February 21, 1941

Paul Bilhuber writes a memorandum to Steinway & Sons management, trying to defend Steinway & Sons’ traditional methods against Robert Heller’s efficiency experts – as a preventive move, before their final report is released. He criticizes their advice to replace high-grade wood with cheap lumber, pointing out that using cheap materials may cost more in the long run. He also reminds the management that the old Steinway & Sons foundry’s loss rate of 1% is a lot smaller than 4% to 7% loss rate of an average American foundry.