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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
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Vol. LXVIII
NEW YORK, JANUARY 11, 1919
No. 2
EDITORIAL
EPORTS from Review correspondents from widely separated
R
sections of the country are practically unanimous in declaring
that not only was the holiday business far in excess of expectations,
but business has been keeping unusually active since the opening
of the New Year. Stocks everywhere are low, not only in the ware-
rooms but in the factories, owing of course to the restrictions due to
the war. Manufacturers are now doing their best to catch up with
orders in hand, and while there is some delay in getting all the
supplies needed, yet there is a gratifying improvement in this con-
nection, and it is expected that within thirty, or, at the most, sixty
days, there will be a fair supply that will enable manufacturers to
put a large number of instruments into work.
As has been mentioned several times before, the matter of
labor is the great question of the hour. With the release of men
from war plants there has been a steady drift of men back into old-
time occupations, and factories located in.the smaller cities and in
the suburban sections are being supplied with men much more read-
ily than in the big cities. With the growing releases of men from
the camps the local piano factories are increasing their forces slowly
but surely, and the outlook, as far as labor is concerned, is im-
proving.
Trade throughout the country is on a stable foundation, so
that continued prosperity is assured. The land is the basis of all
wealth, and American farmers have never before in the history of
the nation received such prices for their products as to-day. More-
over, the Government has insured a fixed price for wheat for some
years, and this condition has placed in the hands of the farmers
of the country an immense share of the wealth of the nation, which
is bound to find its way into the warerooms for the purchase of
necessities, such as musical instruments and other furnishings that
add to the enjoyment of the home.
The situation broadly considered is one to induce optimism, and
this viewpoint should be maintained despite the rumblings of dis-
content fathered by theorists and chronic kickers which one reads
and hears of once in a while. The United States has weathered the
JANUARY 11, 1919
greatest war in history, and is to-day the wealthiest nation in the
world. We are facing big post-war problems that will have to be
solved. But they will be solved, and it is our business to have faith
in the future, and to get busy and keep busy.
It is worth noting that for the third successive year the country's
excess of exports over imports ran over three billion dollars. No
other nation ever had such foreign payments due it as for any one
of those years. These are straws which show how the wind blows.
the final provisions of the new War Revenue bill
W as HATEVER
it comes from the hands of the President, it cannot be denied
that it will place an additional financial burden on the members of
the music industry—a burden not as heavy perhaps as was threat-
ened for a time—but nevertheless sufficiently heavy to make the
average business man pause and reflect seriously as how best to
conduct his business in order to provide the necessary funds to meet
increased taxation without straining his business unduly. The time
to think of meeting new taxes is not after the bill has finally become
a law, but right now, so that when the time for payment comes the
money will be there waiting.
The general trend of the War Revenue bill can now be under-
stood, and the business man will do well to base his calculations upon
the provisions of the measure as they now exist, and it is hardly
likely that any changes will be made that will add to or reduce ma-
terially the obligations of the average piano or talking machine
manufacturer or dealer. He will have special taxes on the products
of the industry to meet, as well as income, excess profits and other
taxes. The amounts involved will in most cases be heavy, and the
payment of the amounts must be figured well in advance so that due
provision can be made.
T
HE fact that the retail holiday business in musical instruments
broke all records is now an old story, but that is no excuse for
losing sight of the fact that the buying public was educated in-
tensively as never before to the doctrine of cash and large instal-
ment payments. In many stores it was the rule that cash had first
call on the desired instrument, and that the instalment customer
must take his turn. It was simply the working out of the rule of sup-
ply and demand, but nevertheless the public had a lesson that should
prove a profit to retailers generally if they will only continue the
course of instruction.
Too much cannot be said or written regarding the great advisa-
bility, if not necessity, of sticking to short-term instalment contracts
right along in peace times as well as in war. With business con-
ducted on that basis, the music industry will rest on a foundation
that will enable it to withstand any financial or industrial storm that
may possibly strike the country. Opportunity, it is said, knocks only
once at any man's door, and if the opportunity to handle real cash
money, instead of long-time paper, ever came to the piano man,
the present is that time.
T
HE several important changes in the personnel of the trade
that became effective on or about December 1 may be accepted
as an indication that the leading concerns in the industry are look-
ing to the future with a distinct feeling of optimism, and are planning
to do big things and do them quickly. We have heard considerable
of what could be done, or what ought to be done after the war, and
it has been very pleasant talk, but what counts is action, and the in-
dications are that action will be the watchword of several of our lead-
ing industrial lights during the coming twelve months.
4 C T 1 HE business man who enforces the principles of prompt pay-
x ment of all accounts made with him becomes a moral uplift
in the community, for he is doing business on correct principles, thus
making of his business a powerful example; and he is also bringing
to his customers constantly a realizing sense of the necessity of col-
lecting their own accounts closely, and they in turn, by force of cir-
cumstances, must instil into the great buying public the sense of
thrift and reasonable economy."
This is the viewpoint of a writer in the Credit Men's bulletin,
and there is a lot of "meat" and sound sense in it. There was
never a time when correct credit business principles were so essen-
tial as now. With the war at end we are starting out on a new
campaign for trade, and we must keep in mind the importance of
large first payments, short time and sound credits.