Music Trade Review
Issue: 1927 Vol. 85 N. 26 - Page 14
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
WESTERN COMMENT
"The Moving Finger Having Writ
REVIEW OFFICE, REPUBLIC BUILDING, CHICAGO, I I I . , DEC. 24,
99
the technical policies of the industry to some sort of rational con-
clusion, anticipating by a decade the present insistent demand for
betterments in construction and in tone. To come nearer home,
this paper, The Review, years ago inaugurated weekly technical
discussions, and persisted with them in face of almost complete
apathy extending over a space of years long enough to discourage
the most optimistic editor; to-day technical discussions are no
longer regarded as superfluous, in fact are being encouraged on
all sides, because the need for technical betterment has become uni-
versally recognized. At least four years since, this paper began
to say, quite simply but quite directly, that the piano industry was
passing into a new phase of its course, and that the merits of the
piano as a musical instrument must henceforth furnish the basis
of all merchandising. For some time indeed it was a case of vox
clamantis in deserto, but the truth always refuses to remain forever
concealed, so that to-day what was then unheeded is universally
admitted to have been well founded, accurate and true. As a mat-
ter of fact, the great leaders of our industry probably saw the facts
quite as early; but no one of these gentlemen could possibly have
had the opportunity of getting outside his own circle of ideas and
of viewing the situation as a whole, which the detached observer
constantly has. Hence it was left, as it is always left, to a trade
paper to see the coming storm, to utter the warning cry and to
say what must be done to meet the onrushing winds and waves.
And for precisely such reasons as are here disclosed the trade paper
is always doing for its industry what that industry cannot do for
itself—seeing things clearly, seeing them whole and presenting them
to the industry.
1927
IT hath ever been the custom among scribes to value their utter-
ances highly, but one may feel fairly well assured that the world
which alternately laughs and storms at them
would find things extremely uninteresting without
the
them. Trade papers have always had to do what
Scribe
in effect is a thankless piece of work in the world.
When they have told the truth they have been damned for a parcel
of interfering rogues; when they have conceded the truth they
have been damned as venial, if not actually corrupt and purchased,
liars. When business is good an industry is prone to think that its
trade papers are of little value and their good offices no longer
needed. When business is not so good an industry often thinks
that at any rate expenses can always be cut down, and that the
trade papers are the obvious targets for the first arrows to be shot
in that direction. The fact that only when business is not so good
does the trade paper, if it is worth anything at all, show its
strength and its value, is one of those obvious facts than which
nothing is more easily forgotten; and the men who conduct these
periodicals may be forgiven for sometimes reflecting upon the
brevity of human memories and the thinness of human gratitude.
For after all the trade papers are usually right. Their editors and
correspondents see things with the eyes of detached observers,-and
under whatever obligations they may find themselves in a business
way to their advertising customers, they can never lose the habit
of looking on all sides of a question or of forming from this wide-
circling view conclusions more or less impartial and almost certainly
shrewd. One might venture to say that the true worth of the trade
paper only appears when the industry it serves finds itself in some
sort of a trouble, between perchance the horns of some dilemma,
and is calling insistently for guidance, counsel and assistance. It
is precisely then that the real worth of a trade paper appears.
Careful examination usually discloses the fact that the conditions
which are the subject of complaint have been foreseen, and that
to some extent at least the trade has been forewarned of their im-
minence. It is even fair to go farther and to say that all the in-
dividual members of any industry ought to follow the almost uni-
versal example of their leaders, and read with anxious care week
by week the news and the editorial comments which the trade
papers contain. For trade paper editors, however they may differ
among themselves in mental grasp and capacity, are one and all
trained observers. They view, not a little corner, but the whole
scene; and what they see they have learned, by dint of long ex-
perience, to understand; and to interpret to those who do not under-
stand.
AN industry is an organism, and like any other functions well
only when it is guided by some central nerve ganglion or brain.
In general the ideas and traditions which have grown up around
an industry give rise to certain well defined and
Organism
commonly accepted lines of policy and practice,
„ .
which furnish which might be called its nervous
system. But just as the nervous system of the
human organism must be controlled by some overriding mental
power, so also must the policies of a business organism be con-
trolled by some dominating wisdom, centered in a complete and
accurate grasp of facts and of the probable course of events. For
an industry, which is the large-scale unit among business organisms,
persistently to survive and to grow ever stronger, needed brain
power must come from the correlated, added, united understand-
ings of many human minds. Many men must think alike, must
accept the same principles, and by those principles must guide their
business conduct. It is not unfair to say that a successful industry
is no more than an enlarged and somewhat differentiated copy of a
successful individual business house. If for a moment one might
venture upon the personal, one might point to the remarkable ex-
ample of persistence of tradition and policy which the Steinway
house discloses. Now, a family group is quite as liable to dissen-
sion and even disruption as the most miscellaneous assemblage of
promoters and stockholders. Unity must be present in thought
and men must be willing to subordinate personal convictions to the
sense of the majority, before stability of policy wisely chosen and
the success which follows therefrom can be even anticipated, much
less enjoyed. Those who know the Steinways will recognize here
a description of the methods and causes of their success. Even
thus must the piano industry learn to acquire a group consciousness.
To the extent to which it acquires this will it be successful. To
the extent to which it fails, in so doing, will it also fail of the
future success towards which it now so eagerly strains its sight.
ONE is led to reflections of this somewhat discursive kind by the
notorious facts of the present situation in the piano industry.
Nothing is more certain than that the music trade papers have
long foreseen the approach of changes in public
taste, of formidable competition from new direc-
Pudding's
tions, of the tremendous difficult task of obtaining
Proof
needed new policies of merchandising as well as
of manufacturing. Nothing is more certain to him who will take
the trouble to look back over the files during the last two or three
years than that the trade papers have over and over again voiced
parables, but nevertheless accurately and on the whole wisely, their
conviction that the industry was about to enter into a new phase,
and that the transition might be painful. Ten years ago, in the
midst of a specious temporary prosperity induced by war conditions,
trade papers gave up innumerable pages of their costly space, week-
after week, to presenting accounts of an elaborate attempt to bring
14
WESTERN COMMENT
"The Moving Finger Having Writ
REVIEW OFFICE, REPUBLIC BUILDING, CHICAGO, I I I . , DEC. 24,
99
the technical policies of the industry to some sort of rational con-
clusion, anticipating by a decade the present insistent demand for
betterments in construction and in tone. To come nearer home,
this paper, The Review, years ago inaugurated weekly technical
discussions, and persisted with them in face of almost complete
apathy extending over a space of years long enough to discourage
the most optimistic editor; to-day technical discussions are no
longer regarded as superfluous, in fact are being encouraged on
all sides, because the need for technical betterment has become uni-
versally recognized. At least four years since, this paper began
to say, quite simply but quite directly, that the piano industry was
passing into a new phase of its course, and that the merits of the
piano as a musical instrument must henceforth furnish the basis
of all merchandising. For some time indeed it was a case of vox
clamantis in deserto, but the truth always refuses to remain forever
concealed, so that to-day what was then unheeded is universally
admitted to have been well founded, accurate and true. As a mat-
ter of fact, the great leaders of our industry probably saw the facts
quite as early; but no one of these gentlemen could possibly have
had the opportunity of getting outside his own circle of ideas and
of viewing the situation as a whole, which the detached observer
constantly has. Hence it was left, as it is always left, to a trade
paper to see the coming storm, to utter the warning cry and to
say what must be done to meet the onrushing winds and waves.
And for precisely such reasons as are here disclosed the trade paper
is always doing for its industry what that industry cannot do for
itself—seeing things clearly, seeing them whole and presenting them
to the industry.
1927
IT hath ever been the custom among scribes to value their utter-
ances highly, but one may feel fairly well assured that the world
which alternately laughs and storms at them
would find things extremely uninteresting without
the
them. Trade papers have always had to do what
Scribe
in effect is a thankless piece of work in the world.
When they have told the truth they have been damned for a parcel
of interfering rogues; when they have conceded the truth they
have been damned as venial, if not actually corrupt and purchased,
liars. When business is good an industry is prone to think that its
trade papers are of little value and their good offices no longer
needed. When business is not so good an industry often thinks
that at any rate expenses can always be cut down, and that the
trade papers are the obvious targets for the first arrows to be shot
in that direction. The fact that only when business is not so good
does the trade paper, if it is worth anything at all, show its
strength and its value, is one of those obvious facts than which
nothing is more easily forgotten; and the men who conduct these
periodicals may be forgiven for sometimes reflecting upon the
brevity of human memories and the thinness of human gratitude.
For after all the trade papers are usually right. Their editors and
correspondents see things with the eyes of detached observers,-and
under whatever obligations they may find themselves in a business
way to their advertising customers, they can never lose the habit
of looking on all sides of a question or of forming from this wide-
circling view conclusions more or less impartial and almost certainly
shrewd. One might venture to say that the true worth of the trade
paper only appears when the industry it serves finds itself in some
sort of a trouble, between perchance the horns of some dilemma,
and is calling insistently for guidance, counsel and assistance. It
is precisely then that the real worth of a trade paper appears.
Careful examination usually discloses the fact that the conditions
which are the subject of complaint have been foreseen, and that
to some extent at least the trade has been forewarned of their im-
minence. It is even fair to go farther and to say that all the in-
dividual members of any industry ought to follow the almost uni-
versal example of their leaders, and read with anxious care week
by week the news and the editorial comments which the trade
papers contain. For trade paper editors, however they may differ
among themselves in mental grasp and capacity, are one and all
trained observers. They view, not a little corner, but the whole
scene; and what they see they have learned, by dint of long ex-
perience, to understand; and to interpret to those who do not under-
stand.
AN industry is an organism, and like any other functions well
only when it is guided by some central nerve ganglion or brain.
In general the ideas and traditions which have grown up around
an industry give rise to certain well defined and
Organism
commonly accepted lines of policy and practice,
„ .
which furnish which might be called its nervous
system. But just as the nervous system of the
human organism must be controlled by some overriding mental
power, so also must the policies of a business organism be con-
trolled by some dominating wisdom, centered in a complete and
accurate grasp of facts and of the probable course of events. For
an industry, which is the large-scale unit among business organisms,
persistently to survive and to grow ever stronger, needed brain
power must come from the correlated, added, united understand-
ings of many human minds. Many men must think alike, must
accept the same principles, and by those principles must guide their
business conduct. It is not unfair to say that a successful industry
is no more than an enlarged and somewhat differentiated copy of a
successful individual business house. If for a moment one might
venture upon the personal, one might point to the remarkable ex-
ample of persistence of tradition and policy which the Steinway
house discloses. Now, a family group is quite as liable to dissen-
sion and even disruption as the most miscellaneous assemblage of
promoters and stockholders. Unity must be present in thought
and men must be willing to subordinate personal convictions to the
sense of the majority, before stability of policy wisely chosen and
the success which follows therefrom can be even anticipated, much
less enjoyed. Those who know the Steinways will recognize here
a description of the methods and causes of their success. Even
thus must the piano industry learn to acquire a group consciousness.
To the extent to which it acquires this will it be successful. To
the extent to which it fails, in so doing, will it also fail of the
future success towards which it now so eagerly strains its sight.
ONE is led to reflections of this somewhat discursive kind by the
notorious facts of the present situation in the piano industry.
Nothing is more certain than that the music trade papers have
long foreseen the approach of changes in public
taste, of formidable competition from new direc-
Pudding's
tions, of the tremendous difficult task of obtaining
Proof
needed new policies of merchandising as well as
of manufacturing. Nothing is more certain to him who will take
the trouble to look back over the files during the last two or three
years than that the trade papers have over and over again voiced
parables, but nevertheless accurately and on the whole wisely, their
conviction that the industry was about to enter into a new phase,
and that the transition might be painful. Ten years ago, in the
midst of a specious temporary prosperity induced by war conditions,
trade papers gave up innumerable pages of their costly space, week-
after week, to presenting accounts of an elaborate attempt to bring
14
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