Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
DECEMBER 28, 1918
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
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Wherein the Editor of This Player Section, Even as the Loquacious Walrus
of "Wonderland" Fame, Sets Forth His Opinions on Many Things Pertinent
to Present Times and Conditions, Being Filled With Optimism the While
Te Deum Laudamus
It has been a right glorious year, men and
brethren, and he must be a small-minded sort
of fellow who is not glad that he went through
it in spite of the dark days, the hours of doubt
and the thousand and one uncertainties and
seeming obstacles. That the Right would tri-
umph was, of course, well known to all whose
thought was not blinded by the doubt which
springs from ignorance. We now are begin-
ning to see that our faith and our cheerfulness
during days of gloom were thoroughly justified
and that the few of us who buoyantly declared
during the noisy days of April last that the war
would be over, probably, during 1918, with a
complete victory for the Allies, were completely
justified. That was our conviction throughout
the German offensive of last spring, and the
facts which now accumulate day by day show
ever more clearly that the enemy was actually
at his last gasp when he was most loudly pro-
claiming his invincibility and his irresistible
power. The Germans who were the noisest
and the most blatant, even six months ago, are
now shedding tears, not of repentance to be
sure, but of rage and fear. The Americans have
been characterized as a people of large hearts
and short memories, but it is well for us now,
when the enemy who murdered, raped, robbed
and burned, so long as he believed he would
win, is whining for mercy, to lengthen our mem-
ories and harden our hearts. We cannot ask
justice for the Hun, for that would mean the
Hun's annihilation. We can, however, avoid
slobbering over the criminal, now we have him
behind the bars. We may not be able to pay
him back, since we cannot sink quite to his
level, but we need not apologize to him.
the summer a similar state of affairs has pre-
vailed, only growing every day in intensity?
When before have we been able to see any-
thing so extraordinary as a real genuine seller's
market, a market, that is to say, in which the
seller can actually demand not only his own
price, but, in a very large sense, his own terms,
too.
It is an amazing state of affairs when
every dealer you meet tells you that he can sell
twice as many player-pianos as he can get.
Frederick Luhnow, who sells the M. Schulz Co.
players in Chicago, remarked recently that he
has been selling from three to five players a
day on good stiff down payments and equally
stiff terms, with no newspaper advertising at
all until last week. The same story is being
told throughout the retail trade everywhere.
Meanwhile, the manufacturers are yelling for
supplies with might and main, mostly might,
meaning, of course, that they might get all the
supplies they wanted before Christmas, but prob-
ably wouldn't. And what does it all signify?
Well, gentlemen, it means that the present Yule-
tide is some Yuletide all right, and likewise that,
of "many things" which can be talked about
just now, the biggest must certainly be the amaz-
ing activity of the music industries and their re-
markable, well-deserved prosperity at the mo-
ment of going to press. As to ways and means
for keeping said prosperity on the job steadily
and constantly, that, as Kipling would say, is
another story, or to quote the immortal Abe
Potash, "That's a dawg of another color, Maw-
russ."
giant. With the education of said youthful
Samson it has been our privilege to have much
to do, and it is only fair to be allowed, during
this quite happiest of all Xmastides, the priv-
ilege of rejoicing over the wonderful way we
have come through the war period and the still
more wonderful prosperity ahead of us. Let us
ilege of rejoicing over the wonderful way we
shall have ourselves alone to blame if we are
so foolish as to throw away the position forced
on us by the conditions of the war period.
Shall we know enough to maintain our sellers'
market? By this time next year it ought to be
possible to know with some certainty whether
we are as bright as we claim to be or not.
The Great Essential
One thing the war proved without the slight-
est question, and if anyone does not agree with
the statement by this time he had better be
shot offhand to avoid further trouble. The
war proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that
music is badly wanted by every normal human
being who is really on to himself and who is
engaged in work which calls for the utmost of
his normal capacities. The army and navy
simply had to have music, and nothing is more
certain than that they would not have been able
rightly to accomplish their large and strenuous
jobs if they had not had the solace of music to
help them over the rough places. There is noth-
ing to be gained in multiplying instances; the
facts by now are known to all, or should be. And
our retail experiences of the present winter
prove with equal certainty that when the busi-
Some Crocodile Tears
ness of war is occupying the attention of a
people they also need more music than at any
"I weep for you," the Walrus said,
"I deeply sympathize;"
other time, which simply means that music
With sobs and tears he sorted out,
is a natural and proper outlet for the natural
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket handkerchief
mental activities of all normal individuals, and
Before his streaming eyes.
that just as soon as the people find they can-
Now,
so
far
as
concerns
any
reference
to
the
Multitudinous and Varied Subjects
not get all the music they want thrown at them
music industries the above words is writ sarka- for nothing they begin to dig down in their
"The time is come," the Walrus said,
stick, as Brother Artemus would say. We stockings and fish up the cash. Is there a moral
weep for the player men of this country in pre- in all this? There most decidedly is. Shall
"To talk of many things."
The last month of each year does furnish an cisely the same way, and with precisely the same said moral be allowed to waste its sweetness on
excuse to talk of many things, even if one does feelings, as animated the sympathetic walrus as the more or less desert air?
not touch on the sausages and sealing wax, the he addressed himself to the unfortunate oysters,
cabbages and kings, which were to form the bur- meanwhile sorting out "those of the largest
Last Call for 1918
den of the remarks exchanged between the Wal- size," in response to the somewhat impatient
rus and the Carpenter -on the celebrated occa- demands of the Carpenter. The latter, be it re-
We have a rosy future before us if we are but
sion of the oyster luncheon. After all, the music membered, had no idea of wasting time when able to forget some of our traditional mistakes
industries are almost gaudy enough in them- the bread and butter, the vinegar and the oysters and get us down to real genuine business with-
selves to furnish a variety as wide as the assort- were all ready together, and lunch-time at hand. out any nonsense about it. Let us for once
ment quoted. For instance, to take the first In a word, our sorrow for the player business make a New Year's resolution that shall be
point that comes to mind, what can be imag- of these United States might easily be mistaken kept, namely, that the old bad days of "nothing
ined more wonderful than the condition of the for great joy. We are fond of the player busi- down" and less a week shall be deemed to have
player retail business at the moment of writing, ness and have seen it grow from a little puling gone forever. It can be done. No less easily
especially when one considers that ever since infant into a large and extremely active young can we, if we but make up our minds to do it,
sell our goods henceforth not on their price or
on the appeal of how easy it is to buy them, but
on the appeal of how desirable they are. Let's
advertise music in 1919, and leave the terms to
advertise themselves. Happy New Year!
YY l u u n 1 - i L r l I L i v - A t 1 l l l l i
THE WRIGHT METAL STACK
Tracker Bars,
Motors,
OUTLOOK FOR RECORD PLAYER YEAR
Transmissions
Compensating
and
Electric
From all sections of the country come re-
ports of the present enormous demand for play-
er-pianos of all types, including the most ex-
pensive reproducing pianos. In anticipation of
the filling of a large portion of this demand next
year, when instruments are available in sufficient
number, and in view of increased orders already
oi: file for deliveries of player actions, the pros-
pects for a record player year in 1919 are most
encouraging.
Metal Vent
P u p s and
Caps
Player Parts
for the trade
to order
WRIGHT & SONS COMPANY,
ata&s.
WORCEST!