May 30, 1925.
PRESTO
MANUFACTURERS'
28TH CONVENTION
Veterans Will Recall Seeming Difficulties in
Forming National Association of Piano
Manufacturers and Final Realization
of Purpose First Felt in 1896.
TO DISCUSS PROBLEMS
New and Vital Ones Will Engross the Association at
the Gathering at the Drake Hotel
Next Week.
On Tuesday next at 10 a. m. the National Piano
Manufacturers' Association will hold its 28th annual
convention in Room C at the Drake Hotel, Chicago,
and the veterans will once more live over the events
of the memorable day in August, 1897, at Manhattan
Beach, N. Y., when the association was formed. That
event was the realization of a purpose which began
to be felt in the eighties and at subsequent periods
with more or less earnestness. But the attempts to
organize had been failures.
The degree of cordiality and unanimity, however,
which marked the meeting at Manhattan Beach on
August 18, 1897, launched the association with an
earnestness which has continued with the years. At
the inaugural meeting all seemed willing to adopt
regulations conducive to the common good. There
was no exhibition of a sectional feeling that might
be expected at the time in the broad domain of the
United States.
The congenial group of piano manufacturers who
will meet at the Drake Hotel next Tuesday can
afford to laugh at the fears of an earlier era when it
was considered that sectional prejudices would pre-
vent the harmonious continuance of any national
body of piano manufacturers.
Recalls Achievement.
To harmonize all conflicting interests and unite the
entire trade in a common cause for betterment was
the colossal task the Manhattan Beach meeting de-
cided to do. The meeting of the National Piano
Manufacturers' Association at the Drake Hotel next
week will be a celebration of that achievement, but
in 'handing out the congratulations to itself some
glo'ry for the New York Association of Manufac-
turers should be voiced. It was through the enter-
prise of that Body the movement for the national
body was set foot in 1896. For many years before
the' formation of the national association at Man-
hattan Beach the New York body had been a factor
in {he trade.
association. The plans eventually crystallized in
the now historic "call" which resulted in the meeting
at Manhattan Beach on August 18, 1897.
Now to Make History.
That is history, but the men who will meet at the
Drake next week will also be interested in history in
the. making. They will discuss the problems that
effect the industry in a closed session according to
usage, thereafter giving the decisions and results to
the trade press.
Following the usual custom the nomination for sec-
retary, treasurer and membership committee have
been presented by the nominating committee to be
K. R. JACOBSON,
President, National Piano Manufacturers' Association.
•!)'
What Led Up to It.
It is interesting to recall that the first indication of
the tendency towards organization in a national way
was an effort on the part of the New York manufac-
turers to affiliate with the Boston Piano and Organ
Trade Association established in May, 1896. The
nurtual desires of New York and Boston grew, and
soqn-there developed the desirability of inviting man-
ufacturers of other cities to confer with the New York
voted upon at the convention at the same time the
president and vice-presidents are chosen. These are
the nominations:
T H E OFFICERS.
The officers of the National Piano Manufacturers'
Association elected at the convention of 1924 in New
York are:
E. R. Jacobson, Hammond, Ind., president.
M. J. De Rochemont, 134th street and Southern
boulevard, New York, first vice-president.
W. E. Guylee, 57 E. Jackson street, Chicago, sec-
ond vice-president.
Ava W. Poole, 84 Sidney street, Cambridge, Mass ,
secretary.
Charles Jacob, 539 West 39th street, New York,
treasurer.
COMMITTEES.
The Executive Committee consists of ihe above
officers and the following: Eastern States—Edward
S. Payson, chairman; D. D. Luxton, Stanwood Miller.
W. E. GUY LEW,
Second Vice-president, National Piano Manufacturers'
Association.
CHARGES JACOB,
Treasurer, National Piano Manufacturers' Association.
SETH WHEELER, ALBANY,
DIES AT AGE OF 87
Director of A. C. Cheney Piano Action Co. Was
Prominent in City's Affairs.
Seth Wheeler, director of the A. C. Cheney Piano
Action Co., Castleton, N. Y., president of the A. P.
W. Paper Company, Albany, N. Y., and for thirty-
seven years a member of the board of trustees of the
Albany County Savings Bank, died last week at his
home, 246 Lark street, Albany. He was in his eighty-
eighth year, and for more than half a century was an
outstanding figure in the business and philanthropic
activities of Albany.
Mr. Wheeler was a native of Columbia County.
Coming to Albany as a young man, by his industry,
perseverance and by his inventive genius he estab-
lished a business, which has grown with the years, so
that today the Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper
Company, of which he was president, and which he
founded in 1877, equals if not surpasses any company
in the United States doing a similar business.
He is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Howard
Martin of Albany, and Mrs. Joseph S. House of New
York; two sons, Seth Wheeler, Jr., vice-president of
the A. P. W. Paper Company, and William A., treas-
urer of the company; a sister, Miss Anna Wheeler;
a granddaughter, Mrs. Porter Fearey of Ardsley-on-
the Hudson and three grandsons, Archibald B.,
Thomas B. and Edgar T. Wheeler.
Middle States—Mark I'. Campbell, chairman; C. D.
Bond, J. W. Stevens. Western States—Hobart M.
Cable, chairman; F. P. Bassett, C. C. Chickering.
Finance—Wm. B. Armstrong, chairman; James F.
Bowers, Ashley B. Cone, George J. Dowling, A. G.
Gulbransen, Richard W. Lawrence, George Miller,
John H. Parnham, Otto Schulz, Herbert Simpson,
C. G. Steger, A. M. Wright.
Nominating—Clarence H. Pond, chairman; G. A.
Anderson, Webster E. Janssen.
Membership—Roger S. Brown, chairman; Allan B.
Lane, S. G. Lindeman, Harry Schaaf, A. E. Johnson.
Advancement of Music—H. Paul Mehlin, chairman;
C. M. Tremaine, director; W. H. Alfring, Louis P.
Bach, A. S. Bond, W. L. Bush, B. H. Janssen, Fred-
erick P. Stieff, Jr., C. Alfred Wagner.
Credit Bureau—Walter C. Hepperla, chairman; L.
D. Perry, L. W. Peterson, C. J. Mulvey, Louis S.
Roerner.
National Legislation—J. Harry Shale, chairman; E.
B. Bartlett, Carle C. Conway.
Conservation of National Resources—G. A. Ander-
son, chairman; T. L. Floyd-Jones, E. B. Bogart.
Traffic—Eugene J. Wlielan, chairman; Adam
Schneider, W. B. Price, George B. Norris, E. S.
Rauworth.
Vocational Training—Jerome T. Murphy, chair-
man; George W. Allen, A. L. Bretzfelder, C. L.
Beach, P. S. Wick.
Internal Waterways—J. P. Seeburg, chairman;
Jesse French, Sr., Frank F. Story.
Merchant Marine and Export—George W. Gittins,
chairman; Henry Christman, Julius A. White.
Resolutions—Gordon G. Campbell, chairman; J. J.
Clark, Paul F. Metzow.
AVA W. I'no I, K.
- - Vice-President, National Piano Manufacturers'
Association.
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