Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1923 1910

Page 4 Text:

Pkksto
March 3, 1923
into and consistently adhered to. With the exception of the "na-
tionally priced" industry, we do not know of any that has been bene-
fited by the plan, though that one alone shows that it can be done to
advantage.
The American Music Trade Weekly
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AT 407 SOUTH DEAR-
BORN STREET, OLD COLONY BUILDING, CHICAGO, ILL.
C. A. D A N I E L L and F R A N K 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. at the Post Office, Chicago. Illinois.
under Act of March 3, 1879.
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charge in United States possessions, Cuba and Mexico.
Address all communications for the editorial or business departments to PRESTO
P U B L I S H I N G 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 card." 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 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 afl 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 (heir value and contains a directory of their manufacturers.
Items of news and other matter of general Interest to the music trades are In-
rited and when accepted will be paid for. All communications should be addressed to
Presto Publishing Co., 407 So. Dearborn Street. Chicago, III.
SATURDAY. MARCH 3, 1923
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.
TRADE RESTRICTIONS
If only as showing how the piano has gradually developed into the
broad sphere of commercial activities, so as seemingly to call for
legislative protection, the appeal of the Music Industries Chamber of
Commerce to the Interstate Committee of Congress is interesting.
The idea is that the energetic but hurtful order of competition, which
has invaded all lines of trade has taken, hold also of the piano busi-
ness. It is thought that there is danger of the fine old piano names
being hurt by the distortion of prices, and the slashing of values, with
the eagerness to overcome opposition.
The movement also renews the old call for protection of the
manufacturer, by contract with the merchants, in the matter of prices
at whi'ch the pianos may be sold. That was the idea upon which the
late Mr. Calvin Whitney expended a great deal of thought and effort.
He believed that dealers in A. B. Chase pianos should bind them-
selves not to under-cut a fixed retail price, and he refused to make
agencies unless that stipulation was agreed to. Many years before
Mr. Whitney's ruling, another great piano industry had introduced a
similar consideration, but it did not work out well.
Another feature of the letter to Congress has to do with the
stamping of prices upon the instruments. That, of course, is being
done, and at least one large playerpiano industry has made a feature
of it for years past, building up a "national price" system upon it,
and successfully. It is, of course, a good thing, if seriously entered
The idea of a monopoly in the piano business presents a very
remote contingency. The gentlemen who have struggled to form
great piano combinations know how it is, and why. The part of the
plan which provides that goods shall be offered back to their source
before trying to sell at reduced prices, opens up another well-worn
dilemma. It is a phase of the piano business which, without doubt,
would work well in very exceptional cases. There is, at this time,
a case of a distinguished piano which has been advertised to be sold
at "less than manufacturer's cost" by a mid-west retail house. But
the manufacturer found, upon making application, that he, in any
event, could not buy back his pianos at the price the dealer paid for
them.
As applied to "used," or second-hand pianos, of distinction, there
is nothing in the proposition. Of all things there are few "used"
articles that are so obviously "used" as pianos. It is the new piano
of distinction, obtained by devious methods that, not infrequently,
annoys the manufacturers and their authorized representatives. If
it could be made a crime for a merchant to sell a piano he had secured
from any source save the manufacturer or the authorized agent of
the manufacturer, to sell again, there might be something in it for
all concerned, including the public.
In earlier days, the menace was the "stencil" piano. The hoofs
and horns having been removed, seemingly at least, there are not
many things left for the law makers to do in trimming the sails of
the piano trade. The business is one that demands great energy and
no little persistency. There are obstacles in the way of both manu-
facturer and dealer, and it might easily be possible to introduce laws
designed to make easier the road to fortune, which might actually
cast stumbling blocks in the uphill roadway.
KEEPING MUSIC ROLLS
It takes time to round out the equipment, and to develop the
conveniences, in any branch of art or industry. It has required time
to finish and polish off the accessories of the player music-rolls. Even
today it is not uncommon to see the music-roll departments, in the
smaller piano stores, in ill-kept and sprawling disorder. It is still
more common to find the same condition existing in the homes of
music loving people who possess playerpianos and therefore must
have music rolls.
„-»
If there is anything that a music trade paper can do that will
help the entire field, without hurting any individual in any branch of
it, that thing is to point the way to the helps that conduce to order
and beauty in preserving the things of music. The music roll is as
essential to the player as food to the banquet, or clothing to the
naked. It doesn't mean anything to see a playerpiano in a parlor un-
less there is an assortment of music-rolls with which to make the in-
strument vocal, and to interpret the genius of the composers.
And if the music-rolls are good for that, and cost the money that
so many playerpiano owners seem so much to grudge that they don't
buy enough of them to avoid monotony, it is essential that the inusic-
rolls be taken care of. And it is a part of the dealers' business, and
profit, to let their customers know when something good for the
preservation and orderly keeping of the rolls may be had—anything
that has the merit of both newness and beauty.
There are a number of devices for taking care of music-rolls.
Some of the attachments to the instrument itself are ingenious and
practical. And some of the complete cabinets are both beautiful and
conveniently secure, in the safe-keeping of the rolls and the conveni-
ence of their arrangement. One of the latest of these cabinets comes
in a line of several styles from the Q R S Music Co., of Chicago.
They are distinctive—different from others. They are produced in
upright and console styles. They are sectional, permitting of the kind
of expansion that has made a line of book cases famous. And they
possess the merit of substantial construction in keeping with their
appearance, adding to any drawing or music room.
We are not directing attention to the Q R S Music Player Roll
Cabinets by way of advertising. The idea is to let the dealers know
about them, that they may inform themselves of one more acquisi-
tion to their business, in which there should be profit and a ready
sale. And this because these cabinets are artistic and must help sus-
tain any dealer who likes to sell things of art. This is the clay of fine
furniture, and these Q R S conveniences, produced by makers of
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).
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Page 5 Text:

PHEStO
March 3, 1923
music-rolls who know just what is needed, seem to possess oppor-
tunities to piano stores where things are kept moving along up-to-
date lines.
WORKERS WHO DREAM
factories. And to them, and their realized ideals, we owe the splendid
instruments that are kept before the practical men who sell by the
printed prose-powers of the expert advertising men.
And the advertising men, too, are in a sense, idealists. They
interpret the dreams which have been realized by the expert piano
makers and inventors. The competent advertising man must be in a
sense, an idealist. He must possess the dreamer's vision, by which
to see the effect of his words and to give to his instrument the intro-
duction by which less eloquent readers are made to want the things
advertised. Say to an expert advertising man that he is not all prac-
ticability, that somewhere he has the dreamer's vision, and the ideal-
ism of the poet, and he will want to throw you out of his office. But
look at his desk and at the walls of his rooms. You will see there,
very often, artistic sketches, drawings, verses, or other insignia of his
work. The chips will again tell of the kind of his work. And no one
can successfully deal in nouns, verbs and adjectives, and be wholly
lacking in dreams. No one can successfully challenge other minds
and still be lacking in the intangible visions of the idealist.
Nor is it fair to say that even the salesmen who sell pianos by
carload lots or one at a time, are altogether bound to the practical-
ities. That wouldn't be right. We all know that they will protest
that they are "in it" for results. That is true. But no successful man
whose life is wrapped up in the things of music can escape being in-
some degree an idealist.
It isn't an idle charge that music and sentiment are indissolubly
bound together. We don't always like to admit it, but why that should
be no one knows. Sentiment doesn't imply anything discreditable.
Quite the contrary. But we're "business men." And we don't like
to be considered as other than adamantine, like the people of Dickens
"who might as well have been born caterpillars."
The piano salesmen are largely idealists! If you don't think so
listen to one of them selling a piano. Hear the description of the in-
strument's construction and of the tone-quality, as compared with
any other piano! All the poetry in the world is often spun into the
web of the eloquence of the piano salesman. He couldn't be altogether
"practical" and "clean up" $10,000 or $15,000 a year selling pianos!
And so the purpose of this editorial is to extend congratulations
to the dreamers and idealists of the music industry and trade. It is
to wish them bigger success during this year than ever before! It
is to greet to the inventors and workers in factory and office; to ad-
vertising men by word or picture; to the traveling men who breeze
into the little piano stores and the big ones; and to the retailers who
welcome the "drop in" or bow themselves into the people's homes,
with the mission of more happiness for the dwellers therein.
In this world of materialism, where the practical side of things
has first call, it is a pleasure to pay tribute to the other side of
it. For there are workers who, while having in view the prac-
tical end, like to call to their aid the idealistic influences and often
indulge in dreams.
The ideals of the piano belong principally to the men in the
factories who create—the draughtsmen who strive to make the tone
still better; the designers who produce even finer cases and others
who bring about better working conditions and quicker results.
Those workers must not, of course, be the kind that Pope tells of,
who "eat in dreams the custard of the day." They are the kind that
realize the "Visions of a busy brain," whose dreams come true, be-
cause of the practical call of duty and progress.
And that is the kind of dreamers we find in the American piano.
The piano industry—all music industries—and the music loving
public, no less, must be interested in the reports of official nature con-
cerning the growing scarcity of hardwoods. An instructive editorial
from the well-informed Chicago Evening Post appears on another
page this week.
* * *
It is a rare event for a piano man of any country to be the object
of special royal favor. That is the distinction bestowed upon Mr.
J. P. Seeburg of the progressive Chicago industry which bears that
gentleman's name. An account of the honor, which reflects credit-
ably upon the whole music business, appears on another page this
week.
WIDE OPEN
There are a few American piano factories that are just running. It
is possible that even their owners are not certain which way they are
running. They ship a few instruments and they study hard to create
the impossible. The impossible, in their cases, is that elusive thing,
"the best piano in the world."
Are these particular manufacturers doing anything worth while ?
They are never, according to their own assurance, so situated finan-
cially that they can afford the essential force of advertising. They
seem to be on the verge of getting ahead, but their very aspirations
hold them back. Such piano manufacturers are struggling, at a great
sacrifice, to fill a place for which they are not equipped. •
One of the mistakes in any industry is to persist along lines that
seem to inflexibly oppose effort. There must be something wrong in
the application of industrial struggles which, after long trial, get no-
where. The same thing applies to the commercial world and to the
piano business generally.
There are many pianos securely fixed in the list of leaders. They
have grown powerful by reason of great merit promoted by adequate
financial facilities. But their power does not lessen the demand for
other pianos of smaller creative force. Often the progress of the in-
dustries grows and largely feeds upon the better instruments.
When Mr. Henry Ford began to make his "flivvers" he made no
pretense of cars better than all others. He merely gave the public
something to ride in that cost little, worked well and gave no trouble.
Why is it that pianos are not put forth along that line ? How does it
happen that piano manufacturers seem to think that there is some-
thing disreputable in openly avowing that they aim to produce instru-
ments at as low prices as possible and yet have them do good work?
We do not recall a piano industry of the kind suggested since that
of J. P. Hale. That "Yankee crockery merchant," as Alfred Dolge
characterized him, openly announced that he was making the lowest-
priced pianos possible. But he was never known to call his product
"cheap." Mr. Ford never refers to his "tin can" as being "cheap,"
either. If we must have low-priced pianos, as we must, why any
assumption of anything else? Why the stereotyped promise of a su-
preme creation at "unheard-of" prices? Why not a change of tactics
in this line of trade promotion?
DECREASE OF "GYP" SALES
NOTICEABLE IN ST. LOUIS
Ordinance Passed by City Council Has Put Curb on
House Sales.
An ordinance passed by the St. Louis City Council
last December and which became effective January
4 is an effective curb on the "gyp" dealers. The
effects of the bar to unethical piano selling is already
pleasantly apparent in the Missouri City.
By the terms of the ordinance it is unlawful for any
person, firm, partnership, co-operation, association,
trust, or any employes engaged in the business of sell-
ing of its merchandise, securities, service or real
estate to advertise the sale of the same unless it shall
be stated in the advertisement of such sale, clearly
and unequivocally, that advertiser of the sale is a
dealer in the same, provided, however, that the adver-
tisement of the sale is in such form as to make it
plainly apparent that the person advertising is actu-
ally engaged in the business of selling the goods as a
business, shall be deemed a sufficient compliance with
the terms of this ordinance.
Any person violating the provision of this ordinance
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon
conviction shall be punished by a fine of not less than
twenty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars for
each offense.
The purpose of the ordinance is to protect legiti-
mate business against the unfair competition of those
who do business out of residences and advertise under
the guise of individuals. Prior to the enactment of
this ordinance there was no practical way of reaching
such.
MR. CAMERON MAKES CALL.
A. S. Cameron, from Marquette, Mich., a city in
the northern part of the state, was a visitor in Chi-
cago this week, calling especially on the Chase-
Hackley branch, as he is Chase-Hackley representa-
tive in Marquette. Part of his visit with H. H. Brad-
ley, manager of the Chicago branch of this com-
pany, was spent in a trip to the Chase-Hackley Piano
Co. factory at Muskegon, Mich.
ANDERSON BUYS DAYTON
BRANCH OF AEOLIAN CO.
Prominent Music House Purchases Long Established
Branch and Adds It to Regular Line.
Another branch of the Aeolian Co., of New York,
was given up on March 1 when the Dayton office and
store was taken over by the Anderson Piano Co.,
which purchased the branch a short time ago. The
business of the Aeolian branch will be handled by
this company in addition to its regular trade already
established. The stock and offices will be consoli-
dated in one building, according to present plans.
Rodney Anderson, president of the company which
took over the Dayton Aeolian branch, was manager
of that branch for a long time, before going into busi-
ness for himself so that the Aeolian will be well repre-
sented in Dayton, even though the active branch is
given up. Mr. Anderson was in Chicago this week,
placing orders for other pianos which his store
handles.
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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