25
PRESTO
March 10, 1923
COINOLAS
FOR
RESTAURANTS, CAFES and
A M U S E M E N T CENTERS
Style SO
FROM THE BIGGEST
ORCHESTRION
vice carefully rendered by the piano dealer insures
satisfaction and brings more buyers and strengthens
GLAD TO BE BACK IN
the dealer's position with the public. As an invalu-
able
to service in the piano trade the tuner and
TEXAS, SAYS W. L. BUSH player aid repairer
are indispensible.
Dallas Newspapermen Pounce on Him for
Copy and He Doesn't Fail to
Deliver.
MANY INQUIRIES ABOUT
WORK OF ASSOCIATIONS
W. L. Bush, president of the Bush & Gerts Piano
Co. of Texas, with headquarters in Dallas, is not a
man who would seal up in his memory the experi-
ences of an eventful trip East and North. The Dal-
las editors knew that, too, and the rush to see him
first was an excitement of his return to Dallas.
In the music industry especially everywhere the
manufacturers are complaining of the difficulty in
securing labor in many departments while the order
books are crowded with unfilled orders and unkept
promises, said the Dallas Morning News recounting
Mr. Bush's experiences. And on one recent innova-
tion in the form of a miniature grand piano the Bush
& Gerts factory reported over 200 orders unfilled,
which is a larger accumulation than at any time dur-
ing the years 1921 or 1922 of unfilled orders.
Great difficulty was experienced in securing any
promise of any carload shipments, and only by the
most vigorous effort was it possible to make selec-
tion and secure an aggregate shipment from even the
largest factories with which the Bush & Gerts Piano
Company of Texas is doing business.
Carload shipments were made, however, by the
house of Steinway & Sons, New York; Hardman,
Peck & Co., New York; Jesse French & Sons, New
Castle, Ind., several carloads by the Hallet & Davis
Piano company, Boston, taking care of some back
and unfilled orders and promises of early shipment of
carload lots of Hardman, Peck & Co., and the Milton
Piano company. Two carloads of miniature grands
from the DeKalb, 111., factory or the Apollo Company
were also routed to Dallas and Houston, and all of
these heavy orders were justified by the splendid
business that held over from 1922 and made January,
1923, a record-breaking month, in spite of the fact
that 1922 exceeded any previous year in the history of
the company by 100 per cent.
One thing especially gratifying was the fact that in
spite of the special effort to locate some novelty in
the form of windows for display or typical window
displays, or more modern, beautiful and attractive
decorations or more practical equipment and arrange-
ments Mr. Bush returned to Dallas convinced that
there is no establishment in the country today that so
truly represents the last word in point of beauty,
decoration, equipment and convenience than is found
in the Bush Temple at Dallas, as well as in the re-
cently remodeled and reconstructed stores in Hous-
ton.
"When the train pulled into the union depot at
Dallas in the clear, crisp atmosphere of a sunshiny
morning and the beautiful sky-line was revealed be-
neath the glory of an early morning sunrise," said
Mr. Bush in a climax of thankfulness, "there never
was a more welcome sight beheld by the eyes of man
than was represented in that glorious picture of a
Dallas morning and the glorious progressive city
spread out in full view in every direction and I admit
I devoutly uttered the words, 'Thank God we are
back.'
"The music trade has, of course, experienced some
reaction from the tremendous activities of the holiday
season, but by no means to the usual extent. We
are pleased to record the fact that notwithstanding
the tremendous push that we were putting into this
business during the dull months of 1922 early in the
year, 1923 has taken a decided lead in the volume
of business transacted during the first two months,
and it looks as though it is going to be a better
year for those who are properly organized and
equipped to take care of it."
In Helping the Retailer Trade Bodies May Render
Aid in Keeping Debtors Out of Bankruptcy.
Numerous inquiries have been received lately by
the Associated Industries of America from retailers
seeking information as to how -that body can be of
assistance to them in strengthening their financial
condition, which, they say, has become impaired in
one way or another. These inquiries were prompted
by a recent announcement that the organization in-
tended to extend help to deserving retailers who
found themselves in a weakened condition and who
needed assistance in re-establishing themselves in
good credit standing.
This is to be one of the regular functions of the
association, and it will do a great deal toward keep-
ing the retailers who deserve aid out of the hands
of legal "bankruptcy sharks." It is the opinion that
the gradual reduction in the number of petitions in
bankruptcy that have been filed against retailers is
clue in some degree to the work of this and other as-
sociations that are endeavoring *to protect their
weak retail accounts by keeping them out of the
courts and working with them on a constructive
basis.
The piano business needs just such support as is
referred to as part of the retailers' association in an-
other line. And there is talk of some plan by which
financially ailing concerns may have the organized
assistance which is needed. The subject will have
attention at the coming convention in Chicago.
REDUCED FREIGHT RATES
BOOST AMERICAN PROGRESS
Congressman McCormick Says Wilson Boosted
Freight Rates and Nearly Busted the Shippers.
In an address printed in the Congressional Record
Medill McCormick told how freight rates affect
American industries. Here is an extract:
"The increase in freight charges under the Demo-
cratic administration effected by the Interstate Com-
merce Commission by taxes or by decree of Doctor
Wilson, amounted to about $3,000,000,000 a year. We
have made a good beginning to lift this burden from
the people. It is estimated that already it has been
lightened by over half a billion dollars yearly.
"America will appreciate what has been done, and
what it is sought to do, to relieve the shipper and the
consumer of the tremendous burden placed upon
both by the Wilson administration through the in-
crease in the railroad rates and the imposition of
transportation taxes."
LITTLE GRAND IS POPULAR.
The Nita Grand, built by the H. C. Bay Piano Co.,
at a separate unit of the Bay factory at Bluffton, Ind.
is rapidly coming to the front as a big seller of the
H. C. Bay line. The Solo Concerto continues to be
one of the most popular of the instruments manufac-
tured by the Bluffton plant, but the Nita Grand,
which has been on the market only a few months, is
becoming more and more in demand.
EXPOSITION BRINGS RESULTS.
SERVICE IS KEYNOTE
IN PUSHING SALES
Tiny Coinola
THE SMALLEST
KEYLESS
Manufactured by
The Operators Piano Co.
16 to 22 South Peoria St.
CHICAGO
In the Piano Business as in Few Other Lines Service
Is Essential.
Recognition of the fact that service is an element
as important as merchandise in bringing about
greater sales is steadily increasing among American
business men. Instances are numerous of concerns
in every field of industry and in every branch of
trade, from the manufacturer down to the retailer,
that are building success by featuring not so much
the goods they have to sell as the service they have
to render. From the slogan of a certain railroad,
"Comfort and courtesy are your fellow travelers on
the
/' to the window of a small dealer, which
bears, under the firm name, the inscription: "Service,
courtesy, and supplies," modern business is full of
examples of the growing emphasis on service in ap-
peals for patronage.
Selling pianos, of all lines of trade, demands that
service be rendered. After sales have been made,
even more than before, service is demanded if the
piano dealer is to build a permanent business. Ser-
The music houses which had displays in the recent
Kood and Home Exposition in Dallas, Tex., have
declared that the resultant sales of music goods have
compensated them for the expenditures in arranging
the displays. The Bush & Gerts Piano Co. of Texas,
the D. L. Whittle Music Co., the Will A. Watkin
Music Co. and the Baldwin Piano Co., were the ex-
hibitors representing the music trade.
SPECTOR & SONS' NEW FACTORY.
Spector & Son Piano Co., Inc., announce the re-
moval of their factory to 417-421 West 28th street,
New York City, where they have taken more exten-
sive space made necessary by the increased volume
of their business. In this new factory location they
will be better equipped to meet the requirements of
the trade.
WICHITA DEALER DIES.
Claude W. Cosgrove, of the Innes-Cosgrove Music
Co., Wichita, Kans., died recently at the age of 44.
At his arrival in Wichita, seven years ago he took
charge of the talking machine department in the
store of the Innes Dry Goods Co. Three years later
in partnership with Walter P. Innes he opened a sep-
arate store for the sale of music goods.
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