Presto

August 15, 1925.
PRESTO
BUSINESS OUTLOOK IS
BEST SINCE 1920
With Prosperity Reigning in All Lines in
First Half, No Let-Up in Fall Is
Foreseen.
THINGS SAID OR SUGGESTED
By HENRY McMULLAN.
The men and women who work in piano factories,
stores, offices or on the road, whether conscious of it
or not, belong to an army who contribute something
which is ultimately designed to make the world a
little more intelligent, and with this intelligence, a
little more happy.
* * *
The trouble with most men is that they are afraid
of the facts. That man has found out a good deal
who has discovered that no human being is indis-
pensable to an enterprise.
But when from so many shipwrecks and misadven-
tures one goodly vessel comes to land, we joyfully
survey the rich cargo, and hasten to question the
crew on the fortunes of their voyage.
And it is pleasant to learn from them that they
have been doing what others of us thought would
be done at some time or other.
* * *
The humblest piano dealer in the most remote
town sheds some feeble twilight on the great game
of selling musical instruments.
We leave him and go away to knock around in
larger cities where men most do congregate, and it
seems that suddenly, as at sunrise, the whole earth
has grown vocal and musical.
And generous deeds and feelings on the lips of the
gifted form themselves into musical utterance.
* * *
False alarm, gentlemen, false alarm! There is no
scarcity of big trees, great trees, fancy trees, from
one hundred to two hundred years old, in the United
States, suitable for piano veneers.
This writer saw some of the "grandest ever" of
aged and sound white oaks on Sunday of this week,
similar to those he saw many a keen-bladed axe
tackle in Taylor township near Detroit more than
fifty years ago.
It brought back old memories and the peppishness
and boyishness of those gay and gladsome times
when all southern Michigan was young, covered with
tall timber, and the wild fox dug his hole unscared.
The big old white oaks seen last Sunday are on
the farm of Vern A. Faulkner, one and one-half miles
south of Olivet, Mich. There are dozens of them,
on a hill overlooking Pine Lake, in all the warpy
grandeur of originality, and shame on me for telling
on them, there are all kinds of pretty veneer pat-
terns in their insides.
Yes, gentlemen of the piano factories, there are
plenty of oak trees—white oaks at that—fit for your
piano surfacing! Lots of them in public and private
parks, in college grounds—Olivet college grounds,
for example—and some thousands of them in the In-
terstate Park on top of the Palisade mountains of
New Jersey and New York.
Don't worry! They're not all gone yet!
* * *
We do not hear so much about piano agencies and
consignment selling as we did a few years ago. Is
this because more of the dealers are buying their
pianos outright?
A piano agent, owing to the nature of the business
must be allowed a good deal of latitude and longi-
tude. A principle of the law of agency is that the
law requires of one who undertakes an agency that
he should exercise due care in and about what he is
entrusted to do, and to act in good faith toward his
principle. If he fails in either direction he will be
liable in damages.
* * *
The sweet-toned piano has made this world a bet-
ter place to live in. Perhaps the harp went to sleep
and Cristofori made the piano out of one of its ribs;
anyway he made a great improvement.
But the piano, like Eve when she got acquainted
with the big snake, sometimes falls into bad com-
pany. We hate to step into a cheap dance-hall and
see a plug-ugly banging jazz discords out of a real
piano. We feel like yanking him from his stool and
frescoing his face for his failure to distinguish be-
tween beneficent use and injurious abuse.
* * *
While the universities are struggling (sometimes
without much hope) to produce something visible,
either character or competency, piano travelers who
have never earned a sheepskin are showing both of
these distinguishing qualities. The piano traveler, in
some instances, is picked out by his firm on account
of his traveling or migratory instincts, his pioneering
and exploring desires, his high energy and his un-
shrinking fearlessness of contact with strangers, bum
eating houses and bummer beds. We might say he
has the same spirit that inspired the emigrant.
The voluntary, unassisted migration of individuals
to lands of opportunity tends always to the upbuild-
ing of highly energetic communities and peoples. To
the wilderness go, not the brainiest or noblest or
highest bred, but certainly the strongest and most
enterprising. Those branches of a race achieve the
most brilliant success which have wandered farthest
from their ancestral homes.
The American piano traveler has faith in himself
and confidence in the friendliness of the unknown;
self-reliance is his superior advantage; his quick wit
sometimes makes up for the lack of foresight he may
be accused of at headquarters.
* * *
In the Packard Piano Company's works at Fort
Wayne, Ind., there is never any struggle between
force and fair play.
The motto there, as between employers and em-
ployes, is: ''If there is no harmony in the factory,
there can be none in the piano," and that motto is
respected by everybody connected with the institu-
tion.
* * *
A word to the wise is sufficient; but, unfortunately,
not every dealer who is being shown through a piano
factory is wise. There are dealers who, on viewing
some process, mistake means for ends.
To such men, even the curls in curly maple look
like blemishes and the bridge is an unnecessary cross-
patch.
* * *
Analyzing our friends, we observe that every good
piano man, like the farmer, has plenty of patience.
A salesman who has no patience with his customer's
indifferences and neutralities, doesn't succeed with
that customer; he fails to warm him up from the
prospect stage to the buyer stage.
Such a salesman should sit down upon a stone by
the wayside and think. He ought to reflect that to
live little enough we have to live a great deal. It
may help him if he realizes that some customers
look for a good deal of generosity of detail.
While sitting on the stone, he might put himself in
the customer's place a moment; then he will realize
there is a difference between looking along the sight-
ing devices of a gun and looking into its muzzle.
FINE ADDITION TO
CHICAGO PIANO STORES
National Piano Stores Co. Opens Handsome
Warerooms on West Madison Street Repre-
senting the Starr Piano Co. Full Line.
The National Piano Stores, Inc., has opened a
handsome store at 2332 West Madison street, Chi-
cago, and will represent the Starr Piano Co.'s line.
The new company consists of John J. Ferris, presi-
dent; Louis G. Reisener, vice-president, and Mathias
M. Igler, secretary-treasurer. The new house started
with a grand opening on Saturday, August 1, when
large crowds visited the warerooms. There were
floral offerings from the trade, and several artists
gave concerts. There were also player roll artists
present, whose demonstrations proved interesting and
several sales resulted.
The new house carries the Starr line exclusively,
and U. S. music rolls. Five thousand invitations
were sent to people in the neighborhood of the Na-
tional Piano Stores, in advance of the opening day
and visitors were very enthusiastic in their praise and
real pride in the establishment. It is the plan to
very soon take over also the second floor of the
building. The popularity of the Starr and Reming-
ton pianos in Chicago and vicinity justifies the ex-
pectation that the National Piano Stores will do a
large business. And the experience of the gentlemen
in charge enhances that anticipation.
The outlook for active trade during the remainder
of the year is considered excellent, according to a
study of the many indices upon which business fore-
casts are based. Production of merchandise and com-
modities has been on an active scale during the first
half of the year, but with the absence of boom opera-
tions.
In conjunction with this activity, however, con-
sumption has been progressing at a rapid pace. If
the prediction of business forecasters materializes,
the full year will go down on the records as the most
prosperous since 1920, says the New York Times.
That prosperity reigns in most industries is indi-
cated by the many statements of earnings issued by
the leading corporations thus far covering operations
for the first six months. In many instances these
earnings doubled and tripled those for the corre-
sponding period last year.
Some record breaking earnings were reported-
These favorable statements are not confined to any
one industry. Piano manufacturers in many instances
share in the cheerful outlook, and several large re-
tailers have expressed themselves similarly.
BRITISH LAW ON
PIANO COMMISSIONS
Dealer There Liable to Heavy Fine and Im-
prisonment at Hard Labor if Commission
Is Not Disclosed to Customer.
The British Music Trade Federation at its recent
annual convention advised dealers to disclose to the
piano customer that a commission has been paid to
somebody aiding in the sale, if such were the fact.
The method suggested was the marking of the cus-
tomer's invoice to the effect that a certain percentage
on the amount has been paid on the transaction for
professional services. There is an established trade
custom to pay the "commission fiends" five per cent,
but the officials of the Music Trade Federation have
discovered that the consent of the trade does not
make an unlawful action legal. Hence the convention
advice.
In the opinion of an eminent lawyer the giving of
professional commissions by music dealers, without
disclosing the facts to the customers is illegal and
for which the penalties are:
(a) On conviction on indictment, imprisonment
with or without hard labor for a term not exceeding
two years, or a fine not exceeding £500, or both im-
prisonment and fine.
(b) On summary conviction, imprisonment with
or without hard labor for a term not exceeding four
months, or a fine not exceeding £50, or both impris-
onment and fine.
BUSIEST SUMMER IN
STRAUBE PIANO CAREER
Here's the Kind of Report That Should Put
Ginger Into Some Other Old Piano
Industries.
E. R. Jacobson, president of the Straube Piano
Company, Hammond, Ind., has just returned from a
vacation in the north. Mr. Jacobson is one of the
busiest men in the piano industry, but can seldom be
induced by his associates to take a vacation.
In addition to his duties as active head of his com-
pany, Mr. Jacobson is president of the National Music
Industries Chamber of Commerce.
Reports from the Straube Piano Company state
that business has been record-breaking during the
summer months. Straube dealers throughout the
country report good business with prospects for even
better business this fall.
Some floors of the new Straube factory at Ham-
mond are already being utilized, while corps of work-
men are rushing the installation of new machinery on
the remaining floors. It is expected that production
in the new factory on a large scale will be possible
in September.
THE AKRON CENTENNIAL.
Earle G. Poling, the Akron, O., dealer, is active in
aiding the general committee of the Akron Centennial
Celebration to plan new features for the event. Other
dealers, members of the committee, are active in the
preparations for the features that will bring thou-
sands to the citv for the week's festivities.
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