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MAY
THE
24, 1919
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
PRESENT CONDITIONS AS SEEN
BY VARIOUSJTRADE AUTHORITIES
E. P. Van Harlingen, Western Representative of The Review, Gleans a Summary
Regarding the Present Situation in Various Branches of the Trade
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When the Western representative of The Re-
view was asked to give a resume of conditions
in the trade since the last Chicago convention
he was a little wary about trusting to his own
impressions. Any review, to be at all valuable,
would have to regard matters not as at the time
they occurred, but as they are viewed now, in the
light of all the experiences which manufacturers
and supply men have undergone.
As the W. R. has been out of the field, at least
physically, for the last three months he thought
it wise to get in direct touch with, a number of
representative people in the trade. He was glad
he did so. Under the understanding that they
would not be quoted without permission, a num-
ber of men, in the best possible position for
speaking of business as it was, as it is, and as
it shall be, opened up and expressed themselves
very freely, giving some inside facts and views
which they would not have felt at liberty to give
otherwise. Some of the communications are so
interesting that the reviewer really regrets that
he is not able to print them in their entirety,
with the names of the writers attached.
A notable thing about it is that comparatively
little is said about the past. The two years now
closing have been most tumultuous, owing to
war conditions and the transitional period ush-
ered in by the armistice. The high lights of the
history of these two years are known by all the
men in the trade. There is little use of rehears-
ing the conditions imposed on the trade by the
war taxation. These will be thoroughly dis-
cussed at the conventions. There are many
problems and experiences which manufacturers
would like to forget. It is not fair to recall the
sleepless nights, the struggles to keep up pro-
duction, the exodus of workers from the factory
either to the war or to war industries. Enough
of these problems linger over into the present
to tax the thought and energy of those who
command our manufacturing and supply indus-
tries.
The Supply Man's Viewpoint
A very fair analytical and systematic review of
the old situation is given by a Chicago supply
man, and is so good that it is here presented, in
full:
"The piano business to-day is in better condi-
tion than I have ever known it. Financially,
every manufacturer is in better condition than
ever, and the man who was looking for terms a
year or two ago to-day is interested only in cash
discount. This is due to the fact that the ex-
treme shortage of goods has enabled him to pick
his connections and sell for cash or on short
time, eliminating the long-time dealer and con-
signment dealer almost altogether.
"Conditions of Orders. Each manufacturer to-
day has on his books enough orders to keep him
running from four to six months, if no further
orders were received in that time, and a great
number of them have called their salesmen in,
and either have them in the factories or lying
around doing nothing, as they are unable to
handle the business which is coming in from
their connections by mail. New business at the
present time is not being sought, as the entire
effort is. toward taking care of old connections.
There are many opportunities for each manufac-
turer to make connections, but the dealer who
has not been loyal to anyone now finds himself
hard put to obtain goods.
"Manufacturing Conditions. The greatest trou-
ble which the manufacturers are experiencing at
the present time is in securing enough skilled
labor, and because of this shortage many manu-
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facturers are educating unskilled men. This, of
course, does not relieve the present situation,
but shortly should be felt in increased'output.
"Supplies. While supply men are keeping the
manufacturers going this situation is becoming
very acute. All manufacturers had low stock,
and consequently they have ordered their sup-
plies for immediate shipment. In addition to
this they are buying from a hand-to-mouth ba-
sis in a good many cases, and for this reason
some of them are not able to run at top speed
owing to the fact that they are held up in differ-
ent sections of the factory for supplies. It will
be necessary for some time for the manufacturer
to anticipate his needs to the supplier.
"Production. Production is away ahead of the
last year or two, and would be the largest in
the history of the industry were the space and
labor available. Every superintendent is bending
his energy at the present time to increasing his
output, and each one is running ahead of the
original schedule laid out for the entire year.
I personally believe that to say that each super-
intendent was trying to better his best year by
50 per cent, would be no exaggeration. Of
course, they will not do this, but they will prob-
ably reach a good normal year.
"Prices. I see no immediate relief in sight for
the price situation. As a matter of fact, in some
cases I believe there will be further advances.
This is due to the fact that the manufacturer is
paying top prices for material now, and up to
the present time has been running on accumu-
lated stock bought on a low market. His labor
is costing him more to-day than it ever has be-
fore, and while some of his supplies have taken
a slight drop, others have advanced to counter-
act this drop, and in general I do not believe
there will be any material decline in the supply
market during the balance of this year."
From the Superintendent's Angle
A well-known piano factory superintendent
writes as follows:
"Business in the musical industry at present is
rt markably good, collections are prompt and
cash payments seem to be the order of the day,
but difficulties surround the piano trade. Labor
is hard to secure. Although high wages are be-
ing paid there seems to be an unrestful feeling
among mechanics, who want more money fof
certain classes of work. If the employer wishes
to ship goods he has to submit to higher de-
mand for more wages or recompense—whatever
you like to call it. Skilled hands, are entering
other fields of industry where they command
more wages, and the piano industry is left with
very few real piano mechanics. Consequently,
we have to employ laborers who demand as
much as heretofore Wa$^paid to piano men, and
we have to teach these men. After we teach
them they leave and go elsewhere and leave us
high and dry as before.--, Then again supplies are
coming in slowly, by reason of shortage of
skilled help in this particular line. ;Wnile wages
may not go lower by reason of living expenses
being so high, there is a possibility of raw ma-
terial coming dawn'a little, with the exception
of lumber and piano hajttBiers," which seem to
be increasing in .pirife 1 :" However, there seem
to be subtle, mysterious forces operating- in febme
peculiar w.ay_ to^kjeep •^icVs**-higher than they,
should be".'-"l
and no one* can offer a remedy. But this wt-tl*.
know, that we have to pay 1 from 25 to 100 per
cent, more for goods than we did before the
war. We just have to work along and perhaps
things may adjust themselves to something like
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they were three or four years ago, if we will
only have patience."
An admirable review of the situation contain-
ing some illuminating remarks on the- taxation
proposition comes from one of the pillars of one
of the largest manufacturing concerns in the
whole country, who writes:
A Leading Manufacturer's Summary
"I do not feel competent to speak for the en-
tire trade. So far as I have been able to observe,
the past year has been the most trying for piano
manufacturers yt any of the last forty. While
impediments were numerous during 1915, 1916
and 1917, owing to difficulty in securing proper
materials, inadequate transportation facilities
and shortage of help when our own country
became involved in the war, all these obstacles
were multiplied, and had the active prosecution
of the war continued ninety days longer it is
my belief that every piano factory in the country
would have been forced to shut down through
lack of men and materials.
"The present situation is more hopeful. While
I do nor*ftffow of any factory that has been able
to recruit its forces to normal strength, I believe
all have made progress in that direction, although
this has necessitated breaking in many new men,
and this process usually means, and T believe
does in this case, that many of those tried are
found wanting, but a considerable portion might
win if they had a little more patience and didn't
get discouraged and quit within a short time.
"Naturally I object to the unusual distinction
given our trade in the last war revenue bill.
There are hundreds of lines of business that
should, in my judgment, have been required to
pay an excise tax if our industry must pay one.
In other words, we have been ^discriminated
against .largely because, as I b^fieve, our law-
makers are not posted as tq,.tffe facts in the case.
"It is my firm belief, supported by all the evi-
dence there is in the case, that 85 per cent, of
pianos in numbers are bought for educational
purposes, and it would be just as fair to put an
excise tax on school books, as on pianos.
"As to the future of the trade, this depends on
the wisdom or otherwise of primarily the manu-
facturers and next the merchants. If we all
realize that money is now the cheapest thing
there is, that commodities are correspondingly
dear, and fix our prices and terms accordingly,
there is no change likely to come that will ma-
terially injure our business. If, however, we
have, as have been numerous in the past, new
'young Napoleons of finance,' who believe they
can violate all the fundamental principles of do-
ing business, as they have done in the past, and
enough of the older men, who ought to know
better, follow their example, we can very read-
ily drift back into conditions that existed in 1913
and 1914, when failures among piano manufac-
turers were more numerous than desirable and
when there were more creditors' committees
working to save dealers than ever before in the
history of the trade.
"As indicated above, money is more plentiful
now than ever before, so that there should be
no difficulty with the present reduced output in
getting cash or good terms on anything we can
make, and I think this is the most important
• thing the trade can do now, namely, get fair
prices and good terms on everything they ship."
i •-.,
Some Matters to Be Considered
In all these letters and many others that might
be cited there is a spirit of sane optimism, al-
though there is no disposition to obscure very
(Continued on page 10)