Presto

PRESTO
June 27, 1925.
W. F. FREDERICK'S
VISION REALIZED
Marvelous Achievements of Founder of Far-
Spreading Piano Business Crowned by Re-
cent Formation of the Frederick In-
vestment Company of Pittsburgh.
RESULTS OF FORTY YEARS
The Accomplishing of Great Piano Business Suc-
cesses from Humble Beginning Makes Romantic
Life Story.
The fascinating story of W. F. Frederick, founder
of the W. F. Frederick Piano Co, Pittsburgh, and
the chain of music houses bearing his name is one of
remarkable achievement in the business and commer-
cial life of America. It tells of his rise from the
smallest beginnings—from the early days when he
occasionally sold a reed organ and later when he
sold pianos on commission—to his present position
as the head of one of the great musical instrument
selling organizations of the world and perhaps, the
largest buyer of pianos in America.
The story telling how Mr. Frederick started this
business and brought it to its present proportions,
together with much other interesting matter, is con-
W. F. FREDERICK.
tained in a little brochure recently sent out by a
Pittsburgh publishing house under the title, "A Great
Vision Realized," and from which we clip as follows:
The Vision.
One late summer afternoon in the year 1880 a
bright, sturdy lad of twenty years or there-
abouts could be seen seated in an old-fashioned
spring-wagon drawn by a single horse, slowly climb-
ing one of the long ascents of the Old National Pike
as it gracefully wound its way through the beautiful
ranges of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Somerset
county in Western Pennsylvania. Finally the wagon
reached the top of the ridge and stopped while the
lad got out to let his horse rest before beginning the
descent into the peaceful, fruitful valley on the other
side of the range where was located his simple moun-
tain home. The lad stood there with bared head
gazing thoughtfully and almost reverently upon the
matchless beauty of the scene before him. Like
the waves of the ocean, ridge after ridge covered
with waving forests of green touched to gold by the
setting sun, stretched away into the hazy distance.
The inspiration of the scene was not lost upon the
lad. He had lived in the mountains all his life—he
loved them with all his heart, and, no one but himself
knew of the visions that came to him with the in-
spiration of these noble creations of God's handiwork.
The lad was not only a lover of nature, but he was
also an ardent worshipper of Nature's greatest
medium of expression—Music. He had spent the
year previous at a famous old Academy of Music
located over in the valley lying at the foot of the
western slope of his beloved mountains and he had
returned home to earn enough money by teaching
the rudiments of music to the mountain folk to take
him back to school the following year.
Saved Slowly.
His earnings from this source, however, accumu-
lated slowly and it seemed he would never earn
enough to take him back to school again, when the
thought occurred to him that he might increase his
earnings by selling a few parlor organs to his moun-
tain friends. Acting upon this idea he had succeeded
in securing some organs from a Pittsburgh music
house to sell on a commission.
Upon this particular afternoon he had just sold and
delivered an organ and was returning tired but happy.
As he stood upon the mountain ridge gazing into the
western sun, a great vision seemed to open up before
his eyes. He saw before him the great valleys
stretching out to the West far beyond the mountain
ranges. He saw the rich farms; the glowing coke
ovens; the flaming, roaring furnaces; the rivers
ladened with barges of coal and iron; he heard the
whistle of the locomotives as they carried their pre-
cious burdens to the distant markets; he heard the
clang of the street cars; he pictured the cities teem-
ing with their thousands of busy people; and, then,
as the vision grew, he suddenly saw himself among
all this beehive of industry—a dominating figure
amidst all this activity. A great musician, you say?
No! He saw himself a great captain of industry—
a great music merchant.
The vision slowly faded away, and as the sun sank
peacefully behind the western hills, the lad climbed
into his wagon again and started homeward, but in
his eyes was the light of a determined purpose, the
dawn of a great aspiration, and henceforth every
ounce of effort and energy of which he was capable
was to be devoted to the realization of his great
vision.
After Forty Years.
More than forty years have passed since William
Franklin Frederick stood that day upon the mountain
top and dreamed his vision, and he has lived to see
its fulfillment far beyond his greatest and fondest
anticipations. We will not dwell on the long days
and weeks and months and years of patient toil and
planning as, step by step, he laid the foundation, and
built the towering superstructure of his present great
business. There were times when the lowering
clouds were black and threatening; times when his
heart was wrung with the anguish of despair; but
still he went onward, driven by his own indomitable
will and courage—a truly great leader among men,
carrying always in his heart the vision of his boy-
hood days.
Today the "House of Frederick" is one of the most
notable successes in the entire music industry. Ju
respect to its plan of organization, its financial
strength, its personnel, its policies, its lines of mer-
chandise, the territory covered and the volume of
business transacted, it takes its place among Amer-
ica's model business institutions. In the last twenty
years the total volume of business transacted by
the Frederick industries was nearly thirty million
dollars.
A Great Home.
This big business is divided into two divisions—
the W. F. Frederick Piano Company with its head-
quarters at Pittsburgh and Union'town, Pa. (the
latter having been Mr. Frederick's home for the
past forty years), and the Davis, Burkham & Tyler
Company, with its headquarters at Wheeling, W. Va,
These two companies through a chain of seventeen
big, fully equipped music stores, located at Pitts-
burgh, McKecsport, Greensburg, Butler, Uniontown,
Connellsville and Braddock, Pa.; Cumberland and
South Cumberland, Md.; Graf ton, Morgantown,
Clarksburg and Wheeling, W. Va., Youngstown,
Cambridge, Steubenville and East Liverpool, Ohio,
together with one hundred or more sub-agencies,
serve a population of many millions of people, and
cover like a perfect network Central and Western
Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, Northern and Central
West Virginia and Western Maryland. The name
"Fredericks, the House of Service" has become a
household slogan throughout this vast area of terri-
tory in all things musical. With consummate skill
and unerring judgment, coupled with a reputation for
sterling honesty and dependability, Mr. Frederick has
constructed this great business monument to his
name.
Latest Development.
Some time ago Mr. Frederick conceived the idea
of merging his already prosperous businesses under
a holding or controlling company. Thereupon the
Frederick Investment Company was organized, and
in 1917 incorporated.
The Frederick Investment Company with head-
quarters in Pittsburgh, Pa., has an authorized capital
stock of two million five hundred thousand dollars
owning and controlling completely the capital stocks
of the two subsidiary companies, each of which, how-
ever, operates separately under its own management
and board of directors, subject only to the policies
and general direction of the holding company.
This company is the crowning achievement of Mr.
Frederick's business career and is one of the strong-
est institutions financially in the entire music indus-
try.
VETERAN PIANO MAN
HONORED AT HOME
Tribute Paid by Middletown, N. Y., News-
paper to J. A. Bates, One of the Speakers
at Recent Convention.
One of the conspicuous figures at the recent trade
convention in Chicago was J. A. Bates, veteran piano
merchant and founder of the old Southern Music Co.
Mr. Bates was one of the speakers at the "Dinner
to the Aged," given by George P. Bent, and what
he said was reported in Presto of June 13.
During Convention week the Middletown, N. Y.,
Herald—one of Mr. Bates home papers—published
the following editorial which will be read with satis-
faction and approval by every piano man who knows
the veteran to whom the tribute is paid:
So Mr. J. A. Bates is to be honored! This is fit-
ting, very fitting indeed. Mr. Bates is one of our
leading merchants. A war veteran, a campaigner in
J. A. RATIOS.
that great struggle when the union was preserved,
he is likewise one of our leading citizens and quite
naturally beloved by all who have the pleasure of
his friendship.
It is fitting therefore, we say, that he should be
honored, and by all means by the members of that
craft to which he has been devoted for more than
sixty years of his long life—the music trades of
America.
Mr. Bates is one of the pioneers in this country in
that estimable crusade which was started many years
ago—and which has met with great success all will
agree—to "make America musical." The fact that
in his time he has sold more than 100,()()f) pianos in
one section of this great land alone—the south when
he was a member of a Savannah, Ga., music firm—
is ample evidence of the fact that he has accom-
plished not a little toward the united desire to bring
this about.
And now after sixty years he is still in the business
and still piling up records of sales. Enjoying such
good health there is no reason why he can't go on
piling up his splendid record for years to come.
Yes, it is fitting that this man should be hon-
ored by his own craftsmen. But, is it not pertinent
to ask, can any such group of men anywhere pay
tribute to a man with such a record, no matter how
glowing are the words spoken or how sumptuous
the repast laid in his honor? Is it not rather a fact
that in traveling some 1,500 miles to participate in
the silver jubilee of this organization of business men,
the organization is itself honored by his presence?
Mr. Bates would probably say no, but his legion of
friends hold otherwise.
AIR MAIL TO NEW YORK.
A new flying schedule thai will take Chicago's mail
at the end of the business day and put it in New
York the next morning in time for the earliest busi-
ness man will go into operation July 1. All business
men are expected to find the new opportunity for
rapid mail deliveries to New York and return of great
value. All classes of people will find it of great value
in emergency cases. The rate will be ten cents an
ounce or fraction thereof, and the schedule is as fol-
lows (daily except Saturday and Sunday): Leave
Chicago 8:30 p. m. Central Time; Cleveland 1:20
a. m. Eastern Time; arrive New York 6:00 a. m.
Eastern Time. Not only Chicago, but nearby cities;
in fact, the entire Mississippi Valley will benefit by
this night service.
SELLS STOCK AT AUCTION.
The Radio Sales Studio, Inc., Fourteenth street and
Park road, Washington, D. C, recently disposed of
its stock of talking machines and radio goods at auc-
tion. The company was one of the largest dealers in
the lines in the uptown section of the national capital
and carried Victor and Brunswick phonographs and
records and standard lines of radio.
BRANCH FOR USED PIANOS.
A new branch store has been opened by Kohler
& Chase, San Francisco, in a two-story building re-
cently purchased on O'Farrell street, adjoining the
Orpheum Theater. The two floors are given over to
the sale of used pianos and players and will be con-
tinued in .^uch use until the building is remodeled.
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/