Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
MEW
THE
VOL LXVI. No. 11
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York.
March 16, 1918
8ln
*£
£opi
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Year
Constructive Work in the Export Field
T
HE development of American trade, not only after but during" the war, is a question which is engaging
the attention of the most eminent minds in the world of commerce, and the country is being keenly
aroused to the possibilities of the vast business to be secured if we only go after it, and go after it
right. As Grover Cleveland used to say, "It is a condition and not a theory that confronts us," and
real practical action in the development of export trade is absolutely essential to-day.
In this connection it is well to point out a most interesting illustration of the constructive work which has been
planned, and is being carried out by the present Music Industries Chamber of Commerce, as set forth in the
announcement last week to the effect that definite arrangements have been made for facilitating the shipment
of pianos and player-pianos to the Antipodes. The details of the announcement concerning the fact that
ships had been found ready to take such freight, and arrangements made through the War Trade Board for
the licensing of shipments as a whole, with permission to make partial shipments against the licensing within
the time limit, is probably now familiar to those in the trade who are interested at all in the development
of American export trade in pianos and kindred instruments.
The significant part is, however, that this result has been accomplished by a central organization sup-
ported by, and representing, the trade as a whole, and the results will accrue directly to that same trade.
It gives the individual manufacturer definite information upon which he can work, and, if nothing more,
saves him the trouble and expense of securing similar information on his own account.
It puts the Chamber of Commerce in the very favorable light of a traffic manager's department for the
trade at large, and while there may be some manufacturers who are not in a position to take advantage of
the opening afforded them, they still have the satisfaction of seeing in the announcement a promise of future
activities, particularly after the war, from which they, themselves, can benefit. The importance of giving
careful consideration to export markets cannot be too strongly or too frequently emphasized.
If America is to be a world power, and she has thrown her hat iiTto the ring of war, as it were, as
testimony to that effect, then she must be a world power in commerce as well as in military strength. She
takes upon herself new responsibilities, particularly in a financial way, that must be met by trade development,
and every move, no matter how insignificant in itself, that will aid in its development should receive encourage-
ment and support from the trade as a whole, whether or not the entire trade can take full advantage of it.
The demand for American pianos and player-pianos in Australia and South America has become a very
familiar fact. The markets have opened to us by force of circumstances, and practically without effort. To
ignore them without making a strenuous effort to meet demands at least in part would be little short of criminal.
It would be just as though a half dozen leading dealers in a single State in the Union should order pianos
from a domestic manufacturer and have their orders ignored.
The export piano trade has been something talked about for many years. A surprisingly large number
of concerns have built up a steadily increasing business in, foreign markets. They started before the war
and are now enjoying unusual advantages. It is a feature, however, that holds real promise—that makes
present effort worth while, even though it entails trouble and immediate results are not numerous. In the
after-the-war adjustment.that is to come—the period of reconstruction—manufacturers in this country are
going to have problems to meet that will make wartime troubles look small in comparison, and if our instruments
are firmly established in half the markets of the world on a basis that will insure their permanency in those
markets, then there will be that much less to worry about.
The Music Industries Chamber of Commerce should be encouraged to put forth every effort to follow up
the good work that has already been done. It is the sort of work that is not only going to help win the war,
but it is going to make for the stability of the industry after the war.