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THE MUSIC TttADE REVIEW
REVIEW
(Registered in the U. S. Patent Office)
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
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ICCHIllCal U e p a r i l U e D I S
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
are dealt with, will be found in another section of
this paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information
which will be cheerfully given upon request.
concerning
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
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Charleston Exposition, 1902
Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal
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Connecting mil Departments
Cable Address: "Elblll, New York"
Vol. LXXV
NEW YORK, DECEMBER 16, 1922
No. 25
HOLIDAY ISSUE WINS COMMENDATION
HE Review has been in receipt of a number of letters and
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messages of commendation on the issuance of its annual holi-
day number last week, a volume that in every respect reflects the
healthy condition of the industry and the progress that has been
made during the year. Numerous articles by men of prominence
in the industry whose words carry weight appear to have made
a particularly strong impression upon trade readers, and the sur-
veys of the different divisions of the industry covering the prog-
ress made this year and prospects for next have been made the
subject of particularly favorable comment.
The approbation with which the Holiday Issue of The Review
has been received is gratifying inasmuch as it compensates for the
effort put forth in compiling an issue that reflects credit on the
industry it represents, quite as much as it does upon those whose
labor and support made it possible.
IMMIGRATION AND THE LABOR QUESTION
OEVERAL piano manufacturers have recently advocated the
^-J lowering of the bars against immigration from Europe as a
solution of the factory labor problem in this country, maintaining
that there are many trained workers in piano making and other
fields in Europe who might be admitted with profit into this country.
In fact, piano men are not the only ones who have come forward
with the idea that it is just as bad to curb immigration drastically as
it is to let it run wild, for those lines of business which employ
unskilled labor, such as railroads and contracting companies, have
likewise been hard hit by lack of workers.
The pressure for a more liberal immigration policy has evi-
dently made itself felt in Washington, for there is at present under
consideration plans that will tend to relieve the labor situation in
the United States without on the other hand flooding the labor
market. It is pointed out that during the year ending June 30,
1922, 11,000 more males left the United States for Europe than
came in to our ports, and these figures are official and significant.
It cannot be denied that a strict regulation of immigration is
DECEMBER 16, 1922
distinctly necessary and advisable, but a rigid adherence to a limited
percentage rule is not nearly so good for the country as would be
some plan that would admit those most valuable to our economic
life regardless of percentages. It is quite evident that many un-
desirables can seep in under the three or four per cent limitation
just as they come in when immigration is more open and the plan
that will prove best for the nation as a whole is that which operates
by keeping out the undesirables while letting the desirable immi-
grants enter more or less freely.
The immigration question is an important one. It is one of
the national problems in which the music industry, together with
all producing industries, is more or less directly interested.
CHECKING OF WASTE IN BANKRUPTCIES
HE move of the Merchants' Association of New York looking
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toward the checking of the many abuses growing out of the
present bankruptcy laws, with a view particularly to eliminating
long-drawn-out litigation and the heavy costs that now generally
attend the settlement of bankruptcy cases, should have the support
of every business man who desires to see his trade stabilized.
We have had instances right in our own trade where the
receivers, their lawyers and their assistants have received far
more out of a bankruptcy estate than the legitimate creditors; cases
where the original survey of the bankrupt's assets gave promise
of permitting a very substantial dividend for the creditors involved.
In these same cases, after the usual prolonged bankruptcy litigation
was ended, the available assets were apparently decreased from fifty
to seventy-five per cent, much of that decrease going into the
pockets of lawyers and others in the form of fees.
That the affairs of a bankrupt can be handled economically
and still legally has also been demonstrated in a limited number of
instances, the most notable in the piano trade probably being the
occasion when the Detroit Trust Company, acting as trustee for
the Farrand Co. some years ago, paid off all obligations and actually
turned money back to the stockholders at an operating expense that
was almost insignificant. In contrast is a case in the East, now in
process of settlement, wherein at one meeting trustees and attorneys
were awarded as partial fees practically a third of the amount
turned over to the creditors.
The practice that has been put into effect in the piano trade
recently through the medium of the Supply Association of having
creditors work together amicably and outside the courts in matters
relating to the handling of the affairs of companies in temporary
financial difficulties is distinctly a move in the right direction, for
the interests of all those concerned are duly protected under their
own supervision and at the same time the assets are conserved.
There are too many who still regard a bankrupt estate as lawful
prey to be ravaged as energetically as possible. The criticism is
not to be directed so much at the lawyers themselves who secure
big fees, or to the courts which award such fees. The evil lies
with the existing laws that permit of such practices.
GOVERNMENT AIDS TO BUSINESS
A LTHOUGH the budget just presented by the United States
* * Government for the coming year may not, perhaps, grant all
the tax relief hoped for by many business men, they, at least, can
find some solace in the fact that little or no effort has been made
to curtail the various Government activities calculated to help in
the development of business and improved business practices at
home and abroad. In fact, the budget provides for increased ap-
propriations for certain activities under the direction of the Bureau
of Foreign" and Domestic Commerce which, it is hoped, will go
through the various trials and tribulations to which a budget is
subjected without being pruned unduly.
In The Review last week Waldon Fawcett set forth most
interestingly the various activities of the Government in behalf of
the business interests of the country, in the collection of valuable
statistics covering production distribution, facts regarding market
conditions here and abroad, suggestions for improved and more
economical business practice and in many other directions. Mem-
bers of the music industry, for instance, are profiting directly by
many of these activities whether they realize it or not, and the
fact that they are to be continued on a broader scale indicates
that the business interests of the country are to get some direct
return at least from the Government for next year's tax levies.