12
T
he
a u t o m a t ic
ette, Secretary of the Southwestern
Vending Machine Operators’ Associ
ation, who has a flourishing vending
machine business there. Mr. Burn
ette took me around the city in his
aiitbfriobile. It was a bright, sunny
southern winter day when you have
to carry your overcoat. Quite some
contrast from the three feet of snow
I left in Chicago. Austin is the beau
tiful capitol city of the state and Mr.
Burnette is the leading operator. He
has a varied line of vending, and
amusement machines. Also on the
main highway leading past the cap
itol and out to the State University
grounds he owns and operates a gar
age, filling station and repair shop.
However, he says his machine route
is the back-bone of his business; it
is always good for bread and butter
and the garage business fluctuates,
sorrietimes making and sometimes
losing.
Burnette Is Up-to-Date
Mr. Burnette told me about some
Exhibit Supply machines he had that
took in $20 to $24 a week and had
even reached a peak of $35 to $43 a
week. He is now preparing to put
out some Watling Scales and, in
fact, is a real up-to-date operator,
game to take on new stuff and keep
the pennies rolling in.
San Antonio is a coin-machine bo
nanza in a way. They have an open
12 months of out-door life, lots of
transients and a large Mexican pop
ulation that are good machine play
♦
ers.
Shortage of Pennies
I saw a large number of machines
there of all kinds. The only draw
back is, the boys tell me, there are
not enough pennies in circulation.
The street car fare is a dime, the
newspapers get a nickel and the mer
chants hardly ever split even money
for commodities. This tends to keep
© International A rcade M useum
A
ge
pennies scarce. W e recall that not
once did we get penny change whil®
three days there, while in Chicago we
would have had our pockets full.
There is a real opportunity for an
operator in those flourishing towns
of the Rio Grande Valley. I could
not locate an operator, though there
were a few machines to be seen. I
think most of them were owned <>r
serv\ed by the locations.
Beer?
No, Thanks
I went over to Matamoras, as all
tourists do. It was a drizzling wet
day, like a cold rain in May. The
natives said it was their worst of the
winter. Up in Texas it had been
really hot some $ays. However, what
I am trying to get at is, I did not
drink beer. I drank tequila. That is
Mexican cactus whiskey and a really
delectable potion.
There are 150
saloons in Matamoras, many cater
ing to the Americans where the men
and women tourists come grinning
through, most of them stopping at
the bar for a drink.
No Chance Machines
R. W . Bloss, an American soldier
of fortune, is floor manager at the
Montezuma bar. He told me there
were no money machines nor gam
bling of any kind in the town, and
that the Governor of the State had
been offered $100,000 for a conces
sion, but nothing doing. I expressed
surprise after taking another tequila,
but Bloss said the average Mexican
was as honest as the average Ameri
can!
.
I do not propose to tell here all
I saw and did down there, as much
as some of you fellows are holding
your breath to find out, because it
would most likely increase the circu
lation of the magazine more than the
present advertising rate justifies. So,
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