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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