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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
REVIEW
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
President and Treasurer, C. L. Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Vice-President,
J. B. Spillane. 373 Fourth Aye., New York; Second Vice-President, Raymond Bill, 373
Fourth Are., New York; Assistant Treasurer, Wm. A. Low.
CARLETON CHACE, L. M. ROBINSON, WILSON D. BUSH, V. D. WALSH, WM. BRAID WHITE
(Technical Editor), E. B. MUNCH, C. A. LEONARD, A. J. NICKLIN, L. E. BOWERS
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Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
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tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning,
regulating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos
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are dealt with, will be found in another section of
this paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information concerning
which will be cheerfully given upon request.
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Vol. LXVII1
NEW YORK, APRIL 12, 1919
ing pianos, players, talking machines, in fact every kind of musical
instrument, among the essentials to the enjoyment of life. Prom-
inent members of the trade, noted for their discernment and good
judgment, are quite optimistic regarding the future of the South,
particularly as far as it affects the music industry. They hold that
it is bound to be one of our best markets. Now that the citizens of
the Southern States are getting a large share of the wealth of the
nation, thanks to their industry and progressiveness, the outlook
for an enlarged appreciation of music and musical instruments is
certain.
HE report that a swindler has been operating in Brooklyn col-
T
lecting $5 "war tax" from trusting piano owners is not so sur-
prising as it might be under other circumstances, for throughout the
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
RAYMOND BILL, B. B. WILSON, Associate Editors
Executive and Reportorlal Stall:
JOHN H. WILSON, 324 Washington St.
APRIL 12, 1919
No. 15
EDITORIAL=
RAVELING men who recently returned from the South are
very enthusiastic about trade conditions and prospects in that
T
section of the country. The demand for pianos and players is such
that at the present time it is impossible to fill requirements, but the
most pleasing feature of the situation among the Southern piano
merchants is the fact that those who formerly were extremely
desirous of buying instruments from the manufacturers on a long-
time basis are now decidedly opposed to this practice and prefer to
keep a low stock and buy or sell on a very short time or cash basis.
It is quite evident that a great lesson has been learned by piano
men not only in the South, but in other parts of the country, during
the war period, when an analysis of business practices became
imperative.
One substantial reason for this change of policy is the fact that
sales of pianos and players on time have been cut down consider-
ably and the effort made to get large first payments and a com-
paratively short period in which the balance must be paid up has
proven so successful that it is certain to be continued now that the
war has ended and business is being readjusted to a peace basis.
At no time in history were conditions in the South so hopeful
from a commercial and financial standpoint as to-day. All branches
of industry have broadened out, and in the agricultural and other
productive domains the South has through diversified crops, and a
more intensive cultivation of the soil, been able to achieve results
that have brought great wealth and prosperity to the people of the
Southern States.
Texas and other parts of the Southwest this winter have been
blessed with the best rains and snows that have fallen for years
following a drought of three seasons. The subsoil is now so full of
moisture that a wonderful cotton crop is practically assured, while
planters have combined to reduce the acreage of that crop so as to
diversify their farming operations by planting corn and other grains.
This necessarily means a greater surplus of wealth for such
necessities of culture as musical instruments; hence the Southern
people, always noted for their refined, esthetic attributes, are find-
discussion of the new War Revenue bill the public has read time
and time again of the fact that pianos are going to be taxed along
with jewelry, automobiles, etc. As a matter of fact, newspaper cor-
respondents unfamiliar with the details appear to welcome every
opportunity of putting pianos in the luxury classes and calling public
attention to the fact. That the War Excise Tax was to be collected
on the manufacturer's selling price was not mentioned, much less
emphasized, in the daily press, so it was natural to assume that, hav-
ing become used to the practice of paying war taxes on practically
everything of any value, the Brooklyn housewives believed it
was all right to pay for the privilege of owning a piano. It will be
surprising indeed if the same type of swindler does not turn up
in other sections of the country.
That there is still another angle to the tax on pianos was set
forth admirably in an editorial in the New York Evening Sun on
Thursday of last week. The editorial, which was headed "Extra-
Official Kitchinism," is well worthy of the attention of every piano
man. It reads as follows:
"The intelligent, thoroughly modernist swindlers who have been
collecting a $5 'luxury tax' on pianos from unsophisticated Brooklyn-
ites were doing little more than living up to the ideals of the makers
of the newest Federal tax laws. It was hardly more than extra-
official Kitchinism; reprehensible largely because it had only the
authority of a tin badge and an expert grafter's 'nerve' instead of
the sanction of the Committee on Ways and Means and the public
opinion of Scotland Neck to back it.
"Mr. Kitchin and his fellow experts saw the need of more money
to be spent in keeping the world warmly comfortable for the South-
ern democracy. The obvious thing was to 'let the North pay.' Many
malefactors of moderate wealth in New York own a piano. Not a
few were in the habit of paying, extravagantly, more than $3 for a
hat or even more than $2 for a shirt. Clearly these were luxuries,
base Sybaritic indulgences that the Spartans of North Carolina could
not contemplate without becoming 'all het up.' Therefore, let us tax
them. A $5 fine for owning a piano naturally appealed to the Kitchin
mind as a laudable expedient.
"Of course these Brooklyn specialists are rather overdoing it.
They do not belong to the union, and not even Mr. Kitchin would
approve their activity. Rut they had the really fundamental idea of
a luxury tax."
T
HE function of the motion picture in the commercial sphere is
becoming more widely recognized. Piano manufacturers have
been able to visualize their products, and the process of manufac-
turing them, as a means of educating the public to a recognition of
their merits, and it is not surprising to learn that the Department
of Commerce is planning a motion picture campaign to promote
American commerce provided the necessary appropriation for the
project can be obtained from the incoming Congress.
Those in charge of the idea say that such a campaign will en-'
able the agents of the Government to tell people around the world
who we are, what we manufacture and how our manufactures can
be utilized. It is pointed out that through such a campaign the point
can be made that quantity production and shop organization—two
great American ideas—are supreme factors in determining the price
and quality of goods, and that this can be done very effectively by
means of motion pictures, as has already been successfully demon-
strated in other countries.
The plan proposed is declared to have been tried by a num-
ber of other countries with satisfactory results. In England what
is known as "British Industrial Expansion" is promoted by moving