Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
EDWARD LVMAN BILL
Editor and Proprietor.
PUBLISHED
EVERY
SATURDAY
3 East 14th St., New York
SUBSCRIPTION (Including postage) United States and
Canada, $3.00 per year; Foreign Countries, $4.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.00 per inch, singl? column, per
Insertion. On quarterly or yearly contracts .> special dis-
count i* allowed.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency form, should
be made payable to Edward Lyman BilL
Bnttrtdat tht New York Post Office as Second-Class Matttr.
NEW YORK, MAY 9, 1896
"THE BUSINESS MAN'S PAPER."
T
HE workings of the present tariff law,
fathered by Messrs. Cleveland and
Carlisle, and the supposed benefits which
were to accrue to the people through its
enforcement, are certainly interesting sub-
jects for analysis.
Although not affecting the music trade as .
severely as other industries, yet we can get
a sufficient idea of its general effects on the
country from the exports and irrports of
musical instruments during the past nine
or twelve months, and its bearing upon
local and foreign manufactures.
Two years ago, or to be more exact, in
the latter part of May, 1893, a Leipsic paper
contained the following item:
"The manufacturers of smaller musical
instruments in the Voigtland of Saxony are
suffering from the almost total absence of
orders from America, which used to be
their principal market, and in consequence
the majority of the factories are closed.
For the first quarter of the current year
the exports fell off to the extent of 44 per
cent."
At the same period our small goods fac-
tories in this country were exceedingly
busy and the trade in domestic instruments
was very fair, indeed.
•
This was before the present tariff law be-
came operative.
Now, what is the condition to-day?
For the last nine months for which sta-
tistics have been compiled the imports of
musical instruments have increased to the
extent of $358,000 over the same period
last year, while our exports have remained
very nearly stationary, at least the increase
is infinitesimal.
As a matter of course, the manufacturers
of Saxony and other music trade centers in
Europe are busy, and the money which
was placed at home in former years is now
being distributed among them.
From a broad humanitarian or altruistic
standpoint, it is the correct thing to con-
sider and help along our brethren on the
other side of the big pond, but somehow
or other we must view this matter from
narrow, commercial—selfish, if you will—
standpoints.
The increase in our import trade is not
a question of a month or two; it has been
increasing steadily month after month,
demonstrating plainly that it is impossible
for manufacturers in this country to com-
pete with European manufacturers,owing to
the markedly different standards in wages.
Americans are not sentimental or patri-
otic enough to pay more for a domestic-
made instrument when they can secure a
foreign instrument much cheaper, admit-
ting that it is not as good. Hence in the
interests of manufacturers and the working
classes the condition of things now evident
must be overcome by the restoration of
former duties, or a cheapening of the cost
of production by a reduction in wages and
in the quality of goods must follow.
The former plan is certainly the more
preferable.
In this article it is not our aim to talk
"politics," but here are facts which concern
vitally the interests of our manufacturers,
and it is our duty to present them and draw
logical conclusions which will tend to the
prosperity and advancement of the music
trade industry of this country.
The present tariff law has been a dire
failure from its inception. The great vol-
ume of receipts which Mr. Carlisle expected
would supply the expenditures of the
Government have not materialized, and
we have had a constant drain on the busi-
ness prosperity of the nation through the
competition of a heavy import trade, as well
as endeavoring to contend with a disturb-
ing element in the shape of bond issues,
which have not only injured the credit of
the nation, but played havoc with the in-
dustrial equilibrium.
#
#
The alarmist—the individual who is firm-
ly convinced that the country is fast on its
way to ruin, who is talking failures, who
sees "the handwriting on the wall," who
poses as a sort of antichrist in* the indus-
trial world—is doing a prosperous business
these days. He is apparently finding a
large number of purchasers for his
wares.
In the music trade industry especially,
quite a number of manufacturers are in a
receptive state, and.the evangelist of pessi-
mism is enabled to secure a goodly num-
ber of converts to fight under his banner.
Now, we propose to try and rout this
bogy man, to utter a warning against giv-
ing any credence or support to his "rav-
ings" about the condition of business.
The alarmist is a disturber of public
credit, and taking him seriously, unsettles
confidence to such an extent that it works
harm not only to the parties whom he in-
tends particularly to injure, but to the en-
tire music trade industry.
Credit is not ruined, nor will capital dis-
appear simply because we have had some
failures in the piano trade.
Consider that we have had three years of
depression, during which time luxuries
have been among the first to suffer. Dur-
ing these years the trade has displayed
remarkable strength and vitality. It has
fought the "hard times" as has no other
industry .
It is natural that after such a hard and
well-fought battle some have fallen in the
fight.
It doesn 't necessarily mean that the entire
rank and file of the army have deserted or
gone to pieces; not a bit of it.
Among the dealers, some have gone who
have been working on a false basis and with
borrowed capital. Among the manufactur-
ers credit was impaired by bad generalship
in the conduct of business.
All things considered, there is no reason
to lose heart. The firms who have not lost
their head, and have kept tab of their ex-
penditures and income, are successfully
weathering the storm, and when this cloud
has disappeared from the business horizon,
they will be better fitted than ever to enjoy
that prosperity which is inevitable when
another party and another administration
directs the affairs of the nation.
The alarmist cannot hinder the restora-
tion of confidence and the prosperity of the
country. Nothing can destroy the spirit of
reliance upon its boundless wealth and
resources.