Music Trade Review
Issue: 1929 Vol. 88 N. 14 - Page 12
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WESTERN COMMENT
The Portent at Chicago
Oi'FKK, CHICAGO, I I I . , April 1. Y)2 { ).
T H E appointment of Adam Schneider to be Executive Secretary
of the Chicago Piano and Organ Association may seem to be a small
matter, but in fact it involves considerations
transcending the mere local importance of the
Merely
event. What has happened may be better ex-
Local
plained by saying that in the second city of the land
a representative body, holding within its membership all the leading
houses of the music industries, has decided to endow one man with
very wide powers and responsibilities in order that the triction.
enmity and bad feeling, in normal times considered almost essential
to the conduct of business, may in these abnormal times so far as
possible be eliminated. In fact, if one may judge from the verbal
expressions which have been heard since Mr. Schneider accepted
the ap[H>intment, a generally present feeling is that his powers ought
if anything to have been made even wider and more summary. To
anyone who knows the practical conditions in which the piano busi-
ness has been carried on in Chicago during these many years, the
action of the Piano & Organ Association comes as cause for admira-
tion, not unmixed with astonishment.
RLVIKW
O F course, when skies are clear and all is merry as a marriage bell,
business men spend a little time taking thought how they should con-
duct themselves in business. They are content to
What's
] e t fig Ures speak for them and to assume that all
is well if only the earnings are satisfactory to the
day. It is w'hen skies are clouded and the bottom
seems to have dropped out of business that men begin to take
thought of their conduct and to ask themselves whether they can
rind salvation by an eleventh-hour act of repentance. Assuredly it
would be better to repent in days of prosperity; but to wait until
the tide has turned to an ebb of distressing rapidity is after all
very human. Instead, then, of taking the opportunity to say smart
things, let us ask ourselves what this new move—for it is a new-
one in this particular sense—is likely to signify for the industry
in general.
I F we put aside, as we ought to, all non-essential considerations,
we have to admit that the present difficulties of the piano industry
are mainly to be found in the domain of merchan-
Healer
dising. Changes in merchandising may be made,
of
happily, overnight. Changes in technical matters,
Wounds
in the nature of the instrument, must unhappily
have always to wait upon, first the realization and then the solu-
tion of many obscure problems. In a word, it takes a, year to
change a piano but you can change your way of selling that piano
in two minutes. Now, the retail end of the piano industry has been
going through very deep waters during the last year or so. Well-
established houses have had to fight to keep themselves going. In
the natural cause of events, a good deal of intra-trade bitterness,
a good many bad practices and a general letting down,of,the ethical
bars not unnaturally have developed. On the other hand, the wiser
men in the Chicago trade have clearly seen that just now what is
needed is certainly not anything that will further weaken the cause
of trade solidarity. They have seen that it is the height'of Tolly to in-
dulge in factional warfare among themselves while the enemy is at-
tacking. And so thev have induced their associates to consent to the
other trades and again of outside agencies, such as school boards,
better business bureaus and so on, to this trade. The gentlemen
who have done this may not realize what a large step forward they
have taken. But it is absolutely certain that if they back up their
promises by performance, they will soon find themselves wondering
how they ever did manage for so long in the old way.
L\ every industry at this time similar movements seem to be under-
way. The history of the garment trades during recent years offers
a case in point. Those who know how a bitter and
Organization disastrous guerrilla warfare of years' standing, be-
and
tween employers and employed, has been turned
Solidarity
into peaceable agreement and how steps have been
taken to arbitrate business difficulties which of old were fought out
to the death, realize that here the old order can never be born
again. Those who discern the signs of the times are well aware
that the whole industrial tendency is towards gigantic struggles of
one industry against another, struggles compared with which the
bitterest fights inside any one industry become as child's play. The
music industries are in the irritating position of being at once small
in magnitude and loose in organization. They deal in essential
goods, which nevertheless must be sold always against plausible
and formidable counter-attraction. They are old-established, but
they have never been able to build up their annual turnover to very
large figures, so that their most important manufacturing units are
relatively small and of relatively slight financial resources. They
need, as no other industry needs, organization and a sense of soli-
darity. Precisely this is what they have alwavs lacked, but precisely
th:s is what the Chicago move makes one hope is not altogether im-
possible. The music trades have been very slow to wake up. Rut
it does begin to appear that at least the preliminary stirrings are
under wav.
THIS is the time for unity, not for separation. This is the time for
a common purpose and a common program, not for a struggle to
steal prospects from each other. The piano indus-
Time
try is in the middle of a fight for life. It is
for
threatened on every hand. The other music in-
Unity
dustries are in only a somewhat better position.
On all sides one can see the dangers, on all sides one can hear the
noise of a clamorous competition, well organized, well backed, ag-
gressive and confident. We piano men, and indeed we music men
generally, are indeed beginning to rouse ourselves from our slum-
ber. Hut we must not put off the complete awakening too long.
And it is such acts as the appointment of a responsible official to
^compose intra-trade differences which make one hope and believe
that the realization has come in time. The first great need is to
compose forthwith all differences among the members of the trade
in each community where enmity has been rife. The second is to
realize that the one hope of the music industries lies in promoting
active interest in the performance of music by as many persons as
can be induced to take up the task of learning to play a musical
instrument. It is not as if this were something novel and untried.
Trade associations really worth their salt, associations that make
practical use of- the} activities of officials clothed by them with
adequate powers, an
appointment of a local trade arbiter, in the person of, a..man i
fitted for the position and trusted by all as no other man,..in the com- ^ gjndustries, notably, tcj take one example only, in the automotive field'.
munity is trusted. And they have said in effect to £n!s "man that"" The thing is being done by.others. Cannot it then be done by us?
they will put in his hand, and abide- by his...d ; ecisi^ns/[OH^questip-n|\J) l^Carj^It Shall. It Will!
—W;B.
affecting the relations of one house to aho'therV"oT"this trade to
.
12
WESTERN COMMENT
The Portent at Chicago
Oi'FKK, CHICAGO, I I I . , April 1. Y)2 { ).
T H E appointment of Adam Schneider to be Executive Secretary
of the Chicago Piano and Organ Association may seem to be a small
matter, but in fact it involves considerations
transcending the mere local importance of the
Merely
event. What has happened may be better ex-
Local
plained by saying that in the second city of the land
a representative body, holding within its membership all the leading
houses of the music industries, has decided to endow one man with
very wide powers and responsibilities in order that the triction.
enmity and bad feeling, in normal times considered almost essential
to the conduct of business, may in these abnormal times so far as
possible be eliminated. In fact, if one may judge from the verbal
expressions which have been heard since Mr. Schneider accepted
the ap[H>intment, a generally present feeling is that his powers ought
if anything to have been made even wider and more summary. To
anyone who knows the practical conditions in which the piano busi-
ness has been carried on in Chicago during these many years, the
action of the Piano & Organ Association comes as cause for admira-
tion, not unmixed with astonishment.
RLVIKW
O F course, when skies are clear and all is merry as a marriage bell,
business men spend a little time taking thought how they should con-
duct themselves in business. They are content to
What's
] e t fig Ures speak for them and to assume that all
is well if only the earnings are satisfactory to the
day. It is w'hen skies are clouded and the bottom
seems to have dropped out of business that men begin to take
thought of their conduct and to ask themselves whether they can
rind salvation by an eleventh-hour act of repentance. Assuredly it
would be better to repent in days of prosperity; but to wait until
the tide has turned to an ebb of distressing rapidity is after all
very human. Instead, then, of taking the opportunity to say smart
things, let us ask ourselves what this new move—for it is a new-
one in this particular sense—is likely to signify for the industry
in general.
I F we put aside, as we ought to, all non-essential considerations,
we have to admit that the present difficulties of the piano industry
are mainly to be found in the domain of merchan-
Healer
dising. Changes in merchandising may be made,
of
happily, overnight. Changes in technical matters,
Wounds
in the nature of the instrument, must unhappily
have always to wait upon, first the realization and then the solu-
tion of many obscure problems. In a word, it takes a, year to
change a piano but you can change your way of selling that piano
in two minutes. Now, the retail end of the piano industry has been
going through very deep waters during the last year or so. Well-
established houses have had to fight to keep themselves going. In
the natural cause of events, a good deal of intra-trade bitterness,
a good many bad practices and a general letting down,of,the ethical
bars not unnaturally have developed. On the other hand, the wiser
men in the Chicago trade have clearly seen that just now what is
needed is certainly not anything that will further weaken the cause
of trade solidarity. They have seen that it is the height'of Tolly to in-
dulge in factional warfare among themselves while the enemy is at-
tacking. And so thev have induced their associates to consent to the
other trades and again of outside agencies, such as school boards,
better business bureaus and so on, to this trade. The gentlemen
who have done this may not realize what a large step forward they
have taken. But it is absolutely certain that if they back up their
promises by performance, they will soon find themselves wondering
how they ever did manage for so long in the old way.
L\ every industry at this time similar movements seem to be under-
way. The history of the garment trades during recent years offers
a case in point. Those who know how a bitter and
Organization disastrous guerrilla warfare of years' standing, be-
and
tween employers and employed, has been turned
Solidarity
into peaceable agreement and how steps have been
taken to arbitrate business difficulties which of old were fought out
to the death, realize that here the old order can never be born
again. Those who discern the signs of the times are well aware
that the whole industrial tendency is towards gigantic struggles of
one industry against another, struggles compared with which the
bitterest fights inside any one industry become as child's play. The
music industries are in the irritating position of being at once small
in magnitude and loose in organization. They deal in essential
goods, which nevertheless must be sold always against plausible
and formidable counter-attraction. They are old-established, but
they have never been able to build up their annual turnover to very
large figures, so that their most important manufacturing units are
relatively small and of relatively slight financial resources. They
need, as no other industry needs, organization and a sense of soli-
darity. Precisely this is what they have alwavs lacked, but precisely
th:s is what the Chicago move makes one hope is not altogether im-
possible. The music trades have been very slow to wake up. Rut
it does begin to appear that at least the preliminary stirrings are
under wav.
THIS is the time for unity, not for separation. This is the time for
a common purpose and a common program, not for a struggle to
steal prospects from each other. The piano indus-
Time
try is in the middle of a fight for life. It is
for
threatened on every hand. The other music in-
Unity
dustries are in only a somewhat better position.
On all sides one can see the dangers, on all sides one can hear the
noise of a clamorous competition, well organized, well backed, ag-
gressive and confident. We piano men, and indeed we music men
generally, are indeed beginning to rouse ourselves from our slum-
ber. Hut we must not put off the complete awakening too long.
And it is such acts as the appointment of a responsible official to
^compose intra-trade differences which make one hope and believe
that the realization has come in time. The first great need is to
compose forthwith all differences among the members of the trade
in each community where enmity has been rife. The second is to
realize that the one hope of the music industries lies in promoting
active interest in the performance of music by as many persons as
can be induced to take up the task of learning to play a musical
instrument. It is not as if this were something novel and untried.
Trade associations really worth their salt, associations that make
practical use of- the} activities of officials clothed by them with
adequate powers, an
appointment of a local trade arbiter, in the person of, a..man i
fitted for the position and trusted by all as no other man,..in the com- ^ gjndustries, notably, tcj take one example only, in the automotive field'.
munity is trusted. And they have said in effect to £n!s "man that"" The thing is being done by.others. Cannot it then be done by us?
they will put in his hand, and abide- by his...d ; ecisi^ns/[OH^questip-n|\J) l^Carj^It Shall. It Will!
—W;B.
affecting the relations of one house to aho'therV"oT"this trade to
.
12
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