Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

B
Pale Green Slips
EFORE you get the notion that you are being
tricked into reading this, let me say that it is
not a dissertation on women s apparel.
The pale green slips to which I refer are the
b eautifully gotten-up collection tags of the "Equality
Taxpayers League" of Oregon. Elsewhere in this
issue of THE REVIEW and in the March 25th issue
of REVIEW SUPPLEMENT you probably read about
the "Equality Taxpayers League" and how it pro-
poses to keep pin games in continued operation in
the state of Oregon, overlooking the fact that the
Oregon Skill Games Association is very strongly
organized for that very purpose.
Location owners as a rule are persGi1al friends of
their op erators; that ve ry many of them if any would
give credence to the claims of strange "collectors"
for the Equality Taxpayers League surprises me, to
say the least. Perhaps the business-like printed
forms of the E. T. L. and the glib talk of its collectors
have persuaded or intimidated some of the location
owners.
At any rate, the E. T. L. "collectors" leave with
the locations a supply of these collection slips, obvi-
ously designed by someone who knows operating
methods. The slip provides for date, name and ad-
dress of location and proprietor, and name of oper-
ator. Then it has space for recording gross receipts
from each machine in the place, deductions for play-
ers' awards, and net receipts. Then comes the catch,
like this:
Location .
50% $ ......... __ _____ ____ ___ _
E. T. L. . .
5% $ ___ ___ ___________ ____ __ _
Operator
45 % $ ______ __________ _______ _
TOTAL
100% $ ______ ___ ____________ __ _
You can readily see that some misinformed or
gullible location owners might fall for this offer of
"protection" because it doesnlt cost them anything.
The deduction for the E. T. L is from the operator's
share and actually amounts to 10 per cent of his net
receipts.
But it's not the 5 per cent or the 10 per cent that
so greatly concerns the Ore~on operators. The ques-
tion is: Who or what is the Equality Taxpayers
League and why?
l
David H. Fertig, business manag er and counse l
for the Oregon Skill Games Association, terse ly
sums up his organization's stand in the matter: "We
will fight like hell, but we won't pay tribute."
This is just one example of having a going asso-
ciation on deck at all times whether or n ot there is
an apparent need for it. If the epidemic of pale
green slips were permitted to get a foothold in Ore-
gon, it w ould b 8 but a matter of time before the
quarantine signs would fly up in othe r territories_
*
*
*
It has D8en my pleasure during the past few
weeks to work with leaders of the San Diego Coin-
uperated Machine Association in an effort to en-
courage the development of a united front for all
operators in that territory. It is natum:l that a move-
ment to organize should arise at a time when such
matters as a municipal license ordinance are under
consideration. There is nothing like the prospect of a
cloudy horizon to bring operators together.
I know the story; it's the same everywhere.
When the skies are clear we hustle along like busy
ants. Occasionally you move in on my spots, and
in turn I take a crack at yours. Then suddenly we
realize there are more than just two of us. The com-
petition factor increases, and then official problems
set in to overshadow all our other difficulties. We
try to get together and find that most of us will co-
operate; some apparently are big enough not to
need our help or give us theirs.
Ask Ralph Young and other leaders of the Na-
tional Council of Coin Machine Operators' Associa-
tions and they will tell you the same thing: Some
associations are big enough to take the attitude that
they can go it alone. Others are big enough to see
the good they can do the National Council, and in
turn the good the National Council can do them.
*
*
*
I guess you can't beat the truth of the old saying
about virtue being its 'own reward. And while we're
endeavoring to clean our own houses and in some
way or other get the other fellows to clean theirs,
donlt forget to let
know the minute you discover
in your territory an epidemic of pale green slips!
me
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