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REVIEW
THE
MIMIC TIRADE
VOL. LXV. No. 25
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York. Dec. 22, 1917
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Clear Thinkin
ONFIDENCE is not only a desirable quality in the world of business, but it is also an essential part of the
business of winning the war. Every rumor that is put out, pretending to foresee calamity or trouble,
whispering that times will be hard, that the war is too expensive, that the piano business is going to be
stopped altogether, is a rumor that, if it does not actually emanate from the enemy within the gate, at
least does the enemy's work just as effectively. It is, meaningly or not, part of the enemy's camouflage; part of
the smoke-screen the enemy throws in front of us to conceal, in a smudge of our own fears, the true despera-
tion of his position. His one hope of avoiding rum is to promote disaffection in the United States during the
remainder of the war. If our business men can be, in any sort of way, disappointed, irritated, tormented by
nasty little rumors, rendered pessimistic, that may be just the thing needed to bring about a weakening amongst
us at the critical moment.
We in the piano business are peculiarly susceptible to the masses of lies that float before us in all sorts of
guises, wearing ever so many fascinating masks and oft times appearing ever so innocent. For example, the
Government remarks that it may be obliged to limit the amount of railroad accommodation to be granted to
our manufactured goods. No sooner is even the possibility of freight curtailment heard of than the air is filled
with pessimistic rumors, of which the best is that there will be an entire shutdown of industry and the worst is
anything from national defeat to national bankruptcy. The same applies to the "non-essential" bugaboo.
Even some trade paper editors, who, of all men, should know better, have been among the ranks of the alarmists
who are spreading broadcast statements of this kind.
We may be in the position of an industry that is not entirely essential to the military conduct of war, but
our industry is one that is wholly essential to civilization. We need not become panic stricken because one
man thinks the U. S. A. might do without musical instruments. They said in England, when war came, that no
one must dream of buying anything new, whether motor cars, pianos, or clothes. But the folks went on buying
just the same; and yet the war loans have been floated over there with complete regularity and success. Why?
Because the people have found they need music almost as much as they need food; and a good deal more than
they need rich expensive food and drink.
Despite the enormous sums which the Liberty Loan Campaigns, past and future, will bring into the national
treasury, the Government will still depend principally upon taxation to raise money for the purpose of financing
the extraordinary expenditures of war. Unless the industries of the country are kept going on a profit-making
basis, the Government will not be able to levy taxes. The more profit an industry makes, the greater will be its
tax returns to the Government, and the larger will the war-chest become. Therefore no sensible man will
believe for an instant that the Federal authorities are going to hinder any line of business arbitrarily, or will
place stultifying restrictions around a business that otherwise would be able to contribute a quota towards
keeping the war-funds at high-water mark.
Come what may, we are in war, and in it to win. To obtain our purpose, we shall keep business going all
the time; but that does not mean that everything must go on just as it did before the war. That is impossible;
and so much the better. Whatever comes in the future, every bit of brains, nerve and skill in our industry
will be needed. Most of it will be needed to make still better pianos, and to sell them to a people who will be
working, planning, organized and organizing; to a cheerful, to a purposeful, to a victory-making American
people.
Therefore, when your short-sighted friend meets you at the club and pours into your more or less sympa-
thetic ear a sad tale of the frightful calamities that he foresees when all the freight cars are used for munitions,
and nobody can buy pianos because there won't be any to buy, let him wail, He is merely deceived by his
own camouflage,