Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
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VOL. LXVII. No. 15
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Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York. Oct. 12, 1918
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Why We Should Look on the Brighter Side
ADJUSTMENT to new or unusual conditions is always a somewhat painful process, and requires some
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period of time to accomplish, whether the conditions affect individuals, communities or nations. This
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fact has been amply proven by the experience of our nation since the time we entered the great war.
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^ When war was first declared there was a spontaneous outbreak of patriotic enthusiasm, caused by the
glorious, but rather illogical, belief that an American boy with a shotgun in one hand and the Stars and Stripes
in the other could lick any ten men on the face of the earth. Gradually we began to realize that we were long
on enthusiasm and shouting and rather short on ammunition, ships, and trained soldiers, and that if we were
to win the war we would have to pay more attention to man power than to lung power.
The business in hand being the winning of the war, we immediately began to attend to that business, and
the consequent and absolutely unavoidable disruption of many of our accustomed modes of living and of doing
business was somewhat of a discomfort and in many cases a hardship. Business was more or less disturbed, war
orders came first, hundreds of thousands of workers dropped their tools and grasped rifles, and many essential
supplies became more or less unobtainable, no matter what price was offered for the same.
This condition undoubtedly caused a spirit of pessimism in the minds of many American business men, who,
perhaps lacking in the ability to look ahead, felt that things were going from bad to worse, and that their par-
ticular businesses were tottering on the brink of disaster. Rut gradually we became accustomed to war.
Unprecedented accomplishments along the lines of economic adjustment were achieved, and at the present time
we have learned that we can carry on a great war, and at the same time do enough business to provide ourselves
with the necessities of life and even buy a few Thrift Stamps and Liberty Bonds on the side.
The era of pessimism has definitely passed, and nowhere is this demonstrated more forcefully than in the
music trade industry. Despite the handicapped conditions under which manufacturers and dealers alike are
working, they have already adjusted themselves to wartime conditions, and are beginning to look behind the
clouds and catch glimpses of the sun of future prosperity shining through.
The end of the war is conjectural at best. The collapse of Bulgaria, and the splendid accomplishments of
the Allied armies during the last six or seven days all along the Western front, seem to indicate that the war
will terminate sooner than some conservatists believe. On the other hand, even though the enemy may now be
on the run, the war will not be over until we have caught up with him and given him the sound drubbing he so
richly deserves. This may take a little longer than some of our more optimistical students of the war believe,
but whatever the duration of the war, be it "pe a c e by Christmas," or a long-drawn-out struggle, the great fact
remains that we have passed the worst period, so far as economic conditions are concerned, and that things are
distinctly on the upward trend.
George W. Pound, in a statement issued last week, in which manufacturers were instructed as to the pro-
cedure to be followed in applying for supplies of steel, said: "A very careful study and analysis of the
metal and other material problems has convinced me that the present stringency will last but a short time, and
. . . this view is now that of all those in official life at Washington. We have preserved our industry
through the greatest menace days of the war. Let us go forward with all hope and confidence in the future."
This statement by the General Counsel of the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce is based on cold,
hard facts and careful analysis, rather than on optimistic theories. Conditions will get better, in fact, are
getting better as the weeks go by. Let the members of the music industry realize this fact, take the crepe
away from their doors, and prepare themselves for the better times which are already discernible, and which
will result in greater prosperity than ever before for those who are properly prepared to grasp the opportunities
those better times will bring.