The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1914)

58 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. COLUMBIA GRAPHOPHONE CO/S 25th ANNIVERSARY The Occasion of a Most Interesting Reunion and Dinner of the Directors, Officials and Executives of the Company Held at the Areola Country Club, Areola, N. J., on Saturday, April 11 — Some Interesting Remarks by President E. D. Easton and Others. There was a large and festive noise, indicative of much jubilation, in the neighborhood o,f the Areola (N. J.) Country Club April 11, when Edward D. Easton, president of the Columbia Graphophone Co., and a large party of the directors, officials and employes foregathered to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the company. Most of the guests made the club early in the afternoon, for the weather was perfect and the club kept open house, indoors and out. The golf co.urse claimed a good many and some remarkable scores were made. It was one of the occasions — they do happen every once in a while — when the Columbia organization lifted the lid and cut loose, and the invited guests were permitted to see something of the good fellowship, co-operation and mutual loyalty that exists in the organization — the spirit which, in short, has been the dominant factor in buildingit up. It is a thing about which not much has been said, but it is there. It is a constant and wholehearted reinforcement one of another by everyone, from the president down to the executive office door boy. It is that spirit which has created and recreated the Columbia Graphophone Co. — and it started from the top. President E. D. Easton's personality, never blatant, tremendously magnetic, together with his genius for the selection and inspiration of his forces, has been one of the biggest things that the talking machine trade has known since its very inception. And Saturday night's foregathering early resolved itself into a large and enthusiastic utterance of tributes to the man. At the dinner in the evening covers were laid for fifty. President E. D. Easton himself wis in the chair, and those present were as follows : George W. Lyle, vice-president and general manager; E. N. Burns, vice-president and manager of the export department; Senator William M. Johnson, director ; Dr. David St. John, director ; F. J. Warburton, director ; C. W. Cox, director ; C. A. L. Massie, director and patent counsel ; H. L. Willson, assistant general manager; Mervin E. Lyle, factory manager; H. A. Budlong, assistant factory manager; 'C. E. Woods, supervising engineer; Horace Sheble, efficiency engineer; E. K. Camp, counsel; Ralph L. Sco.tt, patent counsel; Marion Dorian, auditor and treasurer; T. Allan Laurie, assistant auditor ; G. L. Funnell, London factory manager ; J. I. Brereton, purchasing agent; G. C. Jell, chairman record committee ; V. H. Emerson, manager record department; C. W. Woddrop, secretary and assistant treasurer; T. E. Novakoski, assistant treasurer; A. E. Garmaize, export department; Lo.uis Sterling, European sales manager ; A. G. Farquharson, Canadian manager; Otis C. Dorian, assistant Canadian manager; E. B. Jordan, Jr., guest; W. S. Scherman, advertising department; F. L. Capps, experimental department ; F. E. Goodwin, education department; H. B. Ray, advertising manager ; M. D. Easton. dictaphone advertising manager; G. P. Metzger, advertising counsel; H. A. Yerkes, wholesale department manager ; Frank Dorian, dictaphone manager ; J. D. W estervelt, manager of dictaphone agencies ; John Button, assistant dictaphone manager ; N. F. Milnor, New York dictaphone sales manager ; Thomas F. Murray, guest; Homer W. Reid, chief accountant, Bridgeport, Conn. ; Hayward Cleveland, manager Thirty-third street store ; H. C. Grove, manager Washington store ; R. F. Bolton, New York wholesale manager; Anton Heindl, manager of foreign record department ; J. C. Ray, assistant to Mr. Willson ; Harold Lyle, foreign record department ; Walton Mayer, Pittsburgh, guest ; E. E. Robinson, representative of the export department in the Orient ; Henry E. Parker, advertising department. There was no set program of speeches, but a whole lot of interesting talk followed the dinner. President E. D. Easton, arising amid cheering, said : "Gentlemen, the Columbia Phonograph Co. was born on January 15, 1889, so that it was twentyfive years old nearly three months ago. But we were not quite ready then to celebrate, therefore it was postponed until to-night in order that more of us could meet together. I want to express to you all my very great affection and regard and appreciation of your services. We have no program for this evening, but I will exercise the privilege of calling upon many of those who. are present for impromptu speeches. I only want to say that I am very happy indeed to be here with you and to see all these splendid men, and hope that you may carry away pleasant memories o.f the evening. I think the first speaker should be the Edward D. Easton, President. man who has, next to myself, been longest in the service of the company — Frank Dorian — who has had the full twenty-five years' service with us." Frank Dorian Heard From. Frank Dorian, general manager of the dictaphone, spoke briefly — so. briefly, in fact, that someone suggested that he felt embarrassed because there was no dictaphone to. dictate to. He said : "I can only echo the words of our president. It is indeed a great pleasure to be here and with the company, and a great privilege to have been associated with Mr. Easton. I may not hope for another twenty-five years, but I do not feel that my. education is yet completed, and I hope to be associated with him for many years to come." H. A. Budlong, assistant factory manager, who. was called upon, expressed his pleasure at being present. Men Who Have Distinguished Themselves. E. D. Easton arose at this juncture and said that he had been struck with the presence of so many of his previous secretaries — Mervin E. Lyle, Otis C. Dorian, M. D. Easton, Frank Dorian, J. C. Button. H. L. Willson and H. A. Budlong. Said he : "My secretaries have many of them distinguished themselves since. Frank Dorian was for many years our European general manager. Mervin Lyle has just taken one of our biggest posts as manager of the factory in Bridgeport. Otis Dorian is now assistant manager in Canada. Mr. Willson is now serving as assistant general manager of the company. Mr. Budlong has long had charge of very responsible work in the factory, of which he is the assistant manager, and J. C. Button and M. D. Easton are doing important work in the executive office." Elisha K. Camp's Remarks. Elisha K. Camp, of the legal department, said : "It does seem to me on an occasion of this sort, when brief speeches are the order, that I am the most inappropriate person to be called on. Because if any one man, more than another, should be expected to be able to speak a lot it would be the attorney for a talking machine company. Of the many cackling chicks hatched by the North American Phonograph Co.., the Columbia was the only one that was able to last for any length of time. Mr. Easton, as you all know, was the man who got the exclusive rights from the North American Phonograph Co. for Delaware, Maryland and the District of Columbia, which he transferred to the Columbia Phonograph Co., and he was very careful at the time — with his usual foresight— to have read into his contract the express covenant of the grantor that it wo.uld not come into the ceded territory. I think that, of all those sub-licensees, the Columbia Phonograph Co. was the only one with that express covenant, and that was due to Mr. Easton's foresight. While the celebration to-night is in itself a great event, . 1 think we have even greater cause for celebration in that we have preserved to us the man who originally made the Columbia Phonograph Co. and who has brought it along up to. the present time to what it is now. You all remember what a serious illness he recently passed through and how successfully he has recovered, even as we had all prayed that he would come through as well as he has. And while we are celebrating to-night we should be very thankful to. think that he is with us in such splendid health and spirits, ready to be with us for another twenty-five years or even more (applause). I do not know of any man who has the ability to infuse the same enthusiasm into his colleagues as Mr. Easton. I do. not know of a body of men who have responded more loyally to their chief than the men who are here and the men who have served the company of which he has been such a distinguished head." (Cheers.) Some Other Speakers. Marion Dorian, auditor, next made a few brief remarks, and was followed by Louis Sterling, European general sales manager, who declared that he had "been having such a very good time that he didn't want to interrupt it by saying anything. His only cause for regret was that he had never served as a secretary to Mr. Easton (laughter). It was a pleasure and an inspiration to come across to this side of the water every once in a while and to realize the magnitude of the business with which he was connected. During, the four and a half years during which he had been with the Columbia they had carried the Columbia flag throughout Europe and they had succeeded in showing Europe that American ideas could be worth a very great deal indeed." George P. Metzger, advertising counsel, made a humorous speech, mainly about go.lf, and was followed by Mervin Lyle, manager of the Bridgeport factory, who said that although his actual service with the company only covered a period of twelve years, he had really been associated in a commercial way a long while before that, as far as 1892, when it had a store in Baltimore. Big Improvements Coming Say Woods. C. E. Woods, supervisor of engineering, arising amid cheers, said that he felt pretty young in the business. "It seems to me," he continued, "that I have never seen a more glorious opportunity for the development of the business. Our future is full o.f possibilities, and it does seem that we can't get to them quick enough. There is almost virgin field in many directions. We are making the talking machine to-day as we have made it for many years, but yet I think there are big improvements coming. I am looking forward to the time when we can bring the talking machine up to a po.int where it will be regarded just as much a ho.usehold necessity as the piano, and more so. It is only a matter of education." Mr. Woods spoke at further length on the eminent prospects of extensive improvements in the science of sound reproduction. Horace Sheble's "Experiences." Horace Sheble, formerly factory manager and at present efficiency engineer, said his experiences with the company dated back over twenty years, and said over twenty years ago. he had been a salesman selling to the company. He had sold them their first typewriter. Mr: Easton had reciprocated by selling him one of the first graphophones. And then he himself got even by supplying the company with sapphire points at ten cents apiece. C. A. L. Massie was another one to express his