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Piano Manufacturers and
Dealers "Tell It To Congress 9 9
T
HAT concerted pressure is now
being brought to bear through
Congressional contacts to have
pianos placed on the "de-controlled"
list has been manifested in the last
month by the many letters which have
been sent to Senators and Congress-
men by members of both the manu-
facturing and retail branches of the
industry as well as by personal con-
tacts which have been made by many
of them. This is in accord with what
THE REVIEW has been advocating for
the last six months.
That the National Piano Manufac-
turers Association is doing everything
in its power to get pianos "decon-
trolled" and into a sizable production
again is evidenced by letters which
were sent to several Senators and Con-
gressmen as well as to the Chairman
of the Select Committee on Small Busi-
ness, the Hon. Wright Patrnan, and
other Government officials by Chaun-
cey D. Bond, president of the associa-
tion, which were also augmented by
letters from practically all the indi-
vidual members.
Bond Explains Situation
In his letter Mr. Bond pointed to
the deplorable condition existing today
in the piano business as follows:
"The piano and piano parts indus-
try is composed of many small units.
None of them could be considered
large business. In addition, the over
300O piano dealers in the United
States are all small business but ex-
tremely important to our economy.
Therefore, I know that, as Chairman
of the Select Committee on Small
Business, you are interested in all the
branches of this industry.
"Under restrictive Orders L-37 and
L-37A, the manufacture of pianos was
discontinued. However, a short while
after this was done, the WPB, .realiz-
ing the necessity of pianos and the
Armed Forces demanding a large
number of them, allowed a limited
number to be built and at the earli-
est possible date rescinded Orders
L-37 and L-37A. However, the OPA
has proved to be a serious obstacle
to the resumption of the manufacture
of pianos and piano parts. The piano
industry was the first industry to re-
ceive a blanket increase but the in-
crease was most inadequate. This re-
conversion period goes back to the
middle of January 1944 and I think
it would be opportune to give you a
history of the same and its applica-
8
tion to the piano and piano parts in-
dustry.
"From the time that WPB granted
allocations in January 1044 to piano
manufacturers, there was a constant
t,rek of piano executives to the OPA
in order to secure ceiling prices and
it was not until May 18, 1944, that
the first meeting of the Piano and
Piano Parts Industry Advisory Com-
mittee met, and it was at a later meet-
ing, namely, that of August 30, 1944,
that the Industry Advisory Committee
was informed by members of the OPA
that as a result of a survey which they
made, they found the weighted in-
crease for 1944 on pianos to be
17.76%, but in doing so, did not take
into consideration any increase in the
cost of Administrative and Selling ex-
penses. At a Sub-Committee meeting,
a figure of 18% was tentatively
agreed upon, but when Order 2525
was issued in October 1944, it was
but 13%. However, as the order read
'with individual adjustments,' manu-
facturers continued to operate (much
to their sorrow in many cases) for
when appeals were filed, it took many
months before adjustments were made
and then inadequately, so that recent-
ly Lester Piano Co. was compelled to
close down after a loss in excess of
$100,000. Pratt, Read & Co. consid-
ered closing down unless further ad-
justment w-as made, as their losses
totalled $156,000, and all manufac-
turers, with the exception of perhaps
one or two, were operating at losses.
Not only has this ceiling price defin-
itely kept some suppliers from resum-
ing operations, but they will not com-
mence operations until they feel that
they no longer face losses. This brings
about a severe scarcity with the at-
tend ;int results.
Asks for De-Control
"William H. Davis, Director of the
Office of Economic Stabilization, has
proposed that price ceilings on cer-
tain types of consumers 1 goods, such
as fur coats, jewelry, and so-called
"hard to control" commodities, be
abolished as a part of a general re-
laxation of war-time control and I
ain writing you to ask your help in
seeing that this be done for the piano
and piano parts industry because I
believe it will not only solve the prob-
lems of our industry but will solve
many problems of the OPA in a satis-
factory manner.
" 1 . The piano is not a 'cost of liv-
ing' product but is the fundamental
musical instrument and is most im-
portant to the most common of all
the arts—Music.
"2. The piano is an art product
and as such is not closely connected
with furniture, which seems to be the
thinking of most government employ-
ees and the many people not connect-
ed with the music industry. The sim-
plest part of the piano is the case.
This might be called furniture but it
is very high grade cabinet work and
only encloses the musical instrument
and this is the only part of the piano
that could be classed with furniture.
The piano is a product of individual
skill that requires a tremendous
amount of hand labor by highly
skilled artisans and in considering
price control, the piano should be
considered
with
gems,
paintings,
sculpture, architecture and similar
products.
No Fear of Inflation
"3. There need be no fear of 'run-
ning away' prices in the piano indus-
try because competition has always
been keen in the industry and con-
tinues to be. If you check our figures
in OPA, you will find that the profits
of the piano industry have always
been very moderate and that there
are no large elements of the industry
that dominate the industry in any
way but that it is composed of small
units. In view of the competition in
the industry—the supply trade, the
manufacturing, and the retailing —
there is no chance of 'running away'
prices and if there were, OPA could
control it.
"4. Releasing the piano industry
from price limitations would be ex-
cellent publicity for the OPA, as the
piano industry was the first industry
to be given an adjusted price as an
industry and as controls must be less-
ened as the war effort ceases, now
would be an excellent time for OPA
tb try it out on the piano industry.
"5. With proper conditions, the pi-
ano industry, while small in itself,
can be of excellent help in providing
employment fo,r thousands of people
at a, time when employment is need-
ed and apparently will be with in-
creasing need. The manufacturing
section of the industry, while it is
composed of many small units, em-
ploys a sizeable number of people.
The direct and indirect supply houses
employ as many or more people as
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, AUGUST, 1945