Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1917 Vol. 64 N. 23

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
REVIEW
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
President, C. L. Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Vice-President, J. B. Spillane,
373 Fourth Ave., New York; Second Vice-President, J. Raymond Bill, 373 Fourth Ave.,
New York; Secretary and Treasurer, August J. Tirripe, 373 Fourth Ave., New Yofk.
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
J. RAYMOND BILL, Associate Editor
AUGUST J. T1MPE
Business Manager
Executive and Reportorlal Stall:
B. BMTTAIN WILSON, CARLKTON CHACE, L. M. ROBINSON, WILSON D. BUSH, V. D. WALSH,
W H . BRAID WHITE (Technical Editor), E. B. MUNCH, A. J. NICKLIN, L. E. BOWERS
BOSTON OFFICE:
JOHN H. WILSON, 324 Washington St.
Telephone, Main 69S0.
CHICAGO OFFICE:
E.
P.
VAN HATILINGENJ-Republic ' Buildmg,
209 So. State Street. Telephone, Wabash 577,4.
H. SCOTT KINGWILL, Assistant Manager.
LONDON, ENGLAND: 1 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall St., D. C.
NEWS SERVICE IS SUPPLIED WEEKLY BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS
LOCATED IN THE LEADING CITIES THROUGHOUT AMERICA.
Published Every Saturday at 373 Fourth Avenue, New York
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage), United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year;
Canada, $3.50; all other countries, $5.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $4.50 per inch, single column, per insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount is allowed. Advertising pages, $130.
REMITTANCES! in other than currency forms, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill, Inc.
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
tions of a technical nature relating to the tunjng, regu-
Ili»narfinoiltc
lating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos are
Ue|Pdl IlllCllt^. dealt with, will be found in another section of this
paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information concerning
which will be cheerfully given upon request.
Player-Piano and
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900 Silver Medal.. .Charleston Exposjtion, 1902
Diploma
Pan-American Exposition, 1901 Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal.. .Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES—NUMBERS 5982—6083 MADISON SQ.
Connecting all Departments
Cable address: "Elbill, New York."
NEW YORK, JUNE 9, 1917
EDITORIAL
T
HE man who waits for trade to come to him these days is
making the mistake of his life. In our efforts to be patriot-
ically economical we find ourselves going to extremes in the
opposite direction in the way of misguided thrift, which is just
as great a danger as wastefulness and extravagance. We must
be careful not to deflect from its normal course the tide of
.the nation's money that keeps the wheels of industry turning.
A man may consider himself an excellent judge of what the
public requires. He may be an able and competent business man
throughout, but nevertheless he cannot solve the problem of how
to make progress in war times by waiting for business to come
to him. Activity was never more necessary than now, for there
must be aggressive action to combat the prevalent economy
hysteria.
The quietness in our own industry, while temporary, it is
true, is due largely to a sort of superficial conclusion that "there
is no business" owing to the war, and therefore a large number
of our dealers are apparently content to "drift." Meanwhile,
there are those who are hustling, pushing right ahead irrespective
of conditions—they have implicit faith in the country's future,
and consequently they are busy.
The old saw has it "in times of peace prepare for war." We
would paraphrase this and say "in times of war prepare for work."
This preparation should consist in activity, just now, in the
factory, on the road, and in the warerooms.
Sitting down and complaining will never get a man any-
where. It is necessary to be broader in spirit and accomplish-
ment. The future is not bleak by any means. The farmers, who
contribute immeasurably to the prosperity of the country, are
adding rapidly these days to their bank accounts, while the crop
outlook for this year in all parts of the nation, according to the
official accounts, is not going to be so disastrous as some pes-
simists pictured a few weeks ago.
While the necessity of supplying foodstuffs in increasing
quantities to England and France will naturally prove more or
less of a burden to the United States, there is no genuine reason
for alarm over a food famine. According to the latest reports
coming from the Chamber of Commerce of the United StateS
as to crop conditions, the crops will be normal or a little better;
and, with the high prices prevailing, the farming element should
be in excellent position to purchase liberally, especially in the
music trade.,freld.
!
The crop situation is summed up in the Chamber of Com-
merce Bulletin as follows: "With favorable weather from now!
on the total wiflter wheat yield may somewhat, though not man
aterially, exceed the harvest of-last year. At this stage of the
growth of the spring wheat crop all that can be reasonably said
is that the law of chance is for a greater production than last
season. If, hpwever, we_ should not have as much jwheat to ex=
port as would be necessary, there seems a strong probability that
we shall have other available food supplies, such as corn, oats,
potatoes, and the like—not only in full measure,. but running^
over."
''-
•
>
Such are the pleasing assurances given by the Committee
on Statistics and Standards of the Chamber of Commerce of the •
United States, and which are of interest to all branches of^in-
dustry. -It must •also be remembered that the vast sum of money -
which is going into circulation through the war expenditures of
the government, is bound to find its way into the pockets of
the people, and into the proper channels in all lines of trade.
The music trade industry is bound to get its share of "what
is going" when the business of the country is adjusted to a war
basis, and therefore every fact of fundamental value leads one
to the conclusion that after a short recess we are bound to have
great business activity. The sentiment in the trade is gradually
improving. Keen interest naturally exists in the progress of the
war, and quiet confidence has taken the place of fear of possible,
hurtful consequences.
We wish again to emphasize, however, that the manufac-
turer, the merchant, who intends to wait for business to come
to him will be sadly "left."
A
LTHOUGH the piano trade cannot be said to have been
fully alive to the dangers of the War Revenue Bill until
it was in the advance stages, it can be stated that the retail piano
men have proven themselves thoroughly awake to the value of
the much advertised Liberty Bonds both from a patriotic and
purely commercial viewpoint.
The campaign for the sale of the bonds had hardly been
under way before it was definitely stated that the bonds bid fair
to prove as negotiable as the ordinary greenback or treasury
note, as the bonds are issued in convenient denominations of
$50 and $100. Piano retailers were quick to appreciate this fact
and equally quick to advertise to the public that they would
accept Liberty Bonds as representing cash for the purchase price
of a piano or player-piano.
At least a half dozen piano houses have gone on record in
public advertising as.being willing to accept Liberty Bonds at
$102 or even as high as $105, in other words, to accept $100
Liberty Bonds as representing $105 in cash. The offer is one
that should appeal to the ordinary piano prospect. He can feel
that he is doing a patriotic duty by buying bonds, and then can
realize from $2 to $5 above his purchase price by turning them
over for a piano.
The offer should materially stimulate cash piano business
and make for larger payments, for $50 as a first payment, whether
in currency or bond form, is something not to be ignored.
I
N the various opinions published in The Review last week
regarding the desirablity or practicability of formulating an
agreement regarding minimum prices, at which pianos and
player-pianos should be advertised, some unusual but interesting
views were presented—some of them favorable and some not so
favorable. Although the New York dealers who started the
idea are working on the plan and consider it quite feasible, the
piano merchants in other States, some of whom favor the plan,
are of the opinion that it is Utopian in character.
Some piano merchants feel that the adoption of minimum
advertised prices would encourage certain members of the trade
to juggle prices more generally than is the case even at the
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
present time, and thereby further undermine the confidence of
the public in the piano trade as a whole.
Properly handled, an agreement such as that outlined would
have no such effect, for if the public can be educated to believe
that $190 or $195 or $198 is the proper price for a piano and $375
and $395 the proper price for a player-piano, it is just as easy
to add $30 or $50 to that price in the advertising and educate the
public to the new valuation.
The "public has learned to expect increased prices in
nearly every -ot-her line an-d is- giving more money for the-goods
it purchases without a murmur. With pianos advertised gener-
ally at $225, a prospective purchaser would enter the store with
the expectation of paying at least $225 for a piano, the adver-
tisements having lead him to believe that.
Even with the pianos advertised at-*$195 and player-pianos
at $395 there have been houses that have been featuring prices
as low as $150 for pianos and $250 for player-pianos, which
fact did not hurt the general trade to any extent.
It must be understood that it is not a price-fixing campaign
in any sense, it is simply an educational ©ampaign to show the
public that not only have clothes, food and other articles gone
up but pianos have of necessity advanced'in pricQ.^. % -' "
piano merchants have protected in lett'ers to this
S EVERAL
office regarding the action taken by piano manufacturers and
other trade interests in combating the tax of 5 per cent, on musi-
cal instruments, as proposed in the original draft of the War
Revenue Bill. They have even gone so far as to say that the
protest at this time was unpatriotic; that piano manufacturers
should be prepared to pay a war tax just as cheerfully as those
in other lines. The dealers are apparently suffering from a mis-
conception of the reason for the piano manufacturers' action in
protesting against the excise tax.
The manufacturers have been and arc ready to pay their full
share of the cost of the war. They will be called upon to pay
duties and taxes on materials that enter into piano making and
to pay income taxes, taxes on excess profits, if there are any, and
the assessments that will be levied on the business of the country
generally. What the piano men have been protesting against is
that this industry, with a half dozen or so of other industries,
should be singled out to pay an additional 5 per cent, tax; in
other words, they are willing to pay their share, but do not want
to be forced to pay more than their share. If all manufacturers,
excepting those engaged in the production of foods, are called
upon to pay 5 per cent., all well and good. If all are called upon
to pay ,1 per cent., they are willing to do so, but the piano
manufacturers do not feel that they should be selected to pay
special taxes; in short, the manufacturers are not fighting the
question of taxation, but the question of discrimination "in
taxation.
N connection with the very active campaign which has been car-
I Review
ried on by the various associations in the piano trade and The
for the past few weeks against the taxing of music as rep-
resented in the bill passed by the House of Representatives, the
"Music in the Home Page" of the Evening Mail carried some very
pertinent and enlightening editorials and interviews which were
decidedly helpful in pointing out the unfairness of the tax.
* Through the efforts of all concerned the Senate Finance Com-
mittee has been engaged tn the pleasing task of transforming the
War Revemie Bill passed by the House into a measure, which,
though it may not attain perfection, at least gives promise of work-
ing out more satisfactorily than the hastily constructed and crude
measure passed by the House of Representatives.
As the New York Sun pointed out a day or two ago, "the Sen-
ate Committee, though it may have failed to protect business as
business should be protected, has at least given evidence of its
recognition that business must be protected if the Treasury is to be
filled." After discussion and amendment in the Senate the bill will
go to conference, and the report of the conference committee must
be adopted by both chambers. When it is brought before the
House there will undoubtedly be hot talk of "Senatorial usurpa-
tion," of "invasion of the prerogatives of the House," of the con-
stitutional obligation of the Representatives to originate taxation
bills. The country will pay little attention to these outgivings.
The only plausible theory on which to account for the action
of the House on the War Revenue Bill involves the assumption
that the Representatives intended that the Senate should remould
the product of their crude and unscientific proceedings into an intel-
ligible form. To believe that they expected their bungling job
to go on the statute books without rewriting is to charge them with
a lack of ordinary intelligence.
convincing evidence of the prosperity of the nation
A MOST
is to be found in the figures bearing upon the export and
import trade of the United States for the past twelve months
ending April 1, just issued by the Department of Commerce.
In that period the export record amounted to $6,060,000,000,
the first time in the history of the country that such an enor-
mous return has been achieved. In the same period a year
ago, the total exports were less than $4,000,000,000, while in
previous years the exports ranged from $2,500,000,000 downward.
The imports during the twelve months to April were $2,-
500,000,000, giving the United States a favorable trade balance
for the period of $3,560,000,000 against $1,914,000,000 for the
corresponding period in 1916 and $1,374,000,000 in 1915.
This enormous total of business transacted by the United
States within a year affords an idea nyt only of our importance
in the economic world, but furnishes convincing proof of the
enormous wealth of the nation, and its ability to absorb suc-
cessfully our great Liberty Bond issue, and any that follow.
GETTING DOWN TO PLAIN PLAYER FACTS
The education of the public along player lines is a necessity for the expansion of the player business.
There is no doubt of that; and education of the piano merchants and salesmen is also a vital necessity,
because through them will come a powerful force in the education of the public; and right here we wish to
remark that we have produced a line of books upon the player-piano which comprehensively covers the
entire player situation.
In this respect this trade newspaper stands alone, for it has been the principal source from which player
information has been available for piano merchants and salesmen for a period of years. Our latest book,
"The Player-Piano Up to Date"
is the best of the series. It contains upwards of 220 pages of matter bearing directly upon the player.
Every piano merchant and piano salesman should have a copy of this book within easy reach. It
gives to readers a fund of information not obtainable elsewhere.
It contains a series of original drawings and a vast amount of instructive and educational matter, as
well as a detailed description of some of the principal player mechanisms.
It costs $1.50 to have this book delivered to any address in the United States, and your money will be
refunded if you are not satisfied with the book after examination. No one yet has availed himself of this
opportunity. Foreign countries, 15c. to cover extra postage, should be added.
Estate of EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Publisher
373 Fourth Ave., New York

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