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!Reply to "7 Billion J'licke-Ls"
EDITOR 'S NOTE : In t he follo wi ng a rticle Harry
Hurvich , of the Birm ingha m Vend ing Company,
manufa cturers and distributors, answers the article
" Ten Billion Nickel s" writte n by Samuel Lubell in
t he Saturd ay Even ing Post fo r Ma y 13th.
As one of the 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 who
get "all or part of their income" from
the coin machine business, I am prompt-
ed to reply to your recent article. It is so
full of errors, discrepancies and exag-
gerations, that I cannot let it go un-
challenged, even though I know full
well that my reply won't have quite the
audience, nor the thrill, that your article
had.
In the first place, let me begin by
stating that as articles of this kind go,
yours was much fairer than the average.
Even though you were obviously com-
missioned to write an article that would
rouse the righteous wrath of millions of
Americans, who are menaced by the
monstrous "One Armed Bandits," your
sense of fair play, and the obvious
facts, prompted you at times to admit
that perhaps there were two sides to
this question, and perhaps the coin
machine business was not so completely
a menace as it has been pictured.
For instance you pointed out that be-
tween one and two million people get
all or part of their living from these
machines. You called attention to the
fact that these people were scattered
throughout the country, and that many
industries benefited. You couldn't help
but admire the courage and ingenuity
of a business, which, in addition to all
the risks and hazards of any highly
competitive business, has to fight end-
less crusades and much hostile legisla-
tion. "It's products are ever subject to
seizure. It's markets are in constant dan-
ger of being closed. It has to satisfy the
fickle public appetite for an ever-
changing menu of new games, yet de-
sign them to squeeze through legal
loopholes." What a tribute to a busi-
ness] As much as I would like to agree
with the balance of your figures-as to
the profits that are made, the truth forces
me to disagree with you.
You state that most machines are
"geared" to take from the public 20 to
30 times their cost. This is gross exag-
geration. The average pin game sells to
an operator for about $75.00. This $75.00
is divided first among factory employ-
ees, glass manufacturers, electrical wire
people, cabinet makers, metal manufac-
turers, lumber people a nd hundreds of
smaller industries. Next some of it goes
to the railroads, truck lin'3s and steam-
ship companies . A small uncertain profit
goes to the distributor who sells it to
the operator. If the operator is fortunate
enough to get a machine which happens
to "satisfy the fick le public appetite" he
might possibly get a profit of $25.00 or
$30.00 before the machine loses it's ap-
peal, and becomes a "Klunk" as you
call an obsolete machine (although no
coin machine man I ever saw uses this
term). If on the other hand, he buys one
of the many "flops" which are put on
the market in an effort to catch the
"fickle public appetite" he stands a
chance to lose his entire investment.
If the business is as profitable as you
intimate, Mr. Lubell, then why is the
turnover in operators so great? Why do
half the people who go into the business
get out within one year? Why don 't they
do that in the show business, or the jew-
elry business, although you say our busi-
ness is more profitable than either of
these. And it is just as unfair to say that
the coin machine people make too many
profits, because there is one Mills No-
velty Company which happened to
make an outstanding success, as it is
to say that every filling station operator
should be a wealthy man because a
Rockefeller or a Sinclair made millions
out of the oil business.
And as for ten billion nickels being as
much money as Congress ever spent on
the U. S. Navy or Army, it is the tax on
these ten billion nickels, collected by
Federal, State, County and City govern-
ments, together with similar taxes on
other businesses which help to main-
tain the army, navy a n d other necessary
functions of government.
You know Mr. Lubell, that the greatest
trouble with this country today is not a
lack of money, but lack of circulation .
Don't you think the circulation of ten
billion nickels, into every . town and
hamlet in the country, and divided
among one to two m illion people and
their dependents (your own estimate)
is a healthy thing? Don't you believe
that at least some of these on e or two
million would be on the W P A, PW A or
some kind of relief if it were not for the
coin machine business? And have you
ever heard of anyone jumping o ut of a
window or putting a bullet in his head
because of money Jost on coin ma-
chin es? It seems to me the highly re-
spectable stock market can be held
liable for a few such deaths.
I'll admit that there are some abuses
in the coin machin e business. But by
your own admission, ex-bootleggers
took over the busin ess with racket me-
thods in some large cities. Didn't they
a lso take over th e dry cleaning busi-
ness, the fur business, the food busin ess
and even the u n dertaking b u siness?
And I believe also Mr. Lubell that you
have found that in the p laces where
public officials have been bribed, in
many cases these public officials have
deliberately created the condition s
which made the bribery n ecessary and
poss ible.
This is a free country peopled with
liberty loving people. The average Am-
erican wants the privilege of working
for his money, and spending it how and
where he pleases. The fiasco of proh ibi-
tion showed conclusively that he will
n ot tolerate being told how to conduct
his person a l life. Some people like base-
ball, some the movies, others like golf
and still others coin machines.
I'll conclude as you concluded. "No
one forces anyone to play games, and
as long as the public wants games-
they will get them in one way or an-
o ther."
I hope it won't be long before public
officials will conclude, as they did with
prohibition, that it is futile to try to regu-
late the lives of individuals, and that
they will turn their attention to the more
serious problem of providing jobs for
the unemployed-rather than trying to
increase the unemployed by desfroying
the coin machine business .
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