Imperial Valley press., 1943-12-10
caPitoI TaIk
-by-
Peter Edison

1t may please you considerably,
as a sign OF the time, to know that
/ the musical instrument industry is
about to reform. This has nothing
! in particular to do with the war,
and this piece is purely a matter
| of relief from Weightier, double
domed discCurses on the interna-
tional and/or economic situation.
The musical instrument business,
in fact, couldn't be deader. About
all they have left TO sell are recon-
ditioned, repoSsessed, second = hand
things to pound blow through or
tWang. Business in these made-o
ever JOBS is reported brisk, the
muse and the urge to get hot being
irrepressible, as they are. Still, the
peddling of sound devices with
which to annoy the neighbors IS
only a sideline with most of the
instrument makers, for the piano
factories are now all gluing up
wooden airplanes, catgut is all
going into sutures, there is a prior
ity on all the brass that used to go
into bands, and for all this depart
ment knows the dog house carpen-
ters are all on army barracks con-
struction, while the oboe and pic
colo foundries are probably pouring
out rush orders for anti-tank bat
talon bazCokas. It's even getting
so bad that a hill lilly maestro has
trouble finding a decent B flat
minor washboard that is made out
of metal and not Scme skim milk or
salvaged nylon hose plastic which is,
without soul.
But the makers of musical in
struments-radios, talking machines
and juke boxes excluded-like the
makers of music, live in hope. BuSi-
ness isn't always going to be this
bad. they figure, and people as well
as their progeny will again want to
buy on the installment plan while
taking lessons on strings, winds or
percussions.
The full in business has, in a
way, given the makers of musical
instruments a chance to reflect on
their sins of the past. The musical
instrument industry, in short, is
about to adopt a code Of fair trade
practices.
They had a meeting on this
matter out in Cincinnati last
month, and on Dec. 16 they will
meet in the Federal Trade Com
mission building in Washington to
amend or ratify the resolutions on
principles composed along the banks
of the beautiful Ohio
Remember those ads with the
big type come-on, FREE Accor-
dicn?" After you investigated, you
found out that it was free along
! with "a lessons at s5 a crack. Well,
proposed Rule No. IA says:
"The use of the word free or the
equivalent thereof, when the article
is in fact not free, with the capac-
ity and tendency or effect Of mis-
leading or deceiving purchasers or
prospective purchasers, is an unfair
trade practice"
Wonderful It gives hope thi;
postwar world will be worth wait
ing for.
Bait" advertising would also be
banned. That's the line where they
try to entice the customer by Offer
ing him a grand piano for S75
When the sucker sends in his
money, they tell him that this piano
is green, is nailed to the floor and
weighs four tons and he wouldn'l
like it-but that. they have some
other nice pianos for $3.50 and just
try to get out of their clutches.
There was one unethical practice
the industry wanted to ban, but
couldn't get together on because
they couldn't find any way tc
check up on it or enforce it. This
is the business of having music
teachers recommend to their pupils
certain make of instrument
teacher getting a commission on the
sale. What the professors have
been doing for years Is shopping
around the various makers, and
recommending the make that paid
the highest cut.
Another thing they probably
never considered was a rule tina.
would prevent sales to the neigh.
bors' children. but after all-this
isn't the millennium, so give the
music trade big hand!
Strike up the band, too, for the
Federal Trade Commission, which
sponsors these fair trade codes and
encourages whole industries to