Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1923 1914

Page 4 Text:

PRESTO
The American Music Trade Weekly
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AT 407 SOUTH DEAR-
BORN STREET, OLD COLONY 8U1LDING, 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, a i 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 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 1 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 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 Pianos and
Player-Pianos, 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-
cited and when accepted will be paid for. All communications should be addressed to
Presto Publishing Co., 407 So. Dearborn Street. Chicago, III.
SATURDAY. MARCH 31, 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 P.IANO 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.
TOO MUCH "HAZEL"
There may be another of the personal name conflicts with which
the legal aspects of the piano industry has been dotted almost from
the beginning. One of the piano names around which cling many
fine traditions is that of Hazelton. It is borne by an instrument
which was founded more than sixty years ago by real experts in the
art of piano production. And through success and vicissitude the
Hazeltons, of successive generations, fought for a high place. The
history of the industry founded by Henry Hazelton contains chapters
of fortune and of disaster. It discloses destruction by fire and re-
building better than before. And in its plucky career the Hazelton
family of piano makers has presented some of the finest characters
and most delightful gentlemen that ever blessed the trade and
industry.
Naturally, a piano so created and developed must, at the end
of more than a half-century, have large property value in the mere
name. The rest of it depends upon the modern ambition of the suc-
cessors of the original creators. But, in any event, no one in the
piano business will deny the influence of such a fine old name is
Hazelton. And this is why there may be another episode in court if
a western manufacturer can not see the mistake he is making in ap-
propriating a name, for commercial uses, which seems plainly to aim
at the appropriation of the influence created by others.
A Milwaukee piano industry, founded by a former large mail
order merchant, has adopted the name of "Hazelwood." Before ap-
March 31, 1923
plying it, the management of the Milwaukee concern made inquiry as
to whether the name should be used and was told why not. The in-
strument bearing the stencil is designed for low-priced trade. The
Hazelton is produced to hold its place as a leader of high class. The
conclusion is obvious.
The incident recalls the time when a prominent capitalist of
Warren, Pa., had been enlisted in the .piano business. He had con-
cluded to invest in a new piano factory and, after the new organiza-
tion had been formed, the best name to be adopted for the instrument
was discussed. It was suggested that the name of the capitalist
whose money was to be employed was a good one. It was Hazeltine.
But, at a later meeting of the new company, some one drew attention
to the fact that there was already a Hazelton piano, upon which
the man of Warren, Pa., promptly declared that, proud as he would
be to have his name on the product of his industry, he would not con-
sider any injustice to the older interests. And there was no Hazel-
tine piano. Is "Hazelwood" and further away from the line of inter-
ference by similitude ?
There are names enough to go 'round. It would be strange were
it possible for the owners of a fine old piano name, whose possessors
had worked for fifty years to make it known, and to enhance its
trade-mark value, to acquiesce quietly to so obvious a design to build
up a commercial piano by pulling down the fame of a better one. It
should have been stopped before it was begun.
CASH YOUR PAPER
The head-line isn't ours. It is taken from a rather unusual circu-
lar which has been sent throughout the trade by The Baldwin Piano
Company, And when a house of that kind pauses to advise the trade,
in a general way, it may be accepted as a fact that the admonition
has root and is worthy of attention.
It is absolutely true that, taken as a whole, the piano trade is not
business-like. The proportion of retail dealers who understand the
requirements of success in any large degree is not great. The num-
ber of piano dealers who neglect some of the best opportunities of
their business is too large. They do not realize the immeasurable
value of credit, of the kind of support that comes from having the
confidence of sources of money supply at home, as well as in the
offices of the industries from which come the store supplies. They
fail to start right, and in a way to build for themselves a sure founda-
tion upon which to stand through storm-times as well as in fair
weather.
Local credit at the bank is one of the sources of success for any
piano dealer. To know that the banker on the next corner wants
his business, as much as the dealer wants prompt cash advances or
current discounts, is something the piano man should realize. And,
realizing it, he should equally know that, to create that reciprocal
readiness on the banker's part, by which mutual profits with security
are insured, the dealer's credit must be unchallengeable. His word
must be unbreakable and his promises inviolable. It is here that many
piano dealers fail. They do not hold as sacred the promises they
make to the manufacturer. In turn the local banker loses faith, be-
cause it is a part of his business to know that the trust of the manu-
facturer has been violated.
There are piano dealers who do not even know that they can
not permit a note given to the manufacturer to pass unpaid, or un-
protected, without the local banker having full knowledge of the
condition. There are men in business who seem to think that if they
keep faith with the home bank, there can be no question of their
credit. It is the first rudimentary lesson in banking, but it has not
always been learned.
The piano dealer who keeps his credit good at his home bank
can always exchange his customer's "paper" for cash. And he can
then save the discount allowed by his source of supplies, and preserve
his standing as a desirable customer, worthy of every possible con-
sideration, and entitled to prompt shipments and other attention
which must be denied, or grudgingly accorded, to slow-pay buyers or
chronic extension-seekers.
The great house of Baldwin, in their circular to which reference
has been made, advises the dealers that "your banker, like all other
business men, welcomes a customer." And that is absolutely true.
But it applies only to the careful business men who keep their credit
clean and do not permit their promises to be dishonored.
Among piano dealers it too often seems that procrastination is
the source of undoing. Putting off the protection which sometimes
is forced upon the "paper" of even the best of business men, often
hazards the credit of over-timid, or careless, creditors. Often piano
men, on finding that they can not take care of an obligation, permit
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/

Page 5 Text:

PRESTO
March 31, 1923
the hour of payment to pass, and then find that they might, have been
saved their credit by stating the facts to the banker, or still earlier
making arrangements with the manufacturer for a renewal. A frank
explanation made in season would have saved the manufacturer the
discounting privilege of the same customer's paper who, by his lack
of business energy, has also spoiled his own credit at home.
The Baldwin advice is good. The local dealer should build up
his credit so that the banker will be glad to take his paper, without
question. The maker of the paper, for purposes of buying a piano,
may be good; so much the better. Or it may be the promise-to-pay
of a citizen whose credit is not fixed at the bank ; in which case the
dealer's indorsement is sufficient. Again, so much the better. In
either case the banker knows that his profit is earned safely, and
that there is no question about the paper being paid at maturity.
That is the kind of "paper" to which the Baldwin Piano Co. re-
fers. And without that kind of paper to buy, the local banker could
not prosper very well. It is true that he is also, in a sense, a mer-
chant. He has money to sell. His customers are the other merchants,
his neighbors and friends, and he must be made to value the piano
merchant more highly, as a customer, than most others. For the
piano merchant must sell his goods on time, taking "paper" instead
banker who has money to sell.
If you are not already "strong" with your banker, get acquainted
with him, learn something about banking and the rules of credit. You
will then be able to sell more pianos, keep your manufacturers satis-
fied, contribute to the profit of your banker, and make more money
for yourself.
AUTOS AND PIANOS
Piano men who, a few years ago, were turning envious eyes
toward the automobile business are now keeping more contented gaze
upon their own affairs. They have discovered that the motor bus
business is not all that fiction has painted it, or even what it was in
the earlier days of its speedy career.
Competition is at once the life and death of business. It may
stimulate a larger volume of sales but it usually serves also to strangle
profits. And what's the use of working hard to convince people they
want a thing only to find that some competitor is carrying off the
results? Or, just as bad, what's the good of doing a large business
if the net result of it is a deficit in the profit and loss account?
Today the automobile business presents about the hottest field
of competition. It requires more capital to start in the car-selling
game in a small way than it does to open a well equipped piano house.
And the proposition of profit is smaller than in the piano business,
while the competition has become so intense that the salesman who
succeeds must be a genius as well as a marvel of persistency. A good
share of the active young men you meet in the city streets nursing
the "document" or "brief" case, are automobile salesmen. They may
be seen running around in the big office buildings early and late. The
phones tinkle steadily and the voice from the wire asks if you have
a car, or if you are really satisfied with it? That's real competition.
It is customary with the motor manufacturers to exact that the
agency for any good car carry with it an initial order which runs
SPECIAL ROLL HOLDER
IN F. RADLE PLAYERPIANOS
Patented Device Adds Strong Argument to Dealer's
Plea for Handsome and Durable Line.
The tone of course is the paramount feature of the
F. Radle piano and playerpiano. It is the delight of
the musician. But F. Radle dealers speak for the
actual owners when they say the durability of the
instruments is a great cause of delight. In selling
the Radle playerpiano the dealers are strengthened in
their arguments when they point to the Uneek Music
Roll Holder which is a valuable patented device of
the F. Radle, Inc.
The advantages of the Uneek Music Roll Holder
makes the F. Radle playerpiano doubly desirable.
They are so obvious that the salesman does not need
to voice its claims. The F. Radle Players de Luxe,
equipped with the Uneek Music Roll Holder, is one
of the biggest sellers in a fine line of instruments
from the factory at 609-611 West 36th street, New
York. The entire range of F. Radle playerpianos
have assumed their conspicuous place in the estima-
tion of dealers and customers by reason of their un-
challenged merits. They are made upon the most
approved principles and possess improvements of
well up into the dollars, with stipulation of a fixed volume of sales
during the year. When a similar provision was suggested in the
piano business, a howl arose that killed the proposition almost before
it had been started.
No, it's an easy business, this of selling pianos. No other line of
manufacturers is so considerate or more ready to help customers to
success. About all that is really necessary to enter the piano trade
and to win success, is an upright character. Honesty is here the
prime capital. A very small cash investment, and plenty of energy
and willingness to win, will do the rest. Active young men, pos-
sessed of initiative and persistency can meet with every requirement
anywhere. And in net results the piano dealer can outrun the motor
car seller in everything that is worth considering.
Within a week two automobile representatives have called at the
offices of this trade paper to discuss the qualifications of certain piano
salesmen who had been considering a change of pasture. And it was
an education in comparative possibilities to hear the motor car men
tell of the advantages and disadvantages of their business. The re-
sult was that there could be no wonderment in the fact that a number
of piano men who had gone into the car-selling trade returned again
to the good old "piano game," after a comparatively brief experience
in "automobile row."
If you're in the piano trade, stick. If you're not and, having ca-
pacity as a salesman and enough grit to do things, want to change, it
may pay you to consider seriously coming into it.
There is still a good demand for reed organs—in Calcutta. The
regular, old-fashioned "parlor top" organs, with lamp stands and the
rest, sell in the Indian market for about what they used to bring in
the U. S. back in the '80's. And the little folding organs sell for from
$40 to $65. The A. L. White Mfg. Co., of Chicago, ships a good many
of the little portable organs to distant countries.
* * *
The Straube is the latest ambitious piano to broaden into national
advertising. One-half of the attention-compelling page in this issue
of Presto is a reproduction of the liberal space which appears in this
week's Saturday Evening Post. Straube enterprise is of the kind
that keeps the American piano industry at the very forefront of the
world's things of music.
* * *
The large number of piano manufacturers who are preparing to
have special displays of their instruments during the Chicago conven-
tion, seems to negative the notion that "commercialism" is not wanted
at the annual gatherings. It will be a scattered exhibition, but a
big one.
* * *
There seems to be promise of a change in the immigration laws,
by which a greater number of expert piano makers will be permitted
to come across. It is what a good many piano manufacturers have
been asking for.
* * *
It's now only just two months to the big conventions at the Drake
Hotel, in Chicago. The promise is for one of the biggest meetings in
trade history. Don't fail to get ready to be there.
peculiar power to please the public and the trade.
The player cases equipped with the patent roll holder
are new and original and the special work of Mr.
Radle.
VISITOR FROM PHILADELPHIA.
M. Tuteur, manager of the piano department of
Snellenberg & Co., Philadelphia, Pa., was a cheery
visitor in the Chicago piano wholesale market during
the past week. Mr. Tuteur gave a pleasant report
of activity in the Quaker City, saying that the music
trade is on firm legs and shows no indication of
quivering. "The piano department of Snellenberg &
Co. is one of the strongest parts of the business,
and one of the most active," said Mr. Tuteur. "We
are continually building it up, and expect great re-
sults this year." Mr. Tuteur made a number of selec-
tions and purchases of pianos for his department.
MANY M. SCHULZ'S SHIPPED.
Quite a considerable percent of the production of
the M. Schulz Co., Chicago, is now going to the Pa-
cific coast, due to the heavy ordering from that re-
gion of the country. However, the Schulz business
is good in all parts of the country, according to Fred
Bassett, vice-president. The coast has been a heavy
buyer of the Schulz pianos for some time.
STRANGE GUY WHO NEVER
HEARD OF JESSE FRENCH
If You Received the Souvenir From New Castle You
Have Read This Quip.
Did you ever possess a key-charm pocket knife?
Some of the representatives of the Jesse French &
Sons Piano Co. have them. And when the souvenir
arrived it had a story attached. It was headed,
"Never Heard of Jesse French," and read as follows:
'There was a guy just left here who said he never
heard of Jesse French.
"I asked him, 'Where do you live?'
"He said, 'On the Canary Islands.'
"I said, 'Jesse French don't sell Canary Birds. He
sells pianos.' "
It would be necessary to travel much further than
the Canary Isles to find people who haven't heard of
the Jesse French pianos. They're as well known as
the famed "King of the Canary Isles," which re-
minds of the linguist who, when asked if he knew
French, answered: "Sure, I know French! He makes
pianos in the town they carry coals to!" The Jesse
French & Sons pocket souvenir is a beauty.
A radio department has been added by the United
Music Stores, Inc., Philadelphia.
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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