vent such fraud.
"Not so long ago," Burrell concludes,
"I was talking to one of the executives of
a Chicago coin machine firm whose capi-
tal runs into the millions.
1
" 'How is it,' I asked him, 'that most of
the states have laws prohibiting gambling
machines and yet you continue to turn
out both marble tables and slot machines
by the thousands? Why doesn't the gov-
ernment close your factories up if the
slates are bound to call the machines
illegal?'
" 'Hell,' he grinned amusedly, 'what
would they want to do that for? Uncle
Sam is taking his ten per cent excise tax
off from every machine that we turn out.
There's nothing illegal about them as far
as he's concerned.'
" That's what I call two mules each
hitched to the same wagon, and each pull-
ing in the opposite direction."
As Mr. Burrell's story is reviewed here
it isn't so bad as many that have been
written. There's no talk of machine guns,
and bombs, and all of that, and he only
says "racket" once and refers but briefly
to greased palms of law enforcers.
•
Yes, it might have been much worse.
Burrell had his facts pretty well in hand-
so far as they went. But there's another
side to the story, and no one ever takes
the trouble to tell it. Probably the reason
is that it's such a common thing that no
one would read it. And therefore the edi-
tors won't buy it. It concerns the opera-
tors themselves, and the fact that they're
not racketeers but business men; that they
don 't have "molls" but wives or sweet-
hearts who are respected and honored in
their own communities; that they don't
hide from the law but take pride in help-
14
A NEW STAR
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STEP-UP
CARD
Offers B i g
Profits for
Small lnvest-
m en t. 1 3 3
W inners in all.
($25 .00 T o_p
Payout )
Sample Deal, Complete, $5.00. Dozen Lo\
Prices , Complete Deals. $3.50 Each .
Refills (Card & Label), $2 .75 Each.
DEAL TAKES IN (2280 @ 5c )
$ 114.00
AVERACE PAYOUT .
70.00
$ 44.00
Write 'for Quantity Prices.
1/ 3 Deposit-Balaioce C. 0 . D.
AVERACE PROFIT • . . . .
Are you on o u r mailing Hit . Write for lat es t
price list 0£ new and r eco n diti oned machines.
MONARCH COIN MACHINE CO.
Distr ibutors
1731 BELMONT AVE.
CHICACO
ing to make the laws, as any decent, civic-
minded citizen does and should; that some
of them even go to church.
No , there's nothing exciting in that. It's
too close to the average· reader, who
wants to experience strange things when
he's relaxing and does it vicariously-by
reading how others experience them.
But just the same it's a story that should
be told, and it may be done indirectly and
in a hundred different ways. Here's a
case where the individual may do a great
deal of good, simply by being open about
his business. There 's far less excitement
in a woman totally unclothed than in one
partially clothed, revealing a little here
and there and indicating she may reveal
more. So it is with the coin machine busi-
ness. It's a lot more exciting when it's
partly under cover. To bring it all out in
the open will mean not a lessening of
interest in the equipment, from the public's
standpoint, but a dwindling of interest in
"these lawless men who prey on the weak,
and upon little children who don't know
any better than to gamble their nickels
away in the awful slot machines." It will
mean less antagonism from newspaper
and lawmaker and John Public. You may
get gypped when you buy a can of food.
The chances are you don't get half what
you pay for, nor the quality you think
you're buying, but you don't see news-
paper headlines every few days assailing
the grocer. It's an open business.
Gentlemen- operators-it's your move.
You can write your own story by your
actions and by the manner in which you
conduct your business.
Manufacturers
have been approached time and again
with pleas for good-will advertising to the
public, and the · responsibility ,is shifted
back to the operator. In the long run, if
anything is done, it will be the operator
who builds the good will. And while his
story won't appear in print, in nine cases
out of ten, he'll get paid for writing it in
his actions. And the pay will be in the
coin of increased patronage and lessened
interference.
e
No Mints-
machine illegal .
MONTREAL. (RC)--Here is a warning to
the coin machine industry. A coin ma-
chine which is not illegal when in opera-
tion is illegal if its custodian forgets to
fill it up with the articles it is supposed to
deliver, and thus results in loss of money
to customers who got nothing back for
their nickel. This was decided in Mon-
treal by Recorder LeblCV1c when he found
Jack Dunn guilty of keeping a gaming
house, fined him $10 and costs, and in-
structed the police to seize the machine.
Harold E. Erdrith, defense counsel, con-
tended that machines which, like the one
in question, give out candies for money,
are vending machines, but the Recorder
agreed with the prosecuting attorney, An-
tonio Lamer, that the fact that the machine
did not give out gum or candy, as it was
supposed to do, made it an illegal ma-
chine.
Defense counsel pleaded that his client
had been so busy that he had been un-
able to find time to fill in . the slots y,,ith
gum or candy on the day on which'. the
machine was seized.
•
Popmatic Exec
v is its California after
hectic air trip.
LOS ANGELES.- Glad to be back on the
ground after a thrilling air trip through
storms, fog, sleet and snow, W. H. Row-
lett, of the Popmatic Manufacturing Co.,
St. Louis, arrived in Los Angeles October
28th to close a deal wiih the Mohr Bros.
for the exclusive· distribution of the new
Popmatic popcorn machine.
Rowlett was in the east when orders
came through from· St. Louis to catch a
plane and fly to Los Angeles. All went
well until the plane struck a storm_-flying
over the New England states and had to
return to Washington, D. C., and land on
a field knee-deep with soggy mud. "Our
hearts were in our m·o uths as we looked
down at the field and the pilots brought
the plane lower and lower," related Row-
lett. "We certainly thought our seconds
on earth were few." However, the pilot
made a safe landing and subsequent pilots
safely brought the plane through two or
three other storms to Los Angeles.
While here Rowlett expressed himself
as greatly pleased with the appointment
of the Mohr Brothers as exclusive distribu-
tors on the Popmatic. "They're a live wire
organization and they've got a live wire
product to sell. We are stepping up pro-
duction in St. Louis immediately to take
care of the flood of orders coming in from
all parts of the country."
Three Shifts
to produce "Skillo" a s
orders flood factory.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (RC)--The complaints
and wails of the men in the production de-
partment of the United Amusement Co. have
been heard often and loud during the past
few weeks. The reason is the new twenty-
four hour schedule in this · shop brought
about by the new United machine, "Skillo,"
according to Carl Hoelzel, owner of United.
According to reports "Skillo" is finding
a place in locations where pin tables · and
slots have been removed. And being a
penny game the optional gum vendors are
expected to keep it in good standing in
any locality.
e
NEW AND USED MACHINES
" We Aim to Please"
Phone 623 -278
LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA
Our Motto:
1628 E. Anaheim
•
" Oh, Rafael, I'm so sorry I sat on that
cane bottomed chair."
LONG BEACH COIN MACHINE EXCHANGE
SALES AND SERVI'CE
'
,.