15
AUTOMATIC AGE
March, 1939
By
C arroll E . V
e t t e r ic k
D EPA R TM E N T editor
of The Chicago Evening
American advises A u t o
m a t i c A g e that he is preparing
an article about the coin machine
business. “ For your informa
tion,” this editor states, “ I have
grown so weary reading deroga
tory articles about coin machines
that I decided to try one from
another angle which may give
the industry a break.”
A
Here is a complete and re
freshing reversal of general
newspaper practice and an hon
est confession of great signifi
cance. If newspaper editors get
“ weary” reading the same kind
of headlines and news stories
about “ slot machines,” day after
day and year after year, what
about the general public? News
paper readers must have grown
“ weary” of the same monotonous
drivel long ago.
Can it be that intelligent news
paper publishers are beginning
to respect the intelligence of
their reader? Have they decided
that “ slot machine” sensational
ism is no longer sensational?
No longer effective? No longer
interesting ?
The coin machine industry
will be grateful in no small
measure to the newspaper that
discovers that coin machines can
be the subject of fresh, interest
ing news. The industry will be
particularly happy that a large
Chicago newspaper has found
an effective method for discre
diting the policy of The Chicago
Tribune and exposing its delib
erate efforts to misinform the
public regarding coin machines.
On January 23rd The Chicago
Tribune devoted a full column
on the front page to slot ma
chine sensationalism. Following
lengthy quotations by officials in
a tirade against slot machines,
the Tribune printed the follow
ing misinformation which gave
readers the impression that coin
machine production in Chicago
consisted entirely of gambling
machines:
“ ‘That strong resistance
may be expected from the slot
machine industry was appar
ent,’ Sullivan, (T. P. Sullivan,
Chief of State Bureau of In
vestigation) , said, ‘to any one
who attended a convention of
the coin machine manufact
urers and operators held last
week in Chicago.’
“ James A . Gilmore, secre
tary of the manufacturers’ as
sociation, said more than $50,
000,000 worth of coin ma
chines were turned out during
1938. ‘Nearly 95 per cent of
them are made in or near
Chicago,’ he said. The pre
diction was made that 1939
would be a good year for the
industry.
“ ‘Business for them can only
be good if the machines are
permitted to gyp the public
without molestation,’ Sullivan
said.”
The quotation by Gilmore was
taken from a letter to Mayor
Kelly in which he clearly set
forth that the yearly production
of $50,000,000 worth of coin
machines included phonographs,
scales, vending machines and
amusement tables.
© International Arcade Museum
Any school boy knows the dif
ference between slot machines
and other types of coin-operated
equipment. Every employee of
the Chicago Tribune must know
this difference, from the pub
lisher down to office boys and
janitors. It is the duty and per-
ogative of newspaper reporters,
copy readers and editors to
know this difference. It is sound,
successful journalism which dis
courages misinformation and
coloring the news. Yet, politics
and journalism often produce
strange bed fellows, and ridicul
ous practices to fool the public.
In the same Tribune news
story, it should be mentioned,
was the following bit of free ad
vertising which may have found
favor with thousands of Illinois
location-owners and with mem
bers of the legislature who fa
vor the licensing of coin ma
chines :
“ The revenue from slot ma
chines is tremendous. It pays
the rent of small taverns and
roadside filling stations.”
* * *
The NACOM M statement of
fact that “ Coin Machines Boost
Business” deserves to become far
more than a publicity slogan
confined to the coin machine in
dustry. When the trade will take
proper steps to prove how over
whelmingly true this statement
is, it should be the key to sound
and permanent coin machine ex
pansion.
The voice of the location-
owner has never been enlisted
by the industry to prove that
coin machines are instruments
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