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FEBRUARY 1,
THE MUSIC TRADE
1919
11
REVIEW
GEORGE W. POUND PREPARING FOR CROSS-CONTINENT TRIP
Itinerary of Proposed Tour by General Counsel of Music Industries Chamber of Commerce Now
Being Prepared by Alex. McDonald—Will Be of Great Benefit to the Trade
Following quickly upon the heels of the
earnest suggestion made at the Chicago meeting
last week to the effect that George W. Pound,
general counsel of the Music Industries Cham-
ber of Commerce, make a tour of the entire
country from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast
to get in personal touch so far as possible with
the members of the industry in all sections of
the country, active plans are now under way
toward mapping out an itinerary for Mr. Pound
swinging around the Southern circle, going to
the Pacific Coast, and coming back over the
Northern route.
The tour is planned primarily to acquaint
members of the industry not in direct touch
with the various activities of the Chamber of
Commerce and its branches with the great
work that is going on for the development of
music and incidentally of trade.
It is felt that, with the dealers given the op-
portunity of meeting Mr. Pound, hearing his
explanation of the Chamber's work, and asking
such questions as they may desire, the tour will
have the effect of awakening in them broader
interests in the development work of the indus-
try that is so much needed in building for the
future. The arrangement of itinerary is in the
hands of Alex. McDonald, chairman of the press
committee of the National Association of Piano
Merchants, and the plan is to work through
State and city commissioners of the association
in gathering the dealers at central points to meet
the general counsel. The work has already been
started so that at each stop made by Mr. Pound
a 100 per cent, attendance can be assured.
Although only a week has passed since the
suggestion for the tour was first made in Chi-
cago, a number of urgent invitations to visit
different cities have already been received at
Mr. Pound's office. Invitations to visit the cities
lying along Mr. Pound's course either in the
South or North will, of course, be given earnest
attention, although the acceptance of the invi-
tation must depend upon the question of effi-
ciency.
In other words, the tour, even as
roughly planned, will be a long one, consum-
ing practically two months. In most cases, and
wherever possible, Mr. Pound will speak before
a new group of dealers, and in a different city
each day, and where feasible, twice a day, and
his itinerary will be laid out with that plan in
view.
Those back of the suggestion for the tour be-
lieve, and rightly, that if Mr. Pound can bring
his message personally to those members of
the industry who, through various circum-
stances, have been unable to attend the great
trade gatherings and keep in close touch with
the work by that means, much good will result
for all divisions of the industry represented in
the Chamber of Commerce at the present time.
It is believed that especially encouraging results
will come from a visit to the South and Far
West.
Mr. Pound will start on his tour on or about
March 1, and full details as to the itinerary and
the general plans made for the trip will be an-
nounced by Mr. McDonald sufficiently in ad-
vance of that date to enable the members of the
industry to make suitable preparations to meet
the general counsel and profit by his visit. The
tour is quite one of the biggest things yet at-
tempted by the organized industry, and every
endeavor will be put forth to insure its success.
WANTS FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO AID IN FOREIGN TRADE
CONSIDER
what the name
Decker&Son
implies on a
Piano
or
Player-Piano
Founded by a DECKER
Always manufactured by
a DECKER
President of Manufacturers' Export Association Favors Use of Merchant Marine Fleet at Low Rates
to Foster Export Business—Definite Shipping Policy Should Be Adopted
President George E. Smith, of the Manufac-
turers' Export Association, issued a statement
on Monday urging that the Government should
run its merchant marine at a loss to establish
America's export business and look for com-
pensation for the loss at a later day when a
flourishing export business would put the mer-
chant marine on a solid footing.
Mr. Smith asserted that this course was
taken by the United States when it appropriated
millions for the transcontinental railroad lines
before there was a community to support them,
with the result that the Government was- re-
warded later in the general increase of the com-
merce and prosperity of the country.
"The war has placed the United States," Mr.
Smith said, "in a position internationally that
she never occupied before. The American man-
ufacturer is now awake to the opportunities that
lie before him in export trade, provided he
can obtain the necessary facilities for carrying
on that trade. During the war he has increased
his production to the point where it is highly
desirable for him to obtain new markets. At
the present moment exporting manufacturers
are having difficulty in obtaining cargo space
in American ships, and where space is available
MADISON
Piano Co.
Incorporated
Manufacturers
The Madison Tone—
Supreme—Its Own
2 1 9 Cypress A v e .
NEW YORK
the rates are so high that only abnormal war
conditions and abnormal demands from abroad
permit payment of these rates.
"If normal conditions were to return to-mor-
row, and present shipping rates were to con-
tinue, our present export trade would shrink to
half its size. The only American goods which
can stand ocean freights are those which have
no real competition in foreign markets. All our
staple manufacturers would be shut out of ex-
port trade automatically by the cost of trans-
portation. Why should a South American firm
purchase a ton of staples from the United States
with the cost of production the same in Europe
and here, if, as is the case at present, it costs
him $25 to ship that ton from the United States
to Buenos Aires, and only $15 from Liverpool
to Buenos Aires?
"There seems to be substantial agreement
among the thinking men of this country that
our best interests demand the promotion of
America's overseas commerce. This being so,
it is high time that our Government and our
business men get together to formulate a definite
shipping policy for American exporters.
"America's export trade to-day is in the same
formative condition that our West was forty
years ago. In the markets of the world there
is an abundance of opportunity for the American
manufacturer.
"If the nation will now establish cheap ocean
freight rates in American ships, even at a loss,
an export trade will be built up whose volume
will in time compel favorable trade routes and
cheap freights without Government assistance.
"Our Government has a fleet of new mer-
chant ships at its command. Let it be wise
enough and bold enough to offer these ships to
America's export trade at rates as low as those
available to America's competitors. The Ameri-
can exporter will more than justify this con-
fidence by building a permanent export trade,"
. e.
The original DECKER
PIANO still manufac-
tured by the DECKER
family—piano makers of
the old school.
The Quality Counts 99
T
»ADE M A * *
BUSINESS FOUNDED IN
EIGHTEEN FIFTY-IIX
DECKER & SON/INC.
697-701 East 135th Street
NEW YORK