Presto

P R E S T 0-T I M E S
STEINWAY STRENGTH SUSTAINS
PIANO PRICES
(Continued from page 3.)
Shackleton Piano Company, Louisville, Ky.—"Our
Steinway business is considerably ahead of last year.
"The piano volume of our business is two hundred
per cent greater now than last year.
"Sheet music volume is eighty-two per cent greater.
"The outlook is excellent."
Edmund Gram, Milwaukee, Wis.—"Our sales of
new Steinway Pianos from January 1st to April 1st
of this year were more than double those of the cor-
responding period last year.
"Indications for the balance of this year, as far
as Steinway sales are concerned, are very favorable.
"It is safe to say that total Steinway business with
us at the end of this year will have a very material
improvement over 1933."
C. W. Lindsay & Co., Limited, Montreal, Quebec—
"Our Steinway piano sales are just about the same
as they were at this time a year ago."
Voicing the sentiments expressed in the communi-
cations quoted above, Presto-Times inquiries in the
trade generally indicate that the piano business is re-
covering and emphasizes the thought conveyed in
that expression, "As goes the Steinway, so goes the
piano business."
ALL BRANCHES OF MUSIC GET IMPETUS
At Music Supervisors' National Conference
The National Conference of Music Supervisors
which met at the Stevens Hotel in April, was a get-
together of a large, enthusiastic and to a considerable
extent, self-sacrificing group of musical educators
and students from all over the country, for the pur-
pose of studying how to bring musical expression into
the life of the nation.
Wholeheartedness in the demonstrations of their
interests, these participants, majority of whom came at
considerable expense and in many cases loss of in-
come during their absence.
The manifold interests in musical education and
culture were unlimited in scope.
The Exhibits
Practically the entire fifth floor of the Stevens Hotel
was given over to the exhibits which formed an im-
portant part of the Convention and which were visited
liberally by the delegates and visitors. The publishers
occupied more than half of the space, there being
something like thirty-live exhibits of this class. The
band and orchestral instrument manufacturers were
there with more than a dozen units as listed in the
catalog, several of which were divisions of some other
interests like, for instance, the several concerns identi-
fied directly or indirectly with the Conn industry, and
also a notable exhibit was that of the York Band In-
strument Co., in charge of Karl B. Shinkman, vice-
president, ably assisted by Mrs. Shinkman. This ex-
hibit particularly attracted attention of those who
came to the Conference in the interest of selection of
hand instruments for high schools.
There was one reed organ exhibit, that of the Estey
Organ Corporation, and one piano exhibit, the W. W.
Kimball Company. However, there were several other
pianos with exhibitors for use in trying out music,
etc., and a Steinway grand was at the National Broad-
casting Studio Company and others used at the con-
certs given at the Auditorium and elsewhere and the
Charles Frederick Stein piano was used in connec-
tion with several of the publishers' exhibits. An in-
teresting spectacle was during the demonstration of
piano class instruction where six Kimball grands were
played ensemble by children ranging from three to
twelve, thirteen and fourteen years of age. This was
an interesting exhibition.
The balance of the exhibits, numbering a score or
more, were made up of educationcal, entertainment,
teachers and other agencies, college and sorority ex-
hibits, class instruction systems and miscellaneous
interests attractive to educators.
The management of the conference made the fol-
lowing acknowledgment relating to exhibits:
Kimball Piano Company, for pianos, for the Super-
visors' Chorus and piano class demonstration; Lyon
& Healy, Inc., for pianos (Steinway) used in Audi-
torium Theater concerts and rehearsal halls; Jenkins
Music Company, Kansas City, Mo., for the loan of
violins used in the Elementary Instrumental Section
demonstration.
The following schools were cited for scholarships
awarded to high school solo singing contests:
The Eastman School of Music, the New England
Conservatory of Music, The Institute of Musical Art
of the Juilliard School of Music, the Cincinnati Con-
servatory of Music, and the Denver College of Music.
ONE AMONG HUNDREDS
"Please let me know if I can get a 'Presto-Times
Buyers' Guide,' paper cover. I have used the book
several years but have not had a new copy recently.
The last one I have is somewhat out of date."
April-May, 1934
BALDWIN ANNUAL REPORT SHOWS LARGE
INCREASE IN VOLUME
The Annual Report of the stockholders of The
Baldwin Piano Company, submitted by President
Lucien Wulsin at the annual meeting held the first
week in April at Cincinnati, Ohio, is a communication
of unusual interest to the trade at large as well as
to the stockholders to whom it is addressed.
This report shows a total volume of business done
by the Baldwin Company and its subsidiary companies
for the year 1933, exclusive of small goods, to be
$3,070,194.59, which amount is a reduction of eight
per cent as compared with the year 1932.
The funded debt of the company was materially re-
duced in 1933 through the operations of the regular
requirement division and through the purchase of
notes in the open market. Nine hundred and ninety-
nine shares of preferred stock of the company were
purchased during the year at the market price and
are now carried in the treasury of the company. The
reduction of the funded debt is $57,000. President
Wulsin's report continues:
The indications of an increased demand for pianos
reported to you in my last Annual Report have been
borne out by the figures for shipments of new pianos
during 1933 by the whole industry, which show an in-
crease of 23 per cent in the year 1933 over the year
1932. The shipments of new pianos from our own
factories have been in line with this increase. There
has also been a marked decrease in the number of
instruments that have had to be taken back from pur-
chasers because of inability to continue their pay-
ments.
On the other hand, in spite of increased labor costs,
due to increases in wages and to the provisions of
the Piano Manufacturing Code which was approved
by the President of the United States on November 7,
1933, and in spite of heavy increases in the cost of
lumber, iron, copper and other raw materials entering
into the manufacture of the piano, little, if any, in-
crease in the sale prices of our products has been
possible. A continuance of this situation, with steadily
increasing costs of materials and labor, through modi-
fications of the Code or otherwise, without compen-
sating increases in the sale price of the finished prod-
uct, would prove a major hindrance to profitable
operations, which seem to be under way.
During the past year, the quality of our products
has been consistently improved, despite increased costs
of material and labor. Our workmen are skilled and
experienced. Our testing and inspection requirements
are more rigorous. Our experimental and research
departments have been continuously maintained. Our
plants and equipment are in excellent condition. Our
factory inventories, purchased at prices less than pres-
ent market, are adequate to meet the increasing de-
mand for good pianos.
The progress that has been made in our operations
in the past few years, is largely due to the faithful-
ness and loyalty of our employees. This applies to
our men in the factories, to our salesmen, to our deal-
ers and to our many employees all over the country.
It has been a hard period of several years. We have
had to adapt our organization to the greatly reduced
volume of available business. The result is, however,
an organization flexible, elastic and capable of taking
advantage of its opportunities.
The officers and directors of The Baldwin Company
are:
Officers
Lucien Wulsin, President and Treasurer.
J. P. Thornton, Vice-President.
A. J. Schoenberger, Secretary.
W. H. Smith, Assistant Treasurer.
C. W. Fessler, Assistant Secretary.
Directors
Lucien Wulsin, Cincinnati.
J. P. Thornton, Cincinnati.
H. C. Dickinson, Chicago.
Wm. J. Rielly, Cincinnati.
Philip Wyman, Cincinnati.
The general offices and headquarters of the com-
pany are at Gilbert Avenue and Eden Park Entrance,
Cincinnati, Ohio; the cable address, "Baldwinco,
Cincinnati."
The subsidiary companies of the Baldwin Company
are:
The Baldwin Piano Company, Cincinnati.
The Baldwin Piano Mfg. Company, Cincinnati.
The Ellington Piano Company, Cincinnati.
The Howard Piano Company, Cincinnati.
The Hamilton Piano Companv, Chicago Heights
111.
"
'
The Monarch Piano Company, Chicago.
The balance sheet, as at the close of the year 1933,
shows:
Assets
Cash and U. S. Government securities. . .$1,392,186.45
Notes and Accounts Receivable
2,410,433.00
Inventories
1,608,909.73
Total
$5,411,539.18
Plant and equipment:
Real Estate and Buildings.$1,079,163.00
Machinery and Equipment
991,820.70
2,070,983.70
24,871.20
9,026.78
Other assets
Deferred Charges to Future Operations.
Total Assets
$7,516,420.86
Liabilities
Accounts payable
$
Accrued Expenses (Taxes, Wages and
Interest)
Funded Debt:
(Gold notes due January 1, 1934 $205,-
000; less in Treasury $195,000)
92,354.87
82,461.99
10,000.00
Total current Liabilities
$ 184,816.86
Deferred Credits
99,960.19
Reserves (Including reserves for Depre-
ciation)
1,723,825.80
Funded Debt:
(Gold notes $1,975,000.00; less in Treas-
ury $1,015,500)
959,500.00
Capital Stock:
Preferred ....$2,232,700.00
Less: in Treas-
ury
364,600.00
•» ••
Common
Surplus:
Capital
Earned
$1,868,100.00
1,070,292.80
2,938,392.80
273,872.00
1,336,053.21
1 609,925.21
Total Liabilities and Capital
$7,516,420.86
The analysis of surplus accounts up to Dec 31
1933. shows:
Net Balance to Dec. 31. 1933
$1,609,925.21
Capital surplus
273,872.00
Earned surplus
$l,336,053.2i
BALDWIN PRESTIGE AT INDIANAPOLIS
The Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music, Indian-
apolis, Indiana, has sixty-three Baldwin pianos in its
school, most of them being in use from morning till
night and beside this most of the teachers of the
school have Baldwin pianos at their homes and special
studios. The Arthur Jordan Conservatory Choir of
mixed voices presented several exceedingly interest-
ing programs during the Music Supervisors' National
Conference recently held in Chicago. Several late
compositions by Clarence Loomis who is at the head
of the Composition Department and has the chorus
work at the Conservatory, were on the program. Mr.
Loomis is a pupil of Leopold Godowsky and, by the
way, the head of the Piano Department of the school;
Bomar Cramer is a pupil of Josef Lhevinne.
Ignace Strasfogel, pianist, who is taking a prom-
inent position in concert work and who comes from
Berlin, Germany, has been using the Baldwin in a
series of recitals at Indianapolis. The Wilking Music
Company evidently is keeping the Baldwin well to
the front in the territory covered by the Baldwin
agency.
These are merely incidental references to the
prominence of the Baldwin line in and about Indian-
apolis as carried on by the Wilking Music Company.
"BUD" FISHER IS STILL LIVING
An inquiry comes to PRESTO-TIMES asking if
the late A. W. Fisher, artist and cartoonist, who died
some weeks ago in New York, was the well known
artist and son of A. H. Fisher who years ago traveled
for the W. W. Kimball Company and whose specialty
was whipping Kimball dealers into greater activity
and clubbing the recalcitrant ones.
Cartoonist "Bud" Fisher, son of A. H. Fisher Kim-
ball traveler, is still alive and his famous comic strip
Mutt and Jeff" is still a well known feature and is
carried by several newspapers. His father, A. H.
Fisher, died several years ago but before he'left the
W. W. Kimball Company his methods were very
much mollified as well as modified.
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