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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
REVIEW
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Vol. LXVII
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 23, 1918
No. 21
EDITORIAL:
EADING bankers and students of economics are of the opinion
that the United States by a careful program of reconstruction
will be able to avoid successfully the industrial depression that fre-
quently follows war and this view is reinforced by the opinions of
prominent officials of the Government, who will have an important
part in the readjustment of conditions. The executives of the War
Industries Board, and others, express the belief that the next few
months will be the most critical for the United States, and that as
soon as the plans now in formulation are put into effect conditions
will be stabilized and there will be nothing in the situation to cause
the slightest alarm. The shifting of industry from war to peace
will be accomplished with a full appreciation of the needs of the
nation and of the business world. Needed materials, particularly
steel and wool, which have been tied up owing to war demands, will
be released to meet the wants of manufacturers, and all branches
of industry will branch out so as to fully employ labor, and thus
bring prosperity and stability to the nation.
No part of the reconstruction program is more important than
that of export trade, and with a formidable merchant marine, which
will soon be at our disposal, there is no reason why the United
States should not be able to acquire new markets if they are intelli-
gently sought for and intelligently supplied. American manufac-
turers will be enabled to compete in the markets of the world more
successfully than formerly by the latitude permitted in the
Webb law by virtue of which combinations for furtherance of for-
eign trade are made entirely legal. Piano manufacturers are thus
offered unusual opportunities for expanding their trade in other
lands, as American pianos are known and will be in demand in
foreign countries if they are but supplied to those markets.
L
and means to help business tide over the reconstruction
W AYS
period which have been thought out by the Council on Credit
Defense of the National Association of Credit Men have just been
made public. The methods suggested are not only expected to help
to keep business from deteriorating, but also to aid it to take ad-
NOVEMBER 23, 1918
vantage of the vast opportunities for domestic and international
trade that it is believed will develop during the next few years.
That Government contracts should not be abruptly discontinued,
but should be eliminated gradually so that no sudden readjustments
with their resultant strain on capital and labor will ensue, is one of
the recommendations.
Buying and selling should not be on long terms, which would
militate against quick turn-overs in merchandise credits, is a theory
advanced. In this respect the council states that it believes a great
change is on the way which will tend to modernize business and
banking credits so that they may always be liquid.
Belief is expressed that there will be a great call for America's
goods in all parts of the world, and that therefore there is no reason
to expect a sudden decline in the prices of commodities. The mat-
ter of high prices is one that necessitates scientific handling so that
adjustment might be made to a level commensurate with the law of
supply and demand in all cases.
T
HE value of music to the American soldiers on the war front
has been referred to frequently, but expert evidence to its
potency is now forthcoming from Floyd Gibbons, the famous war
correspondent who recently returned from the Western front with
an eye out and his left arm paralyzed. In speaking with The Re-
view correspondent in Milwaukee, an old friend of his, by the way,
he pointed out that "music is unquestionably the most popular pas-
time among the soldiers on the battlefield. He remarked that "with-
out music the spirit of the soldiers would not be nearly so great as
it is with that advantage at hand. The fellow who can play the
piano is the 'king-bee'; he can have triple rations at every meal—in
fact, he can have anything he wants, so grateful are the boys toward
him, and so eager are they to keep him in good ljumor for more
playing. Music takes such a great place in the lives of the soldiers
that every man, woman and child at home should keep music in
mind when thinking of something to do for the boys over there.
Every music roll and talking machine record that finds its way into
a camp where there is an instrument upon which to use it is like the
ray of sunshine coming through the gloom. Our armies are singing
and playing their way to Berlin."
direction of standardization of manufacture and
P ERMANENT
conservation of materials under a definite Government agency
has been suggested this week by Chairman Baruch, of the War In-
dustries Board, as a means of profiting from war experiences.
The permanent Government agency, he points out, would func-
tion similarly to the conservation division of the War Industries
Board, and indicates that the Department of Commerce of the Fed-
eral Trade Commission would carry out the proposal most effec-
tively.
Properly conceived, a policy of industrial conservation and
standardization in time of peace would undoubtedly save materials,
money and labor, and increase production. The elimination of un-
necessary multiplicities of types and styles and a policy of standard-
ization could not help but insure a lower cost of production, and
this would be a benefit all around.
It is hardly possible that manufacturers and business men who
have seen the possibilities of economies in production during war-
time will ever want to go back to the loose, disjointed, uneconomic
plan of production which prevailed in a great many industries before
the great European War.
E
CONOMISTS of note point out that a period of great pros-
perity and industrial activity is bound to follow the final peace
conference. Conditions at the present time are not at variance with
this viewpoint—they, in fact, tend to inspire confidence and the
good judgment necessary in considering the very many matters of
importance which now come up for consideration.
The trade, both wholesale and retail, must maintain its equilib-
rium ; values must be maintained, and credits handled in a busi-
nesslike way. Government control and restrictions will be gradually
lifted so that manufacturers will have more freedom in developing
their enterprises and be enabled to get some fair idea of what they
can promise their dealers in the matter of supplying stock. This
policy is a wise'one, for a scientific readjustment of conditions fol-
lowing the actual signing of peace is absolutely necessary to insure
business stability and prosperity.