Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
REVIEW
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
President, C L. Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Vice-President, J. B. Spillane,
373 Fourth Ave., New York; Second Vice-President, J. Raymond Bill, 373 Fourth Ave.,
New York; Secretary and Treasurer, August J. Timpe, 373 Fourth Ave., New York.
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
i;
J. RAYMOND BILL, Associate Editor
AUGUST J. TIMPE
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and
' Departments conducted'by an expert wherein all ques-
dUU
t ; o n s o f a technical nature relating to the tuning, regu-
n^naptmontc
lating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos are
V e p d l IlllClllb. d ea i t w ; t h, w fii be found in another section of this
paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information concerning
which will be cheerfully given upon request.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
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NEW
YORK, AUGUST
18,
1917
EDITORIAL
throughout the country is reported as being in good
B USINESS
shape, and this simple statement is a far greater tribute to the
spirit of American business men than is apparent on the surface. If
there has ever been an excuse for the average business man to lay
down and quit it has been during the ponderings of Congress since
the declaration of war. The business man has been called upon to
lead a life of uncertainty while a flock of "statesmen" held out for
appropriations to deepen mud creeks and thereby held out for their
own insignficant jobs, regardless of whether or not the life of the
country was at stake.
We have seen Congress make a muddle of practically every
piece of legislation regarding the war that has come before it. We
have seen demagogues take the floor of Congress and howl that
business must pay for the war and then in their political selfishness
or plain stupidity turn around and endeavor to throttle business so
that it could not procure the profits that were required to finance the
conflict. While Congress has been running around in circles, each
Congressman with his own little axe to grind, with each member ap-
parently putting the insignificant interests of his own particular
district before the interests of the country as a whole, the business
man has been called upon to keep going and plan for the future
without knowing what was going to happen.
Of course things will be straightened out in time. Business
men have kept cool to a surprising degree, in the belief that Congress
would be forced out of its rut and that legislation would be framed
that, while protecting the country and its resources, would at the
same time be of a character that would enable business to thrive
and thereby produce for the prosperity of the nation.
It has been a hard experience, however, and that the business
of the nation has kept going and will be kept going in spite of the
lack of confidence in the legislative branch of the Government that
has developed, is something to be proud of. It leads one to believe
that when the powers that be ultimately find themselves, general
prosperity will obtain.
HIS appears to have been the year for association activities and
T
trade organizations in every branch of the industry have without
exception not only accomplished more real work than ever before,
but have mapped out campaigns that, barring failure, will make for
greater association activity and effectiveness in the years to come.
The American Guild of Piano Tuners, or as it is now called, the
National Association of Piano Tuners, at the convention in Cincin-
nati last week, proved no exception, and the action taken on the ques-
tion of technical education alone made the meeting well worth while.
The subject of technical education, and particularly the train-
ing of tuners, is one that is not confined to the tuners themselves,
but affects every branch of the piano trade, and its solution can
best be reached by a joining of interests through committees to
study the problem.
The piano manufacturer cannot send an instrument from his
factory unless it is tuned, regardless of the value of the material
or labor that has entered into its manufacture. The dealer on his
part cannot sell a piano unless it has been tuned. In other words,
without tuning a piano represents just so much wood, metal and
felt. With something over 300,000 pianos being placed on the
market each year and added to those already in use, it will be seen
that there must be some plan for educating and training tuners to
take care of such instruments.
The tuning profession must be developed to a point where it
will offer an inducement to the ambitious young man. At the
present time he has to spend several years in study and practice
before he can be considered really competent. He must have a fair
degree of intelligence, to appreciate the whys and wherefore of his
profession and likewise have an ear acute enough to distinguish tone
accurately. When he is finally adjudged competent, he is enabled to
command a salary that compares favorably with that of a truckman
or a trolley motorman.
There are, of course, many tuners who, through personal efforts
and independent work, have built up substantial annual incomes, but
the problem is not alone to provide the proper training for the
young man who desires to enter the profession, but to be able to
offer him some assurance that whether he works on salary or works
independently, he may expect to receive, ultimately, a remuneration
in proportion to the amount of study and practice that he is called
upon to give.
It would seem that the trade, as a whole, has a new realiza-
tion of its obligations, and it will not be so hard for manufac-
turers, merchants or tuners to get together to formulate some
definite and workable plan for increasing and maintaining a supply
of competent tuners. A proper supply of experienced tuners means
the ultimate elimination of the faker, for he profits now simply
through lack of competition from men who know their business.
to a report issued by the Committee on Statistics
A CCORDING
and Standards of the Chamber of Commerce of the United
States, the promises are J or unusually bountiful crops this year,
which should provide sufficient food not only to feed this country
without stint, but to provide for the requirements of our allies in
the war. "A most encouraging and significant feature of the situa-
tion," says the report in part, "is the general confidence of the busi
ness world in the future, the large volume of business, and the
generally sustained conduct of commercial activity in the midst
of war's alarm, and a future which is beyond any man's ken."
The report goes on to say that statements regarding a possible short-
age of food are merely the work of alarmists and have little basis
of fact.
With crops plentiful and high prices prevailing, there will be
prosperity not only for the farmer, but for the hosts of those who
are known as middlemen, and consequently for merchants in every
line. The prosperity of the farmer is the basis of all good business.
It is the money from the agricultural sections that either directly
or through various channels finds its way into the coffers of the
piano man, and the report of the Chamber of Commerce, there-
fore, should serve to give the members of this trade full confidence
in the future, although, be it said, that confidence in future busi-
ness has not been lacking, the lack of confidence being in the
ability to produce sufficient to meet the demands.
Success in advertising, as in business, is not of mushroom
growth—it must be worked for and waited for.