Presto

10
May, 1930
PRESTO-TIMES
He s;iid: "Tin's group instruction shows the tremen-
dous 1110:11 en turn that can he acquired hy using the
forces that are at hand."
Toastmaster Bartlett t'.ien, in the name of the as-
semblage, presented Mr. Schneider with a handsome
radio set to take to his country estate at Lake Beu-
lar. Wis., to keep him in touch with the rest of the
world this summer. Mr. Schneider responded with
feeling, saying he didn't know why he was given this
complimentary dinner, as it was not a birthday or
other stated occasion. He said Dr. Browne had
stretched the number of pianos by four, as there
were only 185, not 189. CIr'cago led the United
States cities in piano pupils; Milwaukee was second.
T. J. Cook said: "Mr. Schneider, when you come
back to Chicago next fall, come back for twelve
months." Mr Cook then presented him with a testi-
monial scroll, which every one at the dinner had
signed.
W. E. Guylee t'.ien eulogized E. B. Bartlett and
presented for the assembled company a large bouquet
of flowers for Mrs. Bartlett—with instructions to Mr.
Bartlett to carry them home to her.
MISINFORMED SPACE WRITERS
ARE SMASHING CONFIDENCE
Or, They Would If Anybody Unposted Enough to Believe Their Balderdash
and Flapdoodle Speciousness Could Be Found
An article by Frederic J. Haskin from Washington,
D. C. which appeared in the Jersey Journal, Jersey
City, N. J., the only daily paper of that city, on
April 12, under the caption, "The Passing of the
Piano," is so full or errors, so unjust to real condi-
tions in the piano trade that it has raised a storm
of indignation among piano men whose attention has
been called to the writing.
Some of them are willing to stuff the ballot-box
to elect him president of the Ananias Club of North
America. Such copyrighted articles of so popular a
space-writer as Mr. Haskin has been for many years,
are too widely read to stand uncorrected. Mr. Has-
GLASGOW PIANO MAN WANTS
k,n has at least been badly misinformed—so much
that a schoolboy of 12, it would seem, could have
HOME RULE IN SCOTLAND so
written something nearer the truth. He seems to
think that there is only one piano manufacturing con-
William Thomson, Traveling in Canada, Tells What cern in existence—only one left—and he calls it the
American Piano Co.
National Party Stands For.
Quotations from Haskin's Article.
William Thomson, leading piano dealer of Glasgow.
Quoting Mr. Haskin on the piano industry, he
Scotland, had intended to visit Chicago in April, but makes these ridiculous statements:
he landed at Montreal and went on from there to
"One by one, here and there, and finally by dozens,
Vancouver, where he has business interests. He will they began dropping out of the picture. The de-
probably call at Chicago on his way home later. mand declined. In order to salvage what was left
While in Montreal he gave an address in the First of the industry, several leaders in the business or-
Presbyterian Church, in which he said: "The new ganized what has been called the piano trust, the
National party of Scotland stands for a complete American Piano Co.—in the nature of a defensive
measure of self-government."
He explained that alliance.
the plan "does not involve separation from the Brit-
"The American Piano Co was made up of mer-
ish commonwealth of nations, but it means that any
connection with England shall be entered into freely gers and absorptions of literally scores of lesser con-
by the will of the Scottish people through the Scot- cerns which had been weakened by competition and
low demand and were on the verge of failure. Some
tish Parliament."
had valuable factories, some good locations, some
After his talk in Montreal, Mr. Thomson gave an special patent rights, and some a special asset in the
address at Ottawa to a crowded meeting of the St. form of good will. The American Piano Co. gath-
Andrew Society in Albion Hall. Here, as at Mon- ered together all these elements and thought to make
treal, his speech was in behalf of home rule for Scot- a firm stand. . . . The job of the American Piano
land, and he predicted that the Scottish National Co. now is to adjust production and quality to de-
party was going to avert national disaster, and if mand, and place the industry on a different basis."
given the opportunity, Scottish people would yet build
Not a word about the dozens of powerful going
a Jerusalem in that fair land, a bright star within the
piano factories in this great musical nation—each
federation of sister states.
independent of any trust, none of them seeking
In Glasgow Mr. Thomson holds the office of
mergers. Oh, Mr. Haskin, who filled you up? And
bailie, an officer corresponding to the English alder- where have you been to get the information that
man. He is bearing his own expenses on this trip— piano factories and backwoods sawmills are found in
not in tiie pay of politicians.
the same patch of forest? And where are the back-
woods? From such ignorance, good Lord, deliver us.
For Mr. Haskin says:
"It was a natural development that piano factories
should spring up in American forests, and this is
almost literally true because the factories were by
no means confined to Eastern industrial cities but
Indiana Manufacturer Thinks Dealers Are Overloaded were to be found in many small towns in the edge of
with Too Many Second-Hand Players.
virgin forests out through the West."
Really, Mr. Haskin! Chicago originated more piano
H. Edgar French, president of the Jesse French & factories probably than all the rest of the country
Sons Piano Co , New Castle, Ind., in an interview together. Its "forest" on the east is Lake Michigan;
last week with a Presto-Times representative, ex- its "forests" on the other sides consist of hundreds
pressed himself as quite optimistic as to the future of
of suburban towns and cities, and beyond that no
the piano and piano business. But as an offset to wood fit for piano construction, or very little for
this, there is to be a house cleaning delay.
hundreds of miles. And of the many piano factories
"Basing my observations upon returns from ques- that started in Chicago and moved, they departed
tionnaries and general correspondence," he said, "1 not to be near the logs or the slabs or the barn
do not expect any especial revival for some months. flooring that country sawmills put out some fifty
From my estimation, one great drawback from any years ago, but they moved from congested parts of
immediate trade enlivenment is found in the great
Chicago to get away from labor troubles, to get
number of second-hand uprights, and particularly clear air in which to finish up their piano surfaces, to
player-pianos in the dealers' warerooms.
get beautiful places of residence for their skilled
"Many of these dealers declare they are not going workmen, with home environment in which to rear
to buy any new stock until they get rid of these their children. And there are no sawmills in the
old instruments, especially the players. From the beaut ful towns into which they moved, nor any for-
way they are ordering (or not ordering) we believe ests to be cut down. Piano wood is rare and it came
they mean what they say. So it looks to me as if to these factories many hundreds of miles—the ma-
the return of any appreciable activity in the piano hogany from Africa, Yucatan, Guatemala, or where
trade depends on the speed with which the dealers not.
dispose of the said deceased player-pianos."
Pianos Not Passing Away.
To say that "the piano is passing" is worse than
GOOD TRADE AT TEMPLIN'S.
an egregious error—it is a flat misstatement of fact.
Wilbur Templin, of Elkhart, Ind.. when seen re- Every business in the L T nited States has had its ups
cently by a Presto-Times representative, was con- and downs in the last three years, and the piano
gratulating himself on the excellent trade coming to business has had no more clowns than many another
h's house. He remarked: "1 sold a fine grand yes- line Take radio for example—the piano's alleged
terday and two more are going out today—one of
greatest rival
Where in all pianodom have there
them a beautiful Schiller that had been on the floor been such crushing failures? Two gigantic radio
only a few hours. We arc very highly pleased with plants in one city—Fort Wayne, Ind.—have shut up
the Schiller line of pianos, as the}' meet every expec- shop within a month past. They had built magnifi-
tation and are particularly good sellers."
cent factories and their start-off had been auspicious,
when "Crash!" and now these great structures stand
Ben Edwards announces the formation of a new as gloomy monuments of man's inability to gauge the
music publishing business to be known as Master future.
Music, Inc. It is located at 745 Seventh avenue,
Business is an amphibian—it takes a dive into the
New York.
depths and it comes up for air. Would Mr. Haskin
H. EDGAR FRENCH ON
SUMMER TRADE OUTLOOK
call a racer a dying one when after a heat he is
gasping and being rubbed down by his attendants?
W'ould he think of Wall street as permanently out
of business because it has just had another stock
slump? He ought to think of the story of the cat
that "came back" after eight of its nine lives had been
taken. But not even one of the lives of the piano
business has been taken away by radio or any other
power. Dozens of piano factories are manufacturing
grands and uprights, hundreds of dealers are selling
them, tens of thousands of homes are enjoying their
music.
No, the piano is not passing and there is nothing
in the present outlook, with more children taking
piano lessons than ever before in the world's history,
upon which to base a prediction that it will pass.
But why go on? It's a strange task to try to
answer an article like that. However, it has been
answered, and ably, by John J. Glynn, vice-president
of the Mathushek Piano Co., New York, whose com-
munication to the Jersey Journal appeared in that
paper on April 30. It reads:
Progress of the Piano Industry
Editor Jersey Journal:
In your issue of April 12, un-der the heading. "Let-
ters to the Editor," appears an article headed, "The
Passing of the Piano," by Frederic J. Haskin.
Mr. Haskin is under several misconceptions in
regard to the piano. The writer has been active in
the piano business for 40 years, and has been a stu-
dent of the industry. He has never discovered that
piano factories were started in forests because of the
accessibility of lumber. Nearly all of the factories
have been started in the large cities, Boston, New
York, Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Albany, etc.
The talking machine, "canned music," helped the
piano business more than it hurt it. The most suc-
cessful years that the piano industry has had, have
been years subsequent to the introduction and ex-
ploitation of the talking machine.
In the piano industry there is not now and never
has been a "trust." Several of the larger companies
have controlled at times the manufacture of different
makes of pianos One of these companies, through
bad management, has been involved in financial diffi-
culties, and is paying the price. But that is a condi-
tion common to every line of industry.
Teachers of the piano are today more in demand
than they were ever before. More children in the
schools are studying the piano, which is the funda-
mental musical instrument, than ever before in its
history; and Mr. Haskin is in error when he states,
"One piano, played in a radio studio, will fill the
demand for piano music which scores—hundreds—
were required to fill before." It would be just as
absurd to say that because one boy whistles over the
radio that he will fulfill the demand in the hearts of
hundreds of other boys to whistle.
The piano is the fundamental musical instrument.
The ability to play it is an evidence of culture. It is
music in the home, and not "canned music," and
parents throughout the country know it. The super-
visors of music in our public schools are advocating
the addition of piano-playing to tiie curricula of pub-
lic school studies.
In every line of business there have been failures.
Inefficiency, small capital, and competition added to
bad management, brings failure in any undertaking,
and while it is true that the piano industry at the pres-
ent time is not prospering as it did in some former
periods, that statement is equally true of every other
industry.
When Mr. Haskin says that "one of the erstwhile
most famous piano companies will now place a piano
in the house of any responsible person who desires
it, free of charge, merely to get the instrument safely
stored," he is swallowing the bait of some "gyp"
advertiser. He can convince himself on this by put-
ting in his application for one of these pianos.
This company and its allied companies has been
in the piano business for 70 years, and we look for-
ward with hope to a bigger business than we have
ever done. Our advertising will be found in the
columns of the "Journal." You will never find us
making any fraudulent or deceptive offers to the
public.
"
JOHN J. GLYNN,
Vice-President Mathushek & Son Piano Co.
O. O. Mclntyre, Too.
And here is another space writer who, for want
of information within a thousand miles of the truth
or common sense, says: "The piano, it seems, is
threatened with temporary extinction."
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