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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
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Vol. LXX1I1
NEW YORK, JULY 9, 1921
No. 2
RAIL RATES MUST BE REDUCED
HE railroad officials of the country may be somewhat hard of
hearing, but there is no question but that they must soon become
fully aware of the demand of the business interests of the country
that railroad rates, both freight and passenger, must be cut substan-
tially if the trade of the nation is to go forward without undue
hindrance.
Through the cutting down of service and through wage adjust-
ments authorized by Federal authorities, the railroads are in a posi-
tion to save several hundred million dollars a year in operating
expenses. There have also been material reductions made in prices
of steel and other supplies entering into railroad construction and
maintenance work, and it is not to be expected that the railroads will
be permitted to enter all these great savings in the dividend column.
With transportation costs fixed at nearly 100 per cent above the
pre-war basis, industry is put under a burden that has a proven
effect on the volume of sales. High passenger rates mean high se'.l-
ing costs. High freight rates mean high delivery costs, and the retail
merchant, and more particularly the consumer, pays it all. There has
been ample evidence that the consumer is tired of paying and the
railroads must come to a realization of the fact that they mu^t cut
rates and thus contribute their share toward the work of read-
justment.
From the viewpoint of the traveling man, especially the indi-
vidual whose road expenses are charged against his commission
account, not only must the railroads reduce their passenger rates, but
the hotels must readjust their rates to a point that will he fair and
equitable. As it is now, hotels in many cities, especially in the West
and South, apparently fix their tariffs according to the size of the
guest's pocketbook. The average commercial man must do a mighty
big business each day simply to take care of current expenses.
Miles of empty freight cars on sidings, a substantial number of
vacant hotel rooms in big commercial centers, serve to visualize one
of the reconstruction problems. It requires business to keep these
freight cars moving and the hotels filled, and to get business the
T
REVIEW
JULY 9, 1921
traveling man must go into the highways and byways in search of
orders. When the way is opened for him to do so more or less
economically the general commerce of the country will be benefited
accordingly.
THE PROBLEM OF EFFICIENT GOVERNMENT
I
T will be interesting to business men and to the citizens of the
country generally to observe the efforts of the new administration
in Washington to redeem the many campaign promises of a business-
like and efficient Government organization. A politician is a politi-
cian, whether he is in Washington or in the county seat, and one of
his chief missions in life is to take care of the friends who have
elected him to office and to grab off as much patronage as possible for
his constituents. This means jobs, and it is about as easy to pull a
job away from a Congressman or Senator as it is to take a thousand-
dollar bill from a miser.
Any efforts toward efficiency in the Federal Government will
mean the abolishment of many interlocking and ofttime useless bu-
reau-, whose work is simply a duplication of that handled by other
bureaus. The wiping out of bureaus means the wiping out of jobs,
and while the average Congressman is strong for efficiency and the
reduction of Government departments so long as it affects jobs con-
trolled by other Congressmen he regards any attempts to eliminate
job-; in which his constituents are placed as a direct trespass upon
his personal rights.
The Harding administration has unquestionably a hard road
ahead in reducing expenses and making the Government efficient,
but the steady pressure being exerted in all sections of the country to
bring about an improvement in conditions will evidently force the
issue. The thing to do is to support the President in his efforts to
reduce the number of useless Government departments and bureaus
and the number of job-holding parasites.
The first step in Governmental efficiency is declared to be the ap-
pointment of Charles G. Dawes as director of the new Bureau of the
Budget. That Congress is enthusiastic about Mr. Dawes and his new
work is evident in the fact that he has been granted four assistants at
salaries not to exceed $6,000 each. Mr. Dawes declares this will force
him to ask for the volunteer assistance of big business men in the
drafting of a businesslike budget, and it is to be hoped that in the
selection of these volunteers, the new type of "dollar-a-year" men, the
choice will rest upon those who are really sincere and unselfish in
their efforts to serve their country.
THE FORDNEY TARIFF BILL
T
HE reporting of the new Fordney Tariff Bill by the Ways and
Means Committee is a matter of considerable interest to the music
industry, for, although the recommendations of this industry regard-
ing duties sufficient to protect certain newly developed divisions of
the trade are not carried out in full in the drafting of the bill, there
has been granted a measure of protection that appears to be quite
satisfactory. At the hearings on the new bill it was urged by repre-
sentatives of the music industry that the duty on piano parts, musical
merchandise, band instruments, etc., be increased to 45 per cent.
In the draft of the bill, as reported out of committee, pianos and
parts, with the exception of tuning pins, are subject to a duty of
35 per cent, as provided for in the last tariff bill, and it is estimated
that the assessment of duty of $1.00 per thousand and 25 per cent
ad valorem on tuning pins will not in any case amount to 35 per cent
ad valorem.
Considerable satisfaction is felt in the adoption of the American
valuation plan, the value as interpreted in the bill meaning "the price
on the date of exportation of the imported merchandise at which
comparable and competitive products of the United States were ordi-
narily sold or freely offered for sale in the usual wholesale quantities
and in the customary wrappings, coverings and containers, whether
holding liquids or solids, to all purchasers in the ordinary course oi
trade, including all costs, charges and expenses, in the principal
market or markets of the United States."
It is felt that this adoption of the American valuation plan is
calculated to make up for any oversight in the matter of direct duty
assessment. There is no question but that the new measure will be
strongly fought in the House, for the opposing forces have already
lined up. The progress of the measure, therefore, will be well worth
watching by all those interested in seeing that their particular require-
ments are taken care of.