Presto
Issue: 1920 1762 - Page 5
PRESTO
May 1, 1920.
bors with, often, an utter disregard of either themselves or their
creditors. The consequence was a lack of profit at both ends. And
that lack has kept the piano makers and the piano merchants so fully
occupied with discounting paper that little time was left for the real
end of all good business.
We have been talking of the piano business as it was conducted
in years gone by. Today it is different. So that the answer to the
Why is not now what it might have been before the change for the
better came. But the conditions that now annoy the trade have their
starting point back in the times when things were as has been stated.
In time the workers who have deserted the piano factories because
other lines offer them, or seem to offer them, larger reward for their
skill, will come back again. And when they do come back things
will be better and production will again be more nearly adequate.
Of course the unrest that has disturbed nearly all departments of
industry has contributed to the lack of piano workers. The piano
factories, especially in the East, have suffered from this cause almost
as much as any other industry. That, too, is righting itself. But the
advanced cost of everything that goes into pianos is a condition that
can not soon be overcome by even the return of the workers, or the
cessation of the strikes. It is something that demands a proportionate
increase in the manufacturers' prices, and a corresponding advance
in the selling prices of the retailers.
Perhaps the fact that pianos are not plentiful is the tonic most
needed to cure some of the evil habits by which the piano trade was
nearly ruined in the days of greater plenty. And if that is so it is
well for the trade to have reason to ask Why? For in finding the
answer the dealers may also find the way out of the old-time mis-
takes and make the piano trade again the best business on earth—
as it should be.
THE SEASON AND THE SHOW
The Music Industries Chamber of Commerce has started a wise
investigation. The purpose is to discover the feeling of the piano
trade, and associated interests, as to which season is best for holding
the annual convention, and whether or not the show is wanted. We
believe that these two questions are of vital importance to the music
trade's associations, and we hope that the piano men, and other music
merchants, will respond promptly and conclusively.
Of course it may not be just the thing for a trade paper to voice
a positive opinion in such matters. Only the men who sell the goods
can say whether their business will be most hurt, if at all, by absence
from the store in mid-winter, or by a two weeks' vacation in the
Springtime or Summer. And perhaps the question of a show, and its
effects upon the manufacturers, can only be judged in the factory
offices. It may, furthermore, be said that to measure the matter from
so small a point of view is not wise for the dealer. But to the average
piano dealer—the "small" dealer—it is often a matter of large im-
portance. And usually the average dealer has many reasons why
some certain season may suit him best to turn his back upon the
scenes of his work in search of combined education and entertainment.
Usually the winter is the better season for piano selling. In the
new months of the year the people's homes are thrown open to the
Spring sunshine and out-of-doors begins to woo. The dealer may as
well break away and let his prospects take a long breath, meanwhile
thinking over the advantages of the beautiful playerpiano about which
they have been told so much. And then, too, the dealer's side of it.
The rare inducements of the Springtime and Summer for sight seeing
and the delights of change and open-air recreation. The convention
in New York City is more than a series of business meetings. The
great city is filled with points of interest. The visitor finds himself
thrilled with the rush of the streets, and the city parks, all along
famed Broadway, seem to welcome him with their greenery and birds
of song. Then, too, Coney Island begins to blaze at night, the boats
are running and the attractions are so numerous that after the meet-
ings the only problem is where not- to go.
Same when the convention is in Chicago. Spring and Summer are
waking the wonders of the boulevards and the great public parks. The
towers at night sparkle with electricity and the lake invites the lover
of the swelling waves. Winter in both New York and Chicago sug-
gests shivering misery, snow drifts, blizzards, delayed trains and
general demoralization. With no opportunity for the kind of cheer
that once drew merry crowds into the brilliantly lighted cafes, there
seems a dullness exaggerated, however good the change really may
be for all of us.
So that, when the votes are counted, it is probable that the time
for holding the conventions will be changed back again to June.
What do you say? Presto invites you to tell us that, and if enough
of you do it we will be glad to give up the space in which to make
your choice clearly known.
About the Music Show, this paper has from the first expressed its
views. The judgment of Mr. C. C. Conway seemed to us a wise one.
In both New York and Chicago, permanent music shows exist which,
in many respects, surpass anything that can be gathered together for
a few weeks' parade. The annual convention of the music trade is for
the music trade man, and not for the entertainment of the public.
Perhaps we are wrong. In any event we will be glad to sustain the
views of the manufacturers and the merchants whether the verdict
be for a show or no show.
THE MAN AHEAD
Good advice for both employer and employe is "Think in the
terms of the man that's ahead of the man that's ahead of you." By
thinking in that way, the employe learns the secret springs of success
that have been tapped by the employer. By thinking in that way, the
employer learns the secret springs of success that have been tapped
by his customers, by his rivals in business, by pioneers in special lines
of endeavor everywhere.
Arthur Brisbane, the "highest salaried editor in the world," ac-
cording to the Hearst newspapers, has said that nothing can perma-
nently rule the world but brains, and he's palpably right when brains
works in brainy fashion, which it doesn't often do. Just now muscle
seems to be sitting in the seat of the mighty. The white collar crowd
are somewhere near the bottom of the heap. A machinist's helper
draws three or four times as much wages today as an editorial writer
or a bookkeeper. The machinist's helper on Sundays wears silk shirts
at $12 and $16 apiece, while the bookkeeper and editor are seriously
considering joining the overalls brigade. Many of them are moving
out of their flats because they can not stand the latest raise in rents.
But the poor brain-worm is supposed to be getting ready to turn.
And the business man is getting ready to turn. The turn is expected
some time before the presidential election or thereabouts. And great
will be the turning thereof, so they say. The bubble of high prices is
said to be slated for a puncture before many moons. The war taught
men and women new forms of initiative and new ways of becoming
independent of long-cherished modes of doing things. It brought the
farmer and the piano manufacturer into their own—it put class in the
piano merchants' business. It remains to be seen whether or not
brains will so guide the affairs of their own and their employes as to
make the seeming ills of trade and industry real blessings to the world,
including the possessors of the brains and experience. It is not cer-
tain that conditions of today are really bad. There are philosophers
who see in the new order of things a better world, of greater oppor-
tunities and broader progress. It will depend upon how brains acts
and lays plans for the future.
The piano industry is controlled by men of brains. We have no
doubt as to its future. It is greater today than ever. It has only re-
cently emerged from the uncertain light of experimentation in its
methods and progress. It is a substantial, ambitious and steadily
developing department of the nation's business. Whatever the change
due to altered conditions and a new world, the piano industry and
trade will move forward and the results of the change will funda-
mentally be betterment. So don't let yourself be startled by the
threats and prophecies of what is going to be. You are all right, and
there is little suggestion of storms on the horizon of the business in
which you are engaged.
Among the uninvented things that will make some men rich are
a woman's waist material that can not be seen at all; a phonograph
from which the sounds of scratching and sepulchral tones have been
entirely eliminated; a wireless piano; a bowless violin; a cough-drop
that will immediately cure singers' hoarseness, and an automatic
workman who will immediately do the bidding of any boss without
ever a thought of going on strike. And, even more wonderful, the
Reproducing piano that will perform exactly like all the great pianists
combined with the artists themselves thousands of miles away.
Periods of rest in Eastern shoe factories are permitted, during
which the workers "smoke and chat." Perhaps the piano factories will
pause awhile for the toilers to play and sing.
The latest in the exposition line is the "Used Automobile Show."
Will that diversion ever worry the piano trade? Not just now, in
any event.
Do you want another Music Trade Show? If you do, and there
are enough of you, it will be in Chicago—perhaps next summer.
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/
May 1, 1920.
bors with, often, an utter disregard of either themselves or their
creditors. The consequence was a lack of profit at both ends. And
that lack has kept the piano makers and the piano merchants so fully
occupied with discounting paper that little time was left for the real
end of all good business.
We have been talking of the piano business as it was conducted
in years gone by. Today it is different. So that the answer to the
Why is not now what it might have been before the change for the
better came. But the conditions that now annoy the trade have their
starting point back in the times when things were as has been stated.
In time the workers who have deserted the piano factories because
other lines offer them, or seem to offer them, larger reward for their
skill, will come back again. And when they do come back things
will be better and production will again be more nearly adequate.
Of course the unrest that has disturbed nearly all departments of
industry has contributed to the lack of piano workers. The piano
factories, especially in the East, have suffered from this cause almost
as much as any other industry. That, too, is righting itself. But the
advanced cost of everything that goes into pianos is a condition that
can not soon be overcome by even the return of the workers, or the
cessation of the strikes. It is something that demands a proportionate
increase in the manufacturers' prices, and a corresponding advance
in the selling prices of the retailers.
Perhaps the fact that pianos are not plentiful is the tonic most
needed to cure some of the evil habits by which the piano trade was
nearly ruined in the days of greater plenty. And if that is so it is
well for the trade to have reason to ask Why? For in finding the
answer the dealers may also find the way out of the old-time mis-
takes and make the piano trade again the best business on earth—
as it should be.
THE SEASON AND THE SHOW
The Music Industries Chamber of Commerce has started a wise
investigation. The purpose is to discover the feeling of the piano
trade, and associated interests, as to which season is best for holding
the annual convention, and whether or not the show is wanted. We
believe that these two questions are of vital importance to the music
trade's associations, and we hope that the piano men, and other music
merchants, will respond promptly and conclusively.
Of course it may not be just the thing for a trade paper to voice
a positive opinion in such matters. Only the men who sell the goods
can say whether their business will be most hurt, if at all, by absence
from the store in mid-winter, or by a two weeks' vacation in the
Springtime or Summer. And perhaps the question of a show, and its
effects upon the manufacturers, can only be judged in the factory
offices. It may, furthermore, be said that to measure the matter from
so small a point of view is not wise for the dealer. But to the average
piano dealer—the "small" dealer—it is often a matter of large im-
portance. And usually the average dealer has many reasons why
some certain season may suit him best to turn his back upon the
scenes of his work in search of combined education and entertainment.
Usually the winter is the better season for piano selling. In the
new months of the year the people's homes are thrown open to the
Spring sunshine and out-of-doors begins to woo. The dealer may as
well break away and let his prospects take a long breath, meanwhile
thinking over the advantages of the beautiful playerpiano about which
they have been told so much. And then, too, the dealer's side of it.
The rare inducements of the Springtime and Summer for sight seeing
and the delights of change and open-air recreation. The convention
in New York City is more than a series of business meetings. The
great city is filled with points of interest. The visitor finds himself
thrilled with the rush of the streets, and the city parks, all along
famed Broadway, seem to welcome him with their greenery and birds
of song. Then, too, Coney Island begins to blaze at night, the boats
are running and the attractions are so numerous that after the meet-
ings the only problem is where not- to go.
Same when the convention is in Chicago. Spring and Summer are
waking the wonders of the boulevards and the great public parks. The
towers at night sparkle with electricity and the lake invites the lover
of the swelling waves. Winter in both New York and Chicago sug-
gests shivering misery, snow drifts, blizzards, delayed trains and
general demoralization. With no opportunity for the kind of cheer
that once drew merry crowds into the brilliantly lighted cafes, there
seems a dullness exaggerated, however good the change really may
be for all of us.
So that, when the votes are counted, it is probable that the time
for holding the conventions will be changed back again to June.
What do you say? Presto invites you to tell us that, and if enough
of you do it we will be glad to give up the space in which to make
your choice clearly known.
About the Music Show, this paper has from the first expressed its
views. The judgment of Mr. C. C. Conway seemed to us a wise one.
In both New York and Chicago, permanent music shows exist which,
in many respects, surpass anything that can be gathered together for
a few weeks' parade. The annual convention of the music trade is for
the music trade man, and not for the entertainment of the public.
Perhaps we are wrong. In any event we will be glad to sustain the
views of the manufacturers and the merchants whether the verdict
be for a show or no show.
THE MAN AHEAD
Good advice for both employer and employe is "Think in the
terms of the man that's ahead of the man that's ahead of you." By
thinking in that way, the employe learns the secret springs of success
that have been tapped by the employer. By thinking in that way, the
employer learns the secret springs of success that have been tapped
by his customers, by his rivals in business, by pioneers in special lines
of endeavor everywhere.
Arthur Brisbane, the "highest salaried editor in the world," ac-
cording to the Hearst newspapers, has said that nothing can perma-
nently rule the world but brains, and he's palpably right when brains
works in brainy fashion, which it doesn't often do. Just now muscle
seems to be sitting in the seat of the mighty. The white collar crowd
are somewhere near the bottom of the heap. A machinist's helper
draws three or four times as much wages today as an editorial writer
or a bookkeeper. The machinist's helper on Sundays wears silk shirts
at $12 and $16 apiece, while the bookkeeper and editor are seriously
considering joining the overalls brigade. Many of them are moving
out of their flats because they can not stand the latest raise in rents.
But the poor brain-worm is supposed to be getting ready to turn.
And the business man is getting ready to turn. The turn is expected
some time before the presidential election or thereabouts. And great
will be the turning thereof, so they say. The bubble of high prices is
said to be slated for a puncture before many moons. The war taught
men and women new forms of initiative and new ways of becoming
independent of long-cherished modes of doing things. It brought the
farmer and the piano manufacturer into their own—it put class in the
piano merchants' business. It remains to be seen whether or not
brains will so guide the affairs of their own and their employes as to
make the seeming ills of trade and industry real blessings to the world,
including the possessors of the brains and experience. It is not cer-
tain that conditions of today are really bad. There are philosophers
who see in the new order of things a better world, of greater oppor-
tunities and broader progress. It will depend upon how brains acts
and lays plans for the future.
The piano industry is controlled by men of brains. We have no
doubt as to its future. It is greater today than ever. It has only re-
cently emerged from the uncertain light of experimentation in its
methods and progress. It is a substantial, ambitious and steadily
developing department of the nation's business. Whatever the change
due to altered conditions and a new world, the piano industry and
trade will move forward and the results of the change will funda-
mentally be betterment. So don't let yourself be startled by the
threats and prophecies of what is going to be. You are all right, and
there is little suggestion of storms on the horizon of the business in
which you are engaged.
Among the uninvented things that will make some men rich are
a woman's waist material that can not be seen at all; a phonograph
from which the sounds of scratching and sepulchral tones have been
entirely eliminated; a wireless piano; a bowless violin; a cough-drop
that will immediately cure singers' hoarseness, and an automatic
workman who will immediately do the bidding of any boss without
ever a thought of going on strike. And, even more wonderful, the
Reproducing piano that will perform exactly like all the great pianists
combined with the artists themselves thousands of miles away.
Periods of rest in Eastern shoe factories are permitted, during
which the workers "smoke and chat." Perhaps the piano factories will
pause awhile for the toilers to play and sing.
The latest in the exposition line is the "Used Automobile Show."
Will that diversion ever worry the piano trade? Not just now, in
any event.
Do you want another Music Trade Show? If you do, and there
are enough of you, it will be in Chicago—perhaps next summer.
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).