The talking machine world (Jan-June 1922)

92 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD June 15, 1922 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TALKING MACHINE JOBBERS HOLDS CON VENTION— ( Continued from page 91) tremendous; railroads could not get them fast enough for railroad constructing and for bridge building: cities wanted them for water systems, enlargements, planned cities, etc. Development was the order of the day for the country. Efficiency was the watchword of the factory. Taylor and his school were thought of in terms of admiration because he enabled a man to produce two times as much as he could consume. That left a large surplus for the luxuries of life. Secretary Davis, of the President's Cabinet, said in his speech to the music merchants last week in New York: 'Enable the worker to produce a surplus over his needs and pay him for it so that he may have some of the luxuries. One partaking of the luxuries of life is happy, even if they are small luxuries.' "Education is a delicate subject to discuss, unless one lauds it generally. So I speak advisedly. I do not believe that the educational system of higher education will continue or be the solution of the future. We have general pity for (hose who have had riches and have lost them. To me their troubles are commonplace to those of a man or woman who has been given an education he cannot support. The education of a person should be to the extent of his or her ability to satisfy his desires and no more. "The best wish that I could give a little girl is that she may have the essentials of life, and for luxuries — a sense of humor and a working Our Co-operation Offers the Victor dealer the benefit of our twenty years' experience in the Victor business. Our Service Offers the efficiency of a wonderful buildin g especially designed as a Victor distributing plant, filling your orders better than 90%, shipping them the came day as received, from Columbus, one of the principal railroad centers of the U. S. A. Perry B. Whitsit Co. COLUMBUS OHIO A. A. Trostler, the New President knowledge of one of the fine arts: music, painting or literature. "Pleasure or happiness is to be desired over keen efficiency without love and life, or perhaps I had better say living. We Live to Work "On every hand we are told that the world is improving. That is just a delusion. For, to-day we live to work, instead of working to live. Read your ancient history, from the days of Babylon to Napoleon. See what each succeeding generation has added to the happiness of mankind. Some generations have added nothing; some have taken away. The majority have added. Take our own generation, and what is the one predominating factor? The watchword is Speed,, and more speed. To-day we must surpass yesterday and to-morrow to-day. Morse connected Baltimore with Washington to transmit messages in a moment's time. The world took it up and our country alone is entangled in 9.000.000 miles of wire to speed the thoughts of man. In twenty-five years our railroads put a net over our land and through our mountains, so that the people, the products and the merchandise might be delivered sooner. The tele" phone shoots the human voice 3,000 miles -and back in the twinkling of an eye; the telegram was too slow. Eighteen hours to Chicago, because a mail contract hung in the balance, regardless of wrecks and lives that were sacrificed. And now, gentlemen, the aeroplane has left the once magnificent Limited creeping and crawling on its belly of steel. "If I thought that the men in my factory were making production records for the sake of the records or to return to me my own talent or my five talents, I would stop the factory to-day, give the workmen my ideas on life and how to live, and send them on their way. "The piano, as a console Victrola, has a mission in life, more than just to be a sale for cash. If that was its only purpose, it would have but one uniform price and that is thirty pieces of silver, regardless of the rate of exchange. "No — to spread happiness, to endear the members of each family to the shrine of the fireside and to make pictures for the soul — that is Music That is our mission. "You gentlemen have within your grasp the most powerful factor with which to do this work — the Victrola, and Mr. Childs' Victor catalog of music. Everywhere I hear comparisons of the Victor to other talking machines, or rather other machines to the Victrolas — that is the supreme compliment to the Victor. Rudyard Kipling framed the words for the lips of the director of the destinies of Victor in "The Mary Gloster" when he said: "I didn't begin with askings. I took my job and stuck; I took the chances they wouldn't, and now they're calling it luck. And they asked me how I did it, and I gave 'em the Scripture text, 'You keep your light so shining a little in front o' the nex.' They copies all they could follow but they couldn't copy my mind, and I left 'em sweating and stealing a year and a half behind." In closing Mr. Campbell declared that talking prosperity had almost become a cult and that the time had come to stop talking and plan ways and means and go to work. We have had years of prosperity and have been sowing and sowing. Now was the time to profit by that labor and do some reaping. Following Mr. Campbell's address the regular business of the meeting was again taken up and Thos. F. Green, the New Vice-president there were several discussions on problems with a particular bearing on the Victor business from the jobbers' angle. New Officers Elected Next came the election of officers with the following result: President — Arthur A. Trostler, the | Schmelzer Co., Kansas City. Vice-president — Thomas F. Green, Silas | E. Pearsall Co., New York. Secretary — W. F. Davisson, Perry B. j Whitsit Co., Columbus, Ohio. Treasurer — George A. Mairs, W. J. Dyer § & Bro., St. Paul, Minn. Executive Committee — Louis Buehn, L. | C. Wiswell, J. N. Blackman, W. H. Rey § nalds, E. C. Rauth, C. H. Grinnell, G. A. | Dodge, G. E. Mickel, J. C. Roush and | W. T. Haddon. The Annual Banquet of the Association On Tuesday evening was held the annual banquet of the Association, which proved one of the most enjoyable affairs of the week because the official program was short and snappy and just long enough to prove interesting. During the discussion of the elaborate menu the guests were entertained by the Kentucky Serenaders and later by Paul Whiteman and his orchestra, so that there was a continuous round of music. There was also the popular "Angel Chorus" singing the usual songs in the usual way. Louis Buehn. the retiring president, in introducing James F. Bowers as toastmaster, cited the fact that the past year has been one of accomplishment for the Association, and took oc