Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
THE DANGER OF PESSIMISTIC EXUDATIONS.
(Continued from page 3.)
a long drawn out war affords greater opportunities for the American manufacturer, and, of course,
imposes upon him greater responsibilities in supplying the world's needs.
We should get busy with new ideas—creative thoughts. We have the money, the position, the
brains and the desire to accomplish things, and why should we languish, and why should New York
be the fountain head for pessimistic reports to go out over this entire land?
We have everything we need. We have the factories, the mines, the workers, the intelligence
and the inventive power, and it is the duty of every man to do his part to spend what money he
can afford and not to hoard money. The circulation of money means the prevention of people being
thrown out of a job. The lack of circulation means that money is not performing its true func-
tion, and that a stagnation in business follows.
There is no reason why the East, and New York in particular, should get the glooms.
Some men in various industries have become so frightened that they have cancelled a variety
of contracts which will have to be renewed later on at increased figures, simply because they acted
from a hasty standpoint without fair deliberation.
If all men were to lose their heads and inaugurate a system of drastic economy, seriously
crippling every department of their business, they would be committing trade hari-kari.
The country is rich in resources—the crops are particularly abundant, and the approval of a
plan for a cotton pool of $135,000,000 has helped the situation in the South. The depressed con-
dition there, however, has been largely increased by the "Buy-a-bale-of-cotton" movement, in that
it is inferred in some quarters that the South is in a helpless situation, unable to finance its own
crops and, therefore, unable to buy anything else.
This is not so, and this campaign has, in the estimation of many, delayed prosperity in the
South.
Problems ahead of us? Of course there are. And when have we been without problems?
But surely there are none which are impossible of solution.
With the restriction of production in the various parts of the world, we should be able to mate-
rially increase our own production and enter markets which have heretofore been closed to us.
But there is a factor in all of this which should be considered by every individual, and that
is that indefinable something called public opinion. It is necessary that that should be moulded
along optimistic lines, and yet we have a class of business men who are using the strength of a
powerful position to retard prosperity.
If we create a pessimistic opinion and it is permitted to grow it becomes harmful in a national
sense, and the very men whose words and actions show that they are saturated with gloom are
really sand in the trade bearings. They are halting the wheels of industry and throttling their
own enterprises, as well as affecting others in a harmful sense.
It is the time for sound business plans—in fact, there never was a time in the history of the
world when it was not well to encourage them. And the measure of success which we achieve is
determined largely by the kind of spirit and effort which we put behind the desire.
If we sit down and show a pessimistic spirit and expect that prosperity will not only knock at
our doors, but break the doors in, we are not acting the part of sane American citizens. We have
everything we need but optimism, and we can grow that—at least let us try!
If the men at the head of trade organizations show fear and timidity in the conduct of their
affairs, it is pretty certain that that same tremor will extend further down the line, thus having a
reactionary effect which will be dangerous.
Fear is the enemy of mankind. It is the enemy of progress, and
if business men show overdue conservatism in the management of
their affairs, then the harvest of gloom and disaster will be largely of
their own making.
N
OT long ago a concern in the music trade went bankrupt and
in the final settlement paid one per cent, of its dividend as
a first and final payment. Another concern settled for two and a
fraction per cent, of its indebtedness and there have been several
comparatively recent failures in which the creditors realized only
twelve per cent, of their claims and frequently less. Such a condi-
tion is really inexcusable and serves to reflect, not so much on the
bankrupt, as upon the creditors who let him "get away with it."
There are, of course, legitimate excuses for companies going
into bankruptcy. They may be suddenly restricted in the matter
of credit, experience a heavy falling off in demand, expand beyond
the safety line of capital, or in other ways become the victims of
fate or incautious business management. When a bankrupt con-
cern, however, can fool its creditors so badly that its assets when
realized upon equal only one-tenth of its liabilities there is evident
a careless or incompetent handling of credits.
At times it is advisable for creditors to be lenient in their
attitude and to supply accommodation in excess of their usual limit
for the purpose of saving some worthy concern from going into
bankruptcy and suffering a heavy loss. There is a limit, however,
to businesslike leniency and that is when the debtor is in such a
position that further credit will only serve to increase his troubles
instead of mitigating them. In any trade there are sufficient un-
avoidable losses through failures and where the assets are in fair
proportion to the liabilities. One to ten per cent, dividends, how-
ever, should serve as warnings that should not be disregarded by
credit men.
They suggest loose methods,
'