Presto

October 31, 1925.
PRESTO
JOHN J. QLYNN HEADS
MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
ondurihg'
'[Hardman
The Zhfardman dZine
is a complete line
It comprises a range of artisti-
cally worthy instruments to
please practically every purse:
The Hardman, official piano of
the Metropolitan Opera House;
the Harrington and the Hensel
Pianos in which is found that in-
built durability thatcharacterizes
all Hardman-made instruments;
the wonderful Hardman Repro-
ducing Piano; the Hardman
Autotone (the perfect player-
piano); and the popular Playo-
tone.
NEW YORK.
President of New York Piano Merchants' As-
sociation by Word and Example Stimu-
lates Action of Others.
John J. Glynn, secretary of the James T. Holm-
strom Piano Co , New York, is also president of the
New York Piano Merchants' Association, and to his
persistent energy the drive for new members of that
organization owes its forceful character. Mr. Glynn
not only strives continually for the success of the
drive but stimulates others to similar activity. He
sent out the following letter last week to prospective
members:
October 19, 1925.
Anything that affects the retail piano business in
New York affects you. Any movement that tends to
its betterment is a help to you. From the standpoint
of purely personal interest you would be willing to
co-operate in that betterment.
The New York Piano Merchants' Association in-
vites you to membership. It wants your co-opera-,
tion.
It stands for the betterment of the retail business.
You ask what it has done or can do to help you.
A few of its many constructive undertakings are:
1. It has fought fraudulent, misleading, and "bait
advertising."
2. It has held meetings at which have been dis-
cussed: Collections and How to Make Them; Inter-
est and Its Collection; The Piano Lease and Its Exe-
cution; Expenses and Their Reduction; Prices and
Terms; Salesmanship; Tuning as an Overhead;
Proper Allowances for Trade-ins; Constructive Ad-
vertising; The Piano Warrant; Commissions; etc., etc.
3. It has periodically published pamphlets that
have helped your business. It "boosts" music.
4. It has drawn together, socially, the men who
are your competitors, and who learn to know each
other for the common good. It needs you and your
co-operation.
Membership in the association will cost you $15 per
year. Your employes can become associate members
at $5 per year. Most of the meetings are held as
noontime lunches.
Won't you fill out the application now and mail
it to the secretary?
Respectfully yours,
NEW YORK PIANO MERCHANTS' ASSN.
President.
BRITISH PIANO TRADE
FIGHTS BAD PRACTICE
The LEADING LINE
WEAVER PIANOS
Orand*. Uprights and Players
Finest and most artistic
piano in design, tone and
construction tfiat can be
made.
YORK PIANOS
Uprights and Player Pianos
A high grade piano of great
vaiue and with charming tone quality.
Livingston Pianos— Uprights and Player Pianos
A popular piano at a popular price.
Over 70,000 instruments made by this company are sing-
Ing their own praises in all parts of the civilised world.
Write tor catalogues and state on what terms you would
like to deal, and we will make you a proposition if yea are
located in open territory.
WEAVER PIANO CO., Ine.
Factory: YORK, PA.
Established 1870
W. P. Haines & Co.
Manufacturers of
BRADBURY, WEBSTER
and
W. P. HAINES & CO.
Grand, Upright and Reproducing
Pianos
138th Street and Walton Avenue
NEW YORK
Federation Declares in Resolutions That
Dealers Posing as Manufacturers Is Unde-
sirable and Should Be Discouraged.
The question of fictitious names on pianos has been
disturbing the music trade of Great Britain for a
number of years and some months ago the Federa-
tion of Allied Music Trades had an offending dealer
brought to court. He was charged with selling a
piano to which was attached a description suggesting
that it was manufactured by some person other than
the actual manufacturer. The Federation then asked
the Court for a nominal sentence on the ground that
the case was brought as a warning to others who
commit offenses against the Merchandise Marks Act,
1887, and the court, finding the defendant guilty,
imposed a fine of 40s, with £5 5s. costs.
It was then pointed out in the press that the pen-
alty provided by the act for the above-mentioned
offense is imprisonment with or without hard labor
for not more than four months, or a fine not exceed-
ing £20, which made the judge look funny.
But the publicity given to the case by the Federa-
tion and the press resulted in raising queries in the
minds of many manufacturers and dealers as to the
correctness of the methods employed by themselves,
and the extent of their participation in the offensive
custom. Many complaints, too, have been made to
the Federation of instances where apparently the
Merchandise Marks Act has been contravened—per-
haps innocently.
To make the matter perfectly clear, the question
has again been considered by the Trade Committee
and the Federation, and the two following resolutions
have been placed on the minutes of the Federation,
and will further define the policy of the Federation
for the benefit of the industry.
"That it is undesirable in the interests of the trade
17
that dealers who are not manufacturers should have
placed upon the pianos in which they deal, any word-
ing suggesting that those pianos are manufactured by
those dealers, and that the influence of the Federation
be used to discourage this practice."
The resolution refers to the practice whereby some
dealers, who are not manufacturers in any sense of
the word, and have their own name put upon the
fall of pianos, the same being preceded by the words,
"Manufactured by."
There can be no possible objection to a dealer who
advertises as such, and not as a manufacturer, putting
his name on a piano, so long as he does not put it in
such a way as to suggest that the piano was, in
fact, made by him, the Federation agreed.
The second resolution, therefore, is in the following
terms: "That, it having been reported that certain
dealers, who are not manufacturers, are advertising
to the public holding out that they are, in fact, manu-
facturers and that the public, by dealing with them,
can save the middleman's profits, it be an instruction
to the Federation staff to report fully to this Com-
mittee any such instances with a view to prosecution
being taken under appropriate Acts of Parliament."
CHICAGO PIANO SALESMAN
IS VICTIM OF ACCIDENT
Crushed by Truck Is Theory Advanced by Police
Who Arrest Driver and Helper.
James P. Durkin, a salesman for the Schaeffer
Piano Mfg. Co., Chicago, was found dead, with his
head crushed, in an alley at the rear of the Reboro
Hotel, 165 North Wells street, in that city last week.
When found Durkin had $70 in currency in his
pocket and a watch, which caused police to discount
the theory of robbery and to believe that Durkin
had wandered into the alley while ill and had been
crushed by a truck. This theory was substantiated
when Policemen Schroeder and Smith of central sta-
tion, found a scavenger truck at East Eighth street
and South Wabash avenue, on the left front wheel
of which was found blood.
George Meisner, 1104 West Adams street, driver of
the truck, and Joseph Decker, 1413 South Ashland
avenue, and Alfred Decker, 1700 West Fourteenth
place, his helpers, were taken into custody for the
inquest. They told the police they knew nothing
of hitting Durkin.
Durkin was thirty-seven years old. He lived at
508 Barton street, Evanston, and is survived by a
wife, Charlotte, and four small children.
TWO SOUTH BEND STORES BURNED.
Fire of undetermined origin at South Bend, Ind.,
last week Friday, damaged two music establishments
approximately $90,000. The fire baffled the efforts of
fifty firemen for more than six hours. J. M. Rose,
whose piano store was on the second floor of the
building, sustained a loss of $50,000. Losses to the
C. W. Copp music store, on the first floor, will be
about $40,000. Neither merchant carried heavy in-
surance and the loss is heavy to both dealers. Both
merchants began business in their present locations
nearly a quarter of a century ago.
The Only
Completely
Equipped
School in the
United States
In Successful Operation for 24 Years
In its own new building especially designed and
equipped for its purposes.
Every branch taught, including Repairing,
Regulating and Voicing—All Player Actions,
with Demonstrating Specimens to work with.
Diplomas awarded and positions secured. Pri-
vate and class instructions. Both sexes.
School all year. Catalogs on request.
POLK'S COLLEGE OF PIANO TUNING
WILLARD K. POWELL, President
LA PORTE, IND.
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