good
next year. In consequence, the experienced piano man, whose obser-
vations embrace the retail side of the business, as well as the indus-
trial part of it, urges the dealers to look over their leases, and not to
be content with filling them out, year after year, with total indiffer-
ence to their legal aspect as securities for instruments delivered—
often to total strangers. And Mr. Story names the following items
as of importance, not only to the dealers, but also to the manufactur-
ers who so often must eventually carry the leases for the dealers:
Be sure the purchaser is not a minor.
Some houses require signatures of both husband and wife—a very wise pre-
caution.
Some states require an acknowledgment before a Notary Public or Justice of
the Peace. It is not well to omit this in such a locality. Other states require filing
a copy, and still others ask that a copy be recorded. Absolute safety demands at-
tention to this detail.
Mr. Story concludes with the suggestion that the national and
state associations of piano men give consideration to the matter of
leases and that they unite and "inaugurate a campaign with every
State Legislature to have them legalize a simple, universal and just
form of installment contract."
It seems to us that no more important matter could have the at-
tention, also, of the convention which is to meet in Chicago next June.
The need of a uniform note, contract or installment, has been felt for
many years. It should be brought about as quickly as possible. It
would simplify matters for the dealers and insure better security for
the manufacturers.
It's folly for a dealer to haggle with a manufacturer over a little
increase in the wholesale price. When the average piano manufac-
turer is rated as a millionaire, it may be time for the dealer to suspect
that he is paying too much. But the piano making millionaires are
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