January 29, 1920. PRESTO

January 29, 1920.

PRESTO

all concerned in the piano trade are no longer matters of details in sales, settlements, terms or credits. Those are matters which just now seem almost reminiscent. It is today more a question with the manufacturers of how to supply the demand, and with the dealers of how to get the goods. With the increasing number of local association committees, it may still be a question of what has become known as "betterment." But that is really not so important as the problem of increasing taxation and soaring store rents and incidentals.

But things will work out to the advantage of the courageous and consistent. And the Convention and Music Show will go far toward giving the impetus and inspiration that are needed to make the way of the future easier.

FIVE QUESTION POINTS

Why should there be exaggeration in putting forth the claims of any* piano when the facts in the case are already sufficient for all possible purposes? And, in a time when the special pleading of business is for "betterment" in all departments why should any piano house set forth questionable points in the promotion of any popular or wellknown instrument?

The matter of accuracy in advertising has of late exercised the attention of seme of the powerful men of the piano industry and trade. But even yet there are occasional signs that the betterment has not taken hold of the very men who should most have benefited by the discussion and example of those by whose moral suasion trade evils have been to a large degree exterminated.

During the late Col. E. S. Conway's life that influential piano man insisted upon clean methods of retail advertising. He constantly admonished the representatives of the house, in the upbuilding of which he had so much to do, that they should not indulge in any statements that could not be verified. And he specially decried misleading references to the Kimball piano. And yet the following appeared only last week in a newspaper published not far from Chicago:

Facts to your own interest: 1. Kimball pianos are used and endorsed by more professional musicians and artists than any other make. 2. Kimball pianos are used by more teachers and schools than any other make. 3. Kimball pianos have more tone power and sweetness and will sustain longer than any other make. 4. Kimball pianos contain more patented improvements than any other make and will last a lifetime. 5. Kimball pianos are built and fully warranted by more than twice the capital of any other piano concern in the world.

If only cne of those five direct and very positive statements created doubt there might be small cause for criticism. If only two of the statements were questionable the lapses might be laid to misapprehension. If but three were untrue there might be no thought of suggesting the need of the kind of "betterment" that is just now filling large space in the arguments of the trade critics. But when all of the five statements are, in a considerable sense, either in conflict with the truth or so exaggerated as to be misleading, the call for the committee on better advertising seems to be a fairly loud one.

We believe that no one in authority at Kimball Hall, in Chicago, would indorse the Jansen & Joosten advertising. Whether the firm named is really entitled to sign itself "factory distributers" or not, we do not know. But the claim, in large type, seems to suggest an authority in the five statements that the recklessness of the claims themselves does not justify.

We do not believe that Mr. C. N. Kimball would indorse the claim that his pianos are "used and endorsed by more professional musicians and artists than any other make." The statement seems to carry its own contradiction in the minds of all who are informed as to which of the great pianos are thus recognized in the art world.

Nor do we believe that Mr. Kimball would indorse the statement that his pianos are "used by more teachers and schools than any other make." There are so many pianos used in the schools that to determine that question conclusively would require a staff of census takers. But we do not believe that the Jansen & Joosten claim would be verified.

As to the third claim of the Kimball factory distributors, it involves several points impossible of authoritative settlement by any individual. Of course the general opinion of the musical world could not sustain the opinions of the advertisers, for there are really great

pianos that stand in conflict in the matter. And the "patented improvements" statement is almost grotesque in its assumption of inventive preferment. No doubt the Kimball has some patented improvements, but that is not a matter of imposing importance since the days of the Columbian exposition.

Whether or not claim No. five is true or not does not affect piano quality or durability at all. Whether the makers of the Chicago piano can successfully sustain this statement of exceeding wealth, or not, doesn't matter much. We believe that there are now other piano industries equally as wealthy, if not much "more so." In any event we know that the Kimball piano is made by a house of wealth and backed by a tradition of aggression and ambition.

The late W. W. Kimball was a shrewd business man and a successful piano man. His assistant, Col. E. S. Conway, was equally a great organizer and as fine a character as the piano trade has ever known. They have both passed to their eternal peace, and the great industry of their making is in other hands. Its place is established and there need be no straying, by its representatives, from the pathway to progress which was laid out and so long followed by the founders. There must be no least temptation on the part of the Better Business Bureau to discipline the sellers of the Kimballpiano. For the facts in its case are good enough.

OUR DUTY IN THE NEW ERA

The contributor to whom allusion was made last week, as having sent to Presto a powerful article on subjects so broad that doubt arose as to its fitness for a trade paper, has sent in the following very interesting communication:

Anent the editorial "A Trade Paper and Its Limitations" on page 7 of Presto, January 22nd:

There was once a very religious man, and he went unto the secret place to pray. And he prayed--

"O Lord, bless me and my wife, My son John and his wife,

Us four and no more!"

Now, to a scribbler who imagines that he has things pent up in his skull that should be uttered and who has uttered them in various forms, it really does seem that the prayer above uttered did not go very far into christianizing the world.

Business and the world in general can not go back to the times before the war. We are in a new era. In this era any thinker will realize that individual duties that were have broadened, and now each individual's duty is to view the present and the future from three perspectives--himself, his business and his Government.

Individuals make America. Individual Americans were the deciding factor in the world's war.

Individuals go into business. Practically all lines of business fraternize, and all business is constantly touching elbows through the trade press. To this condition was the winning of the war achieved more than by any other. All business arose as one man and got behind the individual. If it had not been for the individual American the war would not have been won. Had business not backed the individual the individual would have been powerless. Is it too much to say that America won the war because business went outside its narrow function of making money and assumed and executed governmental power, and backed the individual American?

Here the precedent was established that will rule from now on. Business will demand business methods in governmental matters. Not the Big Business idea of domination of the past, but the little business, the fraternized business, the amalgamated business, the total business, the business that standardized, conserved, donated, financed, operated bureaus at $1.00 per year salary, and as the power behind the individual--the supreme power--will, and should, kill, stamp out and do away with, the political trickery and jugglery of later years.

Are you serious in saying that the piano trade is not to be represented in the great reconstruction--and that Business must proceed hap-hazardly, without the assistance of the trade press?

The columns of Presto during the war, and since the armistice was signed, would not lead to this conclusion. Yours very truly,

T. ROGERS LYONS.

We can not disagree with what Mr. Lyons says about the duties of a trade paper in its relation to business in general and the influence of individuals in the affairs of the nation. The greatest good of the whole must be the special concern of the individual and, as that great democrat Grover Cleveland said of politicians "he serves his party best who serves his country best." But it is not a question of duty to the world at large, or even to the nation, that creates trade paper limita-

MECHANICAL PlAWO IM ACTIOH

Chicago Tribune,

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