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REVIEW
THE
VOL LXVII. No. 20
Published Every;Saturday^ EdwardlLymanTBiU, Inc., at 373 flth Ave., New York. Nov. 16, 1918
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8In
*Ji.o C o°C Ye»r ents
H E announcement on Monday morning that armistice terms had been signed by Germany, thus ending
the great world war, has brought universal joy and satisfaction to war-tired humanity. Autocracy
has been completely overthrown in Germany, and the Kaiser and his satellites have flown from the
country which they ruled with hands of iron. The world is, in very truth, being made safe for
democracy.
Naturally with the return of peace will come new problems for our business men, problems growing out
of the readjustment of the commercial fabric all along the line; a return from war to peace pursuits, and a
re-allocation of hundreds of thousands of skilled and unskilled workers; the replacing in the industrial field
of some hundreds of thousands of erstwhile soldiers and sailors and a turning over of great enterprises now
devoted to the making of war supplies to the manufacture of peace-time merchandise.
This readjustment is going to affect the entire country to a degree that many men do not fully appre-
ciate. There is going to be a scurrying to get back to normal, or as close to normal as possible. Those who
have had their businesses curtailed or partly eliminated are going to expand, or try to expand, and resume
their pre-war status. They are going to try to make overnight work of a two-year task. It is going to be
a difficult achievement, one in which the weakling has small chance of success. How are the piano manufac-
turers and merchants going to fit into the scheme of things when this readjustment is going on?
The time to plan and the time to work is not after peace is formally declared at the international con-
clave, but right now, so that plans will have been prepared and the foundation will have been laid along proper
lines when the thoughts and activities of the nation again turn to peace channels.
The concern, whether engaged in piano manufacturing or retailing, that has kept its name before the
trade and the public constantly during the war period, and continues the same policy, perhaps on a bigger
scale, for the coming months, is going to be in a position to jump ahead of competitors who have not been so
farsighted. The constant advertising may not have produced tangible results in full measure, but it has
nevertheless served to mould opinion, to impress the name of the company and the product upon those who
will be in a position to go out and buy. It is going to help that concern garner business while the fellow who
has laid down is scratching around to get acquainted again, for it will be discovered that rebuilding a business
is as hard, if not harder, than establishing a new business. In the first place, all overhead charges are there,
whether business is done or not, and, in the second place, that of starting a new business, the overhead in-
creases in proportion to the progress made. It is a little point worth thinking over.
Then comes the biggest and most important question of them all—the question of credit. During the
period of the war there have been many manufacturers and retailers who have absolutely forced a
rearrangement of the credit system. Terms, both wholesale and retail, have been shortened until they have
approached close to the ideals that have long been preached in trade circles. After the war neither manufac-
turers nor retailers can go back to the old system, and the ones who do are lost. The period of readjustment—
of reconstruction—is more than likely to be also a period of financial stringency. The high wages of to-day
are going to become a thing of the past, particularly as they affect war workers. Men must seek new fields
and at the same time accept less compensation. This is going to have a decided effect on the general financial
situation.
Then, there comes the redistribution of capital, the return of billions from war plants into the normal
channels of business. That in itself is going to have its effect on the money market. It means that the
credit obtainable either by the piano manufacturer or retailer is going to be limited, possibly just as limited
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