Presto

PRESTO-TIMES
at Cleveland and presents the keen observa-
tions and wise suggestions of a man whose
warm interest is in the methods of piano dis-
The American Music Trade Weekly
tribution.
Mr. Gulbransen believes that young men
Published Every Saturday at 417 South Dearborn
Street, Chicago, Illinois.
who play a musical instrument of some sort
Editor*
are peculiarly fitted for the piano business and
C. A. D A N I E L L and F R A N K D. ABBOTT -
should be induced to enter it by dealers. The
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 234
Private Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Com-
advantages to dealer and the musical salesman
mercial Cable Co.'s Code), " P R E S T O , " Chicago.
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29. 1896, at the are set forth in a convincing way by him.
Post Office, Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879.
The discussion at the Cleveland convention
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4.
Payable, in advance. No extra charge in United States was enlightening and the alert music dealers
possessions. Cuba and Mexico. Rates for advertising on
present should benefit by the views and ex-
application.
periences of the various speakers. The re-
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if
of general interest to the music trade will be paid for port is a valuable addition to music trade lit-
at space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen erature and provides material for a very in-
in the smaller cities are the best occasional corre-
structive handbook for the music trade.
spondents, and their assistance is invited.
Payment is not accepted for matter printed in the
editorial or news columns of Presto-Times.
Where half-tones are made the actual cost of pro-
duction will be charged if of commercial character,
or other than strictly news interest.
When electrotypes are sent for publication it is
requested that their subjects and senders be carefully
indicated.
IN THE COTTON STATES
The states in which cotton is the largest or
among the largest crops are invariably af-
fected by the size of the crop. When the
farmer has plenty of cotton he can't get any
price for it. When he hasn't much cotton he
Forms close at noon every Thursday. News mat- gets a good price. This year's crop is esti-
ter should be in not later than eleven o'clock on the
same day. Advertising copy should be in hand before mated at 12,692,000 bales. A year ago the
Tuesday, five p. m., to insure preferred position. Full crop was 17,977,000 bales, and the cotton grow-
page display copy should be in hand by Monday noon
preceding publication day. Want advs. for current ers will get more for this year's 12,000,000
week, to insure classification, must not be later than bales than they got last year for their 17,-
Wednesday noon.
Address all communicatiuns for the editorial or business 1 GOO.000 bales.
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO.. 417 South
The law of adjustment naturally influences
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
the business of the music merchants in the
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1927.
cotton states. But it has been proved that the
music trade has admirable ability to adjust
The last form of Presto-Times goes to press itself to violent changes in cotton production
at 11 a. m. Thursday. Any news transpiring and prices. Indeed the resiliency of the music
after that hour cannot be expected in the cur- business in the South and Southwest is con-
rent issue. Nothing received at the office that
is not strictly news of importance can have sidered an admirable feature in the trade. Too
attention after 9 a. m. on Thursday. If they bad the poor cotton farmer has to play the
concern the interests of manufacturers or part of shock absorber in that resiliencv.
dealers such items will appear the week follow-
ing. Copy for advertising designed for the
current issue must reach the office not later
than Wednesday noon of each week.
THE SALESMAN PROBLEM
The importance of a problem in the music
trade may be judged by the intensity of inter-
est when it is discussed at a trade convention.
At the convention of the Music Merchants'
Association in Cleveland this week, few topics
created such a general interest as "How Can
Young" Men Be Interested in the Retail Music
Business," launched by Mr. E. A. Callander
of Zanesville, and participated in by Mr. J. F.
Boyer of Elkhart, Tnd., and others aware of
the vital character of the subject.
It was freely admitted that the field of
music goods retailing is not as attractive to-
day as it used to be, although statements of
some of the speakers rather qualified that
opinion. The proportion of young men seek-
ing an opening in piano selling is smaller than
formerly and the advantages in the field are
seemingly outweighed by those in other lines.
But the evidence adduced by the sales and
promotion departments of active manufactur-
ers who closely watch the methods of retail
distribution, was more or less of a refutation
of the belief that young men are difficult to
retain in the retail piano field.
A great many young men who enter the
piano field, for instance, are not urged to con-
tinue in it for cause. They are found not to
possess the kind of selling sense required in
the piano trade.
An article of Mr. A. G. Gulbransen in Presto-
Times this week is an interesting coincidence.
It is an enlightening addition to the discussion
THE NEW TUNER
A daily newspaper columnist who sugar-
coats his philosophy with a laugh revived a
hoary gag this week when he said that "our
national wealth of blasphemous language has
been considerably enriched by the piano
tuner." Sulphurous language possibly was a
common safety valve for the man in the flat
above or below the one with the piano on
which some criminal with a tuning hammer
did his best, which really was also his worst.
In reviving an old joke the newspaper humor-
ists should check up circumstances to date.
The proper training for tuners is now con-
sistently demanded by dealers who wish to
preserve the placid spirit with the musical one
in the patrons. The vagrant tuner with the
cuss word infection in his poorly-equipped
satchel is passing or rather is being boosted
into the limbo of piano trade evils by dealers
who can distinguish beans from bunk. No
phase of the piano trade has progressed in such
a commendable way as that of piano tuning
and repairing and the progress is reflected in
a more conscientious attitude of dealers to-
wards the condition of the pianos sold. The
earnest tuner continuously makes a reality of
the harmony preached by others in the trade.
The piano manufacturer who would assure
success for his products should not only distin-
guish them by proven merit, but also should
bring them before the dealers and the public
in the most effective way. This essential in-
fluenced the Hobart M. Cable Co., La Porte,
Ind., when it set about producing its Blue
Ribbon Line. It made pianos as well as it
knew how to do it; then it inaugurated a pub-
September 17, 1927
licity plan that is far reaching and convincing.
That August was the biggest month in piano
shipments since the company began to build
pianos twenty-seven years ago, was a pleas-
ant result of wise methods of production and
presentation.
* * *
Reports like that of the Jesse French & Sons
Piano Co., New Castle, Ind., made this week
are pleasantly significant of the marked im-
provement in piano selling conditions. Accord-
ing to Mr. H. Edgar French, president and
general manager, "Orders have increased so
rapidly that we were not able to make ship-
ments of orders by one-third. This has caused
us to keep the plant running two nights a
week and take on additional help in all de-
partments. Since the first of September the
number of orders has been even greater and
if business continues at the present rate, our
shipments for 1927 will be several hundred
ahead of 1926."
* * *
Our contemporary, The Music Trade Indi-
cator, prints a very interesting "Short His-
tory of the Music Trade Press," with some
comment on future probabilities, in alluding
to foreign journals it says, "Germany puts
forth the 'Zeitschrift fitr Instrumentenbau,'
which has always been a high-grade publica-
tion, and has somehow managed to survive the
Great War." The wrong inference possibly
may be taken in reading the latter portion of
the statement. The appearance of the journal
does not denote any struggle to exist. As an
evidence of prosperity the ads in the German
journal are greater in number than those of all
the American music trade journals combined.
* * *
The promoters of the piano contest in Bal-
timore have sent out an S. O. S. call for judges
and anxiously await responses. There is an
unpleasant possibility that the volunteers will
be insufficient to fill the requirements. The
circumstance points to the admirable lesson
of the Piano Club of Chicago which super-
vised the operation of the contest in that city
last June. The club undertook the responsi-
bility for the proper carrying out of the pre-
liminary tests in schools and halls. Its func-
tion was to supply volunteer ushers as well as
to see that the attendance of judges was a
certainty.
* * *
Mr. Frank Weiser, representative of the
Wickham Piano Plate Co., Springfield, O., re-
called a pleasant coincidence in talking to a
group at the Piano Club luncheon in Chicago
this week. At a luncheon about three months
ago he gave an approximate estimate of the
piano plate production for 1927. From the
improvement of business of his own company
and good reports from other manufacturers,
he said he has now raised his former estimate
10 per cent, with a possibility of an additional
raise of 5 per cent if shipments keep increas-
ing at the present rate.
* * *
The Packard Music House, Ft. Wayne, Ind.,
carries a general music goods stock which it
advertises in a practical manner. Its latest
scheme is the offer of free lessons on any in-
strument. Lessons on the piano are included
in the courses and the announcement states
that "no piano is needed" to take advantage
of them. The house is most practical when
it states: "The piano is the basic instrument.
Every child should learn to play the piano
first, regardless of what instrument is to be
taken up later on."
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