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PRESTO
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THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY.
Published Every Saturday at 417 South Dearborn
Street, Chicago, Illinois.
C. A. DANIELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT -
Editors
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 234
Private Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Com-
mercial Cable Co.'s Code), "PRESTO," Chicago.
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the
Post Office, Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4.
Payable in advance. No extra charge in United States
possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates for advertising on
application.
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-
spondents, and their assistance is invited.
Forms close at noon every Thursday. News mat-
ter 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 current
week, to insure classification, must not be later than
Wednesday noon.
Address all communications for the editorial or business
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 417 South
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
SATURDAY, JULY 26, 1924.
NAME VALUES
in the second issue of "The Americana
Annual," a member of Lord & Thomas, pub-
licity experts, has an article on "Advertising"
which opens with the remarkable assertion
that "today the name (of an article) means
nothing-; the brand means nothing. One's
name is his father's fault."
Such a statement, by an advertising expert,
must seem daring if not very wise. It is a
clear declaration that advertising itself is
nothing, and Lord & Thomas is credited, or
charged with having juggled with more names
which have been translated into fortunes than
any other specialists in the advertising bus-
iness.
It needs little argument, or illustration, to
discover that at least one contributor to "The
Americana" has studied too closely Shake-
speare's definition of a rose. He is convinced
that there's nothing in a name. But a thou-
sand successful things in industry and com-
merce disprove it, and prove conclusively
the value of a good name, or even a name not
so good, if well advertised. Is there another
advertising man who would make so broad a
statement as that the name of Ford has no
value among flivvers; that Borden, Horlick
and "Uneeda" are worthless in the commis-
sary department, or that even "Piggly Wig-
gly" is not worth more, as a name, than as a
specimen of euphonistic grace?
There is not a newspaper or a periodical in
Lord & Thomas' list that doesn't carry col-
umns of names of great value to their owners
and often equally valuable to the public. If
the contributor to "The Americana" really
thinks otherwise, his advertising business is
sure to suffer to the point of dissolution when
its clients find out the situation.
And if the value of a name is great in the
more perishable things, or any thing of which
permanency is not a controlling factor, it is
still more certain that to the industries which
bear relationship to the arts it is a priceless
asset. Who ever questions the value in the
music world of the name of Steinway? And
it is only one of many great names in the
piano industry. What would it take to buy it?
And if "one's name is his father's fault," what
of the name of old man "Stradivarius," who
lived a few hundred years ago and left no
children except the little instruments which
still are almost above price because they bear
their maker's name. The illustrations in the
world of music could be multiplied to tireless
length. And so in nearly all lines of industry
and trade.
Of course, the advertising man's point is
that nothing counts today but "service." He
believes that quantity must take precedence
over quality, and that the day of large pro-
duction is here, and that the sole purpose of
advertising is to give the "news" of service
and of supply.
No one who understands the effect of that
doctrine upon business of the better kind, will
accept the Lord & Thomas theories. And
there have been incidents in the advertising
line, directly traceable to the big promotion
organization, which seem to prove that, in
practice as well as in principle, the contributor
to "Americana" is wrong. If Shakespeare
wrote good poetry when he discredited the
beautiful name of the flower, a modern poet
has set going another version which seems to
apply better to the modern idea of the value
of a name, in this verse:
The Rose is very beautiful,
But lasts a day or two,
While poor Sweet William stands erect,
And blooms a whole week through.
I wonder if I'd rather be
Of satin that was rare,
Or made of figured calico
That's guaranteed to wear.
The good name that's well advertised is of
calico, even though the "rose by any other
name may smell as sweet." And even then
the rose would have a name which would be
advertised by its smell.
PIANOS AND PEACE
The problem of permanent peace and pros-
perity among 1 'nations was discussed very
thoroughly at the International Advertising
Convention in London last week. And one
of the speakers declared the honest advertis-
ing presented the broadest avenue to the
great end. He said that advertising is neces-
sary, not only to business, but, even more, to
the better understanding between the peoples
of the world. He saw great results to come
from a newer understanding of politicians,
policies, principles and peoples, by big adver-
tising done by the Governments themselves.
The advertising, said the speaker, should
be so "big" that the press would be absolutely
free, and lifted above the temptations of
"special interests." But will the publishers
approve of such a plan?
Anyway, they would reject a few extra page
displays, daily or weekly.
Another speaker at the London convention
stressed the influence of education, the arts
and, above all, music. There, then, comes in
another addition to the alliterative catalogue
of the pursuits of peace—the piano. And the
piano has never been a "big" advertiser. It
has been promoted in spots, and there are
pianos today where names, made famous by
men long dead, were filled with promise of
real greatness. The momentum of their orig-
inator carries the instruments forward, but
with steadily decreasing power. The piano
July 26, 1924.
names, nevertheless, present, even today, illus-
trations of the influence of advertising.
Automobiles have been big advertisers. So
have some other things. And the cars that
are advertised are the "sellers."
The piano leads all other manufactured
things in the list of the messengers of peace.
It is still the god of the household. Its place
in the family affections has not been sacri-
ficed, nor has it been supplanted by any other
thing of convenience or utility. It is still the
best combination of education, refinement and
entertainment, and it will remain so.
Possibly, when the suggestion of universal
peace, by means of advertising both nations
and business, becomes an accepted way to the
great end, the piano will come in for its full
share. And then the pianos that bear adver-
tised names may reap the reward of their per-
sistency and fame deserved. The pianos that
in some degree meet the requirements of the
London convention, whether really "big"
advertisers or little, may then find the way to
the kind of success that belongs to the makers
of world peace, and help so largely to retain
it. It's worth being in the business for, isn't
it?
SAFETY IN THE
PIANO FACTORIES
(Continued from page 5.)
grands, uprights, players, reproducing pianos, phono-
graphs or Gennett records the worker is warned to
"watch his step." Factory accidents, according to
President Gennett, invariably result from carelessness
and not from willfulness. And he considers the em-
ploye with his mind on something else besides his
work a good man to get rid of.
The H. C. Bay Way.
According to the statistics of accidents in the in-
dustries in general 22 per cent arise from the care-
less handling of material and 14 per cent from fall-
ing material. In the piano factories managed by men
of a comprehensive knowledge of factory operation
it is noticed that accidents from either of these
causes are minimized. A walk through the plant of
the H. C. Bay Company, Bluffton, Ind., is a revela-
tion in orderliness. The plant is not only splendidly
equipped, but admirably arranged. And what the
employes particularly admire is the care taken of
their physical welfare. "First aid for the injured here
is a secondary consideration to first thought for the
avoidance of accidents," was the whimsical comment
of President H. C. Bay.
Care at French & Sons.
The persistent purpose to make careful employes
out of the factory force of Jesse French & Sons
Piano Co., New Castle, Ind., has resulted in staffs
of loyal and thoughtful people in every department
in the various factories. The same admirable spirit
of carefulness is observed in the great factory, the
power plants, dry kilns, veneer, varnish and lumber
sheds and shipping platforms. The fire protection
facilities of the factory are unexcelled. President
Jesse French has been in the piano business since
1875 and his aim during his successful career has
been not only to make instruments of genuine musi-
cal merit of great values, but also to make them
under pleasant conditions with the element of safety
for the workers a leading thought.
M. Schulz Growth and Safety.
What can be accomplished in the direction of acci-
dent prevention may be observed in the operation of
the factory of the M. Schulz Company, Chicago. The
company is one of the largest manufacturers of pianos
and players in point of output and possesses un-
usually great manufacturing facilities of the highest
grade of efficiency and modernness. Guarding against
accidents is considered the duty of every employee.
"Accidents are items of avoidable waste in manu-
facturing costs," said President Otto Schulz, who
naturally is proud of the results of the excellent
accident prevention system maintained in the plant.
The Jenkins Piano Co., El Paso, Tex., has moved
from 355 Myrtle avenue to 321 San Antonio street.
Tt has been in business in El Paso for fifteen years.
The new location is in the shopping district.
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