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THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
RAYMOND BILL, B. B. WILSON, Associate Editors
WILSON D. BUSH, Managing Editor
CARLETON CHACE, Business Manager
Executive and Reportorlal Stall
V. D. WALSH, W M . BRAID W H I T E (Technical Editor), E. B. MUNCH, L. M. ROBINSON,
(J. A. LIONARD, EDWARD LYMAN BILL, SCOTT KINGWILL, THOS. W. BRESNAHAN, A. J.
NICKLIN, L. E. BOWERS
WESTERN DIVISION:
BOSTON O F F I C E :
Republic Bldf.. 209 So. Sute St., Chicago. .
JOHN H. WILSON, 324 Washington St.
Telephone, Wabath 5774.
Telephone, Main 6950.
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N E W S SERVICE IS S U P P L I E D W E E K L Y BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS
LOCATED I N T H E LEADING CITIES THROUGHOUT AMERICA.
Published Every Saturday at 373 Fourth Avenue, New York
Entered as second-class matter September 10, 1892, at the Post office at New York, N. Y.,
under the Act of March 3, 1879.
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage), United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year;
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ADVERTISEMENTS, $4.50 per inch single column, per insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount is allowed. Advertising pages, $130.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency forms, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill, Inc.
1
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Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning,
regulating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos
p
a r e dealt with, will be found in another section of
this paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information concerning
which will be cheerfully given upon request.
l
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
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Silver Medal.. .Charleston Exposition, 1902
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Cable address: "Elblll, New York"
Vol. LXXI
NEW YORK, JULY 10, 1920
No. 2
ROTARIANS AS MUSIC LOVERS
M EMBERSHIP in the many Rotary Clubs of the country is
held by business men who are recognized as representative
of the various lines of activity in which they are engaged—men who
stand high in their communities and are successful in their chosen
pursuits. When, therefore, five, six or seven thousand of such
men gathered in convention find music one of the chief things
necessary to keep them in good humor and to make things lively,
then music has won a new place in the sun. Certain it is that the
Rotarians at the big Atlantic City coriVention held recently made
the most of music. Not only did they bring military bands, glee
clubs and other playing and singing organizations with them from
distant points, but they kept them working and did not hesitate to
raise their own voices and enlist the Boardwalk crowd in impromptu
sings when the occasion seemed to demand it. It was quite evident
that the Rotarians are music lovers.
THE DANGER OF LENGTHENING TERMS
general market and manufacturing conditions made it
S INCE
necessary, or distinctly desirable, for piano manufacturers to sell
their instruments for cash or on definitely short terms, campaigns
have been carried on to insure the maintenance of such sound selling
terms when conditions swing around and the buyer's market comes
into evidence. There are those who have declared that, having once
established their business on such? a sound basis, manufacturers
would not be inclined to go back to the old methods. There are
others, not so optimistic, who have maintained with equal strength
that at the first sign of a breaking market some manufacturers
would quickly revert to short prices and long terms to keep their
factory floors clear, regardless of the soundness of the policy:
It now seems as though the pessimistic ones had some ground
for their complaints, for reports have come in of manufacturers who
•are offering instruments, not at low prices particularly, but on long
terms for the purpose of forcing business. With the supply market
and the money market in its present condition, one is moved to won-
der regarding the logic of seeking long term paper at this particular
JULY 10, 1920
time, buying material and paying for labor in cash, and then selling
on a four, eight or twelve months basis. It may clear the factory
floors temporarily—it may result in getting a little ahead of com-
petitors—'but the ultimate result is bound to be harmful rather than
healthy. The chief sufferers will be those dealers who, buying from
one manufacturer on long time, will try selling their general lines
on the same basis. The final accounting will be painful.
EXPANSION VS. INFLATION
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
President and Treasurer, C. L. Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Vice-President,
J. B. Spillane, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Second Vice-President, Raymond Bill, 373
Fourth Ave., New York; Assistant Treasurer, Wm. A. Low.
REVIEW
very timely and trenchant remarks upon business condi-
S OME
tions appeared recently in the advance bulletin sent out to
members of the National Association of Credit Men by J. H. Tregoe,
secretary-treasurer of that progressive organization, who pointed out
that the terms inflation and expansion are oftentimes used inter-
changeably, but there is a line of demarcation between them when
interpreting the trend of our credits and finances. Inflation is the
going beyond safe bounds, while expansion is a broadening process
which may or may not take the form of a tendency to spread out
too thin.
When the manufacturer finds that the same number of human
units do not produce what they produced three years ago, and, in
order to provide for pressing demands for his product, increases his
plant and machinery, thereby tying up more fixed capital and a
larger number of units to produce the same output—is this inflation
or expansion?
The letting down of human energy cannot be remedied by the
adding of human units, plant and machinery. It is a human prob-
lem, not a material problem, and we believe such a process will
prove to be inflation, not expansion.
Here is one of the dangerous symptoms in our present credit
and financial commerce. A great deal of liquid capital is being con-
verted into fixed capital for the purpose of bringing about that in-
creased production which the exercise of proper energy can easily
bring about.
Watch carefully, because in the past our merchants and bankers
have brought disaster upon themselves by the uneconomic practice
of using credit as though it could be manufactured or produced by
some alchemic process and could be detached from all connection
with stern economical law.
To marshal human energy should be the demand of these days.
Men's efforts should not be measured by hours but by their physical
abilities alone, and as wisdom prevails and controls, the danger that
threatens us through inefficiency will be recognized and the increase
of production, especially of essentials, will be brought about by
the energizing of the human unit.
E. R. JOHNSON'S TIMELY ADDRESS
T
H E address delivered at the banquet of the National Association
of Talking Machine Jobbers last week by Eldridge R. Johnson,
president of the Victor Co., and reproduced in full in this issue
of The Review, represents a message regarding the relationship of
business and the Government that is of distinct interest to business
men in general, as well as to the members of the talking machine
industry. Mr. Johnson stands high among the real captains of
industry of the day, and his opinions, therefore, are calculated to
carry real weight, regardless of how fully they are concurred in
by those who read them. Certain it is that a more general exhibi-
tion of efficiency in Government management, a perceptible relief
from present tax burdens, and the elimination of politics in a large
measure are not only eminently desired, but are fast becoming a
vital necessity. Mr. Johnson presents his views on these matters in
no uncertain manner.
ANTICIPATING A YEAR OF PROGRESS
T
HE annual conventions of the industry, to be held in Chicago
next year, presumably the week of May 22nd, should show in
concrete form the results of the various and practical plans formu-
lated at Atlantic City last week for strengthening and developing
the best interests of the trade in general. With the better part of a
year ahead of them, the members of the music trade should be
able to accomplish much for the advancement of the cause of music
and its industry, and it takes no incurable optimist to predict that
the plans already made will place the musical instrument trade on a
sounder plane than it has ever before enjoyed.