MAY 1948
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BUSINESS REVIEW . .. Coin Machines Get Square Deal
In State Legislative Sessions
The business world is now dominated by
all the reactions that come in the pursuit
Qf our national war plans. In this column
one month ago, it was stated that the
e ffects of the commodity price break in
February were bein g qui ckly displaced by
the much bigger problem of war plans.
Plans have alrea dy gone far enough that
the major business developments during
the rest of the year will be influenced
-chiefly by what has been done within a
s hort period of one or two month s.
Business men will have a lot of respo n·
s ibility in deciding what to do, and the
reviewers and crystal-gazers are having a
tough time trying to analyse the situations
that come and go so rapidly.
All of the fa ctors covered in this digest
from month to month are now vitally af-
fected by the course of war plans. Some
of the many views, suggested by business
and government leaders, may be summar-
ized as follows:
1. Many now believe that, with the com-
modity break in February, the making of
a real recession was getting under way. A
similar situation developed early in 1947
and then disappeared. Recent develop-
ments now seem to have definitely post-
poned any business recession for this year.
2. Except, that so conservative a paper
as the N. Y. Journal 0/ Commerce warns
that Russia could become very agreeable
and maybe pull all the punch out of our
national program. This is just an idea.
3. There are still a lot of cross currents
in business, but the new trend is definitely
upward and the over-all result is inflation-
ary.
4. Speculation is the order of the day,
guessing as to how far.reaching war plans
will be, what shortages will develop, how
most money can be made, how serious the
prospect of war really is, what it will all
-cost.
(See BUSINESS REVIEW, Page 12)
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MAY, 1948
CHICAGO-State Legislatures have about completed their sessions for the
year, although Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri and
New Jersey sessions had not been adjourned at the time of this report. But no
serious action relating to coin machines was expected further in any of the
states.
Louisiana session, scheduled to open May 10, still lies ahead. The Arizona
session was bound to one special problem and not open to new bills and
the Missouri Legislature has been following a program of intermittent
adjournments .
.
Dudley C. Ruttenberg, managing director of the legal, public relations and
general services of Coin Machine Industries, Inc., said some constructive
accomplishments had been recorded in the legislative field, and that for
the rest of the year the legal problem shifts to cities that may threaten
unfair laxation.
Games Gradually Return
To N. Y. Locations
NEW YORK- Newspaper comment on
th e recent influx of pin ball equipment into
the city brought about a police survey of
the local game situation. Count disclosed
4504 coin-operated amusement games, mak-
ing no distinction between roll down s and
plunger-type (pin ball) equipment. In the
pre-war era, before the La Guardia ad-
ministration banned the equipment, there
were 16,000 games in the city.
Locations included 4298 candy stores,
taverns, etc., and police tallied 152 op-
era tors, 11 distributors, and 2 manufac-
turers a,s operating within city limits.
While the survey stressed the fact that no
awards or free plays were being offered by
location owners, some 830 'games were in
sites within 500 feet of schools.
Follow-up to this was a check by the
Board of Education truant officers on stores
in th e vicinity of schools, and a warning to
storekeepers housing coin games. Mean-
while, Associated Amusement Machine Op-
erators Assn. (AAMONY), operators' trade
group, had gone on record prohibiting its
members from spotting games in locations
within 250 ft. of .schools and churches.
Current situation is something of a
stalemate. While operators report favor-
able earnings from machines now on loca-
tion, they would like to obtain some sort of
licensing provision to give th emseh,es legal
status. A few arrests of location owners
have been made, and the outcome of these
court cases may determine future city
policy. In the interim, operations here a.re " . .
on a day-to-day basis.
At a recent meeting AAMONY unanim-
ously elected Louis Rosenberg (Arrow
Amusement Corp.) as its president to suc-
ceed Joe l{ahnen (Gordon Amusements) .
He said mu ch ti!]le and effort is being
put into preparations for giving legal serv-
ices to the Industry in 1949, when legisla-
tion may be expected to really pile up.
CMI will have complete files of legal data
and information for aid in all state and
city situations, and will be ready to rush
legal talent to help local coinmen when
tax or legal restrictions threaten.
Ruttenberg emphasized that cooperation
of the national headquarters with local
.coinmen in states and cities is the main
goal, and that everything possible is being
done to complete a national program. Much
depends on quick reporting of legal situa-
tions in local areas, he said.
Up to the present, legislation in relation
to coin machines this year had been most
prominent in Kentucky, Mississippi, New
York and Virginia legislatures. Legislation
in Virginia, as reported in previous issues
of AUTOMATIC VENDING, represented a de-
cided victory for the vending trade. A per-
machine tax was repealed and replaoed by
an occupational tax on the operator.
In New York, vending machines have
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