New Britain Herald Newspaper, January 23, 1919, Page 5

NEw BRITAIN DAILY HERALD, THURSDAY, -~ “ 9 To the thousaids ol pesple who have b inability to get the Victrola and Victor Records they wanted; to Victor des : who in the face of this extreme shertage stood loyally by s and steadfastly refused to*offer inferior substitutes, we feel that an explanation is due for this scarcity of Victor products. Upon the entrance of the United States into the great world war, the Victor Company immediately decided to do its utmost in making wax materials. It voluntarily offered its entire plant whole-heartedly to the Government, regardless of the fact that its regular production would be seriously curtailed, regardless of the setback which would temporarily result to the business it took years to build up, regardless of the profits which would necessarily be sacrificed. It would have been possible to hold off—to keep right on with our regular work and let others do war work. But the Victor Company is a thoroughly American concern, and it does things in the big characteris- tic American way. It chose to help the Government to the very limit of its resources. The Government recognized the high state of perfection and thoroughly modern equipment of the gigantic Victor factories, and made more and more use of them until as much as 90% of the plant was at one time engaged in war work. If it were possible to disclose Govern- ment secrets and tell of the scientific experiments which were conducted and of the devices and products which were manufactured, the public would appreciate what a valuable help the Victor plant was to the Govern- ment in winning the war. Those parts of the Victor factories which continued to produce Vic- trolas and Victor Records could not, of course, supply cven a reasonable amount of Victor products to the public. even more pronounced becau thousands of Victor Records were And the shortage was made wousands of Victrolas and still more iverted to the use of America’s fighting forces on land and sea—to entertaining and inspiring them, as well as to teaching them French and wireless telegraphy through the Victor special study courses. Great though the sacrifices were which the Victor Company willingly made o help its country in its hour of need, we would not have it other- And though ¢t y to get Victor products was exasperating to the public, we do not believe they would have had us shirk our duty. YWe count it 2 honor that we were able to serve our country. We are gratified that the Government found our factories of such value. wise. Ard with the coming of peace, we recognize the great task that de- volves upon us. [t is imperative that we supply as quickly as possible those people who rather than accept inferior substitutes, decided to wait patiently until they could get the genuine Victor products they wanted. Added to this there is the increased demand that will come from new sources, for thousands of our returning heroes have learned to appreciate what the Victrola means in their daily lives. The demand upon out resources will be greater than ever, but we return to our chosen work with full confidence in our ability to meet the needs of the future. So while the Victor plant did its full share in helping to win the war, it is now again bending its cnergies to supplying the musical needs of the nation—of the whole world. From a gigantic bee-hive of war-time activities, the Victor plant again resumes as the greatest musical industry in the entire world. Vicior Talking Machine Company Camden N. J. ster's VOIC® 1 e cror Taflng Moch