Automatic Age

12
AUTOM ATIC AGE
The committee agreed to the wishes of
the Administration for a forty-hour week
and a minimum wage scale for experienced
workers o f forty cents an hour. The in­
dustry had previously voted for a forty-
four-hour week and a minimum wage of
thirty-five cents.
The committee compromised on the time
limit for paying inexperienced workers a
wage amounting to eighty per cent of the
minimum. The industry had asked for a
period of 120 days for beginners, while the
Administration believed sixty days was a
proper period. The compromise was reached
on ninety days.
The so-called “ merit clause” was stricken
from the code at the request o f the
Administration. Mr. Darling reported that
none of the recent codes have been per­
mitted to retain this clause.
The “ anti-piracy clause” was allowed to
remain in the code despite early objections
by the Administration to the effect that it
was not necessary. The manufacturers com­
mittee presented arguments to show why
such a clause was necessary for this par­
ticular industry. A change was made in
the clause, however, which now reads as
follows: “ The copying o f the design or
construction of a machine containing new
or novel features, or any material part
thereof by any competitor for their own
use prior to the end of the year following
that in which it originated shall constitute
unfair competition and be a violation of
this code.” This provides protection of
from 13 to 24 months to all manufacturers
who produce an original machine or fea­
ture.
The minimum wage for women workers
was changed to forty cents per hour, the
same as for male employees.
Mr. Donahue, who presented the code at
the hearing, was called upon to outline
further details of the public hearing. He
spoke o f the routine and how each detail
of the code was dealt with, and how the
committee had to be prepared to answer
each question. Decisions were made quickly
to speed the passage o f the code. He also
pointed out that the code when approved
will govern all manufacturers of coin­
operated machines whether they are mem­
bers of the National Association o f Coin
Machine Manufacturers or not.
.
Another change was made in the clause
prohibiting manufacturers from selling ma­
© International Arcade Museum
December, 1983
chines at less than cost unless they were
obsolete patterns or unless the manufac­
turer of the machines also sold merchan­
dise for the machines on which the profits
were derived.
A general discussion of changes made in
the code concluded the open meeting. Dur­
ing the meeting a call was received from
the hospital where Mr. Marshall Seeburg
is recovering from a serious automobile
accident. It is believed he will remain in
the hospital until the first of the year,
although he is recovering rapidly from the
injuries. Mr. Seeburg is vice-president of
the Board of Directors for the association.
G. M. J. A. Agrees on New
Credit System
By “ RO XY”
“ At our meeting Tuesday, November
28th, the members cf the C. M. J. A. took
up the question of bad accounts. It was
decided upon that each C. M. J. A. Jobber
was to make up his bad account list and
mail it to the C. M. J. A. secretary, who in
turn would make copies of them all and
mail them out to the C. M. J. A. Jobbers,
so as to keep them posted on all these bad
accounts.
“ We firmly believe that it will mean a
big savings to all our members to be kept
informed monthly on this matter. This
also goer, for non-members who wish to be
kept posted. Write our secretary for in­
formation.
“ Another discussion taken up by our
members was in reference to the manufac­
turers’ advance advertising on their new
machines. We all know that advertising
is the greatest medium that exists, but
there should be a legitimate date set on
advance advertising and the manufacturer
should on that date have his machines with
the jobber ready for sale. As it stands at
present, the manufacturer starts off adver­
tising in advance with no definite date set
on shipments. The operators continue ask­
ing about machines, th^ jobber keeps tell­
ing the operator ‘Manana’ which is
‘tomorrow’ to you, and when the new ma­
chine does arrive we jobbers are sold out
on conversation, and unless the machine
happens to be a ‘natural’ we find ourselves
in an awful mess trying to sell these ma­
chines.”
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