Music Trade Review

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SEPTEMBER 2,
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
MASON & HAMLIN CO. BUYS EMERSON PLANT IN BOSTON
Land and Buildings Formerly Occupied by the Emerson Piano Co. Purchased by Mason &
Hamlin Co. for Active Use After Extensive Alterations and Additions Are Completed
BOSTON, MASS., August 28.—The Mason &
Hamlin Co. has bougfrt the land and buildings
of the Emerson Piano Co. situated at Harri-
son avenue and Waltham street, Boston, and,
after alterations and additions to the plant,
will occupy it for the manufacture of Mason
& Hamlin pianos. It is expected that June,
1923, will find the company completely settled
at the new location.
Early in 1920 the Mason & Hamlin Co.
bought the lot of land in Cambridge at Ken-
dall Square beginning at Third street and run-
ning 500 feet north on Broadway and back
to Broad Canal, comprising 100,000 square feet
of land, for the erection of a new factory. A
year later estimates of cost to build the con-
templated factory were well over $1,000,000,
which was considered a prohibitive price. Last
Winter detailed plans were completed by
Monks & Johnson and bids received for con-
struction work, which, while materially lower
than first estimates, were still high.
At this juncture the Emerson Piano Co.'s
plant came in the market, and arrangements to
purchase it were then made by Mason & Ham-
lin Co., the final papers in the transaction hav-
ing passed on Thursday, whereby Mason &
Hamlin Co. takes title to the aforesaid plant.
The Mason & Hamlin Co. was established
in 1854, and the first factory was located in
the West End of Boston. For many years
the factory has been in Cambridge, on Broad-
way at Burleigh street. A number of years
ago the growth of business necessitated the
taking on of two additional buildings for manu-
facturing purposes. The present Cambridge
plant has long been inadequate to meet the re-
quirements of the company.
KROEGER CO. CREDITORS MEET
HANDLES WESER LINE IN SOUTHWEST
Committee Appointed to Consider Situation
and Recommend Sale of Property of Com-
pany if That Course Appears to Be Best
D. H. Spencer, of Dallas, Tex., Appointed
Wholesale Representative in Texas, Oklahoma
and Louisiana for Weser Bros. Products
A meeting of the creditors of the Kroeger
Piano Co., for which Charles Jacob was ap-
pointed receiver in equity recently, was held at
the office of David W. Kahn, attorney for the
receiver, 120 Broadway, New York, on August
24, when the condition of the company was
considered with a view to taking further ac-
tion.
The attorney for the receiver stated that the
general assets, such as materials, finished and
unfinished pianos, had a value of approximately
$30,000, while the building and plant were val-
ued at about $25,000. The liabilities of the
company were said to be about $56,000.
The creditors were apparently very friendly
to C. B. Garritson, president of the company,
and were inclined to listen to some plan that
would bring the company out of its difficulties.
It was declared, however, that, although Mr.
Garritson owned the majority of the stock,
hostile interests made the continuance of the
business in its present form inadvisable.
It was the opinion of the receiver, in which
the majority of the creditors concurred, that
the best thing to do was to secure a court
order to sell the assets. A committee of three,
consisting of Alfred L. Smith, secretary of the
Musical Supply Association; W. C. Hess, of
the American Musical Supply Co., and Noah
Adler, of the H. & H. Foundry Co., was ap-
pointed to give further consideration to the
best means for handling the company's affairs,
with the understanding that it would recom-
mend to the receiver the disposal of the prop-
erty should that course finally seem best.
Weser Bros., Inc., announce that D. H.
Spencer, of Dallas, Tex., who has long been
recognized as one of the most aggressive piano
lepresentatives in the Southwest, has taken on
their complete line of pianos and talking ma-
chines in the States of Texas, Oklahoma and
Louisiana. Although the arrangement with Mr.
Spencer was consummated but a short while
ago, so aggressively has action been started that
a very satisfactory volume of business has
already been developed.
Mr. Spencer anticipates a very fine business
in the Southwest, where conditions have mate-
rially improved. An initial order of substantial
size for Style 20 player-pianos again gives evi-
dence of the popularity of that model.
VALUABLE ARTICLES AVAILABLE
National Bureau for Advancement of Music
Issues List of Nearly 400 Articles of Special
Interest to Members of Trade
The National Bureau for the Advancement
of Music has just compiled a list of nearly 400
newspaper articles on musical subjects of spe-
cial interest to the "trade and the public with
the suggestion that dealers get copies of the
articles of direct interest to them either for
publication in their local newspapers or for use
in connection with their own publicity.
The Bureau sends to the newspapers of the
country four articles each week, the articles
covering a surprising range of subjects along
musical lines. The articles are of a character
that make them useful in many ways and it will
be well for members of the trade to get in
GROWING TRADE WITH AUSTRALIA
touch with the Bureau and secure copies of
WASHINGTON, D. C, August 28.—In the fiscal the articles of special value to them.
The fact that the 400 articles listed have been
year 1919-1920 Australia purchased from the
United States 300 upright pianos, as compared sent out by the Bureau in about a two-year
with 571 pianos in 1920-1921, according to a com- period affords some idea of the work of that
munication received by the Bureau of Foreign organization in only one of its phases. The
and Domestic Commerce from Consul Henry H. list is too lengthy to print here, but copies
Balch, stationed in Adelaide, Australia. The can be secured from the National Bureau for
communication pointed out that before the war the Advancement of Music, 105 West Fortieth
most of the pianos imported into Australia were street.
purchased from Germany, but since the war the
United States has become the chief source of
NEW STORE AT ATLANTIC CITV
supply.
Luigi A. Ferrari, the well-known musician of
Atlantic
City, N. J., has opened a new music
BECKER MUSIC CO. OPENS IN CAIRO store at 3902
Ventnor avenue, that city, where
CAIRO, NEB., August 28.—The Gaston Music Co., he handles a complete line of pianos, player-
one of the oldest concerns engaged in the musi- pianos, Victrolas and small musical instruments.
cal instrument business in this part of the
Consult the universal Want Directory of
State, has been succeeded by the Becker Music
Co. Pianos, player-pianos, Victor talking ma- The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
chines and Edison phonographs are handled. free of charge for men who desire positions.
USE SAND SOAP
BY MARSHALL BREEDEN
LDSANCELES
Mary Pickford is perhaps the most fa-
mous and the most capable of all moving
picture people. She became great only
after she had labored long and hard. For
many years she toiled in obscurity. Then,
when the foundation of her future success
was firmly built, she went up like a rocket.
She remains up because the foundation on
which she stands-is built on the solid rock
of labor, thought and more labor.
In exact proportion can a piano man
build for himself a foundation. If the
piano man labors long and hard and with
thoughtful care and application he will
eventually reach the top of the piano
ladder. If his foundation is solid he will
be solid, but if his foundation is built
on sand he will eventually crumble away.
Dollars Second
This writer knows many people who
have achieved success in their line of en-
deavor— furniture men, actors, piano
men, writers, lawyers, salesmen. Why are
they successful above the ordinary? This
answer to that was made by several suc-
cessful people: "They put dollars second."
An odd thing to say, perhaps, since we
are all striving so hard to get the dollars,
but true nevertheless.
Charlie Chaplin once told this writer
that in the early days of his stage life, and
later in pictures, he strove to be artistic.
He did not look only for the money. Now
to him money comes, but he certainly is
the one outstanding man in the world who
comes closest to the border line between
comedy and tragedy.
Others have personally said the same
thing. Frank A. Vanderlip, Sinclair Lewis,
H. H. Van Loon, and even our rough-and-
tumble friend, Jack Dempsey. They all
forgot the sight of the dollar in an en-
deavor to be the best in their line.
Achievement First
Which is the greater thrill, to knock a
home run in a ball game or to win a
dollar in a bet? To drive far and straight
in golf or to slip something over? There
is no comparison. The achievement is the
thing.
If all human beings looked only toward
the financial rewards we would have no
great operas, no ballads, no great songs,
and, by the same token, no navel oranges
or Burbank spuds. Those who did, and
do, these things do so because of an urge
to achieve rather than an urge to eat.
You can now offer your customers the
reproducing piano. You can do so only
because of a long line of men who have
labored hard to achieve something never
done before. If the men who have in the
past manufactured pianos, and who do so
now, thought only of the money to be
made there would be mighty few pianos.
That's sure.
The best example is the phonograph.
Remember how a couple of years ago
there were a hundred or more talkers on
the market? These were built solely and
only in the hope that those who built them
would make some quick and easy money.
Where are they now? But the real ones
keep marching right straight down the
road, because back of them the desire to
achieve is paramount.