Automatic Age

86
AUTOMATIC AGE
May, 1938
On The Record
BUIIIIlinillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllUllllillllllllllllllllM
but they didn’t know how to
word th e ir ordinance. They
called in Township Attorney
Francis J. Loughran.
Phonographs, Skill, Amusement
Devices Licenced
Chicago, 111. — The board of
Joliet township voted unani­
mously on April 18th to place a
tax of $50 a year on “music
boxes and all devices of skill and
amusement operated by inser­
tion of a coin.” The money will
be used to “defray township ex­
penses and for relief of the
poor,” according to the board.
By including coin operated
music boxes in its ordinance the
board drew a wail of protest
from Leahm Kelly, personal
bailif.to Circuit Judge Edwin
L. Wilson. Kelly was a melan­
choly figure at the hearing, tell­
ing the board mournfully that
he owns $60,000 worth of coin
music boxes and that to tax
them means bankruptcy “in a
week” for him.
The board members had made
up their minds when they met,
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RO CK -O LA ’S— 1935, 1936, 1937 ......................... $1.00 ea.
W U R L IT Z E R ’S— 1938 ............................................. $1.00 ea.
A ll other W u rlitze r’s ............................................... $1.40 ea.
SEE B U R G ’S Triple Slots .........................................$1.40 ea.
All orders C.O.D.
10c extra for sample.
UNIVERSAL SLOT PROTECTOR
PA U LSBO R O , N. J.
© International Arcade Museum
“State laws give townships
great latitude in licensing,” said
Loughran. “Even though cer­
tain machines are illegal in the
state, you can call them devices
of skill and amusement oper­
ated by a coin.”
The attorney added that if
any one objects to paying taxes
on his machines because they
are illegal, the township may
confiscate said machines, even
though they “do not exist.” This
interesting business is to start
on May 1.
The machines have caused
much verbal and legal warfare
in Will county in the last few
years. On April 27, 1936, the
syndicate obtained from Judge
Wilson a temporary injunction
preventing the law from inter­
fering with operation of the ma­
chines.
The order stood until Judge
Wilson dissolved it on May 22,
1937. During that thirteen
months efforts had been made in
the legislature to impeach the
Judge.
But when the order was dis­
solved it was found the ma­
chines had been moved from
Joliet — into Jo lie t township
which is not co-extensive with
the city.
Taverns and filling stations
in the township and in outlying
sections of Will county have in­
stalled the devices as well as
Bailif Kelly’s musical money
makers.
http://www.arcade-museum.com/