Presto

PRESTO
April 24, 1920.
time to bewail the chaotic condition into which the world has be-
come entangled. The repeated cry to our own country is a question
as to "how is it to end?" The notion that things are bad and growing
worse has overshadowed the truth that, in a fundamental sense, things
are really better. When men who work find also the way by which
to rest and recreate themselves, the industries must prosper and busi-
ness of all kinds—all good kinds—develop. It is a matter of evolution,
not destruction. It is a change, and most changes create temporary
shocks and cause surprise. But a little time settles the disturbance
and the new world goes right on, better and more beautiful than the
old world ever was.
It is a matter of education. It breaks away social barriers and
levels the hills of prejudice. But it need not destroy anything of
value. When old Isaiah saw the threatened judgment of Jerusalem
he told of the vision of "a book that is sealed, which men deliver to
one that is learned, saying: Read this, I pray thee; and he saith I
cannot, for it is sealed. Another book is delivered to him that is not
learned, saying: Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I am not
learned."
He was enforcing the need of education, and the world has been
full of his prophecy ever since. To piano men it is as easy as any-
where else to measure what it may mean to the world of industry.
Trade is good. Only a lack of production prevents us from a period
of prosperity beyond anything in the past. Prices are better than
before since pianos became articles of real commerce. The public is
buying. The people who heretofore could not afford to buy now
have the means. The workers are getting a larger share in the results
of their work. When things settle down again the world will have
new views of the equality of man, and what Abraham Lincoln said
on that subject will have a larger meaning. There may come the
upheaval so confidently promised by the prophets of evil—and rea-
son, also. But the piano industry and trade will survive, will be
better and stronger than ever.
The house organs are doing their share to lift up the workers.
They are helping the factory toilers to find expression. They con-
tribute to the contentment of the ones who "produce the goods."
Therefore the house organs are good things.
ASSERTING THEMSELVES
Every reader of the trade papers has noticed the great change
that has taken place in the methods of publicity employed by some
of the foremost piano industries. A few weeks ago Mr. Robert
Howard, of New York, told of the beginning of the "full page dis-
plays" in the trade papers. He dated the beginning of that kind of
printer's ink enterprise at about the year 1882. At that time it was
a very rare circumstance to find a piano advertisement occupying
more than a few inches of space in the trade papers. And in the
newspapers it was just as uncommon to find a piano advertisement
of more than an inch space. During the Civil war days Harper's
Weekly carried just two piano cards. One was that of the Steinway
and the other of the now extinct Dunham & Son pianos. Each of the
advertisements occupied one inch of space, and both carried a few
lines of type with small cuts of square pianos. See how different
today!
In every city's newspapers the piano houses use as much adver-
tising space as any other line of business, except the big department
stores. And usually the piano advertisements are dignified, clean and
free from any of the objectionable characteristics for the correction
of which the Better Business Bureau was largely organized.
And the trade papers of today fairly set the pace for advertisers
in many other lines of large business. In evidence we offer this issue
of Presto It would be impossible to find a mere attractive lot of
"full pages" than this paper contains. Nowhere is there better evi-
dence of careful publicity work, of forceful commercial art, or of
greater general attractiveness. Beginning with the artistic page of
the Rythmodik to the equally fine Apollo-phone page, the Ampico
pictorial, the gracefully designed and forceful Simplex page, and the
clean-cut page of the Cable-Nelson Piano Co., we do not see how a
better appeal could be made in any industry.
The contrast afforded by this week's Presto advertising and the
publicity work of the piano manufacturers a few years back, is the
best possible proof of progress. It tells of the development, from
comparatively small things to the unfolding of what was once
regarded as a non-essential, to the importance of an indispensable
adjunct of the intelligent life of today. The printed page is accepted
everywhere as the mirror of progress in any business. And the large-
ness of the piano advertising has become a sign of enterprise befitting
the emulation of other departments of industry and trade.
To some of us, who have known the piano in its industrial aspects
for a long time, it isn't easy to realize that in the present-day activi-
ties of the publicity departments there is a new development in one
of the oldest of the industries. And to many who know the piano only
by what it is now doing, and has been growing up to during the past
quarter-century, it still seems that it is the basis of an almost new
business. And in its later phases of development, the piano business
really is a new one. In fact, it dates back only about twenty years.
And in the next ten years it will make more progress than ever before
in the nearly-a-century since it had birth in this country. Printer's
ink will do it. And the full page display will play a larger part in
what printer's ink will do.
Unlike some other things, pianos have been sold so much too
low that the public expects an increase and pays it cheerfully. Things
of common consumption, the prices of which are subjects of every day
discussion, find it more difficult to rise to the point made necessary
by conditions. They suggest substitutes and depreciation. That is not
possible with pianos, nor is it of course desirable from the standpoint
of either manufacturer or consumer.
* * *
Remarkable acknowledgment of good enterprise in printer's ink
is shown in the article this week on the Dictaphone advertisement, the
basis of which is the Q R S Music Roll Company and its activities.
The advertisement has appeared in thirty of the large newspapers, in
every one of which has been illustrated the factory of the great music
roll industry. That is a form of indirect advertising, the power of
which must be instantly recognized.
* * *
A bright advertisement of the Grinnell Bros.' Pontiac store starts
with: "This Spring a Steinway or other high grade piano." And it
ends with: "Don't put off giving the sunshine and cheer of music a
place in your home longer than this spring." We call that timely
advertising, and so suggestive of the season that it must start the
longing for companionship with the birds and music. It should also
sell pianos.
* # *
It would be difficult to present more conclusive proof of the kind
of trade paper influence that tells of its purpose-or popularity than
Presto's "Where Doubts Are Dispelled" department. We have had
letters from as many as twenty states in a single issue. Not half of
the inquiries received every week are published because many of
them are either "confidential" or lack general interest.
There is a shortage of piano tuners. Every issue of Presto shows
it in the want advertisements. The tuning schools should be over-
crowded with pupils. But they aren't. Why? Don't the young men
know a good thing when it is shown to them? Let your young sales-
man equip himself to be more useful to you. Write to Mr. C. C. Polk,
Valparaiso, Ind., about it.
Twenty, or even ten—perhaps five—years ago, it seemed neces-
sary to admonish the retail piano dealers to "collect, collect" and then
collect some more. Today there is not so much trouble under that
head. Most piano buyers today are either paying the cash or making
settlements which obviate the necessity of the everlasting dun. Busi-
ness is better.
* * *
Well, if the workers who are worrying about better wages get
what they too often unreasonably demand, there will be a lot of new
prospects for the piano dealers. It isn't all evil that's in the world.
In time things will settle down again and we'll all be happy—if we
can hold out that long.
* * *
The metropolitan newspapers are conducting a campaign of
print-paper economy. If some of the trade papers would follow suit
it might be a good idea. Fewer well-filled pages are better than more
padded ones, in the opinion of the trade generally.
Piano merchants throughout the country took hold of the Player-
piano week with enthusiasm. In a number of cities the dealers made
the week the basis of their local advertising. No doubt many sales
resulted.
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