Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
REVIEW
(Registered in the U. S. Patent Office)
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; Secretary, Edward Lyman Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York;
Assistant Treasurer, Wm. A. Low.
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
RAY BILL, B. B. WILSON, BRAID WHITE, Associate Editors
CARLETON CHACE, Business Manager
L. E. BOWERS, Circulation Manager
Executive and Reportorial Stall
EDWARD VAN HARLINGEN, V. D. WALSH, E. B. MUNCH, LEE ROBINSON, C. R. TIGHE,
EDWAKD LYMAN BILL, THUS. \V. BKESNAHAN, A. J. NICKLIN
WESTERN DIVISION:
BOSTON OFFICE:
Republic Bldg., 209 So. State St., Chicago.
JOHN H. WILSON, 324 Washington St.
Telephone, Wabash 5242-5243.
Telephone, Maine 6950.
LONDON, ENGLAND: 1 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall St., D. C.
NEWS SERVICE IS SUPPLIED WEEKLY BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS
LOCATED IN THE 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;
Canada, $3.50; all other countries, $5.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $6.00 per inch, single column, per insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount is allowed. Advertising pages, $150.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency forms, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill, Inc.
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
_
arc dealt with, with 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.
Player-Piano and
Technical Departments
Exposition Honors Wonlby The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900 Silver Medal Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma
Pan-American Exposition, 1901 Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal—Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES—NUMBERS 5982—5983 MADISON SQ.
Connecting all Departments
Cable Address: "Elbill, New York"
Vol. LXXVI
NEW YORK, JANUARY 13, 1923
No. 2
CODE OF PRACTICE FOR ASSOCIATIONS
D
URING the past year or so the activities of the trade associa-
tions of the country, in their relation to the Sherman Act, have
received much attention from Government officials, and the various
codes of practice that have been advocated or, as it has happened,
condemned, have served to complicate rather than clear up the
situation.
At the outset the Government, through the Attorney-General
and other agencies, sought to extend its grip on business to an un-
limited extent through assuming indirect control of trade associa-
tion matters. Then came the plan to issue, through the Govern-
ment, advice and suggestions to associations that would enable them
to function as broadly as possible without running afoul of the law.
The result of all this has been to confuse the association question
and leave officials of trade organizations up in the air as to just
what could be done legally at their meetings.
On top of all the formal and informal discussions regarding the
rights and privileges of trade associations, there came recently a
decision by Judge John C. Knox, in the United States District Court
for the Southern District of New York, in an action brought by
the Government against the Gypsum Industries Association for
alleged violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Law. In his decision
the judge handed down what he termed "the code of principles"
for trade associations which prohibits, among other things, price
agreements among association members; agreements to restrict
or increase production, to discriminate in price or otherwise against
certain classes of purchasers, to use published credit information
for the purpose of blacklisting undesirable purchasers, on dis-
counts, to guarantee to certain manufacturers monopoly in the
manufacture of specified products and other matters of like tenor.
The code, however, permits of research and interchange of infor-
mation and co-operative publicity; educational work; the mainte-
nance of a traffic bureau, and the study and development of new
production methods.
The Department of Justice has hinted that the "code of prin-
JANUARY 13, 1923
ciples" set forth by Judge Knox may be accepted as a precedent
by that Department pending further court decisions. The ruling
applies to many associations at present active, and the danger lies
not so much in its interpretation as a means for curbing illegal
practices, but rather in the fact that it may be interpreted as for-
bidding trade association movements beyond those specified.
At the present time we are faced with a situation that is para-
doxical in a sense, for the reason that the Government, through its
various bureaus, declares for a policy of fostering business and co-
operating in business development through contact with recognized
organizations representing various divisions of trade, while on the
other hand it promulgates rulings that are calculated to make the
trade association, as such, a more or less innocuous body without
power to discuss or agree upon many things considered vital to
industrial progress.
For an association to exist simply for the purpose of bringing
its members together for a social dinner at intervals is going back
to ideas that prevailed to a certain extent two or three decades ago.
INCREASED PRICES FOR PIANOS
experiences of some piano merchants during the last
A CTUAL
couple of months of 1922 in the matter of securing a suffi-
cient number of pianos to take care of demands, following their
ignoring of the advice of manufacturers that they place orders for
Fall delivery in the Spring or early Summer, should serve to im-
press most of these merchants with the idea that occasionally the
manufacturer or his representative gives the retailer advice that is
sincere and well founded. When, therefore, it is announced that
all conditions point to an increase in wholesale piano prices, and
certain concerns have actually increased prices on certain models,
the retailer who is holding off for a declining market, or who feels
that he can buy at any time during the year at the current prices,
should think twice before he gambles too much on the future.
At the present time the manufacturer is faced with a steady
increase in the cost of various raw materials and supplies, while
labor charges show no sign of declining, and he is handicapped in
many ways in his efforts to get maximum production from his plant.
Up to a certain point increased supply costs can be absorbed by the
manufacturer, for they naturally fluctuate at various periods and
wholesale prices cannot be shifted continuously to meet these vary-
ing costs, but when the wood and metal markets show advances
which promise to increase rather than diminish for some months
the point of absorption is passed and a certain share at least of the
increased cost must be passed on to the retailer and finally to the
consumer.
There is nothing sensational about possible price increases, for
it is probable that in any event they will be comparatively small.
Where they do come through necessity, the retailer at least has
the satisfaction of knowing that the attitude of the public against
existing prices and moderate increases has changed materially for
the better during the past year or so.
THE ATTITUDE TOWARD THRIFT WEEK
week, on January 17—Benjamin Franklin's birthday an-
N EXT
niversary, to be exact—the annual Thrift Week celebration will
begin, and the public throughout the country will be Hooded in
various ways with propaganda advocating the advantage of thrift
from various angles.
Since the inauguration of the Thrift Week movement the music
industry, through the National Bureau for the Advancement of
Music and more recently through the Trade Service Bureau of the
Chamber of Commerce, has been urged to participate in the move-
ment and, to a certain degree, has followed the suggestion.
As a matter of fact, thrift means economical management of
finances, and if the logic of placing musical instruments in the
home to provide entertainment within the family circle, without
necessitating the expense incident to going out in search of
entertainment, can be brought home as a factor in the development
of thrift, then the campaign will be well worth while.
The point emphasized by those who have directed the trade
participation in the Thrift Week observance is that the celebra-
tion itself is a fixed and definite factor and that trade participa-
tion simply means hooking up with the propaganda, thereby tak-
ing advantage of it rather than allowing it to move along and, per-
haps, work to the disadvantage of trade interests.