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Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUJIC TI(ADE
VOL.
LXII. No. 21 Published Every Saturday by the Estate of Edward-Lyman Bill at-373 4th!Ave., New York, May 20, 1916
The Broader Aspect of Preparedness
P
REPAREDNESS is the topic of the day. Since the seriousness of the great European struggle became
fairly apparent, the importance of national preparedness has been realized to a constantly increasing
extent. Associations, defence societies, military and naval leagues, legislators, publicists, and the public
press have carried on a propaganda for greater national preparedness that has aroused the nation to
a real and definite sense of the inadequacy of our present military resources.
This feeling was concretely and eloquently expressed in the wonderful demonstration which took place
in New York on Saturday last when the representative men of New York's business and professional life,
135,000 strong, paraded up Fifth avenue and placed themselves on record as favoring national legislation that
would tend to put the nation on a proper footing to meet any emergency that may develop.
This parade may be termed an expression of the great city's belief that insurance is a good thing for
the nation as well as the individual—a peaceful expression of a peaceful purpose—a symbol of the democracy
of common preparation for the common good.
While it is conceded that military preparedness is an absolute necessity for the future well-being of this
country, industrial preparedness is of equal, if not of even greater importance. Our geographical separation
from every foreign foe has caused us to regard indifferently the thought of war, and we have likewise fondly
imagined that the quarrels of our European neighbors could never be so far reaching as to disturb the equilibrium
of our domestic commercial affairs.
The actualities of the present war have exploded both fallacies. Our financial dependence on other nations
was speedily demonstrated, once the war began, and while the first unfavorable effect of the war on our finances
has been remedied somewhat, due to the enormous purchases by the belligerents of products which we alone
could supply, the future settlement of these balances, which are now in our favor, may seriously mitigate our
opportunities for export trade.
Again, our industries have been seriously hampered through a shortage of materials for which we had
been depending on European sources of supply, but which could have been produced in this country, in almost
every instance, had we been alert to the necessity of industrial preparedness for any possible emergency.
Without industrial preparedness there can be no sound military preparedness. An unbeatable army, an
invincible navy, become such only when behind them stands a nation whose economic foundation is solid and
enduring, whose finances are firmly established, and whose industrial conditions have rendered its citizens pros-
perous, contented and confident in the stability and the future of their Government.
Industrial preparedness does not mean merely the strengthening of those avenues of industry which are
of particular necessity in times of war. Industrial preparedness means that every industry, no matter how far
removed its product may be from being of any possible service in the event of war, must be established and
developed upon a firm, durable and legitimate basis, thereby contributing its quota to the national solidity
upon which alone can adequate military preparedness be based.
In this broader phase of preparedness the music trade has its full and important share. The piano industry,
now enjoying a period of greatly increased activity and prosperity, has a golden opportunity to develop its
resources and strengthen its financial stability to an exceptional degree, thereby not only contributing to the
preparedness of the nation, but enhancing its own prosperity as well. The call is.imperative. What say you,
piano men?
Let patriotism, sound business judgment and common sense dictate an emphatically affirmative answer.