Presto

PRESTO
instrument he represented was one of the
most musical the world had produced. And
what Mr. Dolge said finds an echo in the judg-
ments of others who are still doing the same
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
kind of good work that gave to him the sat-
isfaction that came with his years with the
Published Every Saturday at 407 South Dearborn
Street, Old Colony Building, Chicago, III.
Haddorff.
It is impossible to estimate the happiness
Editors
C. A. D A N I E L L and F R A N K D. A B B O T T
that the 100,000 Haddorff pianos have given
Telephones. Local and Long Distance, Harrison 234.
Private Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Com-
to their owners. And it is a great achieve-
merclal Cable Co.'s Code), " P R E S T O , " Chicago.
ment that the Haddorff Piano Co. has made
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the
and
distributed 100,000 thoroughly good and
Post Office, Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879.
representative instruments within the compara-
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4.
tively few years which have passed since the
Payable in advance. No extra charge in United States
possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates for advertising on
present-day giant industry at Rockford was
application.
established.
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if
of general interest to the music trade will be paid for
at space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen
in the smaller cities are the best occasional corre-
TOO VALUABLE
spondents, and their assistance is invited.
Things that some people know are very
Forms close at noon every Thursday. News mat-
valuable—to
themselves. Many things that
ter should be in not later than eleven o'clock on the
same day. Advertising copy should be in hand before some other people know are decidedly valu-
Tuesday, five p. m., to insure preferred position. Full
able to a wide circle of other people, and
page display copy should be in hand by Monday noon
preceding publication day. Want advs. for current
some things that a very few people know are
week, to insure classification, must not be later than
of
vast value to the entire world that has the
Wednesday noon.
capacity to think. In the music trade there
Address all communications for the editorial or business
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 407 So.
are men who know a little about everything
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
and a great deal about their own affairs.
There
are also some men in the business who
SATURDAY, JUNE 30. 1923.
know a little about their own business and
entertain a boundless estimate of that little.
HADDORFF No. 100,000
They imagine that no one else knows much
One hundred thousand. Haddorff. pianos are of anything.
today adding- to the happiness of the human
The latter kind of men in the music busi-
family. That is an accomplishment which no ness seem to belong to lines of "specializa-
one associated with the Rockford industry
tion." Some of them are employed by large
could have foretold at the start of the big music houses and, no doubt, they earn their
factory in 1900.
wages. But among them are just a few whose
It is one of the most remarkable records in
fund of information is so rare as to be beyond
the history of the piano. It is still more computation upon a money basis. They say
gratifying because, from the very first Had-
so themselves. An illustration may serve the
dorff piano to the splendid Grand which car- purpose just now.
ries the high number today, there has not been
The other day a representative of this paper
a single instrument of the name that does not
was instructed to call upon certain heads of
bear evidence of the makers' ambitions and
departments in several wholesale music
determination to achieve upon a basis of ar-
houses, for the purpose of verifying statistics
tistic attainment.
which had already been compiled. It was
Today, the name of Haddorff, in the piano
merely a matter of reinforcing judgments al-
world, not only stands high in the judgment
ready worked out by the experiences of ex-
of those qualified to judge, but holds a place perts, as is necessary when special phases of
unique because of conditions of its industry
the industry are discussed in Presto's "Where
quite unusual. The record of the Haddorff
Doubts Are Dispelled" columns. And when
discloses the enthusiastic co-operation of
the inquiring trade paper reporter put his
some notably distinguished workers, and
questions to the music house department
proves a consistency and loyalty rare in any
heads he was, as a rule, given such informa-
special industry. The originators and develop- tion as was within reach.
ers of the Rockford piano have progressed
But there were exceptions which suggested
quietly and with almost singular absence of
the need of a broader conception of the music
the uncertainties or changes which mark most
business. One employee of a widely known
large enterprises. The executive staff, from
house said that the information was "impos-
President P. A. Peterson, Mr. C. A. Haddorff, sible."
No amount of investigation could
and Mr. A. K. Johnson down, have devoted to serve to uncover the desired data. He may
the work of upbuilding, the unswerving effort
have been right. At any rate, his caution was
l:y which alone large progress can be made. The
commendable. Another vastly more deeply
expert knowledge of what a fine piano must
entrenched employee of another big house,
be, as personified in Mr. Haddorff, has had
said this:
the undivided confidence and support of the
"Why, you've got the • nerve to ask that!
business departments and, without a change
That information would be worth thousands
in the official personnel, the Haddorff Piano of dollars! Do you think I'd tell you that just
Co. has moved steadily forward and rapidly.
to pass it along to our competitors?"
Don't ask us what house the wise gentle-
Some of the most influential, because ex-
man holds up with his massive intelligence and
perienced and authoritative, piano men of the
past two decades have been enlisted in Had- boundless sources of secret information. What
he really knows has little to do with what he
dorff progress. The late Alfred Dolge de-
thinks he knows. But the incident goes to
voted some of the most fruitful years of his
show that, in some way, our last week's edi-
life to opening the great west for the piano
torial about the betterment that has come
from Rockford. He said to the writer of these
over the music trade was a little overdone.
lines that he could not have succeeded as he
There are still left some of the kind of wise
did were it not for his own conviction that the
June 30, 1923
men who do not know that what they know
is of little value to the rest of the world—
even in their own line.
The knowledge of all the world, in the
music business, is reflected on the sign that
hangs over the door. And there are signs,
even of familiar names, in which there is not
so much suggestion of understanding as to
cause the passing throng to pause and enter,
even in search of the things displayed in the
front window.
Information is a part of service. Service
is a word overdone at this time, but there can
never be too much readiness to pass along
what little we know—unless we happen to be
lawyers or members of the Ku Klux Klan.
There are very few who know everything;
ask us and see !
YOUR SIDE LINES
The music store is the logical center of lo-
cal musical activity of whatever nature. If well
conducted, the music store in any community
is the source of information, suggestion and
advice, whenever any special acquisition to
town or city music-making equipment is pro-
posed. If a new band is to be formed, a new
theater established, a new "movie" opened, or
a new church erected, the demand for a con-
siderable musical instrument investment be-
comes obvious.
And the wide-awake music dealer recog-
nizes the opportunity well in advance of the
actual need.. If he is a recognized authority
in his business—as most music dealers are—
he is consulted on the subject of what may
be best adapted to the local needs, the ap-
proximate cost, and the ways and means for
securing and paying for the band instruments,
the orchestra, the automatic instrument, or
the pipe organ, as the case may be. No active
music dealer will permit opportunities of that
kind to pass unprofitted.
Nor is it only a matter of the immediate
profit. It is, also, and perhaps more to the
point, the opportunity which builds local in-
fluence and directs attention to the advan-
tages of a well-conducted music store, where
understanding of the sources of things musi-
cal is made the basis of service and public
convenience.
It is possible that some piano dealers do
not take advantage of such opportunities as
have been implied. But if so they are not
making the best of their business. The band
instrument, the "movie" and church organ,
and the other things of musical equipment,
are parts of the music store and may be made
to extend the activities and results of the
business many fold. For naturally the local
music dealer—the home piano man—must
know of projected enterprises which call for
the kind of goods in which he is most inter-
ested. And he is the logical man to fill the
wants of that nature.
Don't let the mail order house in the far-
away city get that business. Don't let the
big town specialist in band instruments fur-
nish the equipment for the band, and dos't let
the pipe organ factories get the orders for
the new church or lodge or the movie theater.
This subject is discussed, so far as concerns
the brass band part of it, in this week's
"Where Doubts Are Dispelled" columns. Read
that, too. and take advantage of all the op-
portunities that belong to you. Don't be only
a piece of a music dealer!
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