Automatic Age

AUTOMATIC AGE
March, 1937
13
T IM E L Y O B S E R V A T IO N S
By O.
G . L ig h tn e r
E A D IN G the various jobbers’
house organs, during the past
month, we have found more or
less criticism of the last show, some
of which is well taken. Other articles
have a sour note running through
them, probably because the jobbers’
interests are not always those of the
manufacturers who, of course, are
the backbone of the show.
R
Bill Cohen of the Silent Sales Com­
pany, Minneapolis, points out some
glaring deficiencies that ought to be
corrected. One was the excessive
drinking, which created a bad impres­
sion on the newspaper men who
viewed the show, resulting in more or
less sarcastic comment. It is not con­
ducive to public good-will.
Crowd More Orderly
The show this year was much bet­
ter in this respect than previously, but
still it was bad. There should be an
agreement among the different manu­
facturers to dispense with the public
bars where every visitor can get a
drink. This year the crowd was much
more orderly because the registration
rule was enforced and the crowd
largely confined to active operators.
Even at that anybody could get in
by registering and paying $1 and the
wise ones in the street crowds knew
that for $1 they could get $10 worth
of drinks. During prohibition times
when good liquor was scarce the boys
appreciated a drink at the convention.
We had our share. As Mr. Goudey of
Akron remarked, “You always knew
Where there was good liquor.” Then
when repeal came, drinking, of course,
took on a wave of popularity. Every­
thing comes in waves or fads and then
there is a reaction. Mr. Cohen com­
mended the Bally Manufacturing
Company for closing their bar be­
cause of the adverse publicity the
show was getting. If there are no
bars in the private exhibits, the boys
Will still get plenty to drink but they
are not so likely to drink excessively,
^ a n y a sale is lost because the boys
Sot so much booze they couldn’t think
clearly and they are not going to
until, say, 10 o’clock at night. After
the business of the convention is over
and the buying done, then is plenty of
time to open the bars for a couple
of drinks.
So far as the AUTOM ATIC AGE
is concerned, we can put away all we
want in two hours. We clocked our­
selves once and found we took 32
drinks of whiskey, 18 bottles of beer,
and 51 gin bucks in two hours’ time.
That was all we could hold.
O. C. L ig h tn e r
place orders under those conditions.
Neither are your own sales help go­
ing to be as efficient. I f the visitors
can be kept as sober as possible until
the night of the banquet, everybody
will have just! as good a time and
there will be more business done.
Nobody feels very optimistic the
morning after and you can’t give a
fellow a splitting headache and get
a big order from him the next day.
I t simply isn’t in the cards. Besides,
the spectacle of too much drinking
is getting the industry a lot of sar­
castic publicity. We can’t afford it.
Whoever thinks they can flout public
opinion is going to be fooled. All
that publicity appearing in the daily
press and the national magazines is
molding public opinion.
Chicago Like Any Other City
Another criticism we read is that
pin games are not running in Chicago
and therefore the show should not
be held there. In that respect Chicago
is like any other city. There are times
when our games run and times they
don’t. Just at this time it happens that
pin games are closed down because
of a ball-up. There is a great deal of
talk that the publisher of our rival
magazine caused that situation as
much as anybody else. He operates
slot machines all through the county
and the pin game boys who had for­
tunes tied up in their equipment say
that there was some fix made to op­
erate slots and close up the pin
games. I t ’s just another one of those
situations that you all have come up
in your own towns at different times.
Industry W ill Go Ahead
The industry will go ahead if it has
sense enough to cater to public opin­
ion and attempt to cultivate good­
will. Many a visitor thought after
the show how much more he could
have got out of it had he not done
quite so much drinking. But the drink­
ing is not always done by the dele­
gates and manufacturers at the show.
We get a black eye for a lot of
drinking done by the street crowd
enjoying their free drinks. Even with
registration enforced, the street
crowd ought to be curtailed. If the
bars are not running, the loop hang­
ers-on will have no object in coming
into the show. A better situation
could be created all around by the
manufacturers agreeing to either
eliminate the bars in the rooms, or
to keep their bars absolutely closed
Cost of Booths Criticized
Still another criticism has been the
increasing cost of the booths. The
larger jobbers feel that they would
like to participate in the show and
meet their customers, but the expense
is rising from year to year. The
booths are selling for too much
money. The profits of the show are
altogether too great and the over­
charging uncalled for. Where there
is so much criticism those in charge
ought to take steps to heed it and
remedy any just complaint. Some of
us remember when there were rival
organizations running the shows and
we don’t want to see that again. We
want one show, but if abuses creep in
it will give other groups an excuse
to put on another show, in which
the things complained of will be
eliminated.
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