Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MIMC T^ADE
VOL. LXIX. No. 24
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York. Dec. 13, 1919
SIn-
g.&°?!!S PB Year ent "
Looking Forward to 1920
>-« »
HAT of 1920! Will the country settle down to a normal peace basis in the New Year?
Will business again resume its regular channels? Will the work of reconstruction show
real progress? Will the workman realize that his future is insolubly linked with that of
his employer and that a common-sense, rather than hysterical, view of the labor situation
is needed? These are questions that must be answered before any worth-while predictions
regarding next year's prospects in the music trade or in any other trade can be offered.
In so far as this industry of ours is concerned—and the prominent men of the industry agree to the
fact—there is every reason to believe that the present overwhelming demand for musical instruments of
all kinds will continue right through the coming twelve months, regardless 6f what progress may be
made in the matter of increased production.
The sellers' market has continued and will continue. The retailers and consequently the factories
are heavily oversold with no prospect of a falling off of the demand. Even a sudden drop in the market
to a pre-war basis will have little or no effect on 1920 business, due to the simple fact that the demand for
musical instruments has remained unsatisfied for at least two or three years and is still waiting to be
filled, regardless of what business may come during the future months.
Government officials, business men and authorities on economics have for some time maintained that
American industry has reached the apex of its troubles and that the time for a definite and permanent
adjustment is in sight. European countries have already, it is reported, been through their period of
unrest and are now settling down to hard work and increasing production to make up for lost time. It
is felt that the cycle is about to swing our way and that in this country, too, the settling down process
must come and with it an unexampled concentration on the production problem. Certain it is that the
radicals have had their day and that Americanism has emerged triumphant.
So far as financial matters are concerned this industry should maintain its present state of health
during the next year at least, regardless of any tendency of certain elements to go back to old methods.
With the prices of supplies and cost of production maintaining their present high levels, or going still
higher, and with two orders for every instrument completed and shipped from the factories, cash
provides the argument for the retailer who wants stock and, paying cash for his stock, he must continue
to get cash, or what comes approximately to cash, from his retail customers.
It has been said, half-humorously but nevertheless with considerable truth, that the men of the
piano trade never knew until quite recently there was so much real money in the country. The average
manufacturer may not be producing as many pianos as formerly, but he is getting more money for them
and getting it in cash, or else in substantial short term notes. He has a real balance, instead of a paper
balance, in the bank, and is in a better position to weather a business storm than at any time in the history
of the industry.
The same rule applies to the retailers. Some of them have been hard put during the last couple of
years to clean up old and long-drawn-out paper and still keep their-business going, but they have passed
the crisis and are now enjoying business solidity. This means that, whatever develops during 1920,
either in the advancement or possible curtailment of industry, the piano trade is well prepared to meet
the situation. Both manufacturers and retailers have confidence in the future. This is evidenced by the
amount of money many of them are investing in the erection of new factories, the expansion of old
(Continued on page 5)