Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
REVIEW
PUBLISHED BY THE ESTATE OF EDWARD LYMAN BILL
(C. L. BILL, Executrix.)
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
J. RAYMOND BILL, Associate Editor
AUGUST J. TIMPE
Business Manager
Executive and Reportorial Staff:
B. BRITTAIN WILSON
CARLETON CHACE,
L. M. ROBINSON,
GLAD HENDERSON,
A. J. NICKLIN,
WM. B. WHITE,
WILSON D. BUSH,
L. E. BOWERS,
D. G. AUGUR
BOSTON
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Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
on<1
ilUU
tions
a technical nature relating to the tuning, regu-
l a t i n of
S a n d r e P a i r i n g o f pianos and player-pianos are
p
dealt with, will 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.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900 Silver Medal.. .Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma
Pan-American Exposition, 1901 Cold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal. .Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905.
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= EDITORIAL
sacrificed, will visit their wrath upon the head of the retail dealer.
Manufacturers, the various trade organizations in the in-
dustry, and the trade press all have endeavored to educate the
dealer to a realization of the necessity for the increased prices
which are coming and which in some cases are actually here.
For several months past, The Review has constantly sought
to demonstrate to the dealer that an increase in the cost of pianos
was absolutely inevitable and as absolutely equitable. The result
of this campaign has been that the great majority of dealers re-
alize that an advance in the wholesale cost of pianos is not a
move on the part of the manufacturer to line his own pockets,
but is simply an action made necessary because of the increase
in the manufacturing cost, and yet these same dealers demur at
the increased wholesale price because of the fear that it will
lessen their own profits.
This should not logically be the case, nor will it be if the
dealer will but do his part in educating the public to the neces-
sity for the advance in retail prices which will, of course, occur.
In doing this the dealer has a much easier task than has the
manufacturer. The average customer who seeks a piano and who
has made up his mind to invest the necessary amount of money
represented in its purchase, will make but little objection when
he finds that he must pay $10 or $15 more than he expected to,
provided he is assured that the former quality and standing of
the instrument which he intends to buy has been scrupulously
maintained.
A slight increase in the retail selling price of pianos will
amply protect the dealer against the increased wholesale price,
with the result that the dealer's profit will not be cut down, and
if the dealer will but use a little effort in educating his customers
to the fact that the cost of pianos, like the cost of everything else,
has advanced, he will find that his sales have diminished not one
whit on account of the few extra dollars which the customer must
pay.
This problem, like many others, is really not as difficult and
ns formidable as may appear at first glance. The progressive
dealer will begin his campaign of education at once, in order
that when the inevitable increase in wholesale costs becomes
general on the part of every manufacturer, he may conserve and
maintain the present degree of profit which he is making.
HE increased cost of the raw materials which enter into the
HE embargo placed upon musical instruments of all kinds by
T
manufacture of a piano has brought the majority of piano
T
the British Government, the basic idea for the enactment of
makers to a realization of the absolute necessity for an increase
in the wholesale price of their instruments, yet many manufactur-
ers have hesitated to advance their old scale of prices for fear of
strenuous objection on the part of piano dealers.
In fact, in one or two cases where piano manufacturers have
sought to conserve their legitimate profit by increasing the whole-
sale selling price of their instruments in order barely to cover
the increased cost of raw material, there have been a few dealers
who not only have objected to paying this advanced price, but
who have discontinued the line and transferred their account to
some other manufacturer who had not yet increased his wholesale
price.
The folly of this move was soon realized, however, for the
dealer, after years of effort in furthering the interests of one
particular line, found that his previous work was nullified, and
was confronted with the necessity of starting in all over again
and creating a demand for the new line of pianos which he had
secured. The ultimate result was, of course, that the dealer was
glad to pay the increased price asked, in order to get back the
line which he had carried and on which he had built up his
business.
But the fear that there are many dealers who would be just
as short-sighted and who would act just as hastily as did the
ones referred to, has prevented many manufacturers from increas-
ing their prices, with the result that today it is costing them
practically as much to make a piano as they receive from its sale.
This condition is seriously detrimental to the future well-
being of the entire industry. Pianos must be made, and piano
makers must receive a legitimate profit for their labor. If piano
dealers are not willing to stand their share of the increased cost
which the manufacturer is forced to pay today for his raw ma-
terial, the inevitable result will be that while the old price will
be maintained, the quality of the pianos will materially suffer.
And the public, eventually discovering that quality has been
which was the conservation of the finances of the Empire, is proving
a serious menace to the piano and musical industries of Great Britain,
and threatens, if allowed to stand in its present form, to work a
far greater damage than would the actual taking of English money
out of the country through the purchase of foreign-made goods.
The seriousness of the situation is described on another page of this
issue of The Review, and the British piano manufacturers, facing a
cessation of business, are making strenuous endeavors to get the
government to lift the embargo so far as component parts are con-
cerned, in order that the manufacture of pianos may continue.
The lifting of this embargo will be a distinct benefit to England,
and the fact that American manufacturers will profit financially by a
resumption of their export trade with the British Isles is by no
means the basic reason upon which this statement is predicated.
There has been a marked activity in the purchase of pianos and
other musical instruments in England since the beginning of the
war, accounted for in part by the fact that the thousands of workers
employed in the munition factories are in better financial condition
than they have been for some time, and they are investing some of
their surplus funds in musical instruments in order to enjoy a better
home life. But the increased prosperity of the munition workers is
not the only cause, nor indeed the chief cause, for the increase in
the number of musical instruments being purchased. The psycho-
logical value of music in relieving the worry and strain of unusual
conditions is being realized by the British people, and they are turn-
ing to music of all kinds to help palliate the tension which the war
has produced in their every-day life.
In times of strife and struggle music is not a luxury, it is an
absolute necessity, and for that reason the trade in musical instru-
ments should not be allowed to suffer the handicap which the present
existing embargo has placed upon it. Unless musical instrument
parts are admitted into England, the manufacture of pianos there
will cease. The reserve stock of instruments has already been
exhausted, and the demand, based on real need, has by no means