Presto

F»RE
January 8, 1920.
NOTED INTERVIEWS
IN PIANO IINDUSTRY
Presto Staff Writers Tell of Their Recollec-
tions of Personal Talks with Prominent
Manufacturers of Past and Present
Who Have Made History in the
World of Music.
HOW AN INTERVIEW WITH SAMUEL
HAZELTON SHOWED ME THAT MOD-
ESTY AND GENIUS ARE ALLIED
TRAITS OF CHARACTER.
By Henry McMullan of Presto Staff.
It is like taking a look into the past to recall an
interview I had with Samuel Hazelton in 1915, who
since that time has passed into the Great Beyond.
Into the impressive, massive and solid factory build-
ing of Hazelton Bros., in University place, New
York, I went, and was met by H. C. Pressey, then
general salesman for Hazelton products. He called
the veteran piano manufacturer down from an upper
floor, but Mr. Hazelton was too modest to talk off-
hand for publication as so many of the other man-
ufacturers were accustomed to doing. It, therefore,
required some little tact and easy conversation,
about odds, ends and the topics of the day, to as-
sure him that only the things he wanted to see in
print were going down.
Mr. Hazelton stood there on the main floor of
the building, that day a picture of perfect health.
To me he represented a type of the most successful
of men; for I must explain that my ideals of suc-
cess "cover a million lines of winnings, outside of
mere money-getting. If I wanted to make money
I would abandon the trade paper business imme-
diately. So do not be surprised when you see me
driving a garbage wagon one of these days!
An Idealist.
Mr. Hazelton stood there an idealist—-a success.
Without ever abandoning his purpose to make the
best piano possible and, by the avoidance of the
besetting sin of the industry which began to rule
in a tendency to cheapen the product for the pur-
pose of expanding its commercialization, he put
character into his instruments. As a mechanic and
as a superintendent he worked with assiduous de-
votion to details that made for accuracy in his
instruments. Earnestness in endeavor stamped all
of the man's work.
The social side of his life was understood by
his intimate friends. The men with whom he feli-
citated, while fewer in number then some other
manufacturers had that were better mixers, spared
no chance to spread his fame until the whole trade
felt that it knew him personally.
The grands he produced were his pride. "I'm
just a factory man," Mr. Hazelton said in this in-
terview. "My pride is in producing the best Hazel-
ton pianos possible." He might have added: "Just
a Hazelton factory man," for his wakeful week-day
hours were alive with the instinct to improve the
Hazelton. This instinct, developed through his fine
STO
mechanical and musical intuition, took shape by
spurring Mr. Hazelton's executive initiative.
Appreciated Reputation.
It could never be said of him that he lived on
one-half or one-third of his available powers. He
got the genuine confidence of the great public and
became a source of intelligence and inspiration to
all in the piano manufacturing industry. Manufac-
turers who were in doubt came to him to discuss
their difficulties and for interchange of ideas. Mr.
Hazelton absorbed from them, also, being a firm
believer in the maxim that a man is never too old
to learn. It was this modest characteristic in him
that formed the basis for the confidence and esteem
of the others which was always his.
"I would rather have a reputation for having made
our pianos right than to know that I had acquired
a great fortune building them," he said in this in-
terview.
* * *
A MID-WEST MANUFACTURER.
To turn from this wonderful gentleman of the
old school, and of the past, to the modern William
Lincoln Bush, president of Bush & Gerts Piano
Company, of Chicago, who for the last year and six
months has been spending most of his energies in
retailing his pianos in Texas, is a whirl-about—a
looking westward toward the land of developing en-
terprises. Texas is larger than the whole empire
of Germany was before the war whittled it down,
and it has room for more people than ever dwelt
in Germany at one time. Its climate, its produc-
tiveness, including oil, make it one of the wonders
of the new world. And one of the remarkable men
in it is W. L. Bush, of Dallas and Houston, whose
home is at Chicago. 111.
Interviewing for a trade paper is no trouble at
all, as trade papers are not in the habit of running
counter to their customers, who as a class are not
in the habit of concealing facts. It is the daily pa-
per interviewer who has all the difficulty. It is
difficult to get meat out of a dog's throat; but this
is a recreation compared to the task of eliciting in-
formation from railway officials as to accidents on
their line.
The reporter, nevertheless, is obliged to get the
information quickly and accurately. His confidence
is not bounded by the limits of this world, either;
he views his prospects in the next world with toler-
able complacency, for not long ago a reporter, when
asked solemnly amid the excitement of a religious
revival, the momentous question, "Are you saved?"
replied in a calm confident tone, "Oh, no: I'm a
reporter!"
Pulling Chestnuts from Fire.
The most remarkable interview Mr. Bush ever
gave me-—and he has given me several—was one
day some sixteen or eighteen years ago when I
found him sitting at his desk in the old Bush Temple
building, Chicago avenue and North Clark street,
Chicago. Instead of whining about the hard times
that then prevailed in the piano trade—largely due
to wrong methods of selling—he turned about with
a cheerful smile and remarked: "We have nothing
to complain about, Mac; I understand others are
complaining some, but we continue to pull some
chestnuts out of the fire!"
And so it has gone on with Bush & Gerts. They
continue to pull chestnuts out of the fire—the house
grows apace and keeps abreast of the times jn all
things.
DEATH'S IN YEAR 1919
JANUARY.
JUNE.
Charles W. Newman, last of the founders of New-
J. C. Minton, one of the best known dealers in
man Bros. Co., dies in Chicago, at the age of 67 the country, died in Burlington, Iowa, where he
years.
was sales manager and advertising manager for the
Charles H. Wagener, noted piano traveler and Guest Piano Co.
globe-trotter, dies in California.
Charles Ament, well known piano traveler, dies
Henry H. Collins, president of the Collins Piano suddenly in Cincinnati, Ohio, Juno 1st.
Company, New Orleans, La., dies.
JULY.
FEBRUARY.
M. B. Gibson, president of the Weaver Piano Co.,
Col. R. C. Wood, Middle-West piano traveler for Inc., York, Pa., died in Spokane, Wash., while on
the Haddorff Piano Company : dies.
a vacation trip.
George D. Merrick, aged 78 years, founder of the
AUGUST.
Herrick Piano Co., Grand Rapids, Mich., dies.
Robert
E.
Schirmer,
publisher, died in Santa Bar-
MARCH.
bara, Calif.
Frank W. Teeple, president of the Price & Teeple
Walter Goepel of C. F. Goepel & Co., piano sup-
Piano Company, Chicago, died. Later in the month, plies,'New York, died from acute indigestion.
the company elected William B. Price as its pres-
SEPTEMBER.
ident.
John D. Pease, of the Pease Piano Company, New
J. K. Dunlap, manager for the O. K. Houck Piano
York, dies. Mr. Pease was 74 years old.
Co., Memphis, Tenn., died while on a visit to Chi-
cago.
APRIL.
OCTOBER.
Nathan Ford, well known man in all branches
of the trade industry, died from the result of a
Charles H. Steinway, president of Steinway &
street car accident in Rockford.
Sons, New York, died at the age of 62 years.
53
NOVEMBER.
Col.. E. S. Conway, vice-president of the W. W.
Kimbail Co., Chicago, died November 4th.
DECEMBER.
President W. K. Arnold, of Pratt, Read & Co.,
died at the agt; of seventy-three years.
Joel Miller, W'estern representative of Ham-
macher & Schlemmer, New York, died suddenly
at a hotel in Richmond, Ind.
V. P. Bayley, a Detroit dealer, who was wealthy,
died.
THOMAS HUME HAD
A GREAT CAREER
(Continued from page 16)
the national schools in the vicinity of his home
until he was 9 years of age, and then entered the
Belfast Royal Academical Institution as a student.
At the age of 14 his business career began. At
that time he was "bound out" to a store keeper in
Dungannon, county Tyrone, for a period of six
years. He did not complete the term pf his ap-
prenticeship but remained with the concern until he
was 22 years of age. He landed in Muskegon May
31, 1870, which was then a flourishing lumbering
city of 6,000 inhabitants.
Became Hackley's Bookkeeper.
Mr. Hume's connection with Charles H. Hack-
ley, which was continued until the latter's death
in 1905, began in November, 1872, when he be-
came bookkeeper for C. H. Hackley and James
McGordon. Two firms conducted business in this
same office—Hackley & McGordon and Hackley
& Sons, a firm composed of J. H. Hackley, the
father and his two sons, C. H. Hackley and Porter
Hackley. Later Thomas Hume bought McGor-
'don's interest, and later, on the : death of J. H.
Hackley, Porter Hackley left the entire holdings
in the hands of the new firm, Hackley & Hume.
In 1866 Hackley & Hume began to buy timber
lands in other states—Wisconsin, Minnesota.
British Columbia and Southern states. One mill
located at Minneapolis, Minn., in which Mr. Hume
was heavily interested, was reputed to be the fast-
est in the world, cutting as high as 110.000,000 feet
in seven months.
Underwrote Muskegon Industry.
In recent years since the ending of lumber oper-
ations in Muskegon, Mr. Hume became one of the
outstanding figures in the industrial life, of the city.
He, with Charles H. Hackley, stood by the city
which had given him his business start, and gave
liberally of his time, money and thought to put
Muskegon on a solid business basis.
At different times Mr. Hume has been president
of the Amazon Knitting Company, The Chase-
Hackley Piano Company, the Sargent Manufactur-
ing Company, The Hackley National Bank, the
Alaska Refrigerator Company, vice president of the
National Lumberman's Bank, second.vice-president
of the Standard Malleable Iron Company, treasurer
of the Hackley & Hume Company, vice-president
of the Shaw Electric Crane Works, president of the
old Citizens Telephone Company and an officer
or director of many other concerns.
At the time of his death Mr. Hume was president
of the Amazon Knitting Company, of the Alaska
Refrigerator Company, and the Chase-Hackley
Piano Company. He was chairman of the board of
directors of the Hackley National Bank and was
also president of the Sargent Manufacturing Com-
pany, which is just closing out.
Administered Hackley Estate.
One of the important trusts which engaged the
attention of Mr. Hume in the late years was the
administration of the estate of Charles H. Hack-
ley. By the will of Mr. Hackley, Mr. Hume was
made one of the executors of his will in connection
with the Michigan Trust Company.
Following the death of Mr. Hackley in 1905, Mr.
Hume was elected a member of the board of edu-
cation, on which he served until 1912.
After retiring from active business, Mr. Hume
•made several trips to Europe, visiting his native
country and cities of England and the continent.
Donor of Old People's Home.
The Old People's; Home, a gift 6f Mr. Hume
to Muskegon, stands today as a monument to the
donor.
NEW BALDWIN OFFICERS.
Captain Lucien Wulsjn; secretary of the Baldwin
Piano Company, Cincinnati, succeeded C. M. Rob-
ertson as treasurer. The latter resigned from ac-
tive business January 1st. Thomson De Serisy
takes the post of secretary.
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