Music Trade Review

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NOVEMBER 9,
1918
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Prospects of Relief From Present War Restrictions
Washington Correspondent of The Review Offers the Opinions of Government
Officials as to When Industrial Situation May Be Expected to Return to Normal
WASHINGTON, D. C, November 6.—Coming
right on the heels of a development such as the
recent announcement with respect to piano felts,
the new turn in the military and political situa-
tion in Europe has been well calculated to cause
music trade men to ask one question. Will the
conclusion of peace be immediately followed by
the removal of U. S. Government restrictions
upon industry? This is the query of the hour,
and it is likely to echo all down the line in the
music trades, even to those player roll manufac-
turers and publishers of sheet music who have
just been tipped off that unless the paper situa-
tion is relieved it will be necessary for the
United States Government to take over and ad-
minister the entire paper output of the country,
What the average music trade man wants to
know, if inquiries now coming to Washington
are any criterion, is whether the signing of a
peace treaty will restore open market competi-
tive conditions in the securance of materials.
The answer is "No." Not immediately at least
can the music trade producer count on a free
hand in obtaining materials any more than he
can expect to get all the export shipping space
that he wants for the asking. Nor need the re-
tail piano merchant entertain hopes of imme-
diate relief in the railroad transportation situa-
tion.
On behalf of readers of The Review I have
this week put the question, "How soon will we
get relief?" or words to that effect to the vari-
ous Federal officials who represent the various
points of contact between the Government and
the musical instrument industry. The almost
unvarying reply has been that the moral effect
of the assurance of peace will be immediate. It
may be reflected, for instance, in decisions to
purchase "that piano" in many a household
where the money has been ready and waiting for
some time, but where the purchase has been held
up because some members of the family were
expecting to be "called." But when it comes
to considerations of material, transportation,
fuel, labor, etc., warning is given that the old or-
der cannot be restored overnight, so to speak.
But better conditions will be in evidence very
quickly.
In their expressions on the subject the of-
ficials laid stress, first of all, upon the fact that
the trade must not get the idea that agreement
to an armistice is equivalent, in its industrial
reaction, to the signing of the peace treaty.
Months will elapse between the one and the
other and during all that time it will be neces-
sary to maintain extensive American military
forces in Europe with all that means in demands
upon Yankee resources and facilities for trans-
portation. Then, too, even if, as Chairman Hur-
ley, of the Shipping Board, promises, all U. S.
soldiers can be returned to the United States in
three months that does not mean that our huge
army is going to be demobilized in any such
short span.
Executives at Washington say
frankly that the army will be disbanded only so
rapidly as the men released from military serv-
ice can be promptly absorbed into the pursuits
of civil life. All of which means that our vast
new "military market" is not going to fade away
.suddenly and leave the old-time law of supply
and demand in normal working order.
With full realization that they are likely to
face unusual business conditions for some time
to come, members of the music trade may be es-
pecially curious as to when they will be freed
from the restrictions, regulations and limitations
imposed by the various Governmental agencies
that have been created to handle the war emer-
gency. In the creation of most of these war-
time institutions it was stipulated or intimated
that they should pass out of existence with the
conclusion of the w a r / However, your busi-
ness man who has- commenced to have his
doubts as to just how soon he will regain his
independence is fully justified. Already we hear
at Washington the most confident predictions
that this and that instrumentality must be con-
tinued.
Predictions are made, for example, that it will
be necessary to extend food control and fuel
control for a period of a, year or perhaps sev-
eral years. It looks as though the nation would
not dispense in a jiffy with its War Industries
Board, which has only lately found its stride in
its control of almost all materials vital to the
music_ industries.
Similarly, it seems to be
taken for granted that the War Trade Board,
which controls exports as well as imports, will
remain on the job. Of course, action by Con-
gress will be required to prolong the lease of
life of most of these regulatory institutions, but
the introduction of the Weeks resolution and
the Overman resolution shows how much at-
tention is being bestowed in the national Legis-
lature on the question of keeping Uncle Sam's
linger in the business pie during the return to
a peace status.
Indeed, the leading officials
of the Council of National Defense have for
some weeks past been making a close study of
the problem of which of the war-making
agencies of the Government may profitably be
continued for peace-time service incident to the
era of reconstruction.
In discussing the outlook for the music trades
the Washington officials have stated that it
will be only the part of prudence for the far-
sighted piano merchant to recognize also in his
calculations the certainty of heavy Federal
taxes for some years to come. This does not
mean, of course, that the present or pending
special taxes laid directly upon the music indus-
tries will necessarily continue, but it does mean
that in one form or another taxes heavier than
this country has known in the past must hence-
forth be expected by the men who make and sell
musical instruments and by the individuals who
purchase musical wares. Even with the millions
of dollars to be raised to pay interest on Lib-
erty Bonds there is no expectation that the taxes
will be really oppressive, but it is essential to
take cognizance of the addition to overhead in
figuring margins, selling prices, etc., and also in
calculating the financial resources of the average
prospect for a piano.
GIMBEL STAFF DINES MANAGERS
TRAVELERS STICK TO OWN BODY
General Get-Together Party Held to Celebrate
Volume of Business in October
Officials of National Piano Travelers' Associa-
tion Do Not Look With Favor Upon Plan to
Become a Part of a Proposed General Organ-
ization of Salesmen in the Trade
On last Saturday evening, November 2, the
entire staff of the piano department of the local
Gimbel Bros.' store gathered at Gossler's
Campus restaurant at a banquet tendered to the
manager, M. Max. Hal Shearer, assistant man-
ager, presided, and the guests of honor were
J. G. Dowdell, general merchandise man of the
Gimbel store, Chas. Spanier, of Paul G. Mehlin
& Sons, Sidney N. Mayer, of J. & C. Fisher,
Inc., Louis Roemer, of Cable & Sons, New York,
and William Golden, of Stultz & Bauer.
Speeches were made by Messrs. Max and
Dowdell, praising the staff for their excellent
showing for the month of Octoiber. October
sales were reported to amount to $153,403, the
banner month in the history of the store.
WORK OF PHILADELPHIA RECORD
Newspaper Carrying Big Music Campaign Over
Own Name and Without Charge to Trade
The most interesting feature of the campaign
now being carried on in behalf of music in over
a score of prominent cities of the country,
through the medium of half-page and page co-
operative advertisements inserted in the news-
papers by groups of dealers, is the appearance
of these same advertisements, as designed and
copyrighted by the National Bureau for the
Advancement of Music, in the Philadelphia
Record. The advertisements in the Record are
inserted by the paper and over its own caption
in the interests of music generally and without
any expense whatever to the trade.
The Record has already done some wonderful
work in forwarding the cause of music, and in-
cidentally stimulated the sale of musical instru-
ments, and its generous action in running the
various advertisements in this campaign, which
will continue up until Christmas, is well worthy
of deep appreciation.
SCOTT PIANO CO. MOVES
The Scott Piano Co., Augusta, Ga., recently
moved to new headquarters at 360 Jackson
street, where it occupies one of the finest show-
rooms in that city.
The concern, formerly
known as the Kimball Piano Co., has taken
over the Kimball agency in Augusta, and is also
handling the Hallet & Davis, Estey and Milton
lines.
A meeting of the officers and committee
members of the National Piano Travelers' Asso-
ciation was held on Monday afternoon of this
week in the offices of the Music Industries
Chamber of Commerce, for the purpose of con-
sidering a proposal coming from outside sources
to organize an association of all the selling in-
terests in the trade, whether wholesale or re-
tail, of which the present travelers' organiza-
tion was to become a part. The idea was not
received with enthusiasm, to say the least, and
there was some warm discussion as to what
the present Travelers' Association was designed
to represent and what it represented to-day,
the by-laws being put into evidence, which is
generally to be accepted as a sign of an argu-
ment.
After a two-hour discussion it was decided
that the travelers had every reason to desire
to continue their present organization, which is
being conducted along practical lines and not
simply a social body as had been intimated. It
was also decided that even in the event of a
formation of a general organization of salesmen,
the Travelers', although becoming a part of it,
would still insist upon maintaining the indi-
viduality of the present association.
CHASE=HACKLEY BUSINESS GROWING
C. B. Branner Tells of Growing Demand for
This Line of Pianos in the South
RICHMOND, VA., November 4.—Charles B.
Branner, manager of the Southern wholesale
office of the Chase-Hackley Piano Co., is en-
thusiastic over conditions existing in his terri-
tory, which comprises all of the Atlantic Coast
States from Maryland to Florida. He states
that the sales of Chase-Hackley instruments
have practically doubled since the war, which
he believes is due to the higher salaries gen-
erally prevailing and the greatly increased appre-
ciation of the value of music that has come as a
result of the war. An excellent holiday trade
is anticipated and prospects for next year are
exceedingly bright, which not only proves that
the South is in a prosperous condition, but also
that the people in that section of the country
recognize the standing and quality of the Chase-
Hackley line of instruments.