April, 1930
P R E S T O-T I M E S
ISSUED THE
FIFTEENTH IN EACH
MONTH
FRANK D. ABBOTT
PRESTO PUBLISHING CO.
Publishers
417 So. Dearborn St.
Chicago, III.
The American Music Trade Journal
Editor
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 0234.
Private Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Com-
mercial Cable Co.'s Code), "PRESTO," Chicago.
Entered as second-class matter Jan 29 1896,.at the
Post Office, Chicago, 111., under Act of March 3, 187».
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$3.00. Payable in advance. No extra charge in Umted
States possessions, Cuba and Mexico. Rates for adver-
tising on application.
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if of
general interest to the music trade will be paid for at
space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen in the
smaller cities are the best occasional correspondents, and
their assistance is invited.
Payment is not accepted for matter printed in the edi-
torial or news columns of Presto-Times.
Where half-tones are made the actual cost of produc-
tion will be charged if of commercial character or other
than strictly news interest.
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Address all communications for the editorial or business
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Dearborn Street. Chicago, III.
The last form of Presto-Times goes to press at 11 a. m.
three days preceding- publication day. Any news trans-
piring after that hour cannot be expected in the current
issue. Nothing received at the office that is not strictly
news of importance can have attention after 9 a. m. of
that date. If they concern the interests of manufactur-
ers or dealers such items will appear the issue following.
CHICAGO, APRIL, 1930
PRESTO=TIMES SERVICE BUREAU
Presto-Times carries on a Service Department
which is open and free for advice and information to
its readers, patrons, friends and anyone interested,
concerning manufacturers in the music industries, their
capacity for production and estimates of their prod-
ucts, so far as such information is obtainable and
available.
For many years this paper has tendered its services
toward aiding individuals and firms in various ways;
in business associations, in certain line of purchases,
agency and distributor connections, and various con-
fidential angles that often arise in "getting together."
Presto-Times is often in a position to render appre-
ciable service of direct advantage to the parties con-
cerned, something we are always ready and glad to do.
This service is voluntarily offered, having in view
the mutual advantage to principal and agent and, vice
versa, to agent and principal, holding all communica-
tions and relations in the strictest confidence.
Commercial Service of
Presto Publishing Company,
417 S. Dearborn St., Chicago.
PIANO IS HERE TO
STAY, SAYS C. D. BOND
Superintendent of Weaver Piano Co. Tells Tuners
a Million Children Play It.
Presto-Times here presents excerpts from a talk
given on March 19 at the annual banquet of the
National Association of Piano Tuners, Pennsylvania
Division, in Philadelphia, by C. D. Pond, superintend-
ent of the Weaver Piano Co., York, Pa.:
"Time and again we have tried to impress the tuner
with the opportunity and the advantages he would
have if he added to his present work the sale of
pianos. The tuner is the one who has a logical rea-
son to get into the home and who has intimate
knowledge of the condition of the present instrument
( .in that home, and in his work he finds plenty of
"opportunity to pick up prospects among present own-
ers of pianos, and also pick up prospects among their
friends; and the tuner who does not take advantage
of this kind of an opportunity is missing the chance
of adding income and of service to his customers.
"Over 1,000,000 children in the United States are
now taking piano lessons. Yours should be among
them. 'The Richest Child Is Poor Without Musical
Training.'
"The praise of your children after they grow up
will sound good to you if you give them the ad-
vantages that will come to them with their ability
to produce music, and you will be proud of your
children and will rejoice that you gave them the
chance to enrich their lives.
"The piano, being a fundamental musical instru-
ment, is here to stay. It has had its ups and downs,
it has met competition, prophets without number
have foretold its downfall time after time; but as
long as the world needs music, and as long as there
is nothing in the musical line to take its place, you
need have no fear of your future. There are more
children than ever taking lessons today. Piano in-
struction is being made easier. The world is becom-
ing more musical and the desire to produce music is
increasing; and in the face of these conditions, we
can surely face the future with a great deal of con-
fidence.
"I want to tell you how much I enjoy being with
you and I hope that it will be the means of all of
you enjoying greater prosperity in the future and of
adding to your value in the community."
DEALERS' ACTIVITY IMPORTANT
At the recent gathering of the executives, stockholders and friends of C. G. Conn, Ltd.,
in Elkhart, Ind., President C. D. Greenleaf of that corporation, in speaking of the causes of
the decline in piano and talking machine trade, disclosed an intimate knowledge of trade con-
ditions as they are. He seems to thoroughly understand the whole situation. Although his
corporation has opened branch stores in some places where there were no regularly established
dealers, he expressed a preference for placing agencies with dealers wherever possible, for, he
said, that dealers generally are still active and their business is important. The company is
cooperating with all such dealers and aids them in every possible way to expand their business.
Presto-Times commends the clear-sightedness, sagacity and wisdom of Mr. Greenleaf in
his position and views. The indestructible energies of the people of the United States can
be counted on for a multitude of new activities during this year. There is no other country
under the sun where human desires are rationalized and a higher mode of living provided for
and adopted as promptly as in this good, old U. S. A. By the dissemination of knowledge, by
ideas, by publicity, the American merchant attains the goal of success. Manners, customs,
types of thought, standards of the old world are but a minor part of his concern, for he does
not seek the fulfillment of dreams impossible of execution.
Familiar with the bewildering rapidity of the changes that occur in a country like this,
nothing startles him out of a year's growth. When a new situation stares into his face,
frowning at him, he corrects his anticipations and figures out a future career by dispelling
all doubtful questions through the answer that comes with practical decision. He finds the
solution of his difficulties in working his territory more thoroughly.
* * * *
MUSIC MAKES BETTER CITIZENS
Music as a deterrent of crime and a character builder is a plan that deals with experi-
ence. The postulate of Frank J. Loesch, of Hoover's National Crime Committee, that a boy
who plays a horn is not the same lad who wants a "gat" is an assertion as true as it is
world-wide. Music and hoodlumism travel in opposite directions. Every child is entitled
to the life which enables the mind to make proper use of the modern world and all its oppor-
tunities. An enlarged mind holds a great deal, and it is not by the dearth but by the plethora
of ideas that the mind develops. The easy comradeships of the gang are more than random
intrusions from without; if they do no worse, they lead to the dissipation of much excellent
energy. How to swing the boys away from hoodlum influence is one of the practical demands
of society, w r hich is always interested in the formation of the citizen. One of the methods
to accomplish this desirable purpose is to point out to them the advantage, convenience and
gain to be derived from the study of music and the playing of musical instruments.
THE PIANO AND CULTURE
It requires science to draw the scales for a piano, to build a piano, and scientific skill to
play a piano; so here can be found no cause to cripple esthetic culture for the sake of science.
Real culture lives by sympathies and admirations. It calls for skill, tact, unobtrusiveness
and the practices of the amenities of life. It is hard to give a definition of culture rigorous
enough for a geometrician. However, a piano in a home is one of the main factors in con-
tributing culture to the family by which it is used. It breaks the ice at an over-formal party;
it adds embellishment to any occasion; it enlarges the capability of pleasure; it speaks a
language of its own and brings to the intelligent listener a flood of ideas that he is never
able to express in words. It awakens undeveloped susceptibilities, giving impetus to the
progress of natural knowledge and uplifts the individual to united contributions of thought and
feeling. No other instrument or musical device can take its place.
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STIMULATING PIANO MANUFACTURE
Concerning the present status of the American Piano Co., about which more or less com-
ment has been fluctuating and vibrating pro and con, the most progressive and business-like
minds in the trade are trusting that the reorganization of the big corporation will be con-
summated and its activities re-stimulated by ample capital. All responsible and far-sighted
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