Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
DECEMBER 14,
1918
THE MUSIC TRADE
13
REVIEW
piano industry comes back to normal produc- .
tion. The lessons of the past teach that large-
ness of output per se is not a devoutly to be
wished for consummation.
By C. A. SMITH, President, Smith, Barnes & Strohber Piano Co., Chicago
The advantage of a seller's over a buyer's
market
has been abundantly demonstrated. The
forward.
The
requirements
for
ship-building
The piano trade in all three branches—sup-
ply, manufacturing and merchandising—has had purposes, especially in the construction of our people are being educated to a realization of the
an opportunity to do business on more nearly a merchant marine, will be great. For many intrinsic and educational value of the piano
legitimate basis than for years, and I do not months the demand for physical rehabilitation and player-piano. This mental attitude on the
believe that anyone in any division of the in- of Europe will be in full swing. The demand part of the public can only be maintained by
dustry wishes to return to the old demoraliz- for materials of all kinds to meet the immensely manufacturers and dealers all working towards
increased export trade will be another factor in the single end of stabilizing prices and terms.
ing conditions.
It is true that we have had our troubles, the situation. All authorities agree in the If ever we revert to the old deplorable condi-
such as scarcity of labor and difficulty in obtain- opinion that prices will remain at practically tion of a forced market and its attendant evils,
the public will rapidly lose the new concep-
ing supplies; but on the other hand, it has been the present level for the next year or so.
In the very nature of things, the adjust- tion they are gaining of the piano as an ar-
discovered that selling instruments on what has
been a "Kathleen Mavourneen" system ("it may ment of the labor situation will come slowly tistic product and a moral and educational in-
be for years and it may be forever") is not a and it will probably be a long time before the fluence.
necessity of the piano business. Dealers have
been forced to do what they hitherto have
thought impossible. Under the necessity of pay-
ing considerably higher prices for their mer-
By W. S. MILLER, Vice-President, Bush & Gerts Piano Co., Chicago
chandise and under the strain of many increases
in overhead charges, they have been compelled
We have been hearing much during the past piano manufacturer to act as banker for the
to get, not only higher prices, but larger down few days of what the world will have to do in trade. The local banks should take care of the
and deferred payments. Many dealers are now the way of reconstruction, but I think that, local men and the piano industry should be
doing, if not all their business, at least a very for the piano manufacturer, it is just as vital, put on practically a spot cash basis. I know a
material percentage of it, on two years' time just now, to know what he will have to do in lot of people will disagree with me and say
or less. Under the shortage of new goods, old the way of reconstruction.
stocks have been coaxed out. The dealer's floor
It seems to me that in the first place we
is cleaner than it has ever been in its history. ought to have an association that really stands
His accounts are in better shape. The dealer for something and does something. We have
has less illegitimate competition to contend with had a piano manufacturers' association for a
than ever before. There is every reason why good many years, conventions have been held,
this condition of affairs should be made per- speeches have been made, dinners have been
manent.
eaten and wine consumed. Then has come the
As a matter of fact, piano manufacturers as adjournment, the scattering of the manufacturers
a whole have not advanced their product pro- and business has been conducted along the same
portionately to the increased cost of materials old lines. The war came along like a thunder
and labor. Furthermore, there is no reason to clap out of the clear sky and the piano man-
believe that there will be any material decrease ufacturers, along with everybody else, had to
in the cost of production for at least a year revise their methods. These revisions have been
or two to come. While it is true that the use mighty good things.
of steel for munition purposes will gradually
The question now is, are we going to operate
decrease, it is also true that the post-war de- along the new lines or fall back into the old
mand for it will be immense. Building opera- rnt? I most earnestly hope that the new lines
tions deferred on account of the war will go will be followed. It is all tommyrot for the
A NEW ERA DAWNING IN WHOLESALE PRICES
OLD WAYS OR NEW-WHICH SHALL IT BE?
WHAT WILL INSUREJ^SELLER'S MARKET?
By FRANK E. MORTON, Acoustic Engineer, American Steel & Wire Co.
A demand for pianos is in effect a demand for
a medium for the expression of musical thought.
Thoughts which may be expressed musically are
Frank E. Morton
sequential in nature. Just as we have melody
and harmony in music so we must have melody
and harmony in life to inspire thoughts which
may be musically expressed. The thought of
the people of this country for over a year has
been an expression of hysteria—of conges-
tion, antagonism, defiance mixed with inhar-
mony, dissolution, passivity and non-resistance.
Such thoughts never will crystallize and until
thought crystallizes it never can be expressed in
musical form. Tell me the thought of the peo-
ple in December, 1919, and I will tell you the
status of the music trade one year hence.
And even though the unthinking deride such
expression our musical sentiments and form
largely were made in Germany. German mu-
sical propaganda has been fed to us for years
and we have accepted, eaten and assimilated.
Reminiscent music, therefore, is distasteful and
insofar as this method of musical expression
is concerned, the way is closed. The paeans of
praise of England, France and Italy at present
are grateful to our ears. Who knows whether
at the termination of the Peace Conference we
will applaud the "Marseillaise," "Rule Britannia"
and "Italia, Italia, Beloved." If this medium
also is closed the result will be suppression and
expression only can follow an introspective
period. When we have ceased looking abroad
for form and substance which will make expres-
sion possible we will look within, and whether
our American music then will be moulded in a
major or in a minor key will depend entirely
upon the extent to which this country has be-
come nationalized and its sentiments crystallized.
From any other than a furniture viewpoint,
after the last hysterical expression upon the
return of our troops, the piano will not be a
national need until the United States of Amer-
ica becomes in truth a nation.
W. S. Miller
that this can never be done. I don't believe it.
The dealer is going to sell pianos on the basis
on which he buys them, and if he can get four
years to pay for the pianos he will sell them
oii four years' time, if he can get four months
only he will see that he gets his money within
that period. Possibly there will not be so many
pianos sold on the short-time basis as there
would be on the long, but the quality of sales
will more than make up for the lack of quan-
tity. This shortening of terms will of course
eliminate the unreliable dealer—the man who
has tried everything else and failed and finally
discovered that anybody can get into the piano
business without a nickel, if he is smooth enough
to make some manufacturer believe that he can
put out some pianos. Too many manufacturers
fail to differentiate between the piano that is
simply "put out" and one that is sold.
The Federal Reserve Bank has launched the
trade acceptance and during the war this new
medium of exchange has become pretty gen-
erally used. I would like to see action taken by
the National Association of Piano Manufac-
turers whereby every manufacturer would agree
to sell on four months as the maximum limit
of time and give the dealer the option at the
end of thirty days of sending in his draft for
the net amount of his purchases or sending in
a ninety-day trade acceptance. Then I would
like to see every manufacturer live up to his
agreements. Of course, I realize that this is
radical, but I believe that it is sound business
and I know that if every manufacturer would
operate on this basis the piano business would
occupy the place in the business world to which
it is justly entitled.