Presto

Presto Buyers' Guide
Presto Trade Lists
Analyzes and Classifies
All American Pianos
and in Detail Tells of
Their Makers.
Three Uniform Boole-
lets, the Only Complete
Directories of the Music
Industries.
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THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY
CHICAGO, SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1923
E. H. STORY VISITS
CHICAGO OFFICES
President of the Story & Clark Piano Co. Is
Again at His Home Headquarters, Fresh
from Beautiful Pasadena, California,
for a Brief Stay.
President E. H. Story, of the Story & Clark Piano
Co., arrived in Chicago early this week, coming di-
rect from his home in Pasadena, Cal., to look after
some special business of his house. It is little more
for Mr. Story to make the trip from the Golden
State to the borders of Lake Michigan, than it is
for some of us to come to the loop district from Glen
ing of details among those who may be specially
deputized to attend to them, and giving attention to
the larger things by which the details are made pos-
sible and insured their proper relation to the whole.
Certainly the Story & Clark Piano Co. has moved
steadily ahead during the past few years, and to day
it is not only one of the most productive in the in-
dustry, but equally one of the best conducted and
most highly respected among the musical instrument
manufacturers of this country. And not only are
the factories of the Story & Clark Piano Co. busy;
the chain of large retail houses, in the larger cities,
are no less so.
Mr. Story's stay in Chicago this time will be brief,
and his friends are wondering' how he could pull
away from the beauties of California in the dead of
winter when Chicago, even in an unusually mild
season, is comparatively bleak. But as he says,
"business first."
CONDITION OF BUSINESS
FAVORABLE TO PROGRESS
Sensible Management of Business Means Substantial
Growth, Says Head of South Haven Factory.
The policy of important piano factories at present
and during the next few months is to decide the real
significance of the great increase in business which
has occurred in the industry for the past few months,
said T. L. Powell, president of the Cable-Nelson
Piano Co., of South Haven, Mich., in a recent inter-
view. The indications are now that piano factory
executives, directors and managers are looking at
things sensibly, and that the condition is favorable to
real progress instead of killing the goose that laid
the golden eggs.
"Inflated ideas of the present prosperity would be
harmful and detrimental to the solidity of any com-
pany," said Mr. Powell. "The task at present is to
formulate judicious policies for the management of
the factory and operation of the business."
Mr.
Powell has just returned from a trip to New York
and Boston, and talks with manufacturers of those
cities indicate that the industry is, on a sound basis,
he said.
PIANO CLUB OF CHICAGO
HEARS FAMOUS COMEDIAN
E. H. STORY
Ellyn or Hyde Park. And, whether in his Chicago
office, on the transcontinental train, or in his study
at Pasadena, Mr. Story is busy with the problems of
the Story & Clark business and its customers all
over the country—yes, all over the world.
A Good Year.
"This will be a great year for the piano business"
said Mr. Story to a Presto representative on Wednes-
day morning. "It promises to be even better than
last year—and that was a good one with our house."
Mr. Story has been quoted many times on the sub-
ject of the possibility of change or improvement, in
the piano. He has given a great deal of thought
to the possibilities of something absolutely new, and
he has taken no small part in the development of
the product of the factories at Grand Haven, Michi-
gan. Whether he has anything of radical nature
somewhere in his researches we do not know, but it
is certain that whatever may appear in the piano in-
dustry, of distinctive kind, the Story & Clark Piano
Mfg. Co. is more than likely to have a hand in it,
in the future as in the past.
Leaves Details to Others.
When Mr. Story was in Chicago a year ago, a
Presto interview quoted him as finding it just as
easy to keep busy while one thousand or more miles
away from the offices as if he were right at hand.
"I have never worked harder, or to better results,"
he said, "even when tied closely to my desk in Chi-
cago. At a distance it seems easy to accomplish
more in a broad way than as if I were occupied with
the details of the business."
It is the same rule that other men of affairs have
often referred to when they have advised the divid-
Organization Making Plans for Sheet Music Enter-
tainment at Next Monday Noon Meeting.
The meeting of the Piano Club of Chicago last
Monday noon was what might be called an overflow
meeting, since all the seats at the tables were taken,
as there were several visitors at the club, among them
being A. L. Smith, of New York, secretary and man-
ager of the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce,
and A. M. Johnstone, of the Standard Pneumatic Ac-
tion Co., New York.
The guest of honor at the meeting was Eddie Can-
tor, renowned comedian and entertainer, now playing
at one of the Chicago theaters. Eddie told a number
of original stories, much to the amusement of the
club, after which he was voted not only a good story-
teller but a "good fellow."
Announcement was made that the next meeting of
the club, next Monday noon, would be especially
given up to the sheet music section of the industry.
A feature of this meeting will be the playing of a
number of new selections of exceptional merit, it
being the intention of song promoters to bring out
at this time some of the songs which are expected to
be the hits of the coming season.
E. L. HADLEY ON WEDDING TRIP.
Earl L. Hadley, advertising manager of The Cable
Company, Chicago, and his bride, formerly Miss Mary
McCleary, of Johnstown, Pa., have left for a two
weeks' honeymoon through the South, following the
marriage at Johnstown on Thursday of this week.
Mr. Hadley is of particular prominence in the music
trades of Chicago, having established himself as the
able manager of the advertising department of one
of the largest industries of the middle west. The
couple will return to Chicago to live.
SOME OF THE LESSONS
OF THE YEAR JUST PAST
Digest of Conditions by Which Expectancy of
This Year in the Piano Business May
Be Predicated.
By J. J. GILBERT.
One year ago the musical instrument and allied in-
dustries entered upon a stage which dealers in the
trade are disposed to label "hysteria." From the very
outset of the readjustment period, the experience of
dealers disclosed that it was one of uncertainty and
depression. For some months this condition pre-
vailed, during which time the sloughing off of values
and a woeful lack of demand were very much in
evidence.
Several causes have been advanced by store man-
agers as being instrumental in bringing about this
business depression. The consensus of opinion
points to the lack of confidence among the laboring
classes, which naturally resulted in the prolonged
labor unrest of the first of the year just past. Along
with the labor unrest came the question of providing
adequate housing. The inadequate housing, coupled
with the vague, mental unrest which swept the coun-
try like a plague, was largely responsible for the
business lethargy of the first few months.
After reviewing the serious conditions which char-
acterized the beginning of the past year, there are
several important facts which remain unchanged.
Despite the serious conditions threatening the trade,
there have been but very few failures. In fact, this
industry has met with fewer failures than any other.
The large concerns, though hard pressed, have been
sound at the base, thus insuring the financial in-
tegrity of all the lesser concerns dependent upon
them.
Even now, after having successfully emerged from
the "doldrums" incident to the readjustment, and
other causes, piano dealers are frank in saying that
there can only be a normal increase in business.
They admit that while conditions seem to be right
for a g'eneral run of prosperity, they do not anticipate
any pronounced business boom, and if there is any
such boom it will be very short-lived. This is the
opinion of the Baldwin Piano Company, of Dayton,
Ohio, and others who have been interviewed by the
Presto representative.
Compared with one year ago, business conditions
show a decided improvement.
The conditions of
sales are as follows: 46 per cent, three years; 25 per
cent, one year; 16 per cent, two years; 13 per cent,
cash.
Musical instrument dealers say that the business
revival is dependent upon the prevailing confidence
among the laboring classes. Postal savings, first in-
crease in this class of savings for years, reflect this
feeling.
The greatest problem with which manufacturers
have been confronted is the necessity of cutting costs
to a minimum. This problem was made more diffi-
cult when it was realized that it would be impossible
to reduce the price of first-hand supplies. They had
witnessed the widespread and sporadic efforts of other
industries to bring about a reduction, without con-
sidering the fact that both the commodity and the
price were pre-war. They forebore to follow suit
and plunge into the already overcrowded maelstrom
of failure.
About the month of August business in the retail
piano trade was slack, but September witnessed an
encouraging increase. The fact that there has been
a huge increase in savings for the laboring classes is
indicative of a more pronounced buying power, thus
explaining the increase of the trade volume.
A general feeling of optimism for the future seems
to pervade the music trades atmosphere. Mr.
Jenckes, of the Baldwin Piano Company, who is with-
out a doubt one of the most successful of Dayton
merchants, radiates this general optimism:
"Business is definitely improving, and, further, is
based on a sound foundation of confidence.
We
should, however, exercise care not to undermine the
solidity of the business by quoting cheap terms,
prices, etc. Now is the time to plan for a period of
sane business expansion we will surely enjoy for the
next few years."
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