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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
MARCH 15, 1919
Entered as second-class matter September 10, 1892, at the post office at New York, N. Y.,
under the Act of March 3, 1879.
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage), United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year;
Canada, $3.50; all other countries, $5.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $4.50 per inch, single column, per insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount is allowed. Advertising pages, $130.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency forms, shoula be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill, Inc.
to a peace basis was clearly observable during the past month, and
that, while the advance in different parts of the country is reported
generally satisfactory, some uneasiness has been expressed by a
section of the public at large, because the progress is not more rapid.
Although the readjustment process is still far from having
reached completion, there is ample evidence that the factors which
must be reckoned with in bringing about the desired reorganization
of business and financial relationships are co-operating in a fairly
satisfactory way.
It is the opinion of the Board that confidence is rapidly returning
in all departments of business, and that there has been considerable
exaggeration in respect to labor and employment conditions. We
have a sort of national weakness for making conditions either better
or worse than they really are, but at the present time there is no
reason for alarm or uneasiness. The financial health of the business
world is reflected in the number of failures recorded, which, for
February, was the smallest reported for over a generation, the daily
average being smaller than in January, and only a shade larger than
in December, and the total of failures, 492, was 13.8 per cent, below
that of January, 46 per cent, less than in February, 1918, and less
than half of what it was in February, 1917. While total liabilities
of $15,810,397 for February were larger than in any month since
January a year ago, the comparisons as to liabilities with February
of the years previous to 1917 and back to 1913 are in a high degree
favorable. The mercantile credit position appears to be unusually
sound.
and
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
allll
tions of a a n technical
nature relating to the tuning,
d
W h n f l » a l IW>nartmpnfe ^ " ^ " g
repairing of pianos and player-pianos
c C I I I U l a l U C f l a l U l l c l l l S are dealt with, will be found in another section of
this
is paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information concerning
whic
hich will be cheerfully given upon request.
use of the trade acceptance in settlement of accounts in
T HE
transactions where merchandise is sold on the conditional
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
President and Treasurer, C. L. Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Vice-President,
T. B. Spillane, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Second Vice-President, Raymond Bill, 373
Fourth Ave., New York; Assistant Treasurer, Wm. A. Low.
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
RAYMOND BILL, Associate Editor
Executive and Reportorial Stall:
B. BMTTAIN WILSON, CARLETON CHACE, L. M. ROBINSON, WILSON D. BUSH, V. D. WALSH,
W M . BRAID WHITE (Technical Editor), E. B. MUNCH, A. J. NICKLIN, L. E. BOWERS
BOSTON OFFICE:
CHICAGO OFFICE:
JOHN H. WILSON, 324 Washington St.
E. P. VAN HARLINGEN, Republic Building,
Telephone, Main 6950.
209 So. State St. Telephone, Wabash 5774.
LONDON, ENGLAND: 1 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall St., D. C.
NEWS SERVICE IS SUPPLIED WEEKLY BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS
LOCATED IN THE LEADING CITIES THROUGHOUT AMERICA.
Published Every Saturday at 373 Fourth Avenue, New York
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900 Silver Medal
Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma
Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal—Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES—NUMBERS 6982—6983 MADISON 8Q.
Connecting all Departments
Cable address: "Elblll, New York"
Vol. LXVIII
NEW YORK, MARCH 15, 1919
No. 11
EDITORIAL^
P
IANO men generally in this country, particularly manufactur-
ers, have been much interested in the announcement that the
Government is to undertake a commercial survey of South Ameri-
can countries for the benefit of the piano trade. In other words,
the Department of Foreign and Domestic Commerce is to have its
representatives look into South American countries with the direct
purpose of finding how, and under what conditions, American
instruments may be introduced therein with success and profit.
The survey is going to cost upward of $25,000, and its impor-
tance lies not alone in the fact that it is going to secure information
of untold value to such divisions of the industry as are engaged
in or contemplate engaging in export trade, but offers unquestioned
proof of the importance of the piano trade in the eyes of the Gov-
ernment.
Perhaps the oft-repeated arguments that, pound for pound and
cubic foot for cubic foot, piano freight brings the highest returns
of any exports in foreign trade may have some effect in persuading
the Government officials to undertake this South American survey.
It will of course take some time to complete if properly handled,
and the progress will be watched with considerable interest. Mean-
while those piano manufacturers who have already sought, or are
seeking, the markets of South America should not wait until the
survey is over, but should try and secure and maintain their foot-
hold in the interim. Competition for world trade is going to be
strong and to wait until the Government acts is simply offering
a loophole for piano makers of other nations to entrench them-
selves in the foreign field.
T
HE marked increase in incorporations throughout the country
and the very healthy condition of business, judging from the
few failures reported by the leading financial agencies, afford sub-
stantial proof that despite the croakings of some pessimists business
as a whole is not as unsatisfactory as they would have us believe.
The Federal Reserve Board in discussing conditions early this
week remarked that steady progress in the readjustment of business
sales contract is a matter of considerable interest in a number of
lines of business. The Credit Man's Bulletin has given atten-
tion to this question and has reached the conclusion that if the
purchaser in a contract of conditional sale becomes obligated to
pay the purchase price in all events, so that judgment would
go against him for any unpaid balance, it is then proper to rep-
resent the transaction by a trade acceptance. The mere fact
that the vender, as additional security, retains title to the goods
sold, is probably immaterial. If the purchaser binds himself to
pay for the goods, the transaction represents a current com-
mercial transaction within the spirit of the rule relating to trade
acceptances.
It is to be observed, however, that the contract of conditional
sale should not be a part of the trade acceptance instrument, cer-
tainly if it is the intent of the vender to discount it or to make
it eligible for rediscount, inasmuch as the Federal Reserve
Banks would probably be reluctant to purchase paper com-
plicated with conditional sales contracts, contract liens, chattel
mortgages or any similar conditions.
It is noted, too, that a number of states require the filing
of the conditional sales contract as meeting part of the require-
ments of the law, and therefore the trade acceptance would be
precluded from use for discount. It cannot serve both purposes.
The vender should clearly understand that the receipt by
him of the purchaser's acceptance is by way of additional security
only and is not to be referred to as a payment, but as a method
of settlement. He should furthermore remember that the local
laws regulating the filing of conditional contracts be complied
with because the filing of conditional sales contracts is not related
to the trade acceptance given for the purchase price.
D
ESPITE the reports of unemployment existing in certain sec-
tions of the country, particularly in the Eastern cities, it
appears that such a condition does not exist so far as piano workers
are concerned. Skilled men in the piano business as well as in other
lines are still at a premium, though perhaps the unskilled will find it
hard sledding until such time as public and semi-public improve-
ments are put under way.
In New York it has been found that between 35 and 40 per cent,
of the ex-soldiers applying at the Federal offices for positions are
men from interior points who have been demobilized in camps near
New York, have spent their transportation allowance in the big
town, and, being here, plan to remain. The result is that having
little or no business training they are finding it hard to become
located, while in sections from which they recently came there is a
crying demand for workmen of their particular class.