MUSICAL
TIMES
PRESTO
Established
1881
Established
1884
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
10 Cents a Copy
CHICAGO, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1927
CLEVELAND TALKS
ON VITAL TOPICS
Music Trade Association in the Ohio City
Discusses Important Subjects at Eight-
eenth Annual Meeting and Banquet
Held on Wednesday of Last Week.
HONORS FOR HENRY DREHER
The "Outlook for 1927," the "Trade-in Problem," and
Other Similarly Timely Subjects the
Themes of Debate.
By A. E. DIHM.
The eighteenth annual banquet of the Cleveland
Music Trades Association was held in the Rainbow
room of the Hotel Winton, February 9, and was
attended by practically the entire Cleveland music
trade and some from out of town. A. L. Maresh,
president of the association, presided. He read a
letter from Vice-President Dawes of the United
States regretting his inability to accept the invitation
to attend the banquet.
In addition to the various speakers there were a
number of musical and dancing features on the pro-
gram by members of the Parisian Follies. A resolu-
tion was passed unanimously condemning the pub-
lication of "smut songs."
Value of Cooperation.
The subject of the president's address was "Co-
operation." He thanked members for reelecting him
and stated that 1926 had become a banner year for
the Cleveland Music Trades Association, which had
been organized eighteen years ago and had for its
first president the late John T. Wamelink. Diiring
1926 ten members were admitted.
Mr. Maresh referred to changes made in the past
eighteen years, such as the passing of 'the horse-
drawn piano truck. Eighteen years ago women, he
said, w r ore long dresses and if they had appeared on
the street as some do today they would have been
arrested for indecent exposure. If an orchestra had
played the present day "Blues" or "Jazz" they would
have been run out of town for creating a disturbance.
He mentioned a new attachment for radio to the
piano which, however, has not yet been marketed and
in which the strings of the piano took the place of
the aerial and all other wires used. The sounding
board is the loud speaker. Cooperation, he said, could
work wonders just as dissension could create chaos.
Bringers of Happiness.
He urged cooperation in repossession lists among
members and cooperation with the Better Business
Bureau, who have promised a full expose of two or
three piano men who are continually using unfair
methods. He called the music business the greatest
in the world and said that every one selling a musical
instrument brought lasting happiness to the indi-
vidual and his family. He asked members to preach
music everywhere and to remember that:
"The clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power
To tell just when the hands will stop
At late or early hour;
Now is the only time you own,
Live, love, toil with a will,
Place no faith in tomorrow, for
The clock may then be still."
Token to Henry Dreher.
An item on the program was the presentation of a
beautiful fountain pen desk set to Henry Dreher. It
was presented by M. O. Mattlin, of the Knabe ware-
rooms, on behalf of the association, in token of high
regard. In his presentation speech Mr. Mattlin said
that Mr. Dreher was not only the dean of Cleveland
piano men, but was also the best loved.
Having thanked the members for the gift, and
expressed his appreciation of it and the feeling that
prompted it, Mr. Dreher went on to say that although
piano men were his competitors he knew that they
were his friends, and that he had a very warm spot
in his heart for all of them. He considered the piano
business the best business in the world and advised
the younger men to stick to it.
A "talk on "The Outlook for 1927" by Dan Nolan,
manager of the Wurlitzer stores in Cleveland, was
next on the program, and the audience were warned
that they would have to get out and hustle for busi-
ness this year as they would have a great deal of
intense competition from the electrical refrigerating
industry, who were planning intensive campaigns and
spending millions of dollars. Also that the competi-
tor of today was not the other piano dealer, but
those engaged in other lines of business, such as real
estate, clothing, washing .machines, autos, etc.—all
of whom were after the public's money.
The Old Piano Problem.
Robert Jones, of the Dreher Piano Co., had for
his subject "Solving the Trade-in Problem," and
said that he did not believe any uniform set of rules
for fixing a valuation on pianos could be applied be-
cause of the age and make on a trade-in piano. It
might be used less in ten years in one home than it
would be in two years in another. Again a piano
used in a theater would receive more abuse in one
year than in a home in five years.
This would affect the cost of reconstruction of the
instrument for subsequent sale. Again the profit on
some pianos was greater than on others which per-
mits a larger allowance for a tj:a4#H"-
Another thing to be considered was that an instru-
ment might bring more money in New York
than in San Francisco or in other cities.
Dealers Must Appraise.
Mr. Jones advocated every dealer adopting a sys-
tem of his own and fixing valuations that will permit
him to close his books at the end of the year with a
satisfactory balance on the right side of the ledger.
An appraisal, he said, should include the following
points: Make of piano; serial number; design and
finish of case; age and general condition, as check-
ing, etc; condition of ivories, strings, sounding board
and action. He suggested that the appraisal be suf-
ficiently low to enable the dealer to add the cost of
putting the piano in salable condition and selling it
at a reasonable profit.
Every salesman should be able to make an appraisal
and give the prospect a definite and intelligent prop-
osition.
Other Speakers.
The meeting was also addressed by O. C. Boyd,
president of the Ohio Music Merchants' Association,
who spoke about the 1927 convention that will take
place in Cleveland and which, he predicted, will be
the largest in the organization's historv.
Chas. Yahrling spoke on the work of the national
association and expressed the hope that it would soon
have twenty state organizations connected with it.
M. SCHULZ CO. REPORTS
BUSINESS ON UPGRADE
Dealers From All Parts of the Country Are Placing
Orders for Spring Trade.
The M. Schulz Co., 711 Milwaukee avenue, Chi-
cago, reports a decided increase in business this
month over the preceding month of January. Orders
began to arrive with marked consistency early in
February, and that the trade is on the upward trend
is seen in the fact that many dealers who had not
been heard from since the holiday season are placing
requirements and making preparations for a vigorous
spring campaign.
Grand and upright styles of the extensive M.
Schulz Co.'s line are being accepted by progressive
dealers as instruments that appeal to the buying
public. The Colony Grand, the Venetian, and other
period models, are favored. The report is also made
that upright pianos and players are in demand.
In commenting on the trade possibilities, F. P. Bas-
sett, secretary, said this week: "Our doubts are
expelled in regards to the spring trade; pianos are
moving faster and we expect to do a good volume of
business. There are several contributing factors in
this move. The Chicago piano playing contest and
the national advertising campaign, the former locally
and the latter generally, are showing their influence
and the buying public in all sections of the country
seems awake.
$2 The Year
HARDMAN, PECK & CO.'S
85TH ANNIVERSARY
Founding of the Famous Old New York Piano
Industry This Week Made Occasion of
Congratulatory Messages.
The eighty-fifth anniversary of the founding of
Hardman, Peck & Co., New York, was celebrated on
Wednesday of this week: The liSfe old industry was
established on McDougall street on February 16,
1842. by Hugh Hardman, who with his son and son-
in-law, operated the business until 1880, when the
late Leopold Peck became interested and the title
of the firm was changed to Hardman, Dowling &
Peck, the firm including also Mr. Dowlnig, son-in-
law of the founder. Mr. Peck became head of the
business in 1888, at which time the firm name was
changed to the form it is today—Hardman, Peck
& Co.
When Leopold Peck died in 1904 his son Alfred
L. Peck succeeded him. The business was incor-
porated in that year with Alfred L. Peck, president;
Carl E. Peck, a cousin, vice-president; William Dal-
liba Dutton, treasurer, and Fred W. Lohr, secretary.
At the death in 1911 of Alfred L. Peck, Carl E. Peck,
now president, succeeded him as bead of the busi-
ness, and Ashley B. Cone, son-in-law of Leopold
Peck, was made vice-president. Both Mr. Lohr and
Mr. Dutton died in 1920, when Eugene A. Schmidt,
factory superintendent, was made secretary. August
Hagemeyer was made treasurer, and Louis Dutton, a
son of William Dalliba Dutton, assistant secretary.
Today the Hardman pianos are recognized for their
uniformly artistic character as the result of eighty-
five years of continuous effort towards perfection.
The retail department of Hardman, Peck & Co., at
433 Fifth avenue, New York, established in 1910, is in
one of the most artistic structures on that famous
thoroughfare, where both the exterior and interior
are true to the artistic character of the famous instru-
ments therein displayed.
NEW VICE=PRES1DENT
OF AUTOPIANO CO.
Wm. Bowles, Typical Aggressive Young Exec-
utive, Rises from Position of Assistant
Bookkeeper Since 1913.
In February, 1913, Wm. Bowles was employed by
the Autopiano Company, New York, as an assistant
bookkeeper. In the latter part of 1916, his obvious
selling ability was tested by the officials of the com-
pany. He was sent out on a trial trip for the music
roll division of the Autopiano Company. So success-
ful were his efforts that he was assigned permanently
to this work and traveled from coast to coast with
great success.
In the latter part of 1917 he joined the army and
became a lieutenant in the Quartermaster Corps. In
1919 he was discharged from the army and returned
to the Autopiano Company. He was then assigned
to the sale of music rolls, which line he followed
until 1920. He then decided that if he went into the
selling of player-pianos he would be more valuable
to the organization, with the result that he proved
highly successful in his new field and has continued
from that time until now as an Autopiano traveler.
At the last yearly meeting of the Autopiano Com-
pany's board of directors, Mr. Bowles was elected
vice-president of the organization. He is the typical
aggressive young executive. His new duties will not
interfere with the contracts which he has made, and
the many dealers and others who will wish to con-
gratulate him upon his well merited promotion will
be able to do so when he calls upon them in the pur-
suance of the work which has made his success
possible.
A. E. Hunter has succeeded Anton Nelson as vice-
president and treasurer of the Regal Musical Instru-
ment Co., Chicago.
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