Presto

January 12, 1924.
PRESTO
THINGS SAID OR SUGGESTED
A Story of Dissolution.
It is commonly said that no man is of so much
weight in his place in affairs that his going could
seriously affect the organization of which he may be
an important factor. The great machinery of every
business concern cannot be thrown out of commis-
sion by the slipping of a cog. That's the thought.
But is it so correct as to be regarded as a rule? Ab-
solutely not! There are exceptions.
* # *
One of the oldest of the Mid-West piano factories
is undergoing the processes of dissolution. For more
than a year past the industry has been quietly liqui-
dating its business with a view to closing up. There
is no consideration of good will which has been ac-
cumulating for more than fifty years.
The fact that the industry has been in operation in
the same city for about forty years has no credit as
an asset. While some effort has been made to sell
the concern, as a going plant, nothing has come of
it because the schedule of material holdings has been
excessive. And what is the why of it?
* * *
The decline of the fine old piano industry is due
directly to the death of one man. He was the son
of the founder of the house, and, succeeding his
father, he had charge of the industry for more than
a quarter century. And when he died the large in-
dustry began its slow but sure dissolution.
* * *
Of course the owners of the fine old piano industry
sought for someone capable of taking the place of the
man who had died. It did not seem a difficult thing
to do.
The men responsible for the business, and the inter-
ests of the stockholders, were themselves leaders in
large affairs. They had their own successful organi-
zations. They knew of men who could come into
their offices and do good work. Why not also work-
ers for the responsibilities of the old piano industry?
* * *
Biased Business Axiom.
And right here may be evidence that another com-
mon business axiom may go wrong. For it is cus-
tomary to declare that all business is the same—that
no line is so different from all the rest that it cannot
be readily conducted by a recruit from outside its
experienced ranks.
The owners of the oid piano industry did not tind
an outsider who could till the place of the man who
had died. Nor did they discover the right man within
the piano lines who would take the responsibilities
upon any basis of wages or other ordinary regula-
tions. And why, again?
* * *
The fine old piano industry bad been permitted,
like grandfather's clock, to run down. It had been
making dividends for stockholders. They were satis-
fied. What more could be asked?
But the trade did not share in the stock dividends
and were making other demands in which they were
interested. They wanted newer case styles. They
wanted a small grand. They asked about a reproduc-
ing grand. In short, they wanted so many things
that the factory management became dassed and help-
less. And then trade fell away. As methods changed
the old industry could not hold its customers. The
trade paper advertising ceased to appear. The en-
ergies at headquarters were paralyzed. Nothing was
done to keep life in the chilling industrial body. And
then liquidation, by which the piano world loses a
line line of instruments and a progressive little city
loses one of its best assets.
* * *
There's a Difference.
There are many valuable lessons in the true story
of the fine old piano industry that is dying of inanition
and lack of understanding of a special line of indus-
try and business.
Had the control of the piano company known just
what any experienced piano man knows, the concern
would not have gone to seed because of the passing
of one man.
It is a mistake, in the first place, for any important
industry to place all of its dependence upon a single
life. The uncertainties of man's existence make the
risk too great. The man invests in life insurance
only because he knows he can not govern his own
stay on earth. The big industry, that takes the risk
that the man himself will not assume, is too short-
sighted to be secure. And the industry that depends
upon the life of one man can not be doing its best,
even while the man is alive. How can it do anything
at all when he goes?
* * *
If the piano industry were just like all other'lines
of business, the adjoining furniture factory or the
automobile factory, or the shoe factory—any factory
at all—might offer the right man to fill the void made
by the death of the piano man.
The piano is not like other things. It borders upon
something more than the methods of putting things
together, and the specifications of the expert design-
ers and skilled mechanics. It is the no-man's land
between the utilities and art. Not every man can
conduct a piano factory, nor can any man sell pianos.
* * *
Geo. Foster's Wise Move.
The return of the wave of industrial combinations
seemed to have stirred the piano trade during 1923.
There were rumors of mergers which failed to mate-
rialize, and one that proved true.
The absorbing, by the American Piano Co., of the
Mason & Hamlin was the big event of the end of
last year. It was a matter of importance, not be-
cause of the fact itself, but because of the attainment
of the Boston piano since its promotion by A. M.
Wright—a thorough piano man in the best sense of
the term.
No other piano possessed more significance at the
time of the merger. The keen sense of values which
has made George G. Foster a historic character in
the piano world was never so well illustrated as in
the merger of the Mason & Hamlin with the other
great instruments of the American Piano Co. line.
And it's a good thing, too, that A. M. Wright con-
tinues to guide the destinies of the splendid Boston
piano.
* * *
Reproducing Grands.
If 1923 did anything more than might have been
expected, it was in the development of the reproduc-
ing grand. It is said that millions of dollars have
been invested in the comparative, or interpretative,
concerts by great artists designed to illustrate the
marvelous "re-enacting" powers of the reproducing
grands.
The greatest living pianists have been employed to
display the imitative exactness of the modern
miracles. Of the instruments so promoted, the
"Ampico" probably took the lead. There are very
few names prominent in the pianistic world that
have not been coupled with the "Ampico." What
that means to the necessarily limited number of the
costly instruments implied need not be discussed. It
suggests the overworked word "prohibitive." And
this is where the wonder of 1923,- in connection with
the reproducing piano, comes in.
* * *
During the last two months the newspapers in
some cities have contained illustrated advertisements
of a reproducing piano to be retailed for $875. The
price is startling, in view of the figures named for
other instruments of similar construction and attain-
ments. The price is less than average playerpianos
were sold for at retail a few years back. It is less
than the "straight" upright was sold for fifty years
ago. And in the 'sixties the old squares were "cheap"
at any such figures.
$875 for a reproducing piano in which mechanism
of dependability is guaranteed is sufficient to attract
the public. What wonder that the industry that can
supply the trade at a cost to permit of such a price
at retail is rushed to the utmost possibilities of a
twenty-four hour working day?
* * *
But even with the reproducing piano produced on
a popular price basis, the sale of the playerpiano will
be larger this year than last—larger than before in
several years. And there are signs that the "straight"
upright will have a better call than before.
There are large industries getting ready to meet
that "straight" piano demand. And they will have
no pianos left -ever at the end of the year. For, with
all the wonder of the automatic pianos in their diver-
sified powers to entertain, thousands of homes prefer
the instrument in which there is the spirit of educa-
tion and the development of digital, as well as in-
tellectual, dexterity.
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F. S. Cable's Daughter.
There will be a good deal more than local interest
in the announcement of Miss Gladys Cable's debut
in concert next Sunday afternoon. The Studebaker
Play House, in Michigan avenue, Chicago, should be
filled by piano men and their families alone, with
other crowds of music lovers to overflow the hall.
Miss Cable is a soprano of clear, sweet voice and
rare finish. It is a pity that her father, the late
Fayette S. Cable, could not have lived to enjoy next
Sunday's event.
For he was a fond and proud
parent, enthusiastic and possessed of the artistic
temperament. Still more, he was a lovable person-
ality whose friends were countless. He died just as
his two brothers had died, of overwork, burning
every ounce of energy in his determination to build
up a great piano industry.
* * *
And how many of the piano manufacturers have
gone the same way! All of the three Cable brothers
should still be alive. But they were workers beyond
human limitations.
Herman D., founder of The
Cable Company, went first; then Hobart M., the
eldest brother, and last Fayette S. There was a say-
ing of Hobart M. Cable's which was characteristic.
"Every load must have a wheel-horse to pull it," he
used to say, "and I'm a wheel-horse!" The Cables
were all wheel-horses.
GRAND PIANO PRODUCT
OF C. KURTZMANN & CO.
Great Growth of Buffalo Industry Evident Fact at
Anniversary Celebration.
Kurtzmann activities and progress were subjects
of interest to the trade during the anniversary cele-
brations of the company in 1923. That the C. Kurtz-
mann Co. had four factory units was a fact com-
mented upon and that a large factory will some day
house all these units on a five-acre tract held for this
purpose was an anticipated happening.
The great proportion of Kurtzmann output is of
grands. The company has a perfect model of grand
piano factory which early in the autumn was prac-
tically filled with grands, some 700 or more on cas-
tors. They made, as a visitor put it, "a forest of
grands."
Christian Kurtzmann began manufacturing pianos
75 years ago in about as small a way as piano mak-
ing could be started, and ended the seventy-fifth an-
niversary as one of the great industries in the
music field. An estimate of the output of 1924 points
to over 6,000 pianos, a third grands.
GET=TOGETHER LUNCHEON
OF THE KOHLER INDUSTRIES
Enjoyable Annual Event Attended by Representa-
tives of Various Interests Held at Hotel Astor.
The annual get-together luncheon of the Kohler
Industries, New York, held at the Hotel Astor, De-
cember 2i was a joyous concluding function to a
memorably successful business year. All the inter-
ests of the institution were well represented and all
phases of the business, manufacturing, selling and ad-
vertising were in evidence. The various interests and
those representing them at the luncheon were as
follows:
Auto Pneumatic Action Co.—W. C. Heaton, M. De
Angelis, H. J. Lajoie, W. Reynolds, Dr. M. Davis,
J. Douglas, W. J. Keeley.
Standard Pneumatic Action Co.—A. W. Johnston,
Win. Mennie, A. R. Farmer, Adam Gutsohn.
Autopiano Co.—Corley Gibson, W. J. Behr, Emil
Neff, Edw. Fitzgerald, Win. Bowles.
Brambach Piano Co.—M. P. Campbell, G. Camp-
bell, E. Videaud, Chas. L. Baker, Henry Fry.
Kohler & Campbell—Herbert Simpson, J. White,
G. Erbe, Jr., Win, P. Bacon, Jos. B. Schwarcz, J.
Mahoney, H. S. Holmes, Wm. Newman, A. H. Kay-
ton, Wm. Ostagen.
Hazelton Piano Co.—Thos. A. Perrot.
Milton Piano Co.—Geo. W. Allen, F. Martin, L.
Potter, E. Forshay, W. Rachelle.
Industries Office—C. Thornton, H. Newton, H.
Schoenberg, J. Holmes.
Advertising Department—H. Lawrence, B. Gill,
Jos. T. Davis.
POSSIBLE PIANO PROSPECTS.
There is a plain suggestion to the piano men of
Chicago in some banking figures published last week.
In fact, more than $71,000,000 was added to the sav-
ings accounts in Chicago banks despite the fact large
amounts were invested in homes and property. In
fact, the year brought an increase in combined com-
mercial and savings deposits of more than $89,000,000.
These conditions are shown in reports of condition,
as of December 31, made by both national and state
banks, in response to call for statements issued by
the controller of the currency and the Illinois state
auditor.
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