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THE
MUSIC
TRADE
RMEW
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Vol. LXX
NEW YORK, JANUARY 10, 1920
R A P I D L Y INCREASING
No. 2
PRODUCTION
W
ORKERS arc coming back into the New York piano factories
in steadily increasing numbers, and, although the hundred
per cent mark has been reached only in isolated cases, there are
several plants operating with from eighty to ninety per cent of
their normal forces—normal so far as numbers go. This all leads
to the hope that production of the factories will increase steadily
until it will measure up in a fair way to demands, but to reach this
goal is not a matter of a few days, or even a few weeks. There
are new men to be trained, routines to be laid out, and things in
general adjusted on a basis that will result in old-time efficiency.
Piano merchants have suffered from the results of the strike
as much as, if not more than, the manufacturers, as was evident
during the holiday season. They have appreciated conditions, how-
ever, and have been patient, which leads to the belief that this
attitude of patience will continue during the readjustment period.
The manufacturing trade has lost momentum, and the effects of
three months of almost total inaction cannot be overcome in a few
weeks, all of which means that retailers cannot expect quantity
shipments immediately, or for some time to come.
The manufacturers are bending every effort to make up for
lost time, and in that endeavor are overcoming some unusual ob-
stacles. The continued support of their retail representatives will
serve to lighten the burden materially.
T H E N E E D F O R A C T I V E COMMISSIONERS
T
H E appeal sent out last week by E. Paul Hamilton, first vice-
president of the National Association of Music Merchants,
asking for music dealers in a number of States to act as State
Commissioners for the Association, should meet with a ready re-
sponse from men who appreciate what the National Association
has done and is planning to do for the trade as a whole, and who
are willing and in a position to lend their personal efforts in further-
ing this work.
No national association can make progress without a certain
amount of local interest in the work. The national body must have
REVIEW
JANUARY 10, 1920
direct connection with the individuals in the trade in every section
if its efforts are to be successful and national in scope. A body of
half a dozen or so officers located in one or another of the big
cities of the country cannot hope to reach the music dealers in
remote sections unless there is provided some sort of direct contact.
This contact the National Association of Music Merchants en-
deavors to bring about through the medium of State Commissioners,
and, assisting them, City Commissioners.
It is true that State and City Commissioners can be kept busy
with Association affairs right through the year, and particularly
during the period immediately preceding the annual conventions.
It may mean some personal sacrifice for the time being, but if by
that sacrifice the trade as a whole is genuinely benefited then the
Commissioners in their turn will realize a just share of this benefit.
There is so much work to be done for trade betterment through
the Better Business Bureau, the Bureau for the Advancement of
Music, and through other channels demanding the immediate sup-
port of the music trade as a body that there should, be no hesitancy
on the part of the individual dealer in putting his shoulder to the
wheel. The Association is no longer to be viewed as a passive
organization designed primarily to provide an excuse for a pleasing
outing once a year. It is a strong, aggressive factor that has already
accomplished much and plans to accomplish more, and the retailers
who have not realized this fact have been out of touch with their
industry. Let the response to the call for State and City Com-
missioners be prompt and cordial.
BUSINESS M E N A N D L E G I S L A T O R S
I
F for no other reason than that it afforded local piano men an
opportunity of hearing Senator Walker, of New York, tell of
what the business man owes to his Government, the Year-End
Luncheon of the New York piano trade was a function well worth
while. We are quick to condemn the members of legislatures for
introducing bills of various sorts calculated to add various burdens
to those already carried by business men, but we are not always so
quick to realize that in a great many instances the legislator has no
real appreciation of just how some measure, innocent in appear-
ance, may be calculated to cause loss of time or money to the
members of this or that industry.
Senator Walker declared emphatically that business men were
too inclined to leave the matter of legislation to their representa-
tives, or professional politicians, without seeing to it that those
representatives had a proper conception of what was wanted, or
what was not wanted, by their constituents. If representatives in
legislatures and in Congress were kept informed regarding the
actual views of business men as to what legislation was desirable
and what was to be condemned, they would, as a matter of political
expediency, if for no other reason, endeavor to follow the wishes as
outlined. It is probably a fact, as the Senator stated, that if legis-
lators were kept busy enacting laws desired by and of benefit to
the business men in their districts they would have little idle time
in which to frame legislation of doubtful character.
It is much easier to quash undesirable legislation before it is
introduced than to fight obnoxious bills after they have been read
into the records, just as it is easier to extinguish a spark than to
fight a full-grown blaze. The experience of various trade asso-
ciations who have maintained representatives at the State Capitols
has been that forehanded action heads off ninety per cent of con-
templated bills that otherwise would slip through and require time
and effort to fight.
There is no individual business more important than that of
the State or National Government, and if the business men take
the trouble to instruct their representatives regarding their wishes
in the matter of legislation they at least will not have to face the
plea of ignorance, and will be in a position to know absolutely how
their representatives stand.
P R E P A R E F O R MUSIC W E E K
Music Week in New York., with its National Music Show and
Festival and the annual conventions of the various trade asso-
ciations, is less than one month away and those members of the
industry, and they are a host, who are interested in the welfare of
music and the industry have cause to hurry their work of prepa-
ration. The time is short, and there is much to be clone to insure
success. DO I T N O W !