Music Trade Review

J UNE
~ TtIE
21, 1919
41
MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
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WHY NO.T AMERICAN SUPPLIES FOR AMERICAN PIANOS?
Not Only for To-day but Hereafter-Some Very Pertinent Remarks by Karleton Hackett on This
Subject in The Chicago Evening Post, Based Upon a Talk With Prominent Piano Men
Discussing the recent conventions Karle ton
Hackett gave ven t to so me views in the Chi­
cago Evenin g Post on the quality of the men
who were present, and the importance of the
music trade industry as a whole. Mr. Ha ckett
evidently got into con tact with a crowd of piano
men at the Congress Hotel who were discuss­
ing a number of topics of gene ral interest. He
said:
"They were talking of the unr est in the labor
world and not as a n expression of bolshevik
madness whic h was to be put down w ith the
strong hand, but as the outgrowth of conditions
wl~j:~'\i l must be understo od and somehow rem e·
died.
O ne of the big m e n of the Am erica n
Steel & \.\T ire Co. was prese nt who had some
very practical id eas o n the subject drawn from
the exp erience of his business.
"His notion was that the spe cialization in the
modern factor y was to a great extent the root
of th e trouble . The w orkman learned to do
one thing with skill, but it became unbelie va bl y
mon otonous, esp eciall y s inc e he had no notion
or the use to which hi s product was to be put .
Inst ead of his bein g a conscio us link in the chain
at productivity, und ersta nding the va lu e of his
s kill and its essential part of the who le, he was
becoming a d e ta ched cog with no know ledge of
the inter-relation of his fun ctio n and no inter­
est in hi s output after it le ft his hands.
"There is nothing more monotonous than
drawing wire ," he said, "though it demands a
very hig'h degree o f 'mechan ical dficiency . Now
we sup ply about 75 per cent. of all the piano
\\ire used in America, and it struck me that it
would be a migh ty good scheme to s how these
RUBBER BELLOWS CLOTH OF EVERY DESCRIPTION
OUR SPECIALTIES
Rubber Cloths and Tubing
For Automatic Pianos and Plano-Players
L. J. MUTTY CO.
BOSTON. MASS.
ReIer all Inquiries to Dept. X
men just whe re their wire was to go and the
imp o rtance it had in making the piano.
'vVe
br ought up a numb er of different inst ruments
and gave th em prac tic a l demonstrations. This
linked them ri g ht up with the virtuoso on the
conc ert stage and with the children in the home
just learnin g the rudiments.
It made a most
nGticeable difference in the output of the fac­
tory, a difference which the office could figure
out in dollars and ce nt s; be cause it gave a man
direction through making him feel that he was
an essential part of a complex w hol e.
"] t got them int eres ted, too, ill buying pianos
for their own homes, and our experience at our
mills is that ther e is nothing wh ich so makes
for th e s tability of the home as a good instru­
ment. It was amusing to lea rn from the piano
me r c hant s in the to wn of the manner in which
th e m e n exami ned the wire in the pia nos th ey
lea k ed at. They wer e not concerned alon e abou t
the name of th e mak e r on th e fall board, but
tbey wanted to see the wire with their own
eyes . Th ey knew wi re, and if the maker had
used the righ t so rt they wer e willing to' be~
li eve that the rest of th e instrument had been
made with equ al car e, but an instrument with a
poor g rade of wire had no more chance in that
town than the fabled sno",,,ball in the warm here­
after."
Did you reali ze that one of the most famous
makes of piano, one which you kn ow perfectly
we ll as the standard for twen ty-five years, has
u se d n o thin g but American-made wire? We
have be e n bro ught up on th e idea that only Ger­
man y could produce the required grade for the
cc'n ce rt grand, and, alas, too maliy of the retail
sa lesmen , knowing our little weakness, have as­
sured us that their instrument wa s strung with
imported wir e.
B ut , as a matt e r of fact, the
concert grand which you have learned to rec­
ognize as the standard, has bee n strung with
American wire for nearly a full generation-and
thi s be cau se the American wire was the b es t.
-PIANO &PLAYER
HARDWARE, FELTS &TOOLS
ASK FOR CATALOGUE NO. 178
PHONOGRAPH
• •
• •
CABINET
••
• •
HARDWARE
ASK FOR CATALOGUE NO. 179
Let us quote on your "SpeCial" Parts-we have excel­
lent facilities for making all manner of Turnings.
Stampings. Small Castings. Wire Goods. Etc.
HAMMACHER, SCHLEMMER & CO.
SINCE 1848
4th AVE. and 13th ST NEW YORK
Tt will probab ly take ano t lle r ge nerati on before
the ge neral public will have learned the fact,
but talk with some of the big men of th e trade
a nd you will Jearn many interestin g and va lu­
able things which will give one a better under­
standing of th e indu s try.
The American-made piano is now the stand­
ard, and this means ju st w hat it says.
The
piano is mad e from mat e ri a ls all of which are
manufactured here in America, and they are th e
bes t that exist. There are some points, esp e­
cia ll y con cernin g" th e felts, on which there is
s till the possibility of improvement, and the
laboratories ar e working night and day to finish
the job.
But just the mo ment th e treaty of peac e ha s
been actuall y signed and the business world b e·
gins to r ellH j~; st itself to normal , the market
will be flooded with imp o rted wares and th e
great Ame rican public wil l bite just from force
of habi t.
Th e Amer ican piano nlanufacturers
oug ht to put th e ir natura l modesty beh ind them
and start in on a campaign w hich wou ld set the
public right about this matte r . The y ha v e th e
facts back of them, and tll ey oug h t to take th e ir
light o ut f rom underneath th e bu s hel and put it
where it would shin e .
AD1.erican - Made
Tuning Pins
WIll
"AMSCO"
BRAND
ARE MADE OF SP·ECIAL STEEL
Thirty-five years of experience in mak­
ing tuning pins enables us to give you
the most reliable pins in the market.
Guaranteed to hold for a lifetime,
S end for prien
American Musical Supply Co.
451 Communipaw Avenue. Jeney City, N. J.
~m'" ' ' ' '1 soss J-'.~
INVISIBLE HINGES
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QUALITY
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THE WICKHAM PIANO PLATE COMPANY, SPRINGFIELD, OHIO
"OUT OF SIGHT
EVER IN MIND"
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you know "SOSS"
~ is the answer.
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THE CELEBRATED WICKHAM
stand the most tensile strength
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Made in
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Send for Catalog
"S"
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soss MANUFACTURING CO.
Grand Ave. and Bergen St., BROOKLYN, N. Y.