Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 44, Number 63, 23 January 1919 — Page 3

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THE RICHMOND PALLADIUM ANT SUN-TELEGRAM THURSDAY, JAN. 23. 1919.

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To the thousands of people who have been temporarily inconvenienced through their inability to get the Victrola and Victor Records they wanted; to Victor dealers everywhere who in the face of this extreme shortage stood loyally by us 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 war 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 characteristic 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 Government 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 Government in winning the war. - Those parts of the Victor factories which continued to produce Victrolas and Victor Records could not, of course, supply

even a reasonable amount of Victor products to die public And the shortage was made even more pronounced because thousands of Victrolas and still more thousands of Victor Records were diverted 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 to help its country in its hour of need, we would not have it otherwise. And though the inability to get Victor products was exasperating to the public, we do not believe they would have had us shirk our duty. We count it an honor that we were able to serve our country. We are gratified that the Government found our factories of such value. And with the coming of peace, we recognize the great task that devolves upon us. It 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 our 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 energies 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.

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