MUSICAL
TIMES
PRESTO
Established
1881
Established
1884
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
10 Cents a Copy
CHICAGO, SATURDAY, MAY 5, 1928
$2 The Year
presided, included Hermann Irion, president of the
Music Industries Chamber of Commerce; C. J.
Roberts, president of the National Association of
Music Merchants, and the Rev. Hubert Woods, well-
known minister and speaker.
President Roberts' Plea.
'"We want a large membership in the national
association," said Mr. Roberts. "Every reputable
executive in the retail field should be a member. It
means something worth while to be a member in
good standing in the National Association of Music
Merchants, and we must make that advantage more
and more valuab'e as time goes on. If we maintain
our high ideals the situation will, in a large measure,
take care of itself."
Tribute to Trade Press.
Continuing, Mr. Roberts said: "No industry ever
had finer, more generous or whole-hearted support
than has been accorded us by our magnificent and
loyal trade press. There has been a question of our
going to the trade press to ask support or co-
operation; to the contrary, the fullest co-operation
has been offered us on all possible occasions. I re-
gard the executives of our trade press as full-fledged
members of our industry, and intend to propose that
they be made honorary members of the merchants'
association in consideration of their distinguished
services to our association and to our industry."
J. MILTON DELCAMP
WITH MASON & HAMLIN
NEW YORK STATE
ASSOCIATION MEETS
Music Trade of Empire State Well Repre-
sented at Convention in Syracuse This
Week, at Which Notable Men Spoke
and New Officers Were Elected.
WELCOMED BY MAYOR
Tuesday Luncheon at Hotel Syracuse, Which For-
mally Opened Convention, Evokes the Spirit
Which Has Caused the Association to Grow.
The New York State Music Merchants' Association
held its annual convention at the Hotel Syracuse,
Syracuse, on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week,
May 1 and 2. The convention was opened with a
luncheon on Tuesday, followed by the first business
Suggests a Keynote.
Hermann Iricn, president of the Music Industries
Chamber of Commerce, said he has been a piano
man for the greater portion of his business life and,
in his judgment, it is a fine and good business and
added: "The more we music trade men meet and
learn to know each other, the better and finer we
can make it." It was suggestive of a keynote,
"Bigger and Better Music Business," a thought
which lie said was uppermost in our minds at this
time.
HERMANN IRION.
session. The annual banquet on Tuesday evening
was a leading event of the gathering, at which prom-
inent men were speakers, and other features were
provided.
The delegates to the New York State Music Mer-
chants' Association were formally welcomed to Syra-
cuse by Mayor Hanna at the Tuesday noon luncheon
at the Hotel Syracuse. Edward R. Weeks of Bing-
hamton responded for the association.
Prominent Men Heard.
Many notable addresses w r ere made at the business
session which opened immediately following the noon-
day luncheon. Included in the list were Harold L.
Butler, dean of the College of Fine Arts of Syracuse
University, who talked on "Encouraging Piano In-
struction in the Schools"; Delbert L. Loonris, execu-
tive secretary of the National Association of Music
Merchants, whose topic was "Tax Matters and Other
Activities of the National Association"; Samuel Wein-
stein, prominent attorney of New York, "The Condi-
tional Sa'es Law and Some of Its Peculiarities"; P. A.
Ware, merchandising manager of the Atwater Kent
Mfg. Co., "Radio Merchandising in the Music Store";
E. C. Roykin, executive secretary of the Sales Promo-
tion Committee of the National Piano Manufacturers'
Association, "What We Are Doing to Promote the
Piano," and Corley Gibson, president of the Auto-
piano Co., "The Player-Piano Situation."
At the Banquet.
The speakers at the banquet on Tuesday night, at
which S. H. Morecroft, president of the association,
MR. 1RION'S ADDRESS.
Now, I shall not take upon myself to tell you
how to conduct your business. I probably would
not know how you would justly resent it if I did.
As far as I know there is no hard and fast rule
anyway. Business ability, like every other human
attribute, is based upon a certain amount of talent.
Some possess it in a large degree, while others have
only a small amount. Most of us possess a certain
quantity and our achievements in business may well
be measured by how much or how little of this price-
less endowment may be ours. So we must each of
us plow and sow and reap according to our own
lights. That illustrates the individual side of our life
in business, hut there is another which has come to
be recognized more and more as industry has become
distinctly specialized and grouped, and as competi-
tion has turned group against group rather than
operating within the various groups.
Need of Association.
That other side is the collective or associated way
of conducting our business, or rather of bringing our
industry together in an assoc'ation in order that our
combined minds and talents may be welded into a
powerful agency for the furtherance of our common
interests. Such associations are by no means new in
business.
The New Day.
Our own music industry has been somewhat slow
in recognizing the undoubted value of a trade asso-
ciation—but that it is becoming more popularly under-
stood among music merchants and manufacturers is
shown by your presence here in Syracuse for two
days, during which it is your purpose to discuss the
problems confronting you in order to find ways and
means to overcome difficulties and to improve condi-
tions wherever possible.
The Individual Viewpoint.
Just as there are matters in your business which
only the individual can solve for himself, just so
there are obstacles which can only be mastered by the
joint powers of an association which can study a
question from its various angles and apply its unified
strength at the most advantageous point. One of
these important questions is that of legislation affect-
ing an industry. It is quite remarkable when you
reflect how long it has taken the average business man
to realize how important it is for him to play his
Prominent Figure in Music Industry Elected
to Office of Vice-President at
Recent Meeting.
J. Milton Delcamp, vice-president of the Ampico
Corporation, New York, assumed his duties at the
Boston factory on May 1. This announcement was
made by (ieorge Urquhart, president of the American
Piano Company, at his office in the Ampico Tower,
Fifth avenue, New York, early in the week.
Mr. Delcamp is one of the best known figures in
the piano industry. For many years he was mainly
identified with music roll production. He has estab-
lished and successfully maintained a reputation for
being that unusual combination—an artist and a busi-
ness'man. His association with the American Piano
Company is one of several years' duration. Last year
he was elected vice-president of the Ampico Corpora-
tion and placed in charge of all Ampico activities.
The progressive program planned by the American
Piano Company for the Ampico naturally closely
affects the Mason & llamlin, as well as other divi-
s'ons of the company. Mr. Delcamp retains his offi-
cial position as an officer of the Ampico Corporation
and will continue to act in an adxisory capacity in
Ampico promotion.
part in determining the trend of government. He
cannot, however, do it alone or single handed.
Duty Is Plain.
After having placed his representative in office, it
behooves him to guide him by correct and impartial
information so that the laws that are placed upon our
statute books will accomplish their proper purpose.
But such guidance can on'y be offered through an
association of men who can assure our law-making
bodies that the question at issue has been duly con-
sidered and the determination arrived at as the con-
clusion of a majority or a unanimity of the parties at
interest. Such constructive work was accomplished
by the legislative committee of our Chamber of Com-
merce in obtaining the repeal of the tax on musical
instruments, in its argument on the copyright ques-
tion, which seriously affects the phonograph industry,
and its still undetermined light for the repeal of a
treasury decision affecting retroactive taxation on
installment sales returns under certain conditions
which at one time were allowed under the federal
income tax statutes.
And this brings me back to my original theme,
"Bigger and Better Music Business," which I men-
tioned in the beginning, and I shall try to tell you
what our chamber is doing to bring that about.
The Chamber's Part.
Most of us probably do not realize that until within
comparatively recent years the music industry, as
such, did practically nothing to foster the deve'op-
ment of musical culture in our country. Business
was going along pretty weil and pianos could be
sold even if no one in the family was able to play
They were a desirable parlor decoration. Talking
machines were a novelty and furnished amusement and
pleasure in the home, and the demand for many years
easily kept pace with the constantly growing produc-
t'on. As long as this condition of affairs continued,
what was the use of bothering?
A Halt to Things.
Rut, unfortunately, a halt came. A great many
other industries poured their wares upon the market
and diverted the consumers' attention from our lines
and we came face to face with the realization that
we would have to bestir ourselves or be content with
what the other fellow was pleased to leave us. It
was about at this juncture when our chamber, sensing
this condition, organized its Bureau for the Advance-
ment of Music under the guidance of Mr. C. M.
Tremaine, and our industry has since then, and
through that means alone, assumed a definite and
leading part in the development of musical study
and culture in our country.
I am sketching the history of this achievement in
rough outlines because the details at this time are
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