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Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
VOL. LXIV. No. 1
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman BUI, Inc., at 373 4th Aye., New York, Jan. 6, 1917
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YEAR is with us, a New Year that for the [most pk^asn$>«eghant
A N NEW
unbounded promise for prosperity and
in
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Single Copies 10 Cents
$2.00 Per Year
with possibilities, that holds
and out of it, and likewise in
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contrast holds forth hazy threats of possible difficulties should one or several situations develop.
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For the man wrapped up in his business, the question for the New Year should not be "what does
the New Year promise?" but rather "what can I do during the coming twelve months for my own particular
business, as well as for the building up of the industry as a whole?"
It is not often that there is such a variety of opinions held forth as to the possibilities of future months.
There are those who declare that if we have peace it will be at the expense of prosperity. Others believe that
if we have war, the result will be the same. There are yet others who believe that the prosperity that is America's
to-day will continue indefinitely, regardless of international happenings.
It rests largely with the individual business man as to which prophesy comes true. If he is panicky and
given to over-conservatism he will not realize to the fullest the opportunities that are his.
If, on the other hand, he is rash, he may find that he is courting business disaster, if there is a sudden shift
for good or bad.
The man who lays out his campaign broadly but safely, who expands his business to the limit of his
possibilities, but watches his business at every turn so that it may be safe and well within his control, is building
for the future as well as for the present.
Regarding the future, this much is certain—the demands.jrom Europe during the past two years or more
have been exceptionally heavy, especially for the things that have to do with the conduct of war and the outfitting
of armies, which means many of the necessities of every day life of the civilian. The result has been not only
increasing prices in this country, but an actual serious shortage of goods.
The inability of many piano factories to fill orders during the past few months has not been due so much
to the increasing cost of supplies, as to'the inability to get deliveries of supplies at any price. Factories that have
boasted of the enormous supply of stock kept on hand at all times, have been very glad to replenish these stocks
on a hand-to-mouth basis.
Tn other words, there is a general shortage of materials in this country. The foreign demands for munitions
are also decreasing steadily, and more or less rapidly, as the belligerents are finding ways and means for
manufacturing their munitions at home. Despite the war-contracts running into millions that have been filled
or cancelled, there has been no perceptible effect on conditions here. Two years or more of constant drainage
has left a void in our own country that must be filled, when peace comes to Europe, or before.
Then there is the export opportunity, especially in South American markets. Europe cannot fill the demand-
now. America can.
After the war European nations cannot readjust in weeks or even in months the commercial organizations
that have been disrupted during the period of combat. Possession is nine points of the law, and once established
in foreign markets, American piano makers will find that the fruits of their commercial victories cannot be
easily wrested from them.
This export business is simply an opportunity. Not all piano manufacturers want the business or will try
for it, but the development of foreign markets means much for the piano trade as a whole. One section of an
industry cannot very well be prosperous without some of that prosperity being shared by others in the same
line of business.
Let every piano man work to the end that during 1917 American pianos will not only be better known in
foreign fields, but be better known and appreciated in our own country.
I ,q I 7
(Continued on page 5)
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